Makimg Sense from Foreign Soaps Consumed in Cameroon
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The document discusses media imperialism, particularly how foreign soap operas impact cultural perceptions in developing countries like Cameroon. It explains that the consumption of these soaps leads to the adoption of foreign behaviors and values, driven by audience preferences for perceived quality and modernity. Despite the influence of foreign media, local audiences navigate these cultural exchanges, sometimes resisting changes that clash with their own values.
Makimg Sense from Foreign Soaps Consumed in Cameroon
- 2. What is Media Imperialism? The term media imperialism has been criticised by some media theorists because of its lack of precision. In the case of developing countries, the concept can be phrased in two ways: the Western and Capitalist perspectives. From the Western viewpoint, cultural imperialism could denote the manner in which Western values, ideas and behaviours and transported into non-Western countries through symbolic forms such as soap operas. This is mainly because many soap operas irrespective of where they are produced resemble the ‘Western form’ in which characters and themes generated characteristically resemble those in the West. These values and characteristics are constantly served to audiences in developing countries who re-appropriate these behaviours and over time, regard them as normal. From the capitalist lens, the cultural imperialism could be understood as a means through which countries with the means of production similar to Marx’s ruling class, have the potential to propagate their values and beliefs to recipient nations with little means.
- 3. Media as Ideological tools Cultural imperialism occurs when one culture is privileged over the other, and most often, the media is at the centre of bringing represented foreign cultures to the locals. Audiences then use the media to make decisions as to what practices are better than others. The result is mostly to privilege the foreign because locals view them as advanced and modern. The lack of intellectual capacity/knowledges of masses within local environments shields them from decoding foreign texts in a manner that enables them to see foreign cultures as similar to theirs. This is mostly because of the quality of the films and expertise of actors and actresses often in sharp contrast with what is produced in Cameroon. The result is that some of the soaps are regarded as real.
- 4. How Cultural Imperialism Occurs Cultural imperialism through the media also occurs when television stations within local spaces prefer to rent foreign soaps to broadcast yearly with a majority being telenovelas which does not come without its cultural influence, but also is an economic drive for media corporations like TV GLOBO. TV Globo is one of the world’s largest media corporation behind some from the US like Time Warner. World media corporations are pushed by the need to extend markets for profit reasons and the exploitation of a stronger nation over a weaker one relates to cultural imperialism. The interest in the production of films which are consumed in some African countries like Senegal (See Werner 2007) and Cameroon.
- 5. Dependence Due to both internal and external reasons developing countries like Cameroon are influenced to depend on foreign soaps for their entertainment. The influences are drawn from audience preference for the foreign, high cost of purchasing local production, sponsor’s decisions and quality of the soaps. Local audiences tend to prefer the foreign because of quality in not just production but of acting, accent, language articulation, and professionalism exhibited by characters. Despite the fact that Cameroon and Nigeria have a shared boundary, cultural similarities and proximity, there are often very limited Nigerian soap operas broadcast on national television and many of the prominent television stations compared to foreign ones. The constant serving of foreign soap operas to local consumers in Cameroon has created a range of experiences for viewers.
- 6. The Making of Meaning Local audiences make several meanings from their consumption of these foreign soap operas. They abandon old ways of life particularly those health matters that they see transform the health situation of characters. Now prefer hospitals than visit the local traditional herbalist for medication. Adopting foreign behaviours beginning from names, emotional habits, and the way people generally behave in the West. Emulation of house style décor as seen in soaps. The desire to travel to foreign countries as a result of soaps which falls under the rubrique of symbolic distancing.
- 7. Hybridity The re-appropriation of foreign behaviours within local spaces has not come with a blend of cultures. Languages are mixed in several ways, specifically the use of Camfranglais. Mixture of cultural names with foreign names. Dress styles and hair patterns are a mixture of both foreign and local.
- 8. Conclusion The media constitutes a formidable force in shaping the lives of people within local spaces as they are constantly served with foreign contents. The frequent consumption of foreign soaps within local environments have created a prism through which audiences are exposed to a life style other than theirs. In as much as a change in the way people think and behave in society is instigated by foreign soaps, there are instances which audiences resist certain meanings because they are way out of their boundary markers on what they could adopt. The media is a huge resource for local audiences as they copy what they can, blend others, and resist others. The outcome is a fascinating cultural richness each with its root.