Chapter Ten

Chapter 10: The Global Flow of Visual Culture

By the twentieth century, images could be exchanged through nationally broadcast tv networks, motions pictures, print media, and the internet. Today, images can travel the glove much faster, in fact almost instantaneously, than ever before—a speed not even thought of before the 1980s. The paradox of global culture is that translational flow of culture creates homogeny but at the same time can encourage diversification and new audiences around the globe. Visual communication has been importance during the changing status of nation-states and globalized capitalism.

Even in the 21st century, the concept of a global world without borders is impossible to achieve from a social perspective. Even though mobility is much easier and attainable, national boarders have tightened severely since 2001, resulting from the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.

In the 1960s, during the space race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, NASA released images of the earth taken from space. Seeing these images of the earth as a single entity heavily influenced the worldwide concept of the glob and a global existence. When Earth Day was declared in 1970, there was an increased sense of a unified planet and strong human connections; however, these were mostly felt by those in North America and Europe.

It is a little shocking to think that at the beginning of the 21st century, there were more than 8,000 satellites orbiting the earth. That seems like a very large number to me, especially considering that the first satellite, the Russian Sputnik, was first launched in 1957. Satellites allow us to view the sky from a downward-looking perspective instead of looking upward, as humans have done since the beginning of humanity. It is interesting to consider how our changing perspective of the sky alters our perception of the world we live in. I use Google Maps to find directions sometimes, and they use a satellite representation of the earth to show the route to take. I usually don’t stop to think about this, but when I do, it’s pretty bizarre for me to think that it’s normal to see the earth and where I live from that perspective. It’s even weirder that I expect that I should be able to view the earth from that angle—it’s a bit like taking the technology (not of GoogleMaps but of satellite imaging) for granted since I’ve grown up with it all my life.

Geocaching is a really interesting activity. I have been a couple of times with my uncle, who is a geocacher by hobby. From experience, I can say that it’s a strange pastime, but there is a strong treasure-hunting quality to it that makes it enjoyable. The only difference is that instead of an X marking the spot, you get positioning coordinates that you plug into your GPS. It’s been a few years since my last geocaching experience, but I’d definitely do it again if I had the opportunity.

It’s amazing how attached people have gotten to their GPS systems since they’ve become popular. I suppose it’s the same idea as cell phones and rapid-fire expansion. I know people who always leave their GPS plugged into their car. I have a GPS, but I try not to use it unless I absolutely have to because I’m afraid I will begin to rely on it and lose my ability to find my way around by myself. I have a pretty good sense of direction, and I don’t want to lose it by becoming dependent on a new kind of technology. Regardless, my GPS often takes me on strange and unnecessary routes and more often than not seems to land me in the middle of nowhere. I’ve had more than one experience of being told “destination reached” after stopping in front of an abandoned warehouse-like building that has obviously been vacated for quite some time. That’s the most frustrating feeling in the world because then you really don’ know where you are, since you’ve relied on this machine to get you where you needed to go. All this aside, I still feel better having a GPS with me than not at times.

Cultural imperialism is the idea that an ideology or way of life can be exported into other territories by cultural products. This applies to restaurants, consumable products, television shows, news networks, etc.

I’ve never heard of Nollywood, but the Nigerian film industry is apparently the third largest filming industry, behind Hollywood and Bollywood, respectively.

I always thought it was weird that the Mona Lisa was in the Louvre in Paris, because Leonardo da Vinci was Italian, but after learning that the painting was taken from the Uffizi Gallery in Florence this makes much more sense. This is disappointing to me because I’ve been to the Uffizi, and it’s sad to think that I could have seen the Mona Lisa. However, the Uffizi certainly doesn’t lose anything from not housing the painting; I think the Mona Lisa is pretty overrated in actuality. I guess the only thing the gallery would lose would be the increased number of tourists coming to see the painting.