Impact of Globalisation on British Television

Impact of Globalisation on British Television Since its birth, British television has been constantly growing, evolving to suit the needs and, more recently, tastes of its viewers. What started off as a few public service channels broadcasting only at certain times during the day became a 24 hour service with hundreds of programs from which to choose from. Many factors have contributed to this gradual growth, but in this essay I will be looking at the influence globalisation has had on this thriving industry, viewing Britain as both an importer and exporter of formats on the global market. To start with, the term â€Å"globalisation†, as defined by the Oxford English Dictionary, means â€Å"the process by which businesses or other organizations develop international influence or start operating on an international scale, widely considered to be at the expense of national identity.† In television terms, this means that a broadcaster decides to sell, on the international market, the format of already popular shows in order for them to be recreated in other countries. This way, a show originally produced in Britain, for example, can be adapted in any other part of the world by following the format guide sold by the creators. In his book Copycat TV; Globalisation, Program formats and Cultural identity (1998), Albert Moran explains that â€Å"like a cooking recipe, the guide identifies both the ingredients and the sequence and manner of their combination that will produce an adaptation†. On one hand, Britain has always been a major importer of foreign shows. Even now, if we turn on our television, chances are we will eventually stumble across a rerun of a popular American sitcom such as Friends, How I met your mother or The Big Bang Theory, to list a few. There are two major reasons for this, the first being that the broadcasters need programs to fill out the time slots. Since the 1980s, the pace of change in the television industry has accelerated. The introduction of 24-hour broadcasting brought the need for new programs, a demand that was best met by inexpensive imports or local variations of internationally formatted broadcasts. These would be aired at either off-peak hours of the day or between two long running, popular shows, maximizing the number of viewers. The other reason for purchasing overseas shows is the costs. More often than not, investing in an already successful show would be cheaper that producing a show domestically, though Moran suggests that thi s strategy does not necessarily guarantee good ratings or add revenues. Soap operas, or simply soaps, could be considered the go-to time fillers for television not only in the UK, but all over the world. The first soaps were cheap to produce, resulting in barely mediocre content. They were sponsored by American manufacturers of household cleaning products, such as Procter and Gamble, and owed the term â€Å"opera† in their title to the excessively emotional and dramatic nature of their content. What truly transformed the genre, as implied by Renà ©e Dickason’s article The Popular on British Television: Global Perspectives, National Priorities, Local Preferences, was the launch of Coronation Street on British television in 1960, which took a more serious approach by aiming at high standards of acting and scriptwriting. The show appealed to large audiences and attracted an incredible amount of viewers, inspiring American companies to invest more time and money in their own content, thus leading indirectly to the global success of Peyton Place and Dallas. Despite the fact that importing and airing entire shows is the easiest way to provide the viewers with entertainment around the clock, many countries, including the UK, prefer producing their own versions of foreign programs, adapting them to their nation’s culture and preferences. â€Å"A locally-produced version of Wheel (referring to the American game show Wheel of Fortune) will be more expensive than the imported version but, with local contestants, hosts, questions and references, prizes and so on, it is likely to have more national appeal and is therefore likely to achieve better ratings. Certainly (†¦) that seems to be borne out by some long term studies of the process of import-substitution of television programs†, demonstrates Albert Moran in his before mentioned book. One of the earliest examples of international formatting is the case of the famous panel quiz game What’s My Line which first aired July 16th 1951 on BBC. Due to all its apparently do mestic elements, such as having a popular Irish presenter, lady panelists in evening dress and their male counterparts in dinner jackets, few if any viewers suspected that it wasn’t an original British program, but an adaptation of an American radio show for which the BBC paid its creators the princely sum of 25 guineas per episode (Brunt, 1985, p 28). Despite this, R. Brunt still considers that the show has a â€Å"naturalized Britishness† to it, clarifying that â€Å"the choice of contestants appeals to a Britishness which ‘all of us’ are assumed to share: an enjoyment of eccentricity and an ability to laugh at ourselves – as transmitted and endorsed by one of Britain’s favorite Irishmen.