PRESERVING AMERICAN DOMINANCE THROUGH GLOBAL CULTURE CONSTRUCTION IN
PRESERVING AMERICAN DOMINANCE THROUGH GLOBAL CULTURE CONSTRUCTION IN AVATAR: THE LAST AIRBENDER THESIS
Submitted as a Partial Fulfillment of Requirement for the SarjanaSastra Degree of the English Department
Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts
SebelasMaret University
by: ARWAN WISNU PRADANA C0306001
ENGLISH DEPARTMENT FACULTY OF LETTERS AND FINE ARTS SEBELAS MARET UNIVERSITY SURAKARTA 2012
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PRONOUNCEMENT
Name : ArwanWisnuPradana NIM
: C0306001
Hereby, it is stated that this thesis entitled “Preserving American Dominance
through Global Culture Construction in Avatar: The Last Airbender” is made and completed by the researcher. It is not plagiarism nor made by others. Everything related to other people ’s works are written in quotation and mentioned within the bibliography. If it is then proved that this pronouncement is incorrect, the researcher will be ready to take the responsibility.
Surakarta, 13 September 2012 The researcher
ArwanWisnuPradana
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MOTTO
“Ora et labora”
“Where there's a will, there's a way”
“Today is always the most enjoyable day” (YotsubaKoiwai)
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DEDICATION
The thesis is dedicated to:
Myself, My beloved family, andAmerican Studies scholars
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
First of all, I want to thank Allah SWT, for the blessing so that I can finish this thesis. Thank you for giving me strength and showing me the right direction in making a decision. So many support and helps are given to me so that this thesis can be finished well. Therefore, I would like to say my deepest gratitude for themall in this acknowledgement.
I want to thank Drs. RiyadiSantosa, M.Ed., Ph.D, the Dean of Faculty of
Letters and Fine Arts, and Drs. AgusHariWibowo, M.A., Ph.D, the Head of English Department, for giving me permission to write the thesis. I want to thank all English Department’s lectures, especially the American Studies’
lecturers, for giving me a lot of knowledge and understanding of American Studies.
I give my deepest gratitude to FitriaAkhmertiPrimasita, S.S., M.A, as my
thesis advisor who gives her full support and time helping me in writing this thesis. Thank you for being a patient advisor. Thank you for all knowledge and advices have been given.
I thank the board of examiners: Dra. S.K. Habsari, M.Hum, Ph.D., Taufiq
Al Makmun, S.S., M.Si., and KaruniaPurna K, S.S., M.Si.for sharing their precious criticism that contribute to this thesis.
Thanks for my beloved family . My Mom and Dad, my “Mr. and Mrs Smith”, thank for always praying and caring for your silly boy. I also want to
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thank my little sister, you can always cheer me up with your absurd and silly acts. After all, I am meaningless without them.
I specially thank Chindy and Wulan. This thesis is finished for you, Lan.
For Chindy, it has been finished then it is time to finish the other things. Both of you are extraordinary for me. Thanks for the support, care, time and everything have been given to me.
I gratefully thank all of my friends in English Department 06. It was an
amazing years with all of you guys. I want thank Kiki for the sharing knowledge, the discussion, and your sharp-tongue.It will need agreat effort to finish this thesiswithout your help. To Iyum, let get your thesisfinished. For Lala and Bimo, Vadila and Vendra, be a happy couple. To Vika, Dila, Hamid, Susi, Pondra, Rena, Herman,Fajar, and all my friends in ED 06 who I can not mention one by one, thank for the friendship. It is wonderful to know you all.
I also want to say thank you to my friends in Cattleyaboarding house. For
Hanif, Singgih, Fiqi, Naja, Fikri, and Arnaz, it is nice to be part of you all.
Last but not least, I want to say thanks to everyone who has given contribution inthe writing of the thesis whose name can not be mentioned here one by one. Thank you very much.
Surakarta, 13 September 2012
ArwanWisnuPradana
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2. The Construction of Global Culture in the Main Characters of Avatar: the Last Airbender ................................................................
42
3. The Construction of Global Culture in the Narration of Avatar: the Last Airbender ................................................................................... 61
B. The Domination of American culture in the Global Culture Construction in Avatar: the Last Airbender …..………………….........
65 CHAPTER IV: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
A. Conclusion .............................................................................................. 77
B. Recommendation .................................................................................... 80
BIBLIOGRAPHY .......................................................................................................
