This week we are learning about intercultural communication. One of the main aspects of Intercultural communication is individualism and collectivism. Individualist cultures’s social behaviour is largely determined by their personal goals, attitudes and values whereas collectivist’s behaviour is largely determined by conformity , mutual sympathy and self-sacrifice for in-group members. Miss Hui mentioned that most of the Asian societies are collectivist cultures while the Western societies are individualist cultures.
In my opinion, I feel that Asian societies today are actually trying to incorporate many of collectivist aspects into their culture. One way is done through the various media. Especially in the Indian culture, it can be seen in various bollywood films, that they are trying to become more “liberal” just like the Westerners. You will know what I mean in jus a minute.
Please take a look at this video below.
This video is actually a tamil song from a recent movie. Yes I know, whatever happened to all those old-fashioned music videos where the girl runs behind the tree and plays hide-and-seek with the hero? (that is what used to happen in tamil movies in the olden days) It is evident that all the societies that were collectivist are slowly trying to adapt to the growing individualist culture that is spreading like wildfire. It is obvious from where the song also takes place; in a club with half-clad girls and a well-known rapper. The media has also taken more than enough initiatives to ensure that they do not lose the younger generations to the Western media which is more “liberal” in that sense. Therefore, like what the proverb goes ” If you can’t beat them, join them!”. That is exactly what collectivist societies are trying to do right now. It is a economic strategy to stay competitive with the western media; songs being more harder to understand, girls becoming thinner and guys wearing more bling. Asian societies know that they cannot obviously compete with the liberal Western culture , hence they have tried to incorprate many of Western elements into their many forms of media. It should be noted that the bollywood industry has already achieved this and almost on par with the Western industry. The tamil industry , on the other hand, is just slowly climbing up the social ladder. The song in the music video shown above is actually an old song that appeared in the 80’s. Producers have remixed this song and made it more appealing to the younger generation by “westernising” it and as a result this song has stayed on the top.
Being from a fairly conservative family, you can imagine the shock when my family saw this video. The first thing that my mother turned around and asked me was ” What is happening to the indian kids nowadays!!”Well, I agree to disagree with her if you catch my pun. The younger generations are not exactly at fault as they have been born into a generation where we are celebrating freedom of speech, liberal worldviews and where bar -dancing is alright.; therefore, it is incorrect to blame the younger generations as the media mainstreams the world as such. On the other hand, it is not the parent’s fault as they did not have the many privileges that teenagers have. Hence, parents might be shocked as they might want their children to be exactly the way they had been when they were teenagers. Again, this might lead to conflicts between the parents and their children.
Even though, the media has become more liberal, it does not mean that families are also going to be the same. There is a positive and negative influence on various families. For example, an extremely ortodox family might look at the above video and deem it to be entirely unappopriate and ban their children from watching such shows ever again. This will result in extreme negative issues for the kid. He or she might be ostracised by other kids and even deemed a social misfit. The media has such power to inflict pain on those who do not go together with the flow of messages. On the contrary, if a family was open-minded, they would be willing to accept the fact that their culture is changing and accept the new ideas and concepts that are expressed through various forms of media. The older generations; however, might still have a conflict of interest between the younger generations.
I strongly feel that even though the media is inclined towards the Western culture more, an individual should not lose the essence of his or her culture because it is culture that has shaped our world today and makes us unique. I feel that adapting our culture to the changing trends in society is quite alright; however, an individual should not totally change from one culture to another. There is then no respect for the older generations as they have put in so much effort in ensuring that aspects of their culture are not compromised by the changing trends in society. This is the very basis of why we have various festivals celebrated by the different cultures in Singapore. It serves as a reminder to us that we still are part of something unique that nobody else haves.
Now, take a look at this video.
This is another music video by Timbaland entitled Indian Flute. See the irony? Western cultures are now adapting more and more of Indian elements into whatever they are showcasing. Other examples include Shakira’s “Hip’s Don’t Lie” . However, even though we see Westerners incorporating more of Indian elements into their media, they do not necessarily change from one culture to another. They just see it as a form of entertainment. Moreover, I believe that Westerners also see it as a form of attracting the new generations as there is a fusion of music expressed which is depicted as the East meeting the West. Westerners have the ability to retain their culture and accept new ideas as well. This is the case as they have been encouraged from a small age to accept new ideas and to speak their thoughs freely. Liberalisation has been a key element of their lives from the very beginning. Easterners on the other hand have just begun to experience the true flavours of liberalisation through the changes in society and the ever-changing trends that they must adopt to.
The bottomline is that both Western and Asian cultures are changing; however, the problem lies in not losing the essence of both the cultures. If by accident we do lose it, there is no hope of the younger generation ever learning about our culture just like what we did from our forefathers.
