In class we learned, through the Raphael reading, that Reality TV began as a cheaper means of television. Because of budget cuts and high production costs on regular programming, stations thought of a way out by creating reality TV shows. Unfortunately, it has recessed us into a fad based around reality TV. Every channel has them. Most channels, like The Discovery Channel, History, and TLC used to be quality television where you could learn something from watching them, now it is all reality TV garbage. It's a shame that we, as a society, let this go on. It's awful. I truly can't fathom why someone would waste 1 hour to watch a bunch of New Jersey junkies party it up all day. Or care about a bunch of hillbillies trying to catch catfish in the south. OR a bunch of "real" housewives do things. Maybe you all can help me out but I just don't get it. /end rant
Blog Post #1:
ReplyDeleteTelevision is increasingly becoming one of the most popularized and widely available mediums to reach an audience. Due to television’s availability, major networks are increasingly utilizing television in order to bring popular television in the United States and bringing it to foreign markets. A perfect example of this is offered by Chiara Ferrari in the reading, “Dubbed The Simpsons: Or How Groundskeeper Willie Lost His Kilt in Sardinia”. The Simpsons is somewhat of a vulgar television show. Executives at the Arab MBC network changed the characters to better fit their specific culture. Through my experience traveling abroad to Australia and other western societies I learned that western societies do not filter The Simpsons or change the content to fit their society. Similar to television shows, international restaurant chains also change their food in order to fit certain societies. Foreign restaurant chains and popular culture change their content in order to appeal to foreign consumers and to exploit foreign markets for a profit. “Cultural content is so relevant that, at times, even small visual details can create problems in foreign markets. […] Bart’s disrespectful attitude toward his parents and every type of authoritarian figure has also been difficult to sell in Asian countries where respect for one’s elders is a cultural tradition.” All of the changes to The Simpsons, as expressed by Ferrari, are based on cultural norms. Distance does not have an affect on content; rather content depends on cultural norms. There are countless other social and political themes in The Simpsons that are hard to understand by a person from a different culture. I feel that the act of translating content from one culture to another leads to the integrity and meaning of the original content being lost. Which is why I find it hard to understand why television executives make a profit by translating content from one culture to another.