When Theodor Adorno first coined the term 'cultural industries', he meant it as a pejorative for capitalist industries that he saw as stifling the creativity of artistic individuals (Adorno, 1941). Concerned both as a musician and as a Jewish man who had lived in the Nazi propaganda bubble, he claimed that popular music is standardised 'even when an attempt is made to circumvent standardization' and that, due to the stranglehold of the music industries, mainstream pop music has little to no value as an item of culture (Adorno, 1941).
A potential antidote to Adorno's problem has come in the form of Web 2.0. Websites such as Bandcamp have made it easier than ever for independent artists to gain fame and get their music out there and these sites act in tandem with free custom site builders like Wordpress. A good example of this in action is Kunt and the Gang, the persona of a singer from Basildon, Essex whose real name I have not been able to source. Before the rise of the internet, a stage name of such vulgarity- let alone song titles like "I'm Wanking Over a Pornographic Polaroid of an Ex-Girlfriend who Died"- wouldn't have even courted an independent record deal. But in the early 2000's Kunt opened his website (Kunt and the Gang, n.d. a) and began selling records, booking dates in pubs around the country and promoting music on his YouTube channel (Kunt and the Gang, 2017). His ethic of self-reliance, which he carried up until his retirement in 2016, makes it poignant that he opens his first album with "Use My Arsehole as a Cunt", about struggling to achieve a record deal and needing to make certain 'compromises' to get ahead in the music business.
Kunt's concept of rebelling against the music establishment can also be seen in the song "#dirtyprotest", in which he urges the listener to send Simon Cowell pictures of their feces on account of the supposed fakeness of the artists in his talent shows . In this respect, it could be argued that Kunt is a champion of Adorno's ideals, or at least a parody of those things Adorno would call false. This begs the question- would Kunt and the Gang be classed as a pop act by Adorno? We can of course never answer that, but his 4/4 time and catchy hooks might point to an affirmative answer. Therein perhaps lies the fault in Adorno's argument. If we treat pop as not simply a musical mode, but an aesthetic with semiotic codes beyond the way it sounds, then I do not believe Kunt to be your typical pop prince at all. After all, would Justin Timberlake have a great hit with "Jesus Died of a Stranglewank"?
SOURCES:
Adorno, Theodor W. "On Popular Music". Studies in Philosophy and Social Science 9 (1941): 17-48. Print.
Kunt and the Gang, (n.d.). Home. [online] Kuntandthegang.co.uk. Available at: http://www.kuntandthegang.co.uk/ [Accessed 8 Feb. 2017].
Kunt and the Gang, (2017). clubtuppence. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/user/clubtuppence [Accessed 8 Feb. 2017].
Thursday, 23 February 2017
"Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" and the Cultural Impact of TV Formats
I defined internationalisation in my post on the cultural flow of the Yu-Gi-Oh! anime, but I will sum it up here again as a refresher. Hesmondhalgh uses the term 'internationalisation' to mean the increase in cultural flow and deregulation of global trade that takes place in the era of late capitalism (Hesmondhalgh, 2013). Part and parcel of internationalisation is the trade not only of fully fledged cultural products- as was the form Yu-Gi-Oh! travelled to the West in- but also the trade in ideas for products. Any Hollywood remake of a so-called foreign film that makes sweeping changes to appeal to a western audience will suffice as an example, but to illustrate this I'll use The Magnificent Seven (Sturges, 1960). This picture was a remake of the Japanese film The Seven Samurai (Kurosawa, 1954), using roughly the same plot and character archetypes, but the location was transferred to the Old West to appeal more to American viewers, who may not have empathised as much with a band of historical Japanese warriors.
One of the powerful examples of internationalisation in action is the transfer of television formats between territories. Oren and Shahaf believed that TV formats can create a level playing field between countries with powerful cultural industries, like the United States, and countries whose industries are not as well developed (Oren & Shahaf, 2012).
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is a TV format first broadcast in the United Kingdom on ITV in 1998. Despite this version being cancelled in 2014, it enjoys a large following in other parts of the world thanks to its adaptable format. Over 100 different versions of the show have been produced worldwide and in India, eight different versions exist to represent different linguistic and cultural groups.
While formatted shows have remained popular around the world, there have been some criticisms of the packaged television format. Whilst analysing format shows in South Africa, Nkosi Ndlela observed that content tended to be very Western in nature (Oren & Shahaf, 2012: 242-259). In South African Idol for example, he found that almost all of the songs were by American and British artists singing in English and cited viewer complaints that the show did not do enough to represent African music and culture (Oren & Shahaf, 2012: 242-259).