82
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ABSTRACT
ArwanWisnuPradana. C0306001. 2012. Preserving American Dominance through Global Culture Construction in Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Undergraduate Thesis.English Department of Faculty of Letters and Fine Arts SebelasMaret University.
This research is purposed to explain how the global culture is constructed in the animation series and how the global culture construction preserves Americandominance, whether the creators respond to the changing course of global culture in construction of Avatar: the Last Airbenderortheypreserve the American culture in the construction of the global culture.
This research is a descriptive qualitative research which uses several episodes of Avatar: the Last Airbenderanimation seriesas its source of data. The primary data consists of dialogues, characters and characterization, and setting of place. It is supported with secondary data taken from of journals, internet articles and another animation series.
The research is conducted under the framework of American Studieswhich is an interdisciplinary study. Therefore, it involves some disciplines in the forms of theory and approach in analysing the animation series.In answering the research question, the researcher uses global culture theory, semiotic theory, and socio-cultural approach.
After conducting the research, it is found that Avatar: the Last Airbenderis constructed with global culture value that combines American and Asian culture. The construction of the main characters, setting of place, and the story showtheglobal cultureasa combination of American andAsian culture influence. However,the animation series still preservesAmerican culture dominancedespite its rich Asian culture influence.It can be said as American value in Asian package. This is a n Americans’ response ofthe emergence of Asian rising power thatmakes
a changing course of global culture.They try to find a way to welcome Asia as the new global culture and at the same time preserve their domination in the world's cultural contestation.
Keywords : global culture, popular culture, Asian culture, American dominance,
animation.
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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
A. Research Background
Globalization has changed the world condition today. It influences many aspects of life and relations of society in the world. Globalization has given a strong impact to every part of human life. It changes the way people communicate, changes cultures and even it can change the taste of food. Globalization hasled to aprocess in making global culture of the world. Globalization isnot only seen as a process but also a project, not only a realitybut also belief. It is believed that global culture will emerge with the rise of globalization (Wang and Yeh, 2005, p.176). Everything, especially products of culture, nowadays seem to have the same taste. This phenomenon can be called as global culture.
Global culture refers to the way globalization has undermined national and local cultures, with cultural products and ways of life in different countries of the world becoming more alike. It is a synergetic effect of market forces, technology, and freedoms of movement, a contemporary variant on the well-known theme of cultural diffusion, which for centuries has been a subject of study (Krzysztofek,2002, p. 4).
The society of the world has been entering the global economy where people can have economic transaction andexchange technology and information easily and globally. It also createswide marketplace for marketing any cultural and consumer product.Global culture is often believed as American popular culture (Barber, 1998, p. 1). The similar cultural and consumer products are now sold
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across the world and people seem to have one world culture.It is believed that the world citizen will lose their cultural diversity and one culture will be experienced by all people.
Global culture is believed as American culture (Barber, 1998, p. 1), especially American popular culture. There are many American popular culture products, for example music, fashion, fast food, and movie. Companies like
McDonald‟s, Coca Cola, Starbucks, and Nike are now symbols that are recognized across the world, along with the consumer lifestyles and culture
associated with them.Another American popular cultures that widely spread all over the world are American media empires with the movies and TV series.They sell their television programs and program formats like Who Wants to be a Millionaire? andAmerica ’s Got Talent globally.
However these American popular culture products have no longer dominated the world market.Another power emergesand erodes the American domination. It is the rising of Asian power.China, Japan, India and South Korea have arisen as the new economic power of the world.Now, their economic power can be equalized with the United States‟ (Campbell, 2002, p. 61).This rising Asian
power has successfully penetrates global market with its commodities, especially United States‟ market itself.The Asian cultures also spread along with these Asian
exported commodities. The Asian cultures, such as Asian food, fashion, or anime, successfully take the people‟s interest. The rising Asian cultureseizes the American culture position as the global culture (Tay, n.d.). Certainly, it changes the course of the global culture.
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The changing course of the global culture also changes the course of American popular culture.This phenomenon brings a new development in American popular culture, especially in the media industry. The American media empires have noticed this phenomenon and tried to respond it. They try to compromise with the changing course of global culture by modifying their globalized products in order to preserve their existence and domination. One of the compromises is employing and combining the rising culture, which is Asian culture, into their product.As a globalized product, it requires adaptation to local parameters of tastes and styles and may involve a level of coproduction between corporations to share risk and attempt to maximize profit (Pagliassotti, 2009, p. 1).
