Research Article Open Access

Reconsidering Geocultural Contraflow: Intercultural Information Flows Through Trends in Global Audiovisual Trade

Abstract

The main purpose of this paper is to review and reevaluate the concept of cultural-linguistic contraflow as it relates to global media trade, taking into account the work of Straubhaar, Robertson, Appadurai, Sinclair, and others, as well recent global developments, and especially the vast increase in global media trade since the end of the Cold War. The purpose is to gain a fuller understanding of the emerging global system of information flow and trade in broadcast materials. Case studies involving a number of bilateral and multilateral media trading relationships are re-examined. This examination provides support for Straubhaar’s asymmetrical interdependence thesis, within the context of a developing bifurcation in global cultural interchange between the “global popular” in movie production and “glocalization” in television production.

Douglas Bicket

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