Quick, what is wrong with the following seduction scene?
“He turned the key and let her into the softly lit living room. She kicked off her Taiwanese black suede pumps and curled up on the buttery-smooth American leather sofa. He flicked the remote and the sleek French-made flat panel video screen came to life, with the soft pulsating beat and images of the latest Vietnamese New Age music video. As he poured the fine Chinese cognac into the voluptuous Canadian crystal goblets, she picked up the glossy Russian fashion magazine on the center table and started turning its pages…”
Well, apart from what is likely his totally ham-handed approach (we males know this), it is quite obvious what is wrong in this scenario.
Taiwanese pumps? American patent leather sofa? French-made flat panel TV? Vietnamese music video? Chinese cognac? Canadian crystal goblets? Russian fashion magazine?
Even the ultra-frenzied globalization of today has its cultural boundaries, and these are being flouted flagrantly in the scenario that I just laid out.
Rather than the expected cultural fluidity, globalization has in some ways hardened cultural categories.
The world has become simpler in cultural terms.
America goes Pop. It is the land of everything pop culture: music, movies, clothing, etc.
Europe, specifically EU, goes Haute. It is the zenith of high culture, from perfumes to scarves to cuisine to liquor.
Asia goes Gadgetry-Tech. If it has buttons and black matt finish, it must be made in Asia.
As affluence mounts in the newly rich parts of the world, especially Asia, these hard-as-rock cultural categories become unyielding. Over 70 percent of the super-premium Scotch whiskey and French cognac flows into (of course hand-blown Europe-made) goblets of affluent Asia. For the Asians a notch below, American media provide entertainment as they munch on American fast food. Then, the next morning those KFC-munching working class Asians go to work in the factories of those rich cognac-sipping Asian capitalists turning out the black matt digital cameras, DVD players, and flat panel TVs for the homes of America and Europe.
Globalization? What globalization? The only thing that has changed from the days of the Silk Road is that now the silky smooth finish appears on those black matt gadgets as well.
Nik Dholakia
