Media & Cultural Invasion

Cultural invasion in literal terms is when a political or economic power tries to alter the cultural foundations of a system or a nation to make it dependent and insufficient in their own being just so they have to rely on external factors to import new ideas, values and practices making them achieve their goals. Through these attempts, they become successful in replacing new cultures in the place of pre-existing national values and cultures of that nation. While this may be helpful for the global community to prosper as a whole, embracing new ideas and cultures altogether, it can very many times dilute the richness and potency of a particular culture. Often times this may be perceived as highly offensive and disrespectful towards a particular culture.

This also leads us to the concept of cultural imperialism and hegemony. Cultural imperialism is when one nation coerces and exerts power over another while cultural hegemony is the power of one group over another, as said by an Italian critic and philosopher called Gramsci. His ideologies were also very much influenced by Karl Marx, a German philosopher and economist. The way media works, cultural invasion is almost inevitable. Here’s how and why.

My stance is that media definitely has a role in cultural invasion, but more so by the process of globalization. As the world tends to change economically, politically and culturally, it was only in the best of everyone’s interest that the world prospered, modernized and became relevant in every dynamic possible. The reality is that the South Asian culture was very rich in its own regard. However, heavily influenced by the norms of patriarchy and deep-rooted sexism. The main problem was that many people had internalized the customs of patriarchy in their everyday commotions that it didn’t even seem like a problem. It was only when we were exposed to the western media that we came to realize some of the very problematic customs in our everyday lives. For example, it is only when we watch shows on feminism that we have come to realize that it is not always the woman’s job to cook and clean for the family or that it’s not a man’s moral obligation to earn money and provide for the family. Although media has not been fully successful in eradication of preconceived gender roles, it has certainly made efforts to educate people in what is morally or ethically right or wrong.

Not to forget, that linguistic imperialism is also a consequence of cultural imperialism directed by mass media. Take the example of American TV shows. Most shows streamed on Netflix, our cable networks and other forums all talk in English in a typical American accent. This has made most worldwide consumers stick to American word forms such as pronouncing “Vaai-tamins” to “Vit-amins” and “cookie” to what was before referred to as a “biscuit”. American accent is glamorized and glorified and therefore, in the consumer’s eyes, is the more sought after one.

Social media has cultivated cultural invasion too. It has the power to fixate one on a given ideology. For example, taking the fourth wave of feminism as an example, the Aurat March posters stirred a lot of controversy for how overtly forward and disparaging they were keeping typical Pakistani culture in mind. Culturally inappropriate posters included slogans like “Consent ki tasbeeh rozana parhein”, “Mera jism, meri marzi”, “we want period-friendly Pakistan”, “nazar teri gandi aur pardah mein karoon?” etc. By decontextualizing the media it can change a lot of meanings and messages that is embedded in the media and also it can deliver a different interpretation, how these posters and its messages have been interpreted.

Toffler, a notable author has been predicting technological changes since his first book, Future Shock, published in 1970. His book suggests with remarkable accuracy, the changing trends in our society and how it has affected us in a lot of ways. With this, would like to introduce the concept of “McDonaldization” effect by media on us. To begin with, let’s first explore what McDonaldization actually refers to. So the root word, McDonald’s, is a fast-food chain with its franchise in almost every country in the world. With introduction to typical American cuisine tastes like hamburgers, French-fries and deep-fried chicken/nuggets to every corner of the world, there is a danger of the world shunning their own rich cuisines and adopting primarily American food itself. Not only is this food surprisingly similar in its ingredients and tastes, but also requires less effort than to change its ingredients suiting the majority of a nation’s palate. In fact, the nation had to adapt their taste buds to like hamburgers and fries than the actual restaurant altering its food to be liked by the masses. Soon people developed their tastes and liking towards these food items and they were and still are a global hit.

Food chains and franchises like these that have gone global tend to make heavy bucks and profits just by selling their items.  Relating this concept with what media’s agenda is nowadays, the same news is being circulated all over mass-media forums and channels with little changes made to them. With little effort, these media agencies tend to make a lot of money because people’s demand to get the latest hot gossip is being supplied and met by them.

Let’s about the Western standards of beauty next. The way the media projects extremely demoralizing and dehumanizing standards of beauty and external perfection is beyond rationality. Despite the fact that we all understand that beauty standards are fickle and are subjected to change all the time, we still believe the marketing tactics of beauty companies on media. How a woman’s body is and should be like, as portrayed by product advertising companies, is hugely different from what natural human bodies are like. Tight, fair skin, big eyes, a small button-like nose, juicy plump lips, a sharp jawline, a cinched and tiny waist, big bust and hips, muscular hips; all these traits are associated to what a conventionally beautiful woman is or should be like.

Advertising agencies on mass, social and new media are adamant in instilling this information in women’s heads that they are not perfect and hence they should buy their products to achieve perfection. This billion-dollar industry is thriving just because they have been successful in altering the ways women perceive their bodies. This cultural hegemony related to women’s bodies has resulted into them falling prey to consumerism addiction. An example could be whitening creams that are readily been marketed in TV commercials. When the model says, “Yeh laga kar tum ho jao gi gori gori.”, a housewife staying at home, who’s only exposure to the outside world is TV itself, when exposed to an ad like this will think that there’s something wrong with her complexion. This sense of not being enough, will persuade her into buying the product advertises. This is a vicious cycle that keeps going on. Little did she know, that the reason Pakistani’s are so obsessed with fair skin is in fact the aftermath of white skin and white people being glorified on media platforms. South Asians, due to their close proximity with the Equator, will always have more melanin in their skin. It’s necessary for our survival. But cultural invasion has successfully made that housewife think that she’s not enough in her being.

I am not denying the fact that media doesn’t have the power to reverse cultural invasion, but in the likes of examples given above, towards me, it’s more of a cultural invader than the opposite. But I also do agree that it has made the world seem like a giant melting pot of cultures. For example, here in Pakistan, modern and liberal Muslims tend to celebrate Eid and Christmas just for how festive they are or can be. Even though, they are not practicing Christians, just how glamorous and celebratory Christmas looks in Western movies makes us want to celebrate and participate in Christmas too. These outside forces really shape the way we think and act.

Moreover, nudity, pornographic content, Hindu and Christian culture and Indian entertainment are other factors that have crept into our daily lives, has exposed us to matters pertaining to these and consciously or unconsciously made us adopt many practices and cultures. This is how the power dynamic works. The process of globalization has become a unidirectional gateway to American and Indian mass media entering Pakistan, whether we like it or not. We’re all participants in cultural invasion, there’s no denying to that in my opinion.

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