Essay about Is Globalization Americanization?
The question is “does an item’s history and origin make it inevitable American? ” The answer to the previous question truthfully is yes and no. There are several items a part of our American culture that do make that specific item inevitable American. But quite honestly, the United States outsources their goods and resources meaning that a country as a whole maintains several items, such as fabrics, food and toys, from other countries. The only reason why we do this is because it is cheaper for our economy.
Looking around the house, there are several items that say “Made in China”, “Made in Mexico”, and “Made in Vietnam”. These items are sold on the shelves of major corporations here in America, but they are clearly not American items. They are just sold in American and outsourced by America so in turn, the ‘history’ of these items make them American. For example, one of the toys that was bought for a friends daughter, was made in another country, but when looking on the package the toy was originally came in, it states that it was shipped an packaged here in the United States.
Globalization is definitely a spread of American culture and vice versa. Countries nowadays are nothing but a melting pot of other cultures. The most common fast food chain that started off in America and went international was McDonalds. In week two, we had a discussion question base upon whether McDonalds was an expression of American and global cultures. McDonalds is more so an expression of the American culture in other countries. Other countries, such as China, have built a McDonalds industry in order to introduce the American culture to their youth.
Our movie industry in America has taken over the world by storm. There are many films that are American films that ‘go big’ in other countries or are introduced to other countries around the same time that they are introduced to the American culture. Sometimes, the films are more successful overseas than here in the States. Two perfect examples of an American film that not only took off here in The United States but internationally as well would be The Twilight Saga and all Harry Potter films.
The origins of the books were from American authors but once they were made into successful films, they took off internationally. These movies are two perfect examples as to the spread of American culture globally. Music is a hard one to find an example of for the research assignment. No matter whom the artist is, the instrument is or genre, one way or another, not one of them is truly American. Artists are inspired by other artists that are, nine times out of ten, an oldies artist that originated from another country. There are many international artists.
Either they started in another country an then began touring in the United States along with selling records, they then became American music ‘icons’. There are some artists that got their major record label contract the America, and then became international celebrities. The major musical groups that could pertain to the Americanization and Globalization of the music industry would be the Beatles, Monkees and Selena. In conclusion, there are many items in the American culture that have gone global. To answer the state question, is Americanization Globalization?
Yes. There are so many different examples that can pertain to the said question, so, once again, the American culture has hit the global market. But then again, there are many items that are made in another country for America. The true definition of globalization can differ from person to person. In my mind and my definition, globalization is the different cultures that come together as ‘one’. Our culture is seen in several countries across the globe, as well as those countries being sought out here in America.
