Ain't globalization funny?
Living in the US, it's so easy to start thinking that there's nothing outside the borders of our country. We turn on the TV and see American actors, we get our coffee from an American chain, we shop (for products made in China) at American stores. I end up spending so little time thinking about other countries while I'm in the US, that when I do travel abroad I always feel surprised and a little guilty when I find out how much time the rest of the world spends thinking about us.
I arrived in Cape Town shortly after the country's first Burger King opened just down the street from my office (past the McDonald's and KFC) and a month later, people are still lined up out the door waiting to try their first Whopper. I have had conversations with South Africans about Paula Deen, Kim Kardashian, and Sarah Palin.
"Yeah...when I hang out with you guys I feel like I'm in a TV show," our Australian friend, Erin, remarked to me and my fellow Yankees the other day, when we were talking about the presence of American media overseas.
Yet, for the ubiquitousness of most parts of American culture, it's always interesting to find out which things don't make it overseas. A South African I talked to could quote Jon Stewart, but had never heard of Stephen Colbert, for example.
How different would life be if the majority of the media you consumed was produced internationally? When I turn on my little TV here, on one channel "Master Chef: Austrailia" will come on, followed by the American sitcom "Two Broke Girls," followed by a very intense and emotional-sounding Afrikaans drama series. The commercials in-between will often advertise American or other international products but will be voiced by a South African.
I spend a lot of time pondering this stuff, so it was a little surreal, but not necessarily surprising, when my boss spun around in his chair on Tuesday and asked me if I wanted to go take photos of a new Broadway show that had just arrived in Cape Town: "Jersey Boys." As is often the practice with Broadway, the producers of the show shipped the concept overseas, but hired a local cast. So the show I saw was the same script, music, choreography and technical design as one might have seen on in New York in 2005, but it was performed by South Africans. So I was a Californian journalist, sitting in a Cape Town opera house snapping pictures of South African performers in a New York production which tells the story of an internationally famous singing group from New Jersey.
For the most part, the show seemed to be well received, though I did notice I was the only person who laughed at a line in the play about a 1960s model Cadillac. "It's a great car! It gets almost eight miles-per-gallon." Since they use neither miles nor gallons as forms of measurement in most parts of the world, that joke gets lost in translation.
Most of the rest translated though...even through the South African actors' slightly awkward-sounding attempts at New Jersey accents.
See the rest of my photos from the production on News24.
Living in the US, it's so easy to start thinking that there's nothing outside the borders of our country. We turn on the TV and see American actors, we get our coffee from an American chain, we shop (for products made in China) at American stores. I end up spending so little time thinking about other countries while I'm in the US, that when I do travel abroad I always feel surprised and a little guilty when I find out how much time the rest of the world spends thinking about us.
I arrived in Cape Town shortly after the country's first Burger King opened just down the street from my office (past the McDonald's and KFC) and a month later, people are still lined up out the door waiting to try their first Whopper. I have had conversations with South Africans about Paula Deen, Kim Kardashian, and Sarah Palin.
"Yeah...when I hang out with you guys I feel like I'm in a TV show," our Australian friend, Erin, remarked to me and my fellow Yankees the other day, when we were talking about the presence of American media overseas.
Yet, for the ubiquitousness of most parts of American culture, it's always interesting to find out which things don't make it overseas. A South African I talked to could quote Jon Stewart, but had never heard of Stephen Colbert, for example.
How different would life be if the majority of the media you consumed was produced internationally? When I turn on my little TV here, on one channel "Master Chef: Austrailia" will come on, followed by the American sitcom "Two Broke Girls," followed by a very intense and emotional-sounding Afrikaans drama series. The commercials in-between will often advertise American or other international products but will be voiced by a South African.
I spend a lot of time pondering this stuff, so it was a little surreal, but not necessarily surprising, when my boss spun around in his chair on Tuesday and asked me if I wanted to go take photos of a new Broadway show that had just arrived in Cape Town: "Jersey Boys." As is often the practice with Broadway, the producers of the show shipped the concept overseas, but hired a local cast. So the show I saw was the same script, music, choreography and technical design as one might have seen on in New York in 2005, but it was performed by South Africans. So I was a Californian journalist, sitting in a Cape Town opera house snapping pictures of South African performers in a New York production which tells the story of an internationally famous singing group from New Jersey.
For the most part, the show seemed to be well received, though I did notice I was the only person who laughed at a line in the play about a 1960s model Cadillac. "It's a great car! It gets almost eight miles-per-gallon." Since they use neither miles nor gallons as forms of measurement in most parts of the world, that joke gets lost in translation.
Most of the rest translated though...even through the South African actors' slightly awkward-sounding attempts at New Jersey accents.
See the rest of my photos from the production on News24.
when we were in Spain in 1987-89, i asked one of the locals how Jackie Kennedy was viewed. the answer - "Who?" So other countries are inward looking as well
ReplyDeleteI went to see the Great Race with Terry Thomas in SE Asia when I was there. There were some laugh out loud scenes, even w/o narrative. I (the sole American) was the only one who did laugh or get the humor.