U.S. Pop Culture: America's Unrivaled Global Export - Essay Sample

Introduction

The United States has dominated the world with its pop culture and the eminence of celebrities in all sectors of entertainment. The extent to which the U.S has taken over the entertainment industry is in the lucid affirmation that the greatest export is not the product of the farms or the goods from steel, concrete or other multinational industries; but rather the consumption of America-made entertainment and pop-culture products such as movies, music, magazines, television shows, books, software and fashion. "According to Commerce Department data and industry figures in 1996 only, international sale of software and entertainment products totalled 60.2 billion dollars which were more than any other U.S industry" (Farhi and Rosenfeld, 1998). With studies and researches trying to understand the phenomenon behind the predominant adoption of the U.S pop culture, some researchers have claimed that its because the nation is a superpower which is not entirely accurate seeing that Russia, China and Japan do not have the same ascendancy. Notwithstanding that the U.S could have used the influence derived from being a superpower, other factors associated with the status are apparent such as the augmentation of the English language, innovation and technological advancement, economic growth, weakened tribal and national ties, and the U.S historical context and reconstruction.

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Augmentation of the English Language. The cogent attestation of the global market dominance in pop culture started growing since after World War 2. The nation revamped its lifestyle and culture ushering in new generation renown as the 'Baby Boomers'. U.S pop culture redesigned in towards the end of the 20th century. The change is attributed to the assimilation of the immigrants and native residents into English speaking residents. English is currently the most widely spoken language and according to Motion Picture Association of America, films produced in the language gross in around 60-65% of the global box office annually (Farhi and Rosenfeld, 1998). The films produced in the U.S have a big market owing to over 100 countries that speak English. However, The U.S films are also procured and watched in Non-English speaking countries that are quietly learning the language and adopting American pop culture such as El Salvador. More countries that do not communicate in English are embracing the language and purchasing the U.S pop culture products such as music, movies and magazines.

Innovation and technological advancement. Culture globalization which entails the transmission of cultural and political ideologies across nations is partly owed to the meteoric technological growth and innovations. Since the inception of new ideas and instruments of communication, the proliferation of American pop culture is evident. Many young people in developed and developing nations venturing into the entertainment industries are adopting and copying the lifestyles of American celebrities. Since the U.S pioneered and spearheaded the advent of cable television and the World Wide Web, exhibiting the pop culture and lifestyle has become possible and quite frankly effortless. "Multinational and transnational communication and media corporations use wireless, fibre optic, and web-based technologies to manage and market their products globally." (Feigenbaum, 2001, pg 12). The internet has availed information easily to all people.

Economic growth. Virtually every nation in the world has seen the growth of the economy in the last two decades consequently inducing wealth to individuals by the virtue of increased employment and better opportunities to make money than in the past. "The outcome of increased prosperity is two most vital necessities to obtaining entertainment: leisure time and disposable income" (Farhi and Rosenfeld, 1998). Global consumerism has resulted in the procurement of cable television sets, T.Vs, DVDs, laptops and desktops, Stereos and other software and hardware devices. Many countries have purchased access to most U.S content through cable and satellite devices and magazines such as Cosmopolitan, Reader's Digest and Playboy topping over 4 million international sales each.

Tribal and National Ties and U.S Historical, Racial Context. Most countries have disavowed their national and state controls and policies to endorse the free market and free trade schemes which the U.S has pioneered causing mitigation on tribal and national ties. The U.S history which connotes struggles to achieve a free world seen since the end of the world wars and cold wars and the immigration waves which would diversify the demography of the nation revolutionized the entertainment industry raising celebrities and platforms to nurture new stars to spread the pop culture of a free world.

Conclusion

The profound interest in American pop culture is partly good and bad. It has positively caused a seismic shift to mass cultural globalization, acknowledgement of differences and diversity, global unity and multiculturalism but had negative implications such as vulgarization, trivialization and much worse are pathologies of culture (Blakley and Norman Lear Center, 2001, pg 4). The culture has tagged along with sexual objectification of women and erosion of indigenous traditional cultures which instil morals.

Works Cited

Blakley, Johanna, and Norman Lear Center. "Entertainment Goes Global: Mass Culture in a Transforming World." USC Annenburg. The Norman Lear Center. Los Angeles, California (2001). https://learcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/EntGlobal2.pdf

Farhi, Paul, and Megan Rosenfeld. "American Pop Penetrates Worldwide." The Washington Post 25 (1998): www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1998/10/25/american-pop-penetrates-worldwide/3416df02-7643-4894-9771-6dabd05f2bd1/?utm_term=.235f906c600c. Accessed on 22nd April 2019

Feigenbaum, Harvey B. Globalization and Cultural Diplomacy. Center for Arts and Culture, 2001.