All five of these movies have one thing in common: they are all comedies. Four of the five are American made, with Life of Brian being the only foreign made film. This British import is equally as quotable as say… “The Big Lebowski.” The fact that a movie is quotable is a way of testing its popularity in popular culture.
I believe the Life of Brian is a great example of how the importing of media into a country can influence its culture, in this case popular culture. I have enjoyed this movie since I was about 10 years of age. My interviewee, who happened to be 11 years of age and living in India was also enjoying this imported movie. This goes to show you that we, as consumers of media (in this case movies) are connected more than we think.
The media in modern India was quite similar to the media I enjoy in the United States of America. First my interviewee, who asked I not use his name, told me that he really did not notice a huge difference when he came to the U.S. in terms of television and movie media.
The television media in India is similar to American media in that the television networks are not government owned. The government opened its television markets in the early nineteen nineties to outside cable companies.
The satellite television in India boomed about the same time the American market did. The popular channels in India are MTV, CNN, the Disney channel, and even CNBC India. These stations are almost identical to those shown here in America.
The Indian station known as ZEE TV is an Indian owned company that broadcasts Indian Television in English and Hindi. The channel is much like an NBC or ABC, it broadcasts dramas, comedies and reality shows original to India. My interviewee mentioned many shows on this network, and one really looked interesting… take a look at Shabaash India
My interviewee mentioned a popular show that his small sister enjoys; apparently it is Hannah Montana. She even wants to have a band of her own, he told me.
MTV is a way for some popular American music to find its way into India’s youth culture, according to my interviewee. Much of this music is not American though, for example his favorite band is American, but much of the music he listened to in India is Indian Rock. Because that is what old friend’s from home still listen to. As a teenager he remembers not having internet (not because of government control, but rather parental control) and wanting it to listen to American music. But now he enjoys modern Indian Rock music thanks to his “forced listing” due to lack of Internet.
As far as movies go my interviewee asked me my favorite movies, and I listed those above, he had seen all but Remember the Titans. And two of his top fives of all time matched mine. His favorite was the Life of Brian, and he also listed the Big Lebowski. However the Life of Brian is a key concept in this look at similarities in cultural media outlets. Life of Brian is a British movie and an import in to the U.S. and in India. The fact that we both recognize this movie as our favorites show that media from one nation can have a control over many different countries’ popular culture.
Many accuse America as influencing many countries culture and standards, and this is true, however according to my interviewee he enjoys American media from music to movies to television. He feels as though watching American movies and television in India helped him adjust quickly to American culture because he “knew what to expect… at least kind of.” He says the movies, especially comedies are most popular and influence young people in India to want to act like Americans. This leads me to believe American media makes us look like “clowns” only looking for a laugh.
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