We consume media everyday. Television, radio and the internet are all forms of popular media and they are all around us. The media has basically opened us up to the world out there. Things that we have never heard of, places that we have always dreamt of visiting and even unwillingly, we are constantly being influenced by what we come across through the media. In this regard, the debate of cultural imperialism arises.
Cosafe in Singapore
Photo by varf
Cosafe opened in Singapore at CHIJMES in November 2006. Customers at Cosafe are served by girls dressed in Victorian maid attire and in full anime make up. Instead of "Welcome!", customers are greeted with "Okaeri Nasai", which means "Welcome home, Master". With the constant exposure to Japan's culture through the media, this idea of a cosplay themed restaurant which is very popular in Japan has caught on in Singapore. In a country which is still fairly conservative, the idea of being greeted "Welcome home, Master" may not bode well with a fair number of Singaporeans. As such, it can be clearly seen that as we learn more about other cultures through the media, cultural imperialism can occur.
Illustration by Jillian Tamaki
Another aspect is fashion. Walk along Orchard Road, and you can easily spot Singaporean girls dressed up in Japanese or Korean fashion. With all the drama serials in our stores today featuring the latest Japanese or Korean stars wearing the glamourous clothes in the latest fashion, it is of no surprise that our fellow ladies will want to follow suit.
Why then do all these cultures so easily seep into our society? Is it because that Singapore has a weak culture to begin with? Do we always have to follow others in order to be cool? When will Singapore finally find our own niche?
5 comments:
Perhaps following the latest culture is the culture of Singapore?
Singapore, being a multi-racial country has a very diverse form of culture. That, I presume is the reason why Singaporeans do not have a strong culture as a whole. Moreover, we are easily influenced by other countries because our local media emphasize on the popularity of these cultures. I suggest, local media focus more on our own culture rather than broadcasting fashions and themes of others.
Interesting post, I've seen the cafes before and am not very impressed with how Singapore can so easily accept and elevate something like that, regardless if it seems pervertic or not.
Well I guess partially its due to our collective society, that few are confident enough to step out with their own form of "culture" or "identity". It is never something that we're comfortable with. It is always something that looks comfortable on other people!
Regards,
Shawn Lee Wei Bin
The thing is Singapore's culture is not defined by things like fashion as like other cultures. This is because our traditional, racial defined cultures are just imported from other countries. This is because Singapore is a nation of immigrants historically speaking.
Instead our unique culture stems from the environment we Singaporeans grew up in. Being brought up in a high population density country with limited resources promotes competitiveness to such extremes until we get the familiar term of "kiasuism". To me, things like 4D, kiasuism and cynical views on government policies is what Singapore culture is defined as. Not so much about how we dress.
Kai Siang words brings to mind something interesting. Maybe its because we do not have a strong "traditional" culture that we are so quick as to follow the latest foreign culture?
maybe