Something About the World and Globes and Disney and RTF and Brazil but not Really Brazil and TA Sessions

Globalization is a process of increasing interconnectedness among nations, cultures, and people. This process is accelerated by technological developments and is often carried through film.

Cultural imperialism reflects the imbalance in global power structure. Essentially, media flows more heavily from certain parts of the world, notably the US, to other parts. Hollywood corporate giants produce a great quantity of films that become international successes and therefore influence other countries.

A good example of this is Disney. Disney produces a huge number of animated films that are shipped across the globe for consumption by other countries. The Disney Pixar film Wall-E grossed an estimated $532 million worldwide. This is a huge amount of money going to a largely American film studio. In fact, most Disney films have become a standard for children across the world. The impact of this can be seen in Disney theme parks opening up in places like Japan and across Europe. Basically, globalization has allowed just one company to spread its ideas to a vast number of people. Maybe I’ll just happen to go to Tokyo Disney Sea… which isn’t under water… as the name might lead you to believe. Globalization and cultural imperialism has made Disney a worldwide phenomenon.