The result ofthe changing course of American popular culture can be seen in Avatar: the Last Airbender animation series. It can be regarded as one of American TV series produced as a response to the emergence of global culture.This animation is createddifferently from the other American famous cartoon series and movies such as Disney‟s Micky Mouse, Warner Bros‟ Looney
Tunes, Scooby Doo or the other American cartoons. This animation series is created with the combination of American and Asian culture influence.
The Asian cultures can be seen clearly in Avatar: the Last Airbender, even it can be said that Asian culture plays a dominant role in the series(London &Hamesley, n.d.). The character designs are heavily influenced by anime (Japanese animation). This cannot be found in American‟s animation movies and series that have been mentioned before. There is another interesting aspect of Avatar , that both creators are Americans but they have produced an animation
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series with Asian setting and culture influences. This animation series was also produced by many crews coming from different background of culture (www.avatarspirit.net). There are American, Chinese, Korean, Latin, and Japanese. The production staff also employs an Asian cultural consultant.
Avatar: the Last Airbender tells a story about a 12-year-old boy named Aang who was chosen to be an avatar, the world savior. Aang had to save the world by defeating Fire Lord and his Fire Nation who wanted to dominate the world. In the journey to save the world Aang met some friends who helped him in his struggle to save the world, they were Katara, Soka, Toph, and Zuko. All of his friends came from different background and culture, for instance Katara and Soka were from Water Tribe, Toph came from EarthKingdom and Zuko came from Fire Nation. Meanwhile Aang was an air nomad, he is the last and the only air nomad in the world. In order to save the world, Aang must master the four elements bending: air, water, earth, and fire bending. This story was ended with a happy ending, Aang could master the four elements and finally he could defeat the Fire Lord to save the world.
Avatar: the Last Airbender is broadcastedfrom 2005 to 2008 by Nickelodeon, an American cable television channel that specifically broadcasts programs for children and tenageer. Avatar was set in Asian influenced world.This animation series was co-created and produced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Brian Konietzko. Michael Dante DiMartino is the executive producer, co-creator, and story editor of Avatar series. He is an American animation director who was born in Point Place, Wisconsin (London &Hamesley,
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n.d.). Brian Konietzko is an American executive producer and co-creator and for Avatar: the Last Airbender, Brian is a storyboard artist and art director for the Nickelodeon (ibid). This shows that both of Avatar: the Last Airbendercreators are Americans. However, they could create a unique cartoon series with Asian culture influence whichcan be regarded as a successful and popular animation series (Tony, n.d.)
Avatar: the Last Airbender is a successful animation series both in US and outside US.Avatar is popular with both audiences and critics, gathering 5.6 million viewers on its best-rated showing and receiving high ratings in the Nicktoons program lineup. This series has won many awards such as Pulcinella Awards 2005 for the Best Action/Adventure TV Series and the Best TV Series, Nickelodeon Kid's Choice Awards 2008 : Favorite Cartoon, 2008 Peabody Awards : "Unusually complex characters and healthy respect for theconsequences of warfare", and many more (www.avatarspiritmedia.net).
Theuniqueness and successfulness of Avatar: the Last Airbendermake this animation series interesting to be analyzed. Moreover, cartoon or animation can reflect the anxiety within American culture.A study of animation also offers insight into mytho-political, and indeed mytho-poetic zeitgeist of a nation (Wells, 1998, p. 6). For that reason, this research choseAvatar: the Last Airbenderas the object of study. This research tried to find out how American, through Avatar: the Last Airbender animation series, respond to the emergence of global culture. Do the creators preserve the construction of global culture with the American culture influence or they respond to the changing course of the global culture or not?
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Thus, it needs to find outhow global culture is constructed in Avatar: the Last Airbender. The answer of this question leads to the next problem. It is about the way global culture construction in Avatar: the Last AirbenderpreservesAmerica dominance, as it is believed that American always maintain their dominance especially in cultural contestation.
B. Scope of Study
This research focuses on the global culture that emerges recently and how theAvatar: the Last Airbenderanimation series respondsto the emergence of global culture. This research tries to analyze theconstruction of global culture in the main characters, setting, and narration of Avatar: the Last Airbender. This research only focuses onthe discussion of the three elements of the animation series.It does not bring the discussion into further analysis of animation because this researchonlyanalyzes the global culture that emerges in elements ofAvatar: the Last Airbender animation series.
C. Research Questions
Based on the background above, this research formulates research questions as follows:
Avatar: the Last Airbender animation series?
