Page 158 - CULTURE IN THE COMMUNICATION AGE

SUPERCULTURE FOR THE COMMUNIC ATION AG E

no longer expect to find solutions to Latin American problems from experts
in Washington or New York.
Patterns of international exchange of cultural materials demonstrate how
well civilizations are able to function as viable economic markets – a par-
ticularly strong test of the validity of civilizational theory. Staying with Latin
America as our example, the flow of two staples of Latin popular culture –
television dramas (telenovelas) and popular music – clearly shows how smooth
and profitable the intracivilizational connections can be (Straubhaar 1991;
Sinclair 1999). Television dramas and popular music bring out the expressive
and emotional similarities of people who live in nations of the Latin American
civilization. The global explosion of Latin American popular music that took
off in the late 1990s through the success of singers such as Ricky Martin, Luis
Miguel, Marc Anthony, Enrique Iglesias, and Jennifer Lopez was preceded by
decades of intracivilizational exchange of musical talent throughout the
Hispanic world. Two other popular television genres – the talk show and the
variety show – have also become extraordinary civilizational resources in Latin
America. For instance, the talk show Cristina, which originates in the new
entertainment capital of Latin America, Miami, Florida, is aired in all Spanish-
language countries of the world and attracts a huge weekly audience. Variety
programs such as Big Saturday (Sábado Gigante), featuring Don Francisco of
Chile, but recorded in Miami, likewise reaches an enormous audience in
Spanish-language countries.
In the People’s Republic of China people interpret and use foreign cultural
materials quite differently depending on civilizational alignments (Lull 1991).
While Chinese television viewers enjoy and learn from programs imported
from North America, South America, and Europe, they are far more enthralled
by Japanese productions. Japan is not part of the same civilization as China
according to Huntington’s scheme, but it shares cultural a ffinities with the
Sinic civilization to which China belongs. Recognizing the ideological poten-
tial of the cultural overlap, the Chinese government has even imported certain
Japanese television programs, hoping to inspire Chinese to work hard and
succeed like Japan, particularly given that the two countries both ‘started over’
at about the same time – the mid- to late 1940s. Chinese viewers interpret
Japanese programs in ways that di ffer from their involvements with cultural
materials that are imported from other civilizations. Both the Chinese govern-
ment’s plan and the reactions of Chinese viewers to Japanese programs
stem from a perceived civilizational resonance. Moreover, Chinese consumers
more often recognize and greatly prefer Japanese commercial products over
American goods. In virtually all respects, Chinese simply regard Japanese cul-
ture as closer to their own traditions, values, and ways of living than Western
culture.

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