There is also the problem of the show's content conflicting with views held by a state or its people. Many packaged format shows created in the West, including Millionaire, espouse ideals synonymous with capitalist ideology. Contestants compete for a material prize, which is awarded based on skill in a particular field- in Millionaire, this skill is knowledge. Shows laid out in this way can be problematic in countries where the dominant ideology is not capitalism, such as in China, where a version of the show exists in the form of celebrities competing for charity money, rather than the traditional prize format (Bǎi Wàn Zhì Duō Xīng, 2007-08).
Weighing out the pros and the cons, one has a mind to disagree with Nkosi Ndlela and conclude that there are enough differences in format shows across the world for them to be viable cultural products. Format shows in the global east-south will never shake off their Western roots, but I believe that, due to the historic dominance of Western countries in the cultural marketplace, this is a trend across media and not one exclusive to the format show template. In fact, one could say that the malleable formats free up the amount of indigenous culture that can thrive in said shows and I would cite the use of the Millionaire format in officially communist China for charity over personal profit as a key example.
SOURCES:
Bǎi Wàn Zhì Duō Xīng, 2007-08 [TV]. GuiZhou TV.
Hesmondhalgh, D., 2013. The Cultural Industries, Available at: http://www.amazon.com/Cultural-Industries-Prof-David-Hesmondhalgh/dp/1412908086.
Oren, T. & Shahaf, S., 2012. Global television formats : understanding television across borders, Routledge.
The Magnificent Seven. (1960). [DVD] United States: John Sturges.
The Seven Samurai. (1954). [film] Japan: Akira Kurosawa.
One of the powerful examples of internationalisation in action is the transfer of television formats between territories. Oren and Shahaf believed that TV formats can create a level playing field between countries with powerful cultural industries, like the United States, and countries whose industries are not as well developed (Oren & Shahaf, 2012).
Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? is a TV format first broadcast in the United Kingdom on ITV in 1998. Despite this version being cancelled in 2014, it enjoys a large following in other parts of the world thanks to its adaptable format. Over 100 different versions of the show have been produced worldwide and in India, eight different versions exist to represent different linguistic and cultural groups.
While formatted shows have remained popular around the world, there have been some criticisms of the packaged television format. Whilst analysing format shows in South Africa, Nkosi Ndlela observed that content tended to be very Western in nature (Oren & Shahaf, 2012: 242-259). In South African Idol for example, he found that almost all of the songs were by American and British artists singing in English and cited viewer complaints that the show did not do enough to represent African music and culture (Oren & Shahaf, 2012: 242-259).
There is also the problem of the show's content conflicting with views held by a state or its people. Many packaged format shows created in the West, including Millionaire, espouse ideals synonymous with capitalist ideology. Contestants compete for a material prize, which is awarded based on skill in a particular field- in Millionaire, this skill is knowledge. Shows laid out in this way can be problematic in countries where the dominant ideology is not capitalism, such as in China, where a version of the show exists in the form of celebrities competing for charity money, rather than the traditional prize format (Bǎi Wàn Zhì Duō Xīng, 2007-08).
Weighing out the pros and the cons, one has a mind to disagree with Nkosi Ndlela and conclude that there are enough differences in format shows across the world for them to be viable cultural products. Format shows in the global east-south will never shake off their Western roots, but I believe that, due to the historic dominance of Western countries in the cultural marketplace, this is a trend across media and not one exclusive to the format show template. In fact, one could say that the malleable formats free up the amount of indigenous culture that can thrive in said shows and I would cite the use of the Millionaire format in officially communist China for charity over personal profit as a key example.
SOURCES:
Bǎi Wàn Zhì Duō Xīng, 2007-08 [TV]. GuiZhou TV.
Hesmondhalgh, D., 2013. The Cultural Industries, Available at: http://www.amazon.com/Cultural-Industries-Prof-David-Hesmondhalgh/dp/1412908086.
Oren, T. & Shahaf, S., 2012. Global television formats : understanding television across borders, Routledge.
The Magnificent Seven. (1960). [DVD] United States: John Sturges.
The Seven Samurai. (1954). [film] Japan: Akira Kurosawa.
Tuesday, 21 February 2017
Chekhov's Invisible Gun: The Censorship of Yu-Gi-Oh! Season 1 as a Cultural Flow
In order to understand a cultural flow, we must first define the process of internationalisation. This is a term that Hesmondhalgh uses as a neutral determiner between the optimistic globalisation and the pessimistic cultural imperialism (Hesmondhalgh, 2013). In The Cultural Industries, he agreed with the optimists that late capitalism brought about an increase in cultural flows and an abundance of free trade agreements, but remained two-sided about whether these facets are harbingers of evil or bringers of prosperity (Hesmondhalgh, 2013). It is at this point that I should define what I mean by a so-called cultural flow. I will be working with Rodenthi Tzanelli's definition of the 'multidirectional movements and reallocations of human beings, artifacts, and ideas within the ill-defined sphere of “culture” in its global, national, and regional dimensions' (Tzanelli, 2011). In layman's language, a cultural flow is the transfer of culture from one place to another.