2. How does the global cultureconstruction in Avatar: the Last Airbender preserve Americandominance?
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D. Objectives of the Study
Based on the research questions, the objectives of the thesis are:
1. To explain how global cultureis constructedin Avatar: the Last Airbender animation series.
2. To explain how the global culture construction in Avatar: the Last Airbender preserves American dominance.
E. Benefits of the Study
This research is conducted in the substances of:
1. Providing data and analysis about global culture especially that emerges in Avatar: the Last Airbenderanimation series.
2. Giving knowledge about the American popular culture especially in the scope of cartoon and animation series.
F. Research Methodology
1. Type of Research The method of research employed in the study is descriptive qualitative. Descriptive qualitative research is a research that collects descriptive data and the written results of the research contain quotations from the data to illustrate and give description of the report (Bogdan&Biklen, 1982, p. 27). The collected data arein the form of words and pictureswhich is taken from the sources of data.
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2. Data and Source of Data This research uses two kinds of data. They areprimary data and supporting data. The primary data refer to the firsthand observation and study by a researcher (Berger, 2000, p. 23). The primary data consistsof dialogues, characters and characterization, and setting of placecollected from the source of data.The source of data of this research isall of the episodes of the animation series entitled Avatar: the Last Airbender produced by Michael Dante DiMartino and Brian Konietzko.It comprises all of the season of the series which totally consists of 61 episodes.
The supporting data arein the form of information related to the topic of the research. The supporting data includes information of the socio-cultural condition of American society, information related to Avatar: The Last Airbender animation series,other animation series, journals,and internet articles whichare obtained by browsing the internet and doing library studies.
3. Technique of Collecting Data The research is started by watching the serial Avatar: the Last Airbender repeatedly in order to understand the story well and collect the data. The data are collected by watching the series repeatedly and cutting the scenes from Avatar animation series. The scenes are cut into several still pictures to make the analysis easier. Then, the scenes are selected to collect the scenes that contain the issue of global culture. Purposive sampling technique is used to collect the data
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which areappropriated with the research objectives and contained important information related to the research.
4. Technique of Analyzing Data The main data are first selected and classified in order to make this research stay focus on the research questions. After having classified, the data are analyzed by using some theories. Interdisciplinary approaches are used in conducting the analysis. The supporting data are also used in the analysis to give a further information and understanding about the main data.The last step is making the conclusion to complete the research.
G. Theoretical Approach
Thisresearchis conducted under the framework of American Studies.American studies isthe study of American culture and it is a branch of modern literate culture studies that requires knowledge of many discipline (Sykes, 1963, p.255). American Studies is an interdisciplinary study, it allows to enclose multidisciplinary approaches in analyzing data. It means that several approaches can be applied to analyze the data. It needs to employ several kinds of approaches in order to conduct the analysis and answer the problem statement, especially in analyzing text into context. Neil Campbell and Alasdair Kean state that the center of an interdisciplinary enterprise is the relationship between text to be studied and context from which they come (Campbell and Kean, 1997,p. 4). The text which is analyzed in this research is the Avatar: The Legend of Aang animation series and
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the respond of the emergence of global culture in the series is the context that is tried to be exposed in the analysis.
One of the American studies‟ focus is on popular culture. Popular culture can be defined as mass commercial culture that is produced in mass by profit conscious creators ( “Pop Culture”, n.d.). Nachbar and Lause state that popular culture is a product of culture that has been accepted or approved of by large numbers of people. Popular culture comes from the society and it reflects the condition of the society in the form of beliefs and values (Nachbar and Lause, 1992, p. 12). Animation series or cartoon are popular culture products, they are created by producer in order to gain profit and also enjoyed by large number of people.
Avatar: the Last Airbender, the source of data in this research, is an animation series and it is considered a product of American popular culture. Therefore, popular culture theory can be used to analyze Avatar: the Last Airbender to reveal the context existingin it. From this background, hence studying American ‟s response to the emergence of global culture can be conducted through studying animation series as American popular culture.
Since the object of study is animation, it needs to employ animation theory to know the basic understanding of animation. The animation theory studies the creation of animation. It studies how the creation of movement in paper, manipulating clay, adjusting model and putting into the frames of film (Wells, 1998, p. 10).However, animation is not just a giving motion to a drawing or manipulating inanimate things. There is a process of applying idea that make
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animation can carry important meaning and engage with social issues. This research employs the theory developed by Paul Wells. He argued that studying animation is about analyzing how meaning is generated by unique vocabulary available to the animator which is not provided by live-action film-maker(ibid: 11). This is what makes animation different from movie.Movie presents the construction of the narrative and visual environment by copying the real world, it is tried to have a construction as similar as the real world.Meanwhile, animation tends to transform the reality into the construction of its narrative and visual environment (Holloway in Wells, 1998, p. 10).Therefore, analyzing animation is different from analyzing movie.