† (Brunt, 1985, ‘What’s my Line?’). Global television formats are designed to be easily adapted in other countries or regions and therefore have no nationally-specific characteristics, making it understandable why most people do n ot mind them being imported. A more recent example is ITV1s Take Me Out, a dating show inspired by London Weekend Television’s Blind Date. At a first glance it doesn’t seem to be anything other than a quintessentially British show, but in reality it was developed in France by Fremantle Media. First it was aired in Australia, where it did not benefit from massive success, afterwards being sold to Japan, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Indonesia, Spain and Sweden and ITV1, as an article on The Guardian’s website states. On the other hand, Britain is also a leading exporter of programs, not only to the English speaking nations, but worldwide, thanks to appealing cultural elements and to technical expertise in particular fields like detective stories, situation comedies and costume drama. Series such as the 1960 The Avengers, which had strong elements reminding the viewers of the James Bond franchise, were the only British shows aired regularly on American television before the introduction of Who wants to be a Millionaire, â€Å"England’s most successful cultural export in the last 30 years†, according to the New York Times, 1999. The popular quiz show has become a global format broadcasted in more than 100 countries, the franchise now being owned by Sony. Another, more recent British show format that was aired in more than 20 countries is the dinner party contest Come Dine With Me which won a Royal Television Society Award back in 2010. Generating approximately 4000 episodes around the world, it’s global sales have earned ITV Studios more than  £57m and helped it’s international production revenue increase by 41% that year. In an interview to The Guardian, Tobi de Graaff, ITV Studioss director of global TV distribution, said: It is a little like McDonalds or Starbucks. Take whats successful about the show but dont ignore that you are dealing with different cultures and make the right twists to make it feel extremely home-grown and natural. Weakest Link, the television  game show  which first appeared in the United Kingdom on  BBC Two  on 14 August 2000 and ended on 31 March 2012, is another great example of British show formats, being adapted in 46 countries and still airing the original British version around the world on  BBC Entertainment. Even though the formats vary slightly, the main elements which define the show are reproduced in each adaptation. This usually includes selecting a host which resembles Anne Robinson, the original a nd iconic presenter of the UK version. Strictly Come Dancing or Dancing with the stars, as it is known in the over 40 countries the format has been exported to, is a British television show, featuring celebrities with professional dance partners competing in Ballroom and Latin dances. Due to its widespread nature, the series became the worlds most popular television program among all genres in 2006 and 2007, reaching the Top 10 in 17 countries, according to the magazineTelevision Business International. In conclusion, globalization had an immense role in molding the British television industry along the years. Not only did it shape it and its viewers with the aid of imported shows and local adaptations, but also other nations around the globe by exporting formats and authentic British programs. By acquainting the public with foreign shows, television has the power to provide a sense of wonder and educate its viewers about the different cultures and people inhabiting our world and, at the same time, cater for their need for entertainment. Globalisation in the TV industry has brought about a new era for Britain, as it has extended its influence to every television set in the UK and around the world.

