Americanisation Is the Large Influence
Americanisation is the large influence that the United States has on other countries. This particular presentation will focus on the impact of American culture on Australia. Americanisation had started in Australia in the 1950’s, with the introduction of the Television. Since then, Australian culture has been influenced dramatically by America. Americanisation has caused Australia’s popular culture to imitate American society and culture. This presentation agrees with this thesis and will argue that Americanisation has a positive effect on Australia.
In particular, it will examine American impact on Television and food, as well as Australian fashion. Television is one of the major indicators of Americanisation in Australia. It is an influential tool that shows how American culture works and operates, and affects the cultural mindset of the Australian people. In Australia, the amount of American shows to Australian shows is very huge. This is in turn provides a higher variety of entertainment to Australian TV, at a cheap price. Many shows like Two and a Half Men and Seinfeld, are shown more than Local-variety TV shows like Home & Away and Neighbours.
This means that Australia is introduced to more American culture on TV than Australian culture, and is an indicator that Americanisation is very present in Australia although food and cuisine is also highly-affected by Americanisation. Australian diets are impacted on by American chain-restaurants such as KFC, McDonalds, and Subway, all of which have chains located in Australia. These chains have turned Australian diets that are of no difference to Americans, and have introduced a wide variety of American food products.
This means that Australians have a higher number of options to choose from, along with their own variety of local foods, such as lamingtons and meat pies. America’s chains in Australia have included some big-brand and highly popular names, such as McDonalds, KFC, Subway, and Burger King, along with our own unique brand names, such as Oporto, Baskin-Robins, and Hungry Jacks. This creates a unique blend of Australian cuisine, highly influenced by American culture. This is evidence of the imitation of American culture, as our diets have been made to fit theirs, and our food selections are also ainly American. Australian diets, and Aussie entertainment, have all been influenced by America, and fashion is no exception. Australian fashion is highly Americanized. This means our Aussie fashion has been has been stylized to imitate America, to suit American values and culture. A recent example of this would be the snapback hats and varsity jackets, clothing usually only seen in American Major-league sport, which have been recently introduced into Australian fashion earlier this year.
This is an example of American culture seeping into Australian society, and has introduced a broader variety of clothing and styles in Australia. But even before the snapbacks, America already had an extreme influence on what we wear, and how we wear it. This is proved in the sports-wear brand Nike. Nike had introduced themselves as a sport-wear company, and eventually introduced their own brand of clothing lines into Australia. Another example would be the introduction of bandannas and wearing baseball caps back-to-front.
These are all examples of Americanisation on Australian culture, and what they wear, affects what we wear, and how we wear it. Australian society has a feint international presence in the world. We are a highly Americanized nation, following American culture and society, and have imitated what they do, how they entertain, what they eat, and what they wear. This means we live in an Australian society, with American culture, values, and mind-set, and has had a positive affect on Australia.