Animation is created with the process of giving movement to an object through process of drawing, manipulating and adjusting object, and many more. However,animation is not only an art of movement drawing (Solomon in Wells, 1998, p. 10) but it also a drawing that represents human ideas (Bendazzi in Wells, 1998, p. 7). The creation process also involves the style and idea of the creator. Therefore, it will produce a distinct feature that only possesses by animation. The animation theory is used to identify the distinct feature of animation,so that it can
be conducted analysis through this distinct feature. The research deals with animation series which isproduced through a construction process. Therefore, it needs a semiotics supported with understanding of animation theory in conducting the analysis.Semiotics is used as the main tool to analyze the object of research and to explore how animation as a popular culture product reflect beliefs and values of American society
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Semiotics has become the main instrument in cultural studies research. Semiotics can be used for analyzing any product of human culture from pictures, clothes, body language, including animation film and series. Semiotic is the science of sign (Berger, 2000, p. 35). It is important to apply the semiotic because the main data is an animation series that contains many signs.The theory of prominent figure in semiotics, Roland Barthes, is applied in the analysis.Roland Barthes ‟ theory is based on semiology of Ferdinand de Saussure.Saussure divides sign into signifiers and signified. The signifiers are the sounds and images, and the signified are the concept brought by the sounds and images into our mind. Both of them have an arbitrary relation (ibid:37).According to Barthez, there are two level of signification; denotation stage andconnotation stage. The signifier and signified are the first level of signification called as denotation.Behind the first level of signification, there is secondary significationthat is called as connotation.Barthezuses the concept of connotative semiotics to reveal the myth behind a text (Noth, 1990, p. 312).
The animation scenes which are produced through construction process will deliver denotative and connotative meaning. Therefore the animation scene must not be interpreted as it is, since it contains connotative meaning. The connotative meaning in series animation isconstructed in the elements such as characters, setting, and narration.To understand the connotative behind the construction, it needs the use of semiotics. However,discovering the connotative meaning must consider the construction of the animation series element. It is because different construction produces different meaning.For example in the
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construction of the character, it is found that an American animation character constructed with Asian appearance and costume. Here, semiotics takes its role as a tool to read the text.It is used to discover what is happened behind the employing of Asian culture influence in American animation.
Besides the understanding of the signs in the animation and its signification,it needs to understand social and cultural background of a society where the animation series come from. Therefore, this researchemployssosio- cultural approach.The socio-cultural approach is used to know how human social and activity are organized through culturally constructed artifact (Lantolf, 2000: 1). The culturally constructed artifact here can be any product of human culture, Moving picture, such as film and animation, can be categorized as artifact, or product of culture, that is culturally constructed (ibid). In this research, the socio- cultural approach is used to analyze the global culture phenomenon existing in the animation series. It is used to know the influence of the social and cultural condition toward the construction of global culture in Avatar: the Last Airbender, especially in its relation to the globalization. The socio-cultural approach can be applied in analyzing global culture since global cultureemerges from social intercourse of different people and different cultures (Tomlison, n.d.)
Global culture as a part of globalization process is often believed as the way of Americanization (Barber, 1998, p. 1). It is parallel with theory developed by Benjamin R. Barber. It is believed to the ideathat lifestyles, cultures and consumer behavior will be similar all around the world, which is Americanization(Capcioglu, 2008, p. 11). American always wants to dominate the
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world in the globalization. One of American‟s tools to achieve this is popular culture. America adopted and „Americanized‟ local cultures and construct them into their popular culture product containing American ideology. Then it is exported to other parts of the world through free-market ideologies (Capcioglu, 2008, p. 11). This research argues that thisis what happens in the construction of Avatar: the Last Airbender. Using global culture theory, this research tries to analyze how America preserves the dominance through the construction of global culture in Avatar: the Last Airbender.
H. Thesis Organization
This thesis is divided into four chapters and each chapter is divided into some subchapters. Those chapters are Chapter I Introduction, Chapter II Literature
Review, Chapter III Discussion, and Chapter IV Conclusion and Recommendation. The first chapter, Introduction is divided into eight subchapters. These are Research Background, Scope of Study, Research Questions, Objectives of the Study, Benefits of the Study, Research Methodology, Theoretical Approach, and Thesis Organization.
