Global Media and Capitalist Monoculture - Essay Example

The world tendency to globalization resulted in formation of network connections that cut across cultural and traditional boundaries. While the obvious layers of connectivity include circulation of goods and capital, the underlying issues can be as deep as formation of identity by global media. The consequence is that culture is no longer a product of a definite territory; shift in relationship between global and local forces changes the way one tends to view culture, society, relations between nations and, finally, own identities. The direct outcome of globalization process is the irrelevance of local characteristics. Global media and capitalist monoculture incorporate all minor cultures into the single global capitalist system; going even further than this, the production process and consumer tastes become uniform. Thus, there is an ongoing process of standardization of tastes alongside with deterritorialization. Unification of cultures gradually replaces culturally thick places that provide an individual with a sense of identity. The revolution effect of globalization is stimulated by technological innovation, as scholars point out, the process is irreversible and irresistible (Cryle, 2004). Westernization of the world results in a conflict between local and global forces: there is a distinct increase in nationalistic movements that resist global economy attempting to keep cultural identity. The two African films of Jean-Pierre Bekolo "Quartier Mozart" and "Aristotle's Plot" concentrate on the issue of homogenous culture alongside with shortcomings of this global tendency. African filmmakers tend to view themselves as contemporary African artists: the value of art is determined by the intrinsic properties alongside with beauty and functional role in the framework of society, culture, and identity. In contrast with Western filmmakers, African counterparts actively participate in the process of socio-political reconstruction of African society (Maingard, 1994). African filmmakers constitute intellectual elite with high awareness of not only implicit dynamics of own society, but also of the global tendencies of the world with which it interacts. Populist and civic character of films produced by African filmmakers is based on the social ideals of individual and collective freedom, democracy and sustainable development based on African cultural foundations (Molloy, 2001). In "Quartier Mozart" Jean-Pierre Bekolo tells the story of a young girl nicknamed Queen of the 'Hood. The teenager is eager to learn about common sexual practices alongside with preoccupations of the local neighborhood. The girl was tuned into a young man by a witch, Maman Thekla, in order to give her an opportunity to receive first hand experience and knowledge about gender politics. The witch also turned herself into a man and made male genitals disappear. According to her, this is the only way to get rid of male pride. Thus, the gender relationships are questioned. Democratic, equal, free relationships are emphasized. Realizing the new sexual identity, Queen of the Hood wants to expose Mad Dog, the local police chief, who uses tradition he has no clue about to marry a second wife that is much younger then his first one by simply throwing his present wife away. The leader of the young men, who scores but still cannot imagine love as part of scoring, is also exposed by the Queen. Thus, Jean-Pierre Bekolo satirizes obsession with sex and control alongside with masculine pretension. Jean-Pierre Bekolo raises issues unique for African media. The filmmaker questions the belief in violence as the legitimate solution of a conflict that is still present in South Africa. South Africa's war culture that mobilizes traditional image of men as protectors and women as those being protected, not only stimulates extensive aggression, but also contributes to the view of women as a "thing" that is protected (Murdock, 1959). Going even further then this, the issue of policing forces that are capable of rape, detention without trial, and tortures are embodied in the character of the police chief, who was further exposed by Queen in "Quartier Mozart". Return of the Queen to her initial state, wisdom that she acquired, and true love she is now capable of symbolize the social ideals of individual and collective freedom that the filmmaker is striving for. It is interesting to note, that while allusions to romance, desire, and sexuality have been the dominant themes of earlier cinema, the emphasis of the recent media tendency proves the rising interest in this part of African culture. Problematic modernity and the challenges of the youth in the process of Westernization of local culture is the major focus of "Quartier Mozart". A later work of Jean-Pierre Bekolo "Aristotle's Plot" raises issues similar to those in "Quartier Mozart"; however, the focus is shifted to African identity and the concept of culture itself. As evident from the two films, political independence from colonial authority did not change the status of ordinary people. Contemporary Africa represents a mix of traditional power formations alongside with new Arabic and European forms of domination. The traditional type of indigenous structures is a primitive democracy that represents genuine traditional cultural patterns of Africa. The next indigenous structure is gentile aristocracy; it still has a lot in common with primitive democracy, but in its essence is based on superiority of weapons and violence (Murdock, 1959). This type of structure was the focus in "Quartier Mozart". In "Aristotle's Plot" the focus is shifted to Berber and Gada republic that is typical for Arabized parts of Africa. These forms of power