Time Warner And Youth Culture
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
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Time Warner production seems to be a familiar name in our country. Every time we enter the cinema we can see that many films by Warner Bro’s are shown. When we chat about the greatest hits, they are mostly American pop singers from EMI and Warner Music like Madonna and Ricky Martin. Everywhere you go in this small country, a huge number of people know about Harry Potter, Batman and so on.
**SO what?? Is there a problem???Entertainment such as movies, music, and television programs hold a special appeal to young people. The American moviemakers obviously know what the audience like and enjoy watching and I am sure that the cinemas here would be empty without American production like WB films. Young people do not think that is a problem by watching imported movies from the United States.
** Yo yoo…wat’s up man??
Young urban hip-hop culture contained in those WB films, television programs, and recorded music which dominate our market increase the popularity of hip hop culture. 
More and more youths are turning to more urban and underprivileged “gangster” styles of violent rap subculture. Besides, they are applying the hip-hop culture in their fashion such as baggy jeans and baseball caps turned backwards which seem cool.**English or Manglish (Malaysian style of English..) ??
As a result of English influence, young people speak English in their daily life as they think of English as a “high class” language. Our national language even borrows English words, adapts them, and subsequently integrates them into our daily professional and personal vocabularies. Every day, we hear words like "OK", "good", "shopping", "pub", "blockbuster", "pop singer", and "computer". Besides, we have our own Malaysia style of words like “can’t tahan”, “sub sub water”... Even in one of the 8tv singing competitions, they named the contest as “绝对superstar” as showing the balance between 'own' language and loan-stems.
**Language represents social identity. Do they still have their own memory of history about their own social identity in this hybrid culture?
**Wats hidden ?? **A media corporate like Time Warner is working towards a 'free flow' of information and influence, bringing the cultures and nations of the world closer together. However, this development is not seen positively, as there are indicators pointing in the direction of cultural imperialism and possible identity crises due to what theorists call a homogenization of culture.
As what we think about the American movies, there are a many easy ways to spread American culture because often people are influenced by what they see on the screen. Most of the entertainment programs, documentaries, movies we watch are from America. Sometimes, cinemas are swamped with negative films like violent films. This can create negative effects on youth.
So however romantic the idea of cultures being brought closer together is, there are also power struggles and the possibility to exploit this development, which American officials openly admit to be attempting.
References:
American Cultural Imperialism & Media Globalisation
American Media Industries
Media Marketing Madness
Labels: Conglomerates, youths
Posted by Tech Alley at 9:26 AM
History of Time Warner
The corporate name honours the four founding Warner brothers, Harry Warner (1881–1958), Albert Warner (1883–1967), Sam Warner (1887–1927) and Jack L. Warner (1892–1978), Polish Jewish brothers who emigrated from Poland to Ontario, Canada. In 1995, Warner and station-owner Tribune Company of Chicago launched The WB Network, finding a niche market in teenagers. The WB's early programming included an abundance of teenage fare like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Smallville and Dawson's Creek.
About Time Warner
Time Warner is the largest media company in the world. It is the standard bearer of synergy and vertical integration in the modern digital age. Entertainment is a global leader in all forms of entertainment and their related businesses across all current and emerging media and platforms. The fully integrated, broad-based Studio is an entertainment industry leader -- from feature film, television and home entertainment production and worldwide distribution to DVD, digital distribution, animation, comic books, video games, product and brand licensing, international cinemas and broadcasting.
Movies
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN
Synopsis: It's Harry's third year at Hogwarts, but a shadow hangs over Hogwarts. The most dangerous mass murderer in Wizarding history, Sirius Black, has escaped the Azkaban Fortress - the Wizards Prison and everyone believes he is coming to kill Harry. While learning to cope with the Dementors sent to protect Hogwarts, Harry learns about the disturbing story of Sirius Black and his close connection to Harry's family. This story twists and turns with many surprising revelations. Hence, this is a movie that shows how a young boy and his friends solve their problems by themselves.
SPEED RACER
Synopsis: Speed Racer is an 18-year-old whose life and love has always been racing. Speed Racer is a natural behind the wheel. Born to race cars, Speed is aggressive, instinctive and most of all, fearless. His only real competition is the memory of the brother he idolized—the legendary Rex Racer—whose death in a race has left behind a legacy that Speed is driven to fulfill. When Speed turns down a lucrative and tempting offer from Royalton Industries, he not only infuriates the company's maniacal owner but uncovers a terrible secret. With the support of his family and his loyal girlfriend, Trixie Speed teams with his one-time rival—the mysterious Racer X to win the race that had taken his brother's life: the death-defying, cross-country rally known as The Crucible. So as we know, speed racer is a very good young guy. He loves his family very much. Because of his brother, he is willing to sacrifice a lot of things. This is a good attitude that can be followed by youths nowadays.
Television
SMALLVILLE
Synopsis: Smallville tells the tale of a teenage Clark Kent in the days before he was Superman. It is the town where he came from where very strange things started happening since his arrival in a spaceship in the middle of a meteor storm of green rocks. Clark must deal with a variety of individuals given powers by the green rocks, keep his powers a secret, cope with his friendship with a young Lex Luthor, and balance the two girls in his life, Chloe and Lana. The show also shows us how Lex Luthor develops from a friend of Clark's and quite a nice guy to the villain who will plague Superman in his later years. This TV show is also about the relationship between friends. Clark Kent is a youth, but he usually manages to solve the entire problem that he faces by himself.
