Foreign Television: a visionary tool for the elite?
The rise of social media enabled by the Internet has significantly hastened the spread of information across the world. But even as social media consumption continues to grow, television remains a predominant form of media consumed by many individuals across all ages. Spanning from children’s cartoons and adult sitcoms to nightly news segments and commercial advertisements, TV programming can fulfill a range of entertainment and informational purposes. Reading through interviews with students at Takau English School in Taiwan, I was particularly interested to see television emerge as a strong personal influencer in a conversation with one of the students. When asked about his future plans given his status as a twelfth year student, Lee shared that he’s looking to pursue college in Germany based on inspiration from watching a German TV show at home. To prepare for this possibility, Lee began devoting an additional six hours per week to private tutoring for German, which he started learning to speak only a month prior to the interview in the spring of his final year in school.
As a domestic college student in the US, I can’t help but wonder whether I could be convinced by a foreign TV show to study in the country of its setting. In recent decades, much attention has been given to the power of television in shaping the beliefs and behavior of individuals. At the surface, media biases in what news sources preferentially choose to share and the political tones through which this information is delivered can significantly influence the audience’s perception of outside events, whether at a local, national, or international level. But even more casual programming with stricter entertainment purposes, such as crime shows and TV dramas, can also drive certain motives or directions in those who watch them. In the US, several studies have supported the “monkey-see, monkey-do” tendency in childhood learning, which upon further applications, linked childhood consumption of TV shows depicting violence to higher rates of aggression and crime during adulthood.1 However, not all aspects of TV influence are negative. Although occupations are rarely depicted perfectly on the screen, TV shows were reported to have some influence on the career decisions of roughly one in every five adults –and nearly two in every five millennials of ages 18 to 24– in a study from the UK.2 For many, seeing others on TV in positions of importance and authority, such as lawyers, doctors, and law enforcement, can confirm interests in or amplify concerns for pursuing these careers.
The case of foreign television is arguably even more intriguing than domestic programming because these shows showcase not only the underlying themes intended for the domestic viewer but also an entirely new cultural framework to the foreign audience. In Thailand, watching foreign Chinese TV programs has unsurprisingly been found to improve general cultural awareness and knowledge.3 More unexpectedly, however, viewing these series also fostered greater acceptance and understanding of “not only the external cultures that could be seen, but also the internal ones, including beliefs, attitudes, norms, and values”.3 The power of internalizing cultural perspective reminds me of a similar context in America with the show “Dora the Explorer”. Dora has become an icon in American childhood for embodying not only a female Latina presence in a television industry that strongly underrepresents these identities, but also many of the characteristics that are most prized in American culture, such as being kind, social, independent, and clever.4 For those outside the US, watching “Dora the Explorer” provides a strong basis for familiarizing with important themes in American society.
So how does TV programming, and particularly that of foreign nature like that which Lee watched, fit into the elite context? For many families of upper class background, economic limitations are likely not a concern for creating international experiences. Foreign shows may give general audiences a glimpse into a different world that is thrilling for the new social lens it provides, but elite audiences have the financial mobility to experience this lens for themselves through travel. Additionally, upper class families may be better-suited to take further preparations for immersive experiences using their elite resources, such as connections to a private language tutor in the case of Lee. But the impacts of foreign TV could extend further than just cultivating travel destinations. I wonder whether these TV programs may in part captivate elites with a glimpse into the lives of other elites distant from those which they’ve grown up around in their home country. Although Lee never had the chance to elaborate more on the details of his motivation, I’d be interested in hearing how the characters in his show may have reflected German elites –or non-elites– and how his experience with others in Germany, given he pursued it, compared to the culture portrayed on the show.
Works Cited
- American Psychological Association. (2013). Violence in the media: Psychologists study potential harmful effects. https://www.apa.org/topics/video-games/violence-harmful-effects.
- McAninch, O. (2017, February 24). How TV Influences Career Choices. The London Economic. https://www.thelondoneconomic.com/entertainment/tv/tv-influences-career-choices-41140/
- Tirasawasdichai, T., Obrenovic, B., & Alsharif, H.Z.H. (2022). The impact of TV series consumption on cultural knowledge: An empirical study based on gratification–cultivation theory. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.1061850
- Havrilla, K. (2010). A Sociological Influence in Dora the Explorer. ASA Footnotes, 38(2), 10. https://www.asanet.org/wp-content/uploads/savvy/footnotes/feb10/dora_0210.html