Effect Of Media On The Arabic Culture - Coursework Example

Analysis of the effect of media such as cinema, Internet and TV adverts on shaping and enforcing aspects of Arabic culture Introduction Arabs, globally known for their culture conservatism embrace their culture, resenting the American and western forms of culture. Regarding these as weakening the morals of their people, Arabs have tried to maintain their original culture. The infiltration of different cultures of the world however, poses a danger to the erosion of the original Arabic culture. Effects of globalization and increased global integration contribute to these trends. Culturists in Arab dominated countries such as Egypt and the Middle East find it extremely difficult to tame ever-rising westernization of their indigenous cultures. With the increase in the level of globalization, there is a subsequent infiltration of international media in the Arab world. Current cinemas, the internet, especially the social media, television adverts, magazines among others have found their way to the Arab world, just like is the case in the international level. While discussing the effects of media on shaping and enforcing aspects of the Arab culture, this essay will analyze the various ways in which these media forms contribute to the erosion of the Arab culture. Further, it will address the trends witnessed in the contemporary Arab culture relative to the traditional highly conservative culture. Finally, it will address the role that these media forms play in shaping and maintaining and shaping the Arab culture. Elements of the contemporary Arab culture Western films, advertisements and social media have considerably led to the erosion of morals among a section of the Arabs, especially in the Middle East (Suren web). Despite these changes however, Arabs use these same media as ways of maintaining their culture. Through films focusing on their culture, television adverts embracing their culture and promotion of the importance of having an identity over the social media, the media has played a key role on shaping and enforcing aspects of Arabic culture. While traditionally, Arabs were highly conservative in nature, recent trends indicate otherwise. The mode of dressing, teenage relationships and unruly behavior among the teenagers are the biggest contributing factors to the changes witnessed among the new generation (Suren web). The young people currently engage in sexuality at a tender age, something regarded to as a taboo among the Arab communities. The mode of dressing among some women shows diminishing respect for their privacy, exposing considerable skin, which is culturally wrong. Further, alcohol, although not classified as a moral wrong, it was unethical for the young to take alcoholic drinks. The changes in the society currently are amazing. Not only do the young now drink, they even influence their girlfriends. Others engage in stimulating drugs such as cocaine, heroin and marijuana. Resultant implication of these is rapid increase in teenage pregnancies, broken marriages and parent-child conflicts. In some instances, there are declining levels of respect among the children to their adults. Not only are the youth affected, the old too are victims, especially with the increased reports of marriage breakages and infidelity among the spouses. All these are results of the ever-increasing international media in the Arab regions. However, to counter the eve growing influence of the media among the Arabs, they have used these forms of media to shape and enforce various aspects of the Arabic culture among their people. The contribution of the media to the shaping and enforcing aspects of Arabic culture The films Censorship is one of the popular ways of protecting the Arab culture from the ever-growing influence of the western and international cultures (Mansour and Anne 4). As the world increasingly shares information, inform of videos, movies and films, makers of these films consider their culture, thus discarding the culture of the other cultures. Some of these films seek to promote particular cultures among the people. However, people of different origin have access of these films, thus picking certain values and practices from these films. Because culture is, a learned behavior or belief held by a particular group of people, whatever an individual perceive as good or acceptable is what the person regard as the acceptable way of life. While initially, culture was shared beliefs and practices for people of a particular ethnic or tribal grouping, the modern culture takes the form of perception. As most of the films contain cultural beliefs of the people, there is a high likelihood of people picking these cultural practices, transforming them to their culture. Most of the teenagers have adopted western cultural practices this way, especially with the increased consumption of the western films (Suren web). According to Mansour and Anne (2), censorship seeks to eliminate certain content regarded as harmful or immoral to the target audience. The government, through film review agencies decides the content that the local people should watch. Censoring however takes different forms. While the censoring person could delete part containing negative information, the person could also alter the images in the scene, especially in a movie. This also involves altering the voice of the people involved, thus making it impossible for the people to see events in the scene. The actors of the Arab origin hold the biggest role in spreading virtues of the Arab culture among the people (Tutton web). This takes place through their costuming, the content aired and addressing cultural issues in the society. Through filming, the Arabs have also made films seeking to promote their culture among their people. Egypt, regarded as the biggest manufacturer of Arab films focus on promoting the religious culture of the people (Mansour and Anne 5). Despite these actors remaining unknown to the rest of the world, they play a big role in promoting the culture of the Arabs. The more people watch these films, the more they embrace their culture (Tutton web). These films play a big role in promoting social cultural beliefs and traditions acceptable among the people of the people, especially films of the Egyptian origin. The internet Additionally, censoring involves filtering the kind of information passing through the internet such as the social media. Some extremely conservative countries, fearing the impact of social media and google, especially in the radicalization of its citizens, have resulted to blocking the use of Facebook among its people. Others block threads of information from different parts of the world, in an effort to protect the citizens from consuming the information. Reports indicate the increasing influence of the social media to the radicalization of the people and spread of terrorism. Further, because of the interactive nature of the social media, people share information inform of private messages, status updates and photos. The Arabs have started using this as an avenue to promote their cultures. The Facebook, being the most popular social media allows people to create groups and pages and invite their friends to join. These provide them with an opportunity to share their feelings, challenges and thoughts about their culture. They help each other whenever faced with problems. Through photos, people of Arab origin share the unique features and characteristics of their culture, subsequently celebrating their culture. This way, nobody regards the Arab culture as peculiar; rather, they see it as a unique way of life. Television adverts The increase in television popularity among the people makes it an important element of communication. The television, in addition to airing a number of programs is also a rich source of marketing ideas and products for different people and organizations. Some of the programs aired on television promote the culture of the target people. Additionally, the television also can air cultural content through advertisements designed specifically for this purpose. Cultural festivals are a way of promoting the Arabic culture among the people. As such, organizers of these events, advertise them through the television, thus creating awareness to the people. It is also important to understand that Arabs to consume internationally manufactured products. Firms have advertised these commodities through the television, as it provides them with a bigger audience than other forms of communication. Because they target people of Arabic culture, when shooting these advertisements, advertisers use the Arab culture. This appeals to the target audience better, hence winning the trust of the customers. Thus, the organizations and marketers indirectly promote the Arab culture among the Arabs. Conclusion To lack culture is to lack identity, argues cultural extremists. In fact, they argue that absence of a cultural identity for any individual is an indication of loss of direction and loss of belonging. Culture is an acceptable way of doing things, beliefs and norms of a particular group of people. All people globally have a particular form of culture they conform to and a group of people they identify with. Recent trends in the world, especially rapid technological changes, coupled with an increase in cross-cultural interaction have changed important elements of indigenous cultures. Some very indigenous cultures have become extinct, while others have relatively become increasingly irrelevant. To the extreme, some exotic cultures such as the western cultures have rendered some indigenous cultures, especially in the developing countries. The infiltration of these cultures has considerably affected the Arab culture. However, using the same media forms such as the television, the internet and films, Arabs have managed to share and shape their cultures among themselves. This way, they preserve their culture among themselves, reducing the instances where there is a mass deviation of people from the acceptable way of life among the people. Works Cited Mansour, Dina and Anna Scuola Superiore Sant’. “Egyptian Film Censorship: Safeguarding Society, Upholding Taboos”, Alphaville: journal of Film and screen media, 2012, pp. 1-16. Suren, Stefanie. “Arab Auteur Film Art: An Authentic Image of the Arab Youth”, 2005. web. Tutton, Mark. Egypts cultural influence pervades Arab world, CNN. 2011, web. http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/meast/02/12/egypt.culture.influence.film/ Read More