ER
ER follows the medical personnel and patients in the emergency room of
Chicago's fictional County General Hospital. The doctors and nurses of County's ER confront the daily challenges of a busy urban hospital, including overcrowded waiting rooms, staffing shortages, and the impact of life-and-death decisions. While they teach the next generation of doctors, each must tackle the demands of their personal lives, at times unsuccessfully. In this show, there are also some cases of how youths get injured by doing some “bad things”. It also describes about the bad effects when youths indulge in negative activities.
Music
The Kooks – “Always Where I Need To Be”
This is a rock song which is now very popular among the young generation. The lyrics talk about freedom and very suitable to describe youths' feelings nowadays.
Madonna - "Crazy For You"
'Crazy For You' is a ballad by Madonna, which was released in 1985. The song lyrics are talking about somebody who's crazy in love for someone else. The younger generation like to translate their love in songs. They can’t live without the partners that they have. Thus this song is suitable to them especially for youths in love nowadays.
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Bros.
http://www.moviefone.com/movie/speed-racer/28066/synopsis
http://www.tvrage.com/Smallville
Tech Alley
History of Time WarnerThe corporate name honours the four founding Warner brothers, Harry Warner (1881–1958), Albert Warner (1883–1967), Sam Warner (1887–1927) and Jack L. Warner (1892–1978), Polish Jewish brothers who emigrated from Poland to Ontario, Canada. In 1995, Warner and station-owner Tribune Company of Chicago launched The WB Network, finding a niche market in teenagers. The WB's early programming included an abundance of teenage fare like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Smallville and Dawson's Creek.
About Time WarnerTime Warner is the largest media company in the world. It is the standard bearer of synergy and vertical integration in the modern digital age. Entertainment is a global leader in all forms of entertainment and their related businesses across all current and emerging media and platforms. The fully integrated, broad-based Studio is an entertainment industry leader -- from feature film, television and home entertainment production and worldwide distribution to DVD, digital distribution, animation, comic books, video games, product and brand licensing, international cinemas and broadcasting.
Movies
HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABANSynopsis: It's Harry's third year at Hogwarts, but a shadow hangs over Hogwarts. The most dangerous mass murderer in Wizarding history, Sirius Black, has escaped the Azkaban Fortress - the Wizards Prison and everyone believes he is coming to kill Harry. While learning to cope with the Dementors sent to protect Hogwarts, Harry learns about the disturbing story of Sirius Black and his close connection to Harry's family. This story twists and turns with many surprising revelations. Hence, this is a movie that shows how a young boy and his friends solve their problems by themselves.
SPEED RACERSynopsis: Speed Racer is an 18-year-old whose life and love has always been racing. Speed Racer is a natural behind the wheel. Born to race cars, Speed is aggressive, instinctive and most of all, fearless. His only real competition is the memory of the brother he idolized—the legendary Rex Racer—whose death in a race has left behind a legacy that Speed is driven to fulfill. When Speed turns down a lucrative and tempting offer from Royalton Industries, he not only infuriates the company's maniacal owner but uncovers a terrible secret. With the support of his family and his loyal girlfriend, Trixie Speed teams with his one-time rival—the mysterious Racer X to win the race that had taken his brother's life: the death-defying, cross-country rally known as The Crucible. So as we know, speed racer is a very good young guy. He loves his family very much. Because of his brother, he is willing to sacrifice a lot of things. This is a good attitude that can be followed by youths nowadays.
Television
SMALLVILLESynopsis: Smallville tells the tale of a teenage Clark Kent in the days before he was Superman. It is the town where he came from where very strange things started happening since his arrival in a spaceship in the middle of a meteor storm of green rocks. Clark must deal with a variety of individuals given powers by the green rocks, keep his powers a secret, cope with his friendship with a young Lex Luthor, and balance the two girls in his life, Chloe and Lana. The show also shows us how Lex Luthor develops from a friend of Clark's and quite a nice guy to the villain who will plague Superman in his later years. This TV show is also about the relationship between friends. Clark Kent is a youth, but he usually manages to solve the entire problem that he faces by himself.
ER
ER follows the medical personnel and patients in the emergency room of
Chicago's fictional County General Hospital. The doctors and nurses of County's ER confront the daily challenges of a busy urban hospital, including overcrowded waiting rooms, staffing shortages, and the impact of life-and-death decisions. While they teach the next generation of doctors, each must tackle the demands of their personal lives, at times unsuccessfully. In this show, there are also some cases of how youths get injured by doing some “bad things”. It also describes about the bad effects when youths indulge in negative activities.Music
The Kooks – “Always Where I Need To Be”This is a rock song which is now very popular among the young generation. The lyrics talk about freedom and very suitable to describe youths' feelings nowadays.
Madonna - "Crazy For You"'Crazy For You' is a ballad by Madonna, which was released in 1985. The song lyrics are talking about somebody who's crazy in love for someone else. The younger generation like to translate their love in songs. They can’t live without the partners that they have. Thus this song is suitable to them especially for youths in love nowadays.
References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warner_Bros.
http://www.moviefone.com/movie/speed-racer/28066/synopsis
http://www.tvrage.com/Smallville
Labels: Conglomerates
Posted by Tech Alley at 8:27 AM
Tech Alley