William Mazzarella (2004) discusses the connections between culture, globalization, and mediation, and what implications may be developing as we move towards a more globalised, mediated world. He defines mediation as “the [process] by which a given social dispension produces and reproduces itself in and through a particular set of media” (Mazzarella 2004:346). Through this mediation, anthropologists are facilitated in studying the cultural flows that are transferred through increased globalisation. Moreover, Mazzarella takes particular interest in mediation because it constructs culture and affects the way that people imagine their own culture in comparison with that of others. Mediation, therefore, is reflexive in representation and allows us to become conscious of the various representations of our own culture that can be viewed by anybody in the globalised world. Mediation as a reflexive process is exemplified by Mazzarella with things like the cinema and theatre through which people are able to represent their own culture through performance, which is then in turn mirrored back to them (Mazzarella 2004:357). The impact of globalisation on processes of mediation is extensive: Globalisation has facilitated flows between cultures through mediation in ways that are creating a shrinking world, which is capable of seeing representations of several cultures, including one’s own culture.
Television can be seen as an example through which anthropologists can examine and study the impact of globalization on processes of mediation. Through globalisation, various television shows have been adapted to be played in multiple countries around the world, and in congruence with their underlying cultures. For example, there are various versions of The Office, which originated in the UK (Fig. 1). The British version of The Office is a comedy which reflects British culture to various cultures around the world through mediation and globalisation, as well as reflexively back to people in Britain who identify with British culture so that they can see their own representation. Furthermore, with globalisation, other countries have adapted their own version of The Office.
The American version of The Office, for example, was and is created by people who are representing their own culture through acting and production (Fig. 2). Aspects of American culture are then mirrored back to those involved in the production of the show, as well as those who identify with American culture, or North American culture more generally. With globalisation, people have the opportunity to watch various versions of The Office and see how their culture is represented in comparison with other cultures around the world, which further allows people to define their own culture by imagining the differences of others. For example, by contrasting the British and American versions of The Office, people can clearly see the difference between types of cars, licence plates, driving regulations, reference to food chains, movies, types of humour, linguistic features and slangs, dress, and so on. Moreover, Canadians, who arguably have a somewhat similar culture to Americans, are able to identify strongly with many similarities, but are also able to simultaneously define themselves as different from Americans through differences as well. Through these differences that are evident in the globalised, mediated flows of a television show, people can recursively (re)construct their own culture and imagine others. Mazzarrella’s (2004) interest in mediation and how it affects cultural construction and representation in a globalised world can clearly be applied to several examples, like television and The Office, and proves to be an interesting notion through which anthropologists can study culture and cultural construction.
Fig. 1 The Cast of The Office (UK Version) presenting their culture through television (Ponder Over Yonder 2007).
Fig. 2 The Cast of The Office (American Version) presenting their culture through television (TV Blanket ND).
References Cited
Mazzarella, William
2004 Culture, Globalization, Mediation. Annual Review of Anthropology 33:345-367.
Ponder Over Yonder
2007 British Wit vs American Humour. http://ponderoveryonder.blogspot.com/2007/02/british-wit-vs-american-humour.html, accessed February 1, 2011.
TV Blanket
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