A Global Community

Globalization is a complex concept, yet it can be summed up by a simple definition: it is the process through which the world is becoming a global, interconnected community.  Because of the worldwide presence of massive media conglomerates, as well as the amount of communications technology currently present, their influence expands beyond the borders of the countries in which they are located.  This allows far away countries to be affected by their output.  Therefore, a certain part of the origin country's culture can be adopted by far-away countries.

One part of globalization is glocalization.  Glocalization is the process by which a successful idea/formula in one country is adopted and molded to appeal to the culture of another country.  This can be done with such things as movies, TV shows, books, and music.  With some major (or sometimes slight) tweaks to the original concept, the idea can be geared toward the adopting country's audiences.  This is a common practice with media companies because it lessens the creative thought process.  The idea for their product is already there.  All that they have to do is apply the changes.  It has become an especially common practice in the 2000s.  Sometimes this practice can work extremely well, and sometimes it can fail miserably.

A perfect example of glocalization is the American remaking of Japanese horror films.  This was a common practice in the 2000s, with numerous Asian horror films being adapted to be presented to American audiences.  It started when Dreamworks adapted the 1998 Japanese horror film, Ringu.  When it was first released in its home country, it was the highest grossing film.  Japanese audiences clearly took well to this film, and the executives at Dreamworks picked up on that.  The result was the hit 2002 film, The Ring, which grossed $129 million in the United States.  It also had a foreign gross of $120 million, so its impact was clearly felt globally.  This success led to further adaptations of Japanese horror films, such as Ju-on (adapted into The Grudge), Dark Water (adapted into a film of the same name), and Kairo (adapted into Pulse).  It also led to sequels to these films which had no relation to the original Japanese sequels (The Ring 2 and The Grudge 2).  This is the perfect example of glocalization because it shows precisely how something successful in one country can be carried over into another country.  This is how these films turn into  globalized products.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9Z-MOqAvtY


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cV3YhFDBFZ8

5 Gum Advertisement: Solstice

The entire series of TV advertisements for Wrigley's 5 brand of gum is stunning, although one of them stands out in my mind as the most effective.  It is for the winter mint flavor, named "solstice."  The commercial takes place in a dark and snowy setting, in which a large iceberg are present.  A woman emerges onto a platform above the iceberg.  She presses a button which engages a machine below the iceberg from which flames emerge, causing the iceberg to melt.  While it melts, the woman proceeds to dive off of the platform and into the pool that forms from the melting ice.  This juxtaposition of fire and ice is the visual representation of how this flavor of gum simultaneously cools and heats up the inside of the chewer's mouth.  I found this to be an effective ad because of its visual beauty.  It looks nothing like an ad for gum.  Rather, it looks like a 30-second long Hollywood summer blockbuster.  This is the type of creativity that is found in automobile commercials.  The people who created this ad clearly put a lot of effort into it, effort which is usually not put into advertisements.  That helps me to buy into the ad more than I do for a J.G. Wentworth ad or a Free Credit Score ad.  That's what I, personally, like so much about it.

This ad appeals to the aesthetic senses of consumers.  In order for an ad to appeal to aesthetic senses, it has to display clear, artistic qualities of its own, meaning that it cannot be shoddily crafted.  It has to have time, care and creativity put into its craftsmanship, such as an artist would put into his/her own work.  I think that another characteristic of this sort of ad appeal is that the ad has to have a distinctive color palette.  This can help to set it apart from other ads and make it stick out in someone's mind, although the argument can be made that this would be a matter of opinion.  Also, these kinds of ads have to be at least 30 seconds in length.  A quick 10 or 15-second ad is not enough time to completely stimulate someone's aesthetic senses enough to make the ad remain in his/her mind.  That requires a minimum of 30 seconds (unless it's a print ad, of course).

The solstice ad clearly contains all of these qualities.  A person can tell, just from viewing it once, that the designers put a lot of effort into this ad and wanted it to have the maximum effect that it could on viewers.  Nothing happens in this ad that ruins its effect on viewers.  Everything that happens serves a purpose in it.  In my opinion, they succeeded.  Also, the color palate is a dazzling mixture of blue, black, and orange.  There are no off-kilter colors that ruin the illusion.  Finally, the ad lasts 32 seconds, so it lasts long enough to make an impression.  It definitely does leave an impression.  This is one of the most aesthetically appealing ads that I have ever seen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RE4CHTiHS_8