The second chapter, Literature Review, contains contextual and theoretical review. It explains about globalization and global culture, Asian culture, Animation which comprise American and Japanese animation, and Semiotic theory.
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The third chapter, Discussion, contains the analysis of the research. It is divided into two subchapters. The first subchapter discusses about the construction of global culture in the main characters, setting and narration ofAvatar: the Last Airbender animation series. The second subchapter describes how the global culture representation in the series preserves America‟s attempt to still dominate in the world cultural contestation.
The last chapter, Conclusion and Recommendation, provides explanation about the result and recommendation of the research.
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CHAPTER II LITERATURE REVIEW
A. Globalization and Global Culture
The world is now experiencing a process called globalization, where everything in the world becomes universal. Globalization refers to the process
which includes activities beyond a nation‟s border, and consolidation of group within new time and space combination (Capcioglu, 2008, p.10). Globalization is
the result of the development in communication, transportation, and information technologies. The growing of economy, politic, technology, and culture makesit easier for the individuals, society, businesses, and governments around the world to interact. It can be seen as a worldwide socio-cultural phenomenon that affects every aspects of human culture in everyday life. It seems that the world has no distanceanymore.
Globalization is mostly attributed to the improvement in communications, information technologies, and transportations.The development of communication device, such as cell phone and Internet, has made it much easier for people togive and to accessinformation. The communications satellites also allow global television channels to broadcasttheir programs and news all around the world.Improvements in transportations are also part of globalization. The advances of transportation vehicle make the world smaller because it only needs a little time totravel to another place in the world.The advances of transportations also provide low transportation costs,so it enablesthe companiesto
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ship their products around the world.All of the improvements have influenced social and cultural activity of the society all around the world.
For a long time, America has a bigcontribution in promoting globalization. US culture is now penetrating every continent through the dramatic
growth of mass communications such as music, television, films and the Internet, as well as through the penetration of American corporations into foreign countries. From China to France to the Middle East, foreign leaders and activists have expressed fear that global culture may become too Americanized, destroying their own cultural, economic, and religious traditions.(Jaja, 2010, p. 117)
The worldwide spread and dominance of American culture becomes the most controversial aspects of globalization. Many people fear that the spread of American culture throughout the world will replace their cultural diversity and globalization has been seen as Americanization.As stated by Wolfe, some academics, journalists, and political activists see this as cultural uniformity and consider it as an enemy (as cited in Heumann, n.d.). In fact, it can be seen that many people in the world try to adopt and adjust toward American mores and culture. Thus, this helps the spreading of American brands and commodity across the world.
A debate about cultural globalization has emergedin social science.There
is always a debate between scholars whether globalization will bring uniformity and homogenized culture or it will enrich the cultural differentiation by the interaction between global and local culture. Featherstone states that research in cultural globalization includes two rival hypotheses (as cited in Capcioglu, 2008, p. 11). The first theory believesthat cultural globalization brings uniformity of the
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world. The most known theory is developed by Benjamin R. Barbercalled “McWorld” theory.Barber argues that global culture is American.It is believed
that we live in “McWorld”, a world which is trapped within American culture.
McWorldrepresents anAmerican push into the future animated by onrushing economic, technological, and ecological forces that demand integration and uniformity and that mesmerize peopleeverywhere with fast music, fast computers, and fast food,MTV, Macintosh, and McDonald's -pressing nations into one homogeneous global culture, one McWorld tied together by communications, information, entertainment, and commerce.(Barber, 1998, p. 29).
Barber‟s theory emphasizes on how American culture exported to another place in the world throughtheir popular culture product.US media and entertainment industries, such as Disney and Hollywood, play a big role in exporting this product of culture.
Nowadays, the popular culture industries believe on cultural integration of the world. They also believe that cultures, lifestyle, and consumer behavior will become similar all around the world.The process of globalization tends to homogenize and make some parts of the modern social life universal. People have accepted the globalization and they have experienced similar culture.
However, at the same time, they try to resist the globalization by preserving and rebirthing their local and traditional culture. This leads to the second theory that believes on complex interaction between global and local culture. This theory emphasizes on how globalization process and local/national culture become interrelated. Furthermore, thisinteraction can produce cultural hybridization and cultural differentiation (Capcioglu, 2008, p. 12).Hybridization always involvesa mixture between two cultures. It often happens when a local
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culture interacts with the global culture. Even, sometimes a mixture of culture creates a new culture that can not be classified into a certain culture.
