Chp 10

Everyone is interested in the world and all that it has to offer. But sometimes, the Earth itself is used as a popular image. A large part of this was during the 1960's and 1970's, people were fascinated with the idea of satellites. Just like viewing the inside of the body, viewing the outside of the world was amazing. It has so much mystery and beauty it was hard to forget. The media landscape of the late 20th century and early 21st century has changed with the rise of a worldwide communications infrastructure and multinational corporations, the decline of the central power of the sovereign nation-state, and the resulting emergence of new forms of local and global cultures. Chapter 9 considers some of the central aspects of these changes: the increased movement of images throughout the world, the convergence of media formats, and the collapse of geographic distance that are the result of the globalization of economics, technology, and culture in the late 20th century. (http://www.oup.co.uk/oxfordtextbooks/media/sturken/) Google Earth is a recent 'invention' that ties into this fascination with satellite images. Not only do they have very detailed bird's eye views of the majority of the planet, but now they have street driving views of many roads today. Some people oppose this view though, since it can be seen as invasion of privacy.

The globalization of popular culture has prompted seemingly contradictory tendencies toward globally shared visual cultures. Global brands are now more common than ever. Newint.org says the following about Starbucks: "Starbucks’ titanic rise doesn’t just say something about consumer preferences; it also says something about global society. The corporation’s green and white logo – the mermaid with no nipples stamped on the cup by my side – has come to represent more than Starbucks’ stores; it has become an icon of globalization itself. Starbucks symbolizes the rising role of corporations, service industries and flexible wage schedules. It fits into a bigger pattern that has developed between consumption in the West and exploitation in the Majority World, making it a strategic target for anti-globalization protesters. It is also symptomatic of a rising culture of consumption; no longer are our coffee shops smoky hubs of political activism. It seems that the bohemians have been replaced by yuppies and the revolution substituted by extra cream." Brands such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's, CNN, BBC, Ferrari (really all cars), etc. Movies also are now global, particularly American movies. Every American movie is released to the whole world. Why? Well, one is the budget/technological ability of Hollywood, but also the world is turning more Western. Visual culture, which does not observe differences in language and levels of literacy, is key in this climate of globalization. Ahis Chapter concludes with the topic of the role of visual culture in today's millennium.