influence traditional religion, military force, technology, cultural ideas and practices, and, finally, ideologies. Contemporary Africa now represents a mixture of non-African cultures that are employed primarily to promote interests of non-Africans. The brutal and undemocratic methods of primitive democracy and gentile aristocracy have been replaced by hybridized indigenous structures. This issue was relatively undeveloped in the past, whereas now it is a subject of primary concern. The central figure in the film is ET, the film maker, who has come back to his native determined to change the way films are created and watched. While others call him a "silly ass", Jean-Pierre Bekolo portrays the film maker as the "lighting rod" a country is in a desperate need of, somebody who is aware of the contradictions and the spirits of the community. ET does not stand American movies that everybody watches; ET is a powerful individual who loves African culture, his passion is documentary movies about nature and villages. The character of Cinema, the film watcher, is a typology on Western-African followers. Cinema has viewed about 10,000 movies and very few of them are African simply because "They are shit!". The exchange takes place twice in the movie - at the beginning, in the framing scene, and almost at the end. Government interferes with ET and attempts to destroy the carrier of the filmmaker. Later on in the film, when ET and Cinema are arrested and standing at the railroad crossing, Cinema says that movies are his religion and Africa is his temple. Cinema is the leader of the group of gangsters who are truly devoted to popular action films. The identity of gangsters was replaced by fictional identity with popular American heroes: Schwarzenneger, Van Damme, Nikita. Imagination becomes a substitute for reality, whereas cultural identity is lost. Jean-Pierre Bekolo raises issues about treatment of African cinema industry, whether there is something in traditional cinema that is not African. The film has several underlying levels. While the issue of reality versus fiction is raised, the prime focus remains on postcoloniality and postmodernism: the overlap of indigenous structures. Jean-Pierre Bekolo does not all in all centralize the issue of the conflict between East and West; even though the major dilemmas of cultural independence are raised, he still creates the postcolonial world in his films and struggles with its dominant issues. Some might attribute the ideas of Marx, Hell, and Gramsci to the filmmaker. Going even further than this, the relevance of these scholars in the views expressed in the film can hardly be questioned. While Marxist media theory emphasizes the important of social class in the process of media formation as an important factor in media analysis, in both movies of Jean-Pierre Bekolo government representatives embody the chains put on society that have no concern for cultural heritage of African society. By applying Marxist media research method to relationship between African and West media, the same forces that were portrayed in "Aristotle's Plot" can be rediscovered: capitalistic global ideology (Albarran, 1998). The encoding - decoding model described by Stuart Hall also can be found in the context of Jean-Pierre Bekolo films. The ideology according to Hall can be of three types and depending on the social situations of viewers they may fully adopt, partially consider or entirely disagree with the information in the media channel (Ben-Yehuda, 2005). The role models of gangsters in "Aristotle's Plot" are those of a dominant ideology and can be categorized as the preferred reading. Consequently, once again the emphasis is placed on domination of Western ideology. Gramsci's hegemony not only denotes the dominance of one social class over the other, but also emphasis the ability of the dominant class and the ideology of it to project own way of seeing the world on the subordinate ones. The character of ET, the filmmaker, can be viewed in terms of the concept of struggle introduced by Gramsci. As the social experiences instantly reminds the subordinated about the drawbacks of being manipulated, the self identity can be transformed to the initial state, thus, there is an ongoing struggle of several ideologies within one individual (Sanbonmatsu, 2004). While gangsters represent losers, ET and Jean-Pierre Bekolo himself are those who had one the battle. Definitely, the two films are rooted on the ideas of Marx, Gramsci, and Hall; however, Jean-Pierre Bekolo is not stuck on the ongoing conflict. The filmmaker is neither a Hollywood nor African ideology follower. He is searching for aesthetics and goes beyond the old political structures of Africa and West. Jean-Pierre Bekolo's views are that of hybridization between two cultures that produce new complex hybrid forms of culture and aesthetics. References Albarran, Alan B (1998). Media Economics: Research Paradigms, Issues, and Contributions Nication Theory. Mass Communication & Society 1, no. 3/4: 117-129. Ben-Yehuda, Nachman (2005). Terror, Media and Moral Boundaries. International Journal of Comparative Sociology 46, no. 1-2. Cryle, Denis (2004). A Social History of the Media: From Gutenberg to the Internet. The Australian Journal of Politics and History 50, no. 1. Maingard, Jacqueline (1994). New South African Cinema: Mapantsula and Sarafina. Screen 35, no. 3: 235-243. Molloy, Patricia (2001). Home Truths and Other Fictions: Geopolitics at the Film Festival. Afterimage 28, no. 4: 18. Murdock, George Peter (1959). Africa: Its Peoples and Their Culture History. New York: McGraw-Hill. Sanbonmatsu, John (2004). The Jargon of Culture and the Banality of Political Theory. Social Theory and Practice 30, no. 2. Read More