{"id":25210,"date":"2021-04-26T00:58:00","date_gmt":"2021-04-26T00:58:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=25210"},"modified":"2021-04-27T14:05:11","modified_gmt":"2021-04-27T14:05:11","slug":"netflixs-big-bet-on-foreign-content-and-international-viewers-could-upend-the-global-mediascape-and-change-how-people-see-the-world-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/netflixs-big-bet-on-foreign-content-and-international-viewers-could-upend-the-global-mediascape-and-change-how-people-see-the-world-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Netflix\u2019s big bet on foreign content and international viewers could upend the global mediascape \u2013 and change how people see the world"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Paolo Sigismondi<\/a>, USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a kid growing up in Italy, I remember watching the American TV series \u201cHappy Days<\/a>,\u201d which chronicled the 1950s-era Midwestern adventures of the Fonz, Richie Cunningham and other local teenagers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Poster<\/a>
\u2018Happy Days\u2019 ran on ABC from 1974 to 1984. IMDB<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The show, combined with other American entertainment widely available in Italy in the 1970s and 1980s, shaped my perception of the United States long before I ever set foot in the country. Today, I call the U.S. home, and I have developed my own understanding of its complexities. I am able to see \u201cHappy Days\u201d as a nostalgic revival of an ideal, conflict-free American small town<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHappy Days\u201d was a product of Hollywood, which is arguably still the epicenter of the global entertainment industry. So recent news that the streaming service Netflix is opening an Italian office<\/a> and will begin massively funding original local content with the intent of distributing it globally on its platform<\/a> \u2013 following a strategy already launched in other European countries \u2013 struck me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This could be a potentially game-changing move in global entertainment. And it might even change how the world perceives, well, the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Learning by watching<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I have explored the global media landscape<\/a> from the privileged vantage point of Los Angeles for the past 15 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TV and movies are one way that people, as we go through life, make sense of the world, building on the archive of our personal experiences and opinions of other places<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Absent direct experience with a people or nation, we speculate on what we do not know. This process involves a variety of sources, including reading, Googling and accounts from somebody we trust. But often it is media that exposes people to other cultures, above and beyond our own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

TV and movies fill the knowledge gaps with powerful images and stories that inform the way we think about different cultures. If the media\u2019s messages have consistency over time, we may come to understand these as facts<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But media portrayals may well be inaccurate. Certainly, they are incomplete. That\u2019s because movies and TV series aren\u2019t necessarily meant to depict reality; they are designed for entertainment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Angelina<\/a>
Actor Angelina Jolie filming \u2018The Tourist\u2019 in Venice, Italy, in 2010. Barbara Zanon\/Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As a result, they can be misleading, if not biased, based on and perpetuating stereotypes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, there is no shortage of Italian and Italian American stereotypes in American entertainment<\/a>. From the award-winning \u201cGodfather\u201d saga to the less critically acclaimed \u201cJersey Shore\u201d TV series, Italians are often depicted as tasteless, uneducated, linked to organized crime \u2013 or all three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Media is a window to the world<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

But the way people are exposed to media entertainment<\/a> is changing. Today streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Apple TV+ and Disney+ collectively have 1 billion subscribers globally<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Being a relative newcomer in producing original content, Netflix cannot rely on a large library of proprietary content to feed its 204 million paid members in over 190 countries<\/a>, as legacy Hollywood players can. So it is increasingly creating original productions, including a number of non-English language originals<\/a> from places such as Mexico, France, Italy, Japan and Brazil.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Screenshot<\/a>
A snippet of Netflix\u2019s international lineup on April 2, 2021. Screenshot, Netflix.com<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We might call this an example of \u201cglocalization of entertainment<\/a>\u201d \u2013 a company operating globally, adapting its content to meet the expectations of locally situated audiences across the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is already the modus operandi, for example, of many popular reality TV shows<\/a>. \u201cAmerican Idol\u201d is an American adaptation of Europe\u2019s \u201cPop Idol.\u201d \u201cThe X Factor,\u201d \u201cBig Brother\u201d and \u201cDancing with the Stars\u201d have similarly international origins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, however, glocalization comes with a twist: Netflix intends to distribute its localized content internationally, beyond the local markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not the global reach of Netflix\u2019s platform per se that would break down old stereotypes. French critics panned the American-produced, internationally distributed Netlix series \u201cEmily in Paris<\/a>\u201d for its cliched, romanticized portrayal of the city. https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/p4Okq1Wdpg0?wmode=transparent&start=0 \u2018Emily in Paris\u2019 was an American take on Paris, and French critics hated it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foreign TV executives must create shows for Netflix that both appeal to local audiences and have international potential, while remaining authentic in their portrayal of their country. If Netflix\u2019s Italian team thinks \u201cThe Godfather\u201d is what international audiences expect from Italy, international audiences may tune in \u2013 but Italians won\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To become truly international, Netflix would also have to foster the development of original local ideas not only in European countries with well-developed cultural industries but also in smaller countries and those with emerging entertainment industries, such as African nations<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Netflix\u2019s opportunity \u2013 and challenge<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A side effect of this strategy could be that Netflix upends the traditional way that media informs our understanding of foreign people and lands by more accurately representing these places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that\u2019s a tall order, and it\u2019s not, of course, guaranteed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Netflix\u2019s transformative potential comes from allowing local creatives to tell stories about their own cultures and then distributing them truly internationally. It will depend on the company\u2019s willingness to implement this strategy in a consistent, sustained, inclusive and thoughtful fashion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over time, widespread exposure to a diverse array of international media content might change the way people in the U.S. and worldwide think and feel about other cultures they have never, and may never, come into direct contact with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All it takes is one click \u2013 one choice to watch, perhaps even unknowingly, a foreign-produced series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The way Netflix works, using algorithms to suggest content<\/a> as viewers make selections, can prolong an initial exposure to and interest in foreign content. Artificial intelligence meant to feed us more of what we like may end up a surprising force for change, making us rethink what we thought we knew.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Paolo Sigismondi<\/a>, Clinical Professor of Communication, USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Paolo Sigismondi, USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism As a kid growing up in Italy, I remember watching the American TV series \u201cHappy Days,\u201d which chronicled the 1950s-era Midwestern adventures of the Fonz, Richie Cunningham and other local teenagers. The show, combined with other American entertainment widely available in Italy in the 1970s and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":25211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[293,8025],"tags":[2341,4694,15,1743,729,1409,308,2225,652,1746,1728,593,838],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25210"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25210"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25221,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25210\/revisions\/25221"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}