The Creation and Operation Strategy of Disney’s Mulan: Cultural Appropriation and Cultural Discount

The purpose of this paper is to explore Disney Mulan’s cultural appropriation strategy and the cultural discount phenomenon formed in the Chinese market from the perspective of users and discuss the creation and operation strategy of the film. In 2020, Disney released a new film that originated in China, Mulan, but received negative reviews from the Chinese consumer market. Taking this as an example, this paper uses NVivo and ROSTCM to conduct content-coding and text analysis on creators’ interview records and consumer comments and seeks for the differences in understanding between Chinese audiences and creative teams. The results show that cultural appropriation is an effective strategy for film creation, but cultural appropriation based on misinterpretation will lead to cultural discounts in the operation of films. Therefore, corresponding strategies during film creation and operation should be adopted to better realize the sustainable development of culture.

From state-controlled media to video-on-demand platforms: Rethinking global cultural flows and television viewers’ changing habits in the case of Turkey

This study aims to open a discussion on the changing face of cultural imperialism within the context of contemporary capitalism’s conditions and the changing habits of Turkish television viewers. Although the past two decades have witnessed a growing interest in both the changing patterns of television viewing habits and viewers’ class status, this process has focused almost exclusively on the West and specifically Euro-American metropolitan viewers’ experiences. By contrast, very few studies have directly addressed other contexts, specifically, television viewers in non-western countries. Based on cultural proximity and cultural discount theories, this study analyses the reasons and outcomes behind Turkish television viewers’ ongoing tendency towards the video-on-demand platforms, such as Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video or their domestic counterparts, like Puhu or Blu TV, under Turkey’s ongoing modernization process. The results suggest that video-on-demand platforms provide particular interest for television viewers while offering relative freedom from state-controlled public media or strictly regulated private channels. Nevertheless, these platforms have appealed to both Turkish upper-middle-class viewers and younger viewers who have the cultural background to enjoy and appreciate the content on offer. This study also indicates how access to streaming platforms in Turkey mainly relies on the class status of television viewers, and that this kind of cultural flow, to some extent, creates a digital divide in Turkey.

From state-controlled media to video-on-demand platforms: Rethinking global cultural flows and television viewers’ changing habits in the case of Turkey

This study aims to open a discussion on the changing face of cultural imperialism within the context of contemporary capitalism’s conditions and the changing habits of Turkish television viewers. Although the past two decades have witnessed a growing interest in both the changing patterns of television viewing habits and viewers’ class status, this process has focused almost exclusively on the West and specifically Euro-American metropolitan viewers’ experiences. By contrast, very few studies have directly addressed other contexts, specifically, television viewers in non-western countries. Based on cultural proximity and cultural discount theories, this study analyses the reasons and outcomes behind Turkish television viewers’ ongoing tendency towards the video-on-demand platforms, such as Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Amazon Prime Video or their domestic counterparts, like Puhu or Blu TV, under Turkey’s ongoing modernization process. The results suggest that video-on-demand platforms provide particular interest for television viewers while offering relative freedom from state-controlled public media or strictly regulated private channels. Nevertheless, these platforms have appealed to both Turkish upper-middle-class viewers and younger viewers who have the cultural background to enjoy and appreciate the content on offer. This study also indicates how access to streaming platforms in Turkey mainly relies on the class status of television viewers, and that this kind of cultural flow, to some extent, creates a digital divide in Turkey.

Class, pay TV access and Netflix in Latin America: Transformation within a digital divide

In the context of international flows of media products, this article offers an exploration of pay TV and the prospects for streaming television usage in the Latin American region. Based on audience preference data gathered by Kantar Media, the article offers an overview of how the pre-Netflix era looked like in the region. Drawing on the theories of cultural proximity and cultural discount, our results suggest that the international nature of Netflix programming is of particular interest and appeal among the upper middle class and elite, who have the cultural capital to enjoy and appreciate it. The findings also indicate that access to streaming television is hampered by a new digital divide, based in both age or generation, class and geography, which will limit the extent to which services like Netflix will disrupt broadcast and cable/satellite television.

The Popularity of Asian Drama Series on Malaysian Television

The Asian drama series has reached high popularity level among local viewers since this popular culture has penetrated into our local entertainment industry. The scheduling of the government or the private television stations specific to Asian drama series has increased when the response is very encouraging from the local viewers. Viewers are an important commodity in the capitalist system whereby when a cultural product obtains high viewing rating, automatically the popularity is also going to be high. Thus, for these Asian dramas series to achieve popularity, they need to draw the interest and demand of viewers in this region, where it can be explained through the concept of regionalization. Regionalization gives the priority to the psychology and phenomenon about the cultural approach and the cultural discount. This concept justifies the phenomenon of Asian drama series popularity in the Asian region. The content analysis and interview have been used in this study to analyze the elements contained in the Asian drama series, and whether or not they contribute to their popularity also perspective from local drama producers towards this phenomenon. Similarities in terms of the theme, characterization and narratives contained in the popular Asian drama series in this current work are the method and approach adopted in this work to reduce the cultural discount whereby through this similarity it has started to build the identity and characteristics of the Asian drama series seen as accepted and welcome by Asian viewers- something which is known as the cultural approach. The outcome of the study also shows that from the mainstream theme, good scripts, the right choice of artists and appropriate theme songs in the drama that they contribute to high popularity and altogether leave an impact to the Malaysian TV industry. Producers are in full authority not only in executive work but also in terms of the creativity. The decision made by a producer of a drama is vital to render a drama series a success.