Americanization
From Free net encyclopedia
Americanization (or Americanisation) is the term used for the influence the United States of America has on the culture of other countries, substituting their culture with American culture. When encountered unwillingly or perforce, it has a negative connotation; when sought voluntarily, it has a positive connotation.
Americanization can also refer to the process of immigrants to the United States becoming assimilated into American society. This process often involves learning American English and adjusting to American culture, customs, and dress.
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Media
In American media, the term is used negatively to describe the censoring and editing of a foreign show or movie that is brought over to U.S. stations. This editing is done to make the work more understandable to American audiences. The changes are often so drastic that very little - if any - evidence of the media's true origin remains.
For television documentaries, it is established practice in the English-speaking countries to hire someone of the audience's accent as narrator. Seemingly jarring twangs and unaccustomed tonal patterns don't make for a return audience. Sometimes the script is needlessly done verbatim, e.g., the PBS Nova documentary series uses the BBC's original "maize" quite a bit, whereas an American audience would expect to hear "corn". But commercial firms often dumb-down the script and cut some scenes, perhaps the most intellectually challenging, to provide room for advertisements.
In Hollywood, many foreign film productions (most of them from Europe and Far East) were remade into U.S.-produced versions for American viewers, readapting the story according to the American culture. Most of the Americanized versions were filmed in American places, and with English speaking actors. Examples include Godzilla, The Assassin (aka Nikita) and The Ring.
The song Amerika by the German rock band Rammstein is often seen as a satire of Americanization. It has received mixed reviews: some perceive it as anti-American, others as being opposed to globalization. The band views it as a satirical commentary on "cocacolonization".
Anime
Companies that deal with Japanese Anime may Americanize the animation in order to appeal to a larger audience beyond the established fanbases made via importation of DVDs, obtaining bootlegs, or downloading fansubs from the internet. American cartoon companies like 4Kids Entertainment, Nelvana, FUNimation, and TOKYOPOP, are the more notorious examples of companies that undertake edits. In these cases, Americanization due to translation of Japanese Anime may be minor or may result in a complete change to the piece.
Examples of minor Americanization include simple name changes (Riceballs turned into Cookies and Doughnuts, or the name of the character Itsuki changed to Iggy). Extreme edits include dismantling entire episodes for time constraints, and altering story lines.
In many cases, Anime is Americanized because the content, which would be considered acceptable for Japanese children to view, would not be allowed for children in the USA under FCC rules.
Trivia
In Sweden, there is a humourous expression stating that it is the most Americanized country in the world, and the USA is number two.
Arthur Koestler described Americanization as "cocacolonization" in his book The Lotus and the Robot, referring to Coca-Cola, a symbol of American culture.