Can capital, technology really create global cultural prosperity?

Hollywood films, bestselling books, and TV programs act as selling tools for American values.
By By Chen Zhongyi / 12-17-2015 / (Chinese Social Sciences Today)

The film Transformers: Age of Extinction directed by Michael Bay debuted on June 27, 2014.

 

Former US President John F. Kennedy once remarked in a speech that the US must be known for its culture rather than its military power. Over half a century has passed since the speech, and US culture has blossomed worldwide. Some scholars even consider globalization to be more a process of “Americanization.”


Commercialism, global culture
Today, globalization has become an established fact that is not merely confined to the economic sphere.
McDonald’s, KFC, Plants vs. Zombies, as well as the Harry Potter series and Transformers are becoming common memories of children all over the globe. The disparate values and aesthetic orientations of the young are converging worldwide. At the same time, a sense of membership in the “global village” is intensifying.
 

The trend of urban integration and the abandonment of the coun