New Media: A Culture of its Own

I’ve never study abroad in college, but I did spend a month in Cuernavaca, Mexico my senior year of high school. I went with friends from school and did all the things you would do as a study abroad student. I lived with a host family (who I adored), I took Spanish classes at an international bilingual school, and I volunteered at a local orphanage once a week. We also took trips to other cities, visited the Mayan ruins, museums, ballet, and all sorts of things. Because of my experience abroad Professor Stoner’s lecture interested me. Although I didn’t use my cell phone out there because of international charges there was an internet café nearby and I also used calling cards to call back home every so often. Also because I am Mexican and have been to Mexico several times before this trip it is hard to say whether I felt the “culture shock” experience. I agreed with Professor Stoner’s hypothesis, that new media can lessen the intensity of culture shock but I also wonder to what degree other factors can lessen the shock as well. I think there are a lot of different factors to consider when trying to measure the degree of culture shock. I also think that although not all countries are as up to date as the U.S. in new media, media has certainly become a part of a lot of cultures as well. To say that new media can lessen your experience in a foreign country can only hold true up to a certain extent. For example, students who study abroad in China must adapt to a completely different culture than their own, but that doesn’t exclude technology or new media. China is at the frontier of new media, just like the U.S. so using new media there would be part of their culture. One difference to note is how much freedom or what kind of access students would have using the internet in China. In Professor Yuan’s lecture she talked about how China has tight regulations on the media and selects what their citizens watch on TV. or what kind of information they have access to on the internet. Maybe that would be a culture shock to some in itself. I liked the idea of Professor Stoner’s research, but I think it would be really difficult to measure someone’s experience with culture shock when studying abroad because there are too many different factors to take into account and everyone factors in, in different ways.

Entertaining Our Perceptions

In Professor Yuan’s lecture she talks about how people use different types of media and media convergence. A lot of us spend a good amount of time watching television, whether it is through our television sets or the internet. Now days we have a variety of choices when it comes to t.v. shows thanks to specialized networks. There are over 100 different channels covering all types of interests from music, sports, reality shows, cooking shows, and the list goes on. What is interesting is that with all of these different options at our finger tips we usually have a handful of channels that we are dedicated to watching. I know that when I’m flipping through the t.v. guide I immediately check what’s on E!, Bravo, and the Oxygen channel (all networks heavily marketed to  young women). My boyfriend usually rolls his eyes, at some point steals the remote and checks what’s on HGTV or ESPN, channels that cater more to the likes of him.

In class we’ve discussed the process of perception and how our minds unconsciously develop schemas and frame certain information to be more important or salient. This is essentially what television networks do; focusing our attention on certain topics/interests that appeal to our personal perception. It is important for television networks to frame t.v. shows in the right way in order to keep the audience coming back. Professor Yuan referred to this idea as audience polarization, which refers to the way audiences select or seek out certain kinds of media content creating audience loyalty. On the other audience fragmentation describes how audiences are offered a variety of choices. Both are true. Although we are offered a variety of content, I believe the media’s intention is to polarize their audience. As cultural gate keepers not only do they dictate our behavior, but they do it in a way that is entertaining to us.

We Are All Judged

                Films have been a critical part of structuring stereotypes within our society. It is often easy for viewers to fall into these stereotypes especially when they are directed toward a group of people we are unfamiliar with, have never seen or heard of. In Professor Diem – Bui’s lecture, she addresses this issue among Vietnamese women. American films have created a certain representation of Vietnamese women depicted as quiet and submissive and depict their bodies as physical representations of a Vietnam prior to the war. Vietnamese women are constantly represented as prostitutes and products of war.

                As Professor Diem-Bui finished up her lecture she went on to tell a story of her own experience going back to Vietnam after the war. She recalled an event when she was at a night club there when a man kept pursuing her on the dance floor. He grinded his body up against hers and continued to follow her around the bar. She realized that the man had mistaken her as a prostitute and no matter how many times she told him she was not, he kept advancing toward her anyways. Because of the way the man was acting towards her, everyone else there thought she was a prostitute as well. The waitresses would not serve her and snuffed her requests. After her experience she decided to shave her head completely. She described this as a liberating experience and explained that she now knew was it was like to experience the “male sexual gaze”.

                Her story reminded me of my own. As a Mexican –American, I have taken several trips to Mexico throughout my life and I have certainly experienced the “male sexual gaze” during my time spent there. Where Professor Diem-Bui talked about how Vietnamese women are sexualized and considered prostitutes, I feel as though a lot of other countries also have this sexualized idea of American women. To people in foreign countries, American women are viewed as sexually liberating, independent, and wild. Because of their view I feel as though they look down on American women. During visits to Mexico I often got cat calls from men and dirty looks from women if they thought my dress was too shirt or my shirt was too low.

Although I have never been mistaken for a prostitute the idea is still there. The media, no matter where you live, shapes your views of others and unconsciously plants stereotypes into our minds. As Professor Diem-Bui noted our knowledge is produced by pop culture. If we have never met someone from Vietnam or America, it is easy to take what we see on TV, in the movies, or on the internet as true. Stereotypes will never go away and to a certain degree they do define us, but where do we draw that line? We are products of our culture and our culture is a product of the media. The media places values on our culture and dictates what is right or wrong, good or bad, cool or outdated. It is important to critically evaluate the messages that pour out onto us from the media and although we may adhere to the “When in Rome…” rule, people will always have their own preconceived judgments.