Art as Reflection of Anciant Civilization :: essays papers

Ancient Egytian and Greek sociaties both made significant contributions to western civilization, specificaly in the areas of politics and social structure. The political system of antient Egypt was primarily based on the religios belife that the Pharoah was a divine entity, while Greek politics were based in a democratic system that valued individuals in a unique way. The poitical and social advancments of both Greek and Egyption civilizations are best reflected in the advancement of each cultures artwork. In the early kingdom of the Egyption civilization the Pharoah rulled as a God-King and dictated the religion and laws of the land. He promoted a polytheistic religion that was used to explain natural phinaminans and life after death. Accourding to this religion all Egyptions not only the ruling class were offered the hope of survival in the next world, as a reward for a good life in the present world. The idea of a good life is defined by the devotees accomplisments in the eyes of Osiris â€Å"the judge of the dead†. Funeral services were divised to exeplify these belifes and help to guid the spirit of the dead into the afterlife (Cunningham and Reich, 6). The ridged structure of this Thocracy greatly limited individualism in all aspect of life, but most importantly art. The art of the Early kingdom was prodominetly bassed on the divinity of the Pharoh, and his statuse in sociaty. The most famuse example of the Theocracies influance on art would be the Great Spinx and the Pyramids of Chefren. These emence works of art were created to show the importance and divine power of the Pharoah, as well as, to serve as a burial tomb. The Sphix itself is sculped with great percisian and close attension was paid to the basic anatimy of the human face, but the fetures of the Pharoah are idialize. â€Å"It is a portiat not of an individual but of the concept of divinity† (Cunningham and Reich, 9). The lion body, falcon headdress and transendental stare of the Sphinx shows a certain calmness and mystery, that encapsalates the ideal perfection of the ideal perfection of the Pharoah. In the Middle Kindom Akhenaton came to power and changed the religius structure of Egypt. He belived in a monotheistic system that placed all faith in one God, Aton-Ra. Akhenaton did not dipict himself as an all powerfull God-King, but a messenger through which Aton-Ra spoke (qtd.

Illusion and Identity in Atwood’s Essay

Identity in Atwood’s â€Å"This is a Photograph of Me† In her poem â€Å"This is a Photograph of Me,† author Margaret Atwood uses imagery and contrast to explore issues of illusion versus reality as well as identity. The poem is split into two halves. The first half contains descriptive words about scenery and natural objects, and the second half, surrounded by parentheses, begins with the unnerving surprise that the narrator is dead. The poem opens with a description of a picture that at first seems blurry but slowly comes into focus, like a photograph slowly developing, that even resembles a written poem itself (â€Å"blurred lines and grey flecks/blended with the paper. †) The second and third stanzas go on to describe objects in the picture, including a â€Å"small frame house,† a â€Å"lake,† and â€Å"some low hills. † The first half has a reminiscent and descriptive tone, falsely leading the reader along with serenity. But even here, there is a shroud of mystery, with a description not just of a â€Å"branch,† but of â€Å"a thing that is like a branch,† and the house is â€Å"halfway up/ what ought to be a gentle slope,† not halfway up a gentle slope. What could this mean? The calm albeit mysterious peacefulness of the first half ends with the fourth stanza’s jarring declaration, beginning with an opening parenthesis, that the photograph the narrator is describing â€Å"was taken/ the day after [she] drowned. The pace of the poem after this revelation seems frantic, searching for the narrator in the lake, which was in the first half described as being â€Å"in the background† and now â€Å"in the center/ of the picture. † The narrator tells the reader that what can be seen is distorted and one must look intently, playing with the themes of illusion and identity. Perhaps the ambiguity of the poem and the exploration of illusion and identity are hinting at a feminist perspective that a woman’s true spirit is overcast by a male-dominated society. Or perhaps the poem’s focus is eluding to a more universal human search for identity, a with a narrator who is unsure and obscured, but â€Å"just under the surface,† about to break out – previously dead but now reborn, to find a new path. Or perhaps the author is talking about poetry or literature itself and the author’s hidden intentions lurking in the work. As noted earlier, the description of the â€Å"photograph† at the beginning resembles a description of a poem: â€Å"blurred lines and grey flecks/ blended with the paper,† like lines of writing and the letters comprising words. The author dies with the birth of her poem, when the piece lives on its own; but the author is still there, somewhere, her intentions a key part of the text. The photograph in the poem, in the first half, is described as â€Å"smeared† and â€Å"blurred† and in the second half there is still â€Å"distortion. † So instead of disclosing the narrator’s story and identity, no resolution is apparent. On the contrary, the photograph creates illusion and obscures identity. The reader is left with uncertainty, just like the blurred and distorted photograph of the poem.

The Top Management Of Waste Management Essay - 1410 Words

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