Before I go on applying this to Yu-Gi-Oh!, it is important to clarify that when I refer to Yu-Gi-Oh! Season 1 in the title of this essay, I am referring to what in Japan is considered to be Yu-Gi-Oh! Season 2. When English dubbing and distribution rights were given to 4kids Entertainment, it was decided to gloss over Season 1 of the original anime as it was considered too violent and adult to possibly edit; this series has since been referred to as 'Season Zero' by English-speaking fans of the franchise. To avoid further ambiguity, I will refer to the season I am applying this theory to by a name more commonly used by fans: the Duelist Kingdom arc.
Yu-Gi-Oh! started out as a manga series in the Japanese magazine Shonen Jump in 1996, written and drawn by Kazuki Takahashi. In short, it follows the story of a group of high school students who play a card game called Duel Monsters. The original series was adapted to anime between 1998 and 2006 and produced several spin-offs as well as a supplementary card game. The series I am analysing takes place on the Duelist Kingdom estate owned by game creator Maximillian Pegasus, who traps the protagonist's grandfather in a card and forces him to participate in a tournament in exchange for his freedom.
Yu-Gi-Oh! started out as a manga series in the Japanese magazine Shonen Jump in 1996, written and drawn by Kazuki Takahashi. In short, it follows the story of a group of high school students who play a card game called Duel Monsters. The original series was adapted to anime between 1998 and 2006 and produced several spin-offs as well as a supplementary card game. The series I am analysing takes place on the Duelist Kingdom estate owned by game creator Maximillian Pegasus, who traps the protagonist's grandfather in a card and forces him to participate in a tournament in exchange for his freedom.
One of the most obvious changes from the original source is that all references to firearms have been removed. An infamous example is in the episode Everything's Relative, in which Pegasus' henchmen break into the character Seto Kaiba's office and threaten him at gunpoint. In the 4kids dub, they are simply pointing at him, an art edit for where guns were supposed to be (4Kids TV, 2001). In the parody series Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series, this joke is played up with the line 'don't move a muscle or we'll shoot you with our invisible guns' (Billany, 2009).
 |
| (4kids TV, 2001) |
The censorship arguably becomes confusing when the American character Bandit Keith later loses a duel and, in his anger, puts his finger against Pegasus' temple (4Kids TV, 2002c).
 |
| (NAS, 2000b) and (4kids TV, 2002c) |
Another example of 4kids censorship can be found in the Panik Attack storyline, which lasts for two episodes (4kids Entertainment, 2002a and 2002b). The arc begins when a large man named Panik is introduced and kidnaps the female character Mai Valentine. In the 4kids dub, this is portrayed as a simple theft of star chips, a far cry from the original in which Panik implies that he is going to sexually assault her (NAS, 2000a). The protagonist Yugi Motou, possessed by Yami Yugi, challenges him to a duel. Upon winning, Yami banishes Panik to the Shadow Realm, which is used throughout the 4kids dub as a euphemism for killing someone using magical powers. In this case, censorship makes Panik's banishment/death make less sense since his only crime was theft of a few gold trinkets.
Why was it felt that the series needed to be so heavily censored? Because at the time in which Yu-Gi-Oh! came to the West, anime had only been marketed in Western countries to children. The appeal of Pokémon and Dragon Ball Z with children in previous years (the latter of which was originally a much more adult series), combined with a Western ideal that cartoons- unless they were explicitly marketed otherwise- could only be for children, led 4kids to make sweeping changes when they received dubbing rights. Parini believes that this situation is gradually changing. As anime becomes a more accepted and well understood as a medium to Western audiences, series are now marketed towards teenagers and adults and are being broadcast in their original form in adult slots (Parini, 2012). Thus, it could be said that anime is more effective as a cultural flow than ever.
Why was it felt that the series needed to be so heavily censored? Because at the time in which Yu-Gi-Oh! came to the West, anime had only been marketed in Western countries to children. The appeal of Pokémon and Dragon Ball Z with children in previous years (the latter of which was originally a much more adult series), combined with a Western ideal that cartoons- unless they were explicitly marketed otherwise- could only be for children, led 4kids to make sweeping changes when they received dubbing rights. Parini believes that this situation is gradually changing. As anime becomes a more accepted and well understood as a medium to Western audiences, series are now marketed towards teenagers and adults and are being broadcast in their original form in adult slots (Parini, 2012). Thus, it could be said that anime is more effective as a cultural flow than ever.