This research believed on the theory arguing that globalization has produced one world culture or called as global culture.This is an impact of three globalization basic dimensions which consists of economic globalization, political globalization, and cultural globalization (Smith in Capcioglu, 2008, p. 11). Theglobal culture is produced by cultural diffusion brought by cultural globalization.Krzysztofek has defined global culture as the synergetic effect of market forces, technology, and freedoms of movement; a contemporary variant on the well-known theme of cultural diffusion, which for centuries has been a subject of study (Krzysztofek, 2002, p. 4).
Cultural diffusion is the distinct character of global culture than can spread cultural values and ideas across the universe.Moreover, it also promotes eclectic forms and borrowings which lead to the development of a new species of cultures (Canclini in Krzysztofek, 2002, p. 4).For example, it is possible that the
American popular culture compromises with local culture, such as McDonald‟s burger served with French wine in Paris, Mickey speaking French at Euro-Disney, or pop music accented with Reggae and Latino rhythms in the Los Angeles barrio (Barber, 1998, p. 29). As can be seen in the example of the culture compromise,American culture does not swallow local culture up, instead it keeps the color and the distinction of local culture.However in the end, the products of the compromise are still seen as American cultural icons. This is the way
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Americanization happens.It seems like “an innocent Trojan-American horses nosing their way into other nations' cultures ” (Barber, 1998, p. 29).
United States,as a country which has a long time experience in promoting their popular culture as a commodity, has seen the global culture phenomenon as a promising trend to maintain their dominance. However, this condition has been changing by the awakening of Asia.This can be called as a new era of globalization.The new globalization is coming back to America in hybrid forms that may include more influences from many sources, especially from the rising Asia (Tay, n.d.).
Based on Simon Tay ‟s argument, the new globalization is not as such Americanization but is something that could be called "Global-as-Asian" (ibid) Asia will more easily and increasinglyenter the global commerce and influence. It can be seen by the increasing number of Asian immigrants in America and the number of Asians studying in American universities.Popular cultures from Asia, through Chinese food, Japanese anime, or Korean drama, areprogressively spreading not only in America but also in some part of the world.However, this does not mean that Asian influence and culture will fully replace the American ‟s that have spread globally.Asia will only take their place alongside the Americanized global influences.
B. Asian Culture
Asia is the largest continent on earth. It is also considered as the most populous continent. Asia encompasses almost 60% of the world population. This
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makes Asia rich in culture diversifications. Asia has many different and unique cultures. Therefore, Asia can be divided into five areas based on its region and culture. They are Central Asia, Southwest Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and East Asia.
Central Asia consists of formerly part of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) such as Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. Southwest Asia, or known as Middle East, consists of Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Turkey,and Saudi Arabia.However, the cultures existing in Southwest Asian and Central Asian countries cannot be considered Asian since they are influenced by Arabic and Russian culture respectively.
While Southeast Asia, South Asia, and East Asia are considered as regions that are predominantly Asia in culture. Some of Southeast Asia countries are Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, and Indonesia. South Asia includes India, Bangladesh, and Pakistan. East Asia includes China, South Korea, and Japan. Therefore, the term Asian culture in this research only refers to the culture that comes from the regions that are predominantly Asian in culture, especially East Asian and South Asian culture.
One of the regions that is predominantly Asian in culture is East Asia. East Asia cultures mainly consist of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean culture. However, Chinese culture is very dominant in this region, as the root of the culture in this region came from Chinese civilization. China was East Asia‟s dominant civilization in the ancient times. Koreans and Japanese could not avoid the strong influences of Chinese culture. They adopted features of Chinese art, food, material
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culture, philosophy, government, technology, and written language (“China”, Microsoft Encarta 2005). For example, Chinese culture influence can be seen in most East Asian vocabulary and written languages that are often acquired from Chinese language. There is a similarity that can be found among Chinese, Japanese, and Korean letters.
Chinese culture has become the root of culture in East Asia region. Chinese culture had influenced Korea since it was conquered by the Han dynasty
in 3 rd century B.C (“China”, Microsoft Encarta 2005). Different from Korea, Japan which is never conquered by China acknowledged the supremacy of Chinese culture and adopted it to their culture. However, after a long regeneration process, both Korea and Japan form their own culture without eliminating the influence of Chinese culture.
