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