Reader Response -edited-

The article titled "Globalization of Culture Through the Media" (Kraidy,2002) states that there has been a debate about the media influence on “globalization of culture”. The author discusses different perspectives on the debate. The first is cultural imperialism and second is globalization, which occurred after the Cold War. To conclude, the article also explains about cultural hybridization as another form of globalization that was largely supported by the media.

I agree with the conclusion of this article that the globalization of culture is a process of hybridization rather than a complete homogenization. If globalization were a homogenization, the cultures in almost every country would be the same now as the globalization has happened all over the world. But in this world, we can see that it does not happen. Every country still has its own unique and distinct culture, although we cannot deny that it has been changed or reformed because of the effect of globalization.

For example, there are a lot of Indonesian restaurants in overseas now. Since Indonesian foods are mostly spicy, the level of spiciness is different in one country to another. In the Western countries such as the U.S. and European countries, the Indonesian foods served are less spicy because the people there generally are not used to eat spicy foods.

As much as I agree with Kraidy, I would like to say that this article can be better if it gives clearer example of cultural imperialism, globalization, and hybridization. Also, it can be improved by explaining the strengths and weaknesses of globalization.

To explain further, cultural hybridization is something that already has existed but is becoming stronger with the help of media, that media becomes the connector between the countries all over the world and thus, makes the cultural hybridization happened faster.  It is true that cultural hybridization is not about Westernization. Cultural hybridization has happened all over the world. Now, people in U.S. can watch Singapore’s movie, people in Japan can French, people in all over the world can watch the on-going Sochi Winter Olympics live on their TV or even better, by smart phone.

Globalization has its own strengths and weaknesses. Therefore, we must be selective and careful to choose which part of globalization we should take or leave. We need to consider our principles and cultures. 

Reference

Kraidy, M. M. (2002). Globalization of Culture Through the Media. Retrieved from http://repository.upenn.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1333&context=asc_papers