The development of East Asian culture can not be separated from the major religions that dominate this region. The major religions are Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism, Shinto, and Shamanism. Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism are the traditional religions of China. Buddhism is a world major religion and philosophy based on the teachings of Siddhartha Gautama. The most dedicated followers of Buddhism were organized into the monastery. They are usually called as Buddhism monks or bhikkus. They live simple ascetic lives of religious contemplation in monasteries. They can be easily identified by their shaved heads and their clothes made of unsewn orange fabric. Buddhism is split up into several sects, one of the sects is Tibetan Buddhism developed in Tibet and Mongolia. Tibetan Buddhism, also called Lamaism, is led by Dalai Lama. He is
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the spiritual leader and the ruler of Tibet. The Dalai Lama is believed to be a reincarnation of the Buddha. When he dies, his soul is thought to enter the body of
a newborn boy, who, after being identified by traditional tests, becomes the new Dalai Lama. (“Dalai Lama”, Microsoft Encarta 2005).
Confucianism is a Chinese traditional philosophy founded by Confucius which emphasizes on the moral duty of people to another. Basically, Confucianism is a teaching that combines many elements of philosophy, religion, and social interaction. Confucianism has influenced the Chinese attitude toward life, set the patterns of living and standards of social value, and provided the background for Chinese political theories and institutions. (“Confucianism”,
Microsoft Encarta 2005).Most of Chinese has adopted Confucianism philosophy into their everyday life, it is like a religion for them. Although Confucianism is not considered as religion, it has deeply influenced spiritual and political life in China.
East Asian is also famous for its cuisine, especially Chinese food which is famous all around the world. Chinese food has many variations, but rice and noodles are still the staple food. People usually use chopsticks to eat the food. For the beverage, tea is the most famous and favorite drink in East Asian.
East Asia is also known as the origin of most martial art. There is karate and judo from Japan; tae kwon do form Korea; and kung fu form China. China is one of the main birth places of Eastern martial arts and it is famous for the martial arts called Kung fu. Kung fu does not employ weapons, it punches, strikes, kicks, and some throws. Kung fu has two main divisions, northern Chinese and southern
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Chinese. The northern styles employ soft movements that emphasize on the use of the lower body. Baguazhang, Bajiquan, Chāquán and Eagle Claw are some fighting steps from northern styles. On the other hand, southern style uses strength movement from the upper body. Some fighting steps from southern styles are Chu Gar, Hung Gar, Southern Praying Mantis, and so on (Miller, n.d).
C. Animation
The term “animation” is used to describe the process of giving the ill usion of film and computer graphics industries to describe the „animated‟ virtual characters, avatars and cartoons (Foth, 2006, p. 641). The word “animation” comes from the Greek/Latin “anima” which means “life” or “soul”. Literally, it is used for describing the act of giving life or spirit to someone or something, or the state of being alive. The EncyclopediaAmericana specifically defines “animation” as follows:
Animated, a motion picture consisting of series of individual hand-drawn sketches, in which the position of gestures of the figures are varied slightly from one sketch to another. Generally, the series is film and, when projected on screen, suggest that figures are moving. (EncyclopediaAmericana, vol. 5)
The term animation can be widely used; it does not only apply to creations of motion pictures but also creations on film, video, computer software and even to motion toys. Actually, animation is the same as movie. Both of them work based on the principle of frames per second (the number of images needed to produce one second of film).
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A movie usually runs at 24 frames per second, it means producing an
action in movie needs 18-24 frames in a second. In the animation, the animator must make 24 images for each second of animation that he or she wishes to create(Wells, 1998, p. 10). Basically, movie and animation consist of many pictures that are placed on celluloid film and then played frame by frame in sequences to get the motion picture. However, movie and animation are still different. The difference is that movie is made from moving object that is transformed into some still image in each frame of celluloid film. Whereas animation is made from some pictures recorded frame by frame into celluloid film to make motion picture.
Animation can be classified into three types according to the creating technique. There are traditional animation, computer graphic animation and stop motion animation (Animation, n.d.). The traditional animation is the most common animation. It can be found in most Walt Disney‟s and Warner Bros‟
animation movies, such as Lion King, Aladdin, Looney Tunes, etc. The traditional animation is created using hand drawn techniques, all of the pictures of the character and the background are drawn manually. Avatar: the Last Airbender animation series is one of animation series using this production technique. The development of technology also has developed a new kind of animation which is created using computer or known as computer graphic animation. This kind of animation is created using computer software, and by using computer, the animation character looks alive and more realistic. Toy story, Cars, Monster Inc, and Finding Nemo are some examples of computer graphic animation.
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