Media Globalization

In the article "Theories of Media Globalizatoin" that we went over in class, there was a section that focused on Arab Comic Strips and the lenses of globalization that relate. One of these lenses that I will focus on is called "top-down" globalization.  Jim Kenney notes in his article "Globalization and the Dialogue of Civilizations" that top-down globalization is often marked by " the locally destructive global interpenetration of markets, by a disconcerting cultural homogenization with a distinctive western and American flavor, and by a corresponding felt threat to social, political, economic, cultural, and religious identity in many regions of the world." (Kenney, 2006)

Regarding the Arabic-language comic strips mentioned earlier, this type of globalization occured between 1950 and throughout the 60s as well. During that time, Disney introduced comics such as Miki, the Egyptian version of Mickey Mouse, which contained both Egyptian-originated and translated content. In one specific story, the egyptian mummy King Tut is stolen, but hope arises as the Ramsees statue comes alive and travels to Paris to try and retreive it. Ramses is later captured and returned to Egypt, exclaiming at the end of the comic that "there is nothing better than Egypt."

Machin and Leeuwen explain in "Theories of Media Globalization" that "this comic may use a global format of storytelling, but the story it tells is Egyptian- a story of Western archaeological theft, of Egypt's nostalgia for its glorious past and its problems in successfully competing with its former colonisers. . . at the base of this still lies a European model of nation and of invented national heritage and mythology."





Kenny J. (2006). Globalization and the Dialogue of Civilizations. Journal of Globalization for the Common Good. Retrieved from http://lass.calumet.purdue.edu/cca/jgcg/2006/fa06/jgcg-fa06-kenney.htm 

Machin D. and Leeuwen T.V. (2007). Global Media Discourse: A Critical Introduction. London: Routledge.