SOURCES:
Billany, M. (2009). YGOTAS Episode 6 - Everybody Hates Mako - LittleKuriboh. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSt1J_usLzQ [Accessed 21 Feb. 2017].
Hesmondhalgh, D. (2013). The Cultural Industries. Available at: http://www.amazon.com/Cultural-Industries-Prof-David-Hesmondhalgh/dp/1412908086.
NAS (2000a) 'Pitch-Black Duel! The Castle Hidden in the Darkness' Yu-Gi-Oh!, Series 2, episode 14, TV Tokyo, 25 July.
NAS (2000b) 'Travel Through Time! Red-Eyes Black Metal Dragon' Yu-Gi-Oh!, Series 2, episode 32, 28 November.
Parini, I. (2012). Censorship of Anime in Italian Distribution. Meta: Journal des traducteurs, 57(2), pp.325–337. Available at: http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1013948ar.
Tzanelli, R. (2011). 'Cultural flows', in Southerton, D (ed.), Encyclopedia of consumer culture, SAGE Publications, Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA, pp. 385-386, 21 February 2017, doi: 10.4135/9781412994248.n145.
4Kids TV (2001) 'Everything's Relative' Yu-Gi-Oh!: Duel Monsters, Series 1, episode 8, Kids WB, 17 November.
4Kids TV (2002a) 'The Light at the End of the Tunnel' Yu-Gi-Oh!: Duel Monsters, Series 1, episode 14, Kids WB, 2 February.
4Kids TV (2002b) 'Winning Through Intimidation' Yu-Gi-Oh!: Duel Monsters, Series 1, episode 15, Kids WB, 2 February.
4Kids TV (2002c) 'Keith's Machination (Part 2 of 2)' Yu-Gi-Oh!: Duel Monsters, Series 1, episode 32, 7 September.
Billany, M. (2009). YGOTAS Episode 6 - Everybody Hates Mako - LittleKuriboh. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSt1J_usLzQ [Accessed 21 Feb. 2017].
Hesmondhalgh, D. (2013). The Cultural Industries. Available at: http://www.amazon.com/Cultural-Industries-Prof-David-Hesmondhalgh/dp/1412908086.
NAS (2000a) 'Pitch-Black Duel! The Castle Hidden in the Darkness' Yu-Gi-Oh!, Series 2, episode 14, TV Tokyo, 25 July.
NAS (2000b) 'Travel Through Time! Red-Eyes Black Metal Dragon' Yu-Gi-Oh!, Series 2, episode 32, 28 November.
Parini, I. (2012). Censorship of Anime in Italian Distribution. Meta: Journal des traducteurs, 57(2), pp.325–337. Available at: http://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1013948ar.
Tzanelli, R. (2011). 'Cultural flows', in Southerton, D (ed.), Encyclopedia of consumer culture, SAGE Publications, Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA, pp. 385-386, 21 February 2017, doi: 10.4135/9781412994248.n145.
4Kids TV (2001) 'Everything's Relative' Yu-Gi-Oh!: Duel Monsters, Series 1, episode 8, Kids WB, 17 November.
4Kids TV (2002a) 'The Light at the End of the Tunnel' Yu-Gi-Oh!: Duel Monsters, Series 1, episode 14, Kids WB, 2 February.
4Kids TV (2002b) 'Winning Through Intimidation' Yu-Gi-Oh!: Duel Monsters, Series 1, episode 15, Kids WB, 2 February.
4Kids TV (2002c) 'Keith's Machination (Part 2 of 2)' Yu-Gi-Oh!: Duel Monsters, Series 1, episode 32, 7 September.
GLOSSARY:
Duel: In the manga and anime, a 'duel' is a game of Duel Monsters, the card game that drives the plot. In the real world, this term is used for matches in the series' accompanying card game.
Duel: In the manga and anime, a 'duel' is a game of Duel Monsters, the card game that drives the plot. In the real world, this term is used for matches in the series' accompanying card game.
Shadow Realm: An otherworldy dimension invented by 4kids to replace all references to Hell and, more generally, death in the anime. In the 4kids dub, Yami Yugi has the ability to banish evil people to this realm using his mind. In the original, he kills them.
Star Chips: In the Duelist Kingdom arc, star chips are earned by beating another person in a duel. If someone loses, the winner takes all of their star chips. The first four people to earn ten star chips gain a semi-final place in the Duelist Kingdom tournament.
Yami Yugi: Yugi Motou is occasionally possessed by the spirit of an Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh named Atem. This personality is often known as Yami Yugi (lit. 'Dark Yugi').
Yami Yugi: Yugi Motou is occasionally possessed by the spirit of an Ancient Egyptian Pharaoh named Atem. This personality is often known as Yami Yugi (lit. 'Dark Yugi').
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