 | Chapters 6-9 are easier reading, although somewhat redundant. They make Barber's case that films, television, and the electronic media have been the most significant influences on the cultural changes accompanying globalization. (He, of course, sees the profit motive of "neo-capitalism" as the most significant economic influence--and instrumental for making "Hollywood" and television so pervasive, throughout the developed world.) One might ask whether Barber's assertion that films and television have created "one single image" (p. 93) of America, particularly after 9/11 and the invasion of Iraq. (I am continually struck by how much the students I work with in Athens are able to separate American culture and the American people from the American government. I have found a similar dichotomization in Italy, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and the Czech Republic--all of which I have visited since 9/11.)
Barber can sound like Bellah et al., when he charges that McWorld "inculcates secularism, passivity, consumerism, vicariousness, impulse buying,and an accelerated pace of life" by "bring(ing) together malls, multiplex movie theaters, theme parks, spectator sports areas, fast-food chains...and television...into a vast enterprise that...transforms human beings," at the expense of "engaged public behavior" (p. 97). Do you agree with the case he makes, here? If not, what is he missing?
What does Barber mean when he charges that "...MTV not only shares but helps generate McWorld's videology" (p. 109)? How does it contribute to further diminishing the public good, for Barber? |
