# 24 Allysa Fatima L.

Ilagan November 24, 2019

2HPH Contemporary World

Globalization has really paved its way towards our world today which made the world
smaller. According to the article, technology has developed throughout the years making
Globalization possible thus unifying our world. But despite these advantages, it has its flaws and
it is exemplified through cultural imperialism. Cultural imperialism, as stated by Gray, is “a
process of social influence by which a nation imposes on other countries its set beliefs, values,
knowledge and behavioral norms as well as its overall style of life” (p 129) He states that
cultural imperialism is still prevailing in our world and Americans are the ones dominating this.
Gray mentioned that we are living in a ‘McDonaldized’ planet which means that American
culture is all over the world. The article also mentioned other movies such as Godzilla, and
Solaris which was re-contextualized non-Western movies.
The part of the article that strike me the most was when movies such as Godzilla was
mentioned. It was said that the movie was actually about Japan and how the World War II was
a devastating event for them. It didn’t occur to me that the movie was not just about a giant
monster that was ripping apart the city but was also a metaphor for nuclear weapons in from
the bombings of Lucky Dragon 5 in Japan. It saddened me that Americans recreated something
that was actually something Japanese people was devastated with and viewers simply thought
of it as simply a science fiction.
Furthermore, I definitely agree to gray’s sentiments that cultural imperialism is
prevailing in our world today. It is evident that American culture still dominates countries and
one example that is present is the use of Iphones and Macbooks. It is still believed in our
country that Apple is still the superior brand making other brands irrelevant and inferior. Local
brands such as Cherry mobile and MyPhone are not given enough attention at all when it is our
job to love our own. Another example is our food. American foods such as burger, sandwich,
steak, hotdog, oatmeal, and many more have become part of our culture. Food chains such as
Mcdo, KFC, and Dunkin’ Donuts are all over the Philippines.
Global media for me is one of the best things that has ever happened for it made the
passing of information easier. The access to the different cultures are a lot more faster and
efficient especially to students like us. It has paved way for development of technology and
made different fields such as healthcare more advanced saving more lives in different
countries. It also made each of us understand different cultures making us more open about
the differences everyone has. But it has become unhealthy and not right anymore in some
ways. As said in the article, cultural imperialism has become a product where Americans control
our way of thinking. They have become our standard which is wrong for we must not forget our
own identity. We must not let them control us and our way of life.