Globalisation and Media Ownership

Globalisation describes the spread of ideas and culture around the world. This is not an even process. The media companies who own and distribute 'culture' around the world are in charge, and they are, mostly, American.

The dominance of US-based media companies has some pretty obvious effects - with some counter-arguments, of course.

Firstly, on culture. "Everyone must come to look a little bit like an American, or to love a little bit like an American, or two walk a little bit like an American. That's why television and cultural industries are so critical, because you don't know quite how to qalk and think in American until you look at enough television." (Hall, 2007)

This is a little bit exaggerated. Perhaps you're into Far Eastern culture, or Taoism, or French films. But to a large extent our behaviour, speech patterns (using the word 'like', for example), and definitions of 'cool' all stem from America's dominance over media as the world has gone global.

Secondly, other countries have copied American media strategies for success:
- using branding and advertising to fund expensive production
- copying American-style filming and plot devices
- changing film titles and posters to fit different audiences (going 'glocal')
- buying franchise like Big Brother and making a local version of them.
Everyone wants to be Hollywood: Bollywood; Nollywood. The result is that a lot of the world's culture has become homogenised. The same. Diversity, it seems, is disappearing.

Thirdly, truly 'local' films struggle to compete with the giant juggernauts of US media companies, who have far more money pumped into production, distribution and marketing. Their passage is made even easier by their horizontal ownership of distribution companies that give them a virtual monopoly.


The locals strike back

However, this view is simplistic, for several reasons:

- Local English films now have easier access to the US market. And if the world is getting more fluent in English, that's good for British film (if not world cinema). So in some ways, UK cinema is surfing the wave of US global domination

- The US is a declining force. Sony (Japanese) bought Columbia and TriStar picture in 1989; Rupert Murdoch (Australian) owns 20th Century Fox; Indian company Reliance BIG pictures own a big stake in Dreamworks (2008)

- Local companies will always be able to draw on better knowledge of their audience's tastes, culture and language to make films that are more relevant than those of giant international companies

- While the expensive side of new technology plays into the big companies' hands, the 'user-generated content' aspect will make it possible for smaller companies to drum up support for their product without spending too much money, allowing them to compete.


And Nollywood and Bollywood have their own very distinct stylistic conventions.