Lynn University Media and National Culture Essay

This week we began our inquiry into the complex relation between cinema and the nation-state. We read three texts written by Susan Hayward, Geert Hofstede, and David Kosalka, and viewed the film “Downfall” (Germany, 2005). The text by Hayward and provides us with an introductory discussion to the scholarly study of “national cinema.” In this discussion the relation between cinema and the nation is negotiated with several critical axes of inquiry in mind: extra-territorial considerations relating to the films’ conditions of production, i.e. funding, shooting locations, language, production cast and crew, etc.; relational considerations, i.e. the study of national cinema in relation to other cinemas, particularly Hollywood cinema; and nation-building/essentialist considerations which place their focus on the cinematic text itself, its style, themes, narrative, political sensibility, etc. (see Hayward’s seven typologies) . Hayward also discusses national cinema as a state institution that can be studied via the films themselves, critical writing about the films, and the archiving institutions charged with their preservation (cultural artifacts).

Geert Hofstede introduces the study of culture as a mental programing of the mind. Kosalka further develops this notion a consideration of national culture, the ideological backbone of the modern Nation-State. Historians, Kosalka argues, were the architects of the national narratives that fueled the construction of the nation-state through the use of a myriad of cultural artifacts — the agents that propagated and disseminated these ideas on a mass scale. Once more, the media is seen a a conduit that mobilizes ideas that make up the world that we inhabit.

In your reaction to this intriguing discussion try to integrate arguments that are made in each of the three texts while utilizing the film “Downfall” as your case study. At the end of your reaction paper provide your personal input on what you thought about the material read and the film.

Be aware that the paper should not exceed 600 words (not including title page and references). This means that you should seek to develop a discussion with a clear focus on the issues that you would like to address, and do so, with a clear voice that articulates your position. The review should be concise and should integrate direct quotations from the text (no longer than one or two sentence quotes with formatted citations). Be sure to provide your perspective in relation to the area of the debate that you chose to address. On the title page, give your work an original title that can represent the focus of your work.

Follow APA/MLA/Chicago formats for citations throughout!!! DO NOT FORGET THE WORKS CITED PAGE.

Review your work for spelling and grammatical accuracy.

Discussion Questions I: Media National Culture

Discussion Questions I: Media National CultureUnlimited Attempts Allowed

You should prepare 2-3 discussion questions relating to each of the assigned readings for the week.

The questions should introduce the issue to which they are referring and present a critical question in response to the issue at hand.

The assignment is designed to assess your fluency and understanding of the material rather than your effort to understand the reading.

Willow Laporte
Media and Culture
11 January 2021
Discussion Questions – Media & Nationalism
1. Hayward asserts that, “given that cinema is an industry and therefore an affair of capital it
is obvious that the cinema of the centre will dominate the other in its myth-making
practices,” (1993) if this is taken as truth, a moral question can be posited that:
a. If economic capital does not incentivize a diverse representation on screen, how
can supposedly ethical societies aim to get films that do carry this progressive
hallmark into the center of society?
2. When Hofstede argues that in order for new thought patterns and behaviors to grow first
an individuals “must unlearn (patterns of thinking feeling, and acting already established)
before being able to learn something different, and relearning is more difficult that
learning for the first time (2005), a snag that should be discussed is:
a. Can individuals reconditioned the habitus while still participating in the society
that created their social conditioning? In order to have true restructuring does an
individual need to have their original behaviors de-incentivized? Or can mental
change occur without social flux?
3. Kosalka’s essay argues that the time for traditional national culture has passed, citing in
part that “the Internet and similar communication advances have the potential to make
national cultural identities difficult to maintain” (Kosalka 1999). While I believe the
concept to be sound, as globalization is shaping the face of the world, I wonder if:
a. Despite decline of national allegiance and homogeny in more globalized cities, is
this change truly happening in the rural areas of different nations? Although the
internet has the theoretical possibility of perpetrating this change equally, as all
areas have access to the global media, is this influence making it beyond the
screen and into cultural beliefs and practices in these areas?