Such a well-written piece on western hegemony. And I can relate as well, I’ve had way too many encounters of mouth agape when I say I’m not familiar or haven’t watched a lot of American childhood shows as if it’s so absurd that I haven’t.
Beautifully written, and I totally relate! I’ve spent my life defending why I didn’t watch High School Musical or Harry Potter and at this point I just say “it’s too white for my liking✨”
This is so wonderfully written! I am from Canada, and grew up in a very westernized culture. I really appreciate your perspective, and sharing how this push from society to watch and consume westernized media is halting us from enjoying all forms of art globally. I think people are too focused on being in the loop and adding commentary to ideas that have been over-discussed, that we fail to branch out. (Also I've read a few of your newsletter posts this morning and I really love your writing style and the topics you've discussed!!)
oh my thank you so much for reading and supporting my work :,) you’re spot on about the commentary thing, it feels like people want to prove they know about the recent trends rather than just expanding their taste on things
Brilliant writeup, Tunmise!. This is what I was saying to myself when I watched Indian movies. Their culture is so rich and I find their movies so deep, emotional and relatable. But the western wave is cutting the beautiful weaves of their culture. I wish they can preserve their culture in their movies.
Also on Met Gala, and Netflix, I don't even like Netflix. The hype about that red app is overboard. The movies there are not all interesting. Met Gala? Who cares about celebrities that don't even care about any of us are in love with fame and would do anything to be famous.
Things were not the way they used to be where you even connect with your favorite artistes or singers.
Well all the best, I want to live my world my own way.
thank you for reading, Patricia!!! bollywood films are so good!! yes, we should all live in this world in our own ways. i definitely think there are many things (e.g. met gala) that have been overhyped as the pinnacle of things we must be interested in.
I'm deliberately missing the point a little here (I live in Australia, a westernized country) but I feel this same exact way about American media. And it's UBIQUITOUS here. I was raised on a ratio of 90% American media vs. maybe 5% Australian and 5% British. When I was growing up, I would have been very limited in choice if I wanted to watch only Australian content. Australia barely has a film or TV industry.
It's still the same here. Now, when I listen to those, say, 10 years younger than me speak, their accents have even begun to be tinged with an American twang.
The culture-flattening tentacles of big-budget American media reach far...
yes, it’s true that the usa media’s reach is very large to the point we might not get our own local stuff. when i was younger, i used to pronounce certain words like an american because i would hear and consume a lot of american shows and music playing around me
I was born and raised in Egypt , I don’t know I never felt that. Yea we have the American tv shows and all but we also had the egyptian arabic , the levantine arabic , the turkish and the korean. We as a community never saw each other as “different” for watching sth not american , and am 100% sure it’s cause our tv (antennas no subscription) had channels for free to whoever preferred specific dramas so all of us knew of their existence so we knew obviously if they existed it had a fanbase.
that's wonderful that your community in egypt never viewed each other "different" for not consuming american media, but in this essay, i was mainly going off on how people in new zealand have viewed me which would be different to my community back in south africa :)
Such a well-written piece on western hegemony. And I can relate as well, I’ve had way too many encounters of mouth agape when I say I’m not familiar or haven’t watched a lot of American childhood shows as if it’s so absurd that I haven’t.
thank you for reading this! yeah, western hegemony is so strong that it’s become abnormal to not relate or have consumed any popular western media
Castle in the sky is my favourite Ghibli movie and no one ever talks about it!
i know right!! i was listening to the soundtrack for castle in the sky the other day and it is such a masterpiece
Beautifully written, and I totally relate! I’ve spent my life defending why I didn’t watch High School Musical or Harry Potter and at this point I just say “it’s too white for my liking✨”
what a response! 👏🏾 thank you for reading this :)
This is so wonderfully written! I am from Canada, and grew up in a very westernized culture. I really appreciate your perspective, and sharing how this push from society to watch and consume westernized media is halting us from enjoying all forms of art globally. I think people are too focused on being in the loop and adding commentary to ideas that have been over-discussed, that we fail to branch out. (Also I've read a few of your newsletter posts this morning and I really love your writing style and the topics you've discussed!!)
oh my thank you so much for reading and supporting my work :,) you’re spot on about the commentary thing, it feels like people want to prove they know about the recent trends rather than just expanding their taste on things
Of course! 🫶🫶 and I couldn’t agree more
Brilliant writeup, Tunmise!. This is what I was saying to myself when I watched Indian movies. Their culture is so rich and I find their movies so deep, emotional and relatable. But the western wave is cutting the beautiful weaves of their culture. I wish they can preserve their culture in their movies.
Also on Met Gala, and Netflix, I don't even like Netflix. The hype about that red app is overboard. The movies there are not all interesting. Met Gala? Who cares about celebrities that don't even care about any of us are in love with fame and would do anything to be famous.
Things were not the way they used to be where you even connect with your favorite artistes or singers.
Well all the best, I want to live my world my own way.
thank you for reading, Patricia!!! bollywood films are so good!! yes, we should all live in this world in our own ways. i definitely think there are many things (e.g. met gala) that have been overhyped as the pinnacle of things we must be interested in.
I'm deliberately missing the point a little here (I live in Australia, a westernized country) but I feel this same exact way about American media. And it's UBIQUITOUS here. I was raised on a ratio of 90% American media vs. maybe 5% Australian and 5% British. When I was growing up, I would have been very limited in choice if I wanted to watch only Australian content. Australia barely has a film or TV industry.
It's still the same here. Now, when I listen to those, say, 10 years younger than me speak, their accents have even begun to be tinged with an American twang.
The culture-flattening tentacles of big-budget American media reach far...
yes, it’s true that the usa media’s reach is very large to the point we might not get our own local stuff. when i was younger, i used to pronounce certain words like an american because i would hear and consume a lot of american shows and music playing around me
wow this is amazing
aww thank you!
I was born and raised in Egypt , I don’t know I never felt that. Yea we have the American tv shows and all but we also had the egyptian arabic , the levantine arabic , the turkish and the korean. We as a community never saw each other as “different” for watching sth not american , and am 100% sure it’s cause our tv (antennas no subscription) had channels for free to whoever preferred specific dramas so all of us knew of their existence so we knew obviously if they existed it had a fanbase.
that's wonderful that your community in egypt never viewed each other "different" for not consuming american media, but in this essay, i was mainly going off on how people in new zealand have viewed me which would be different to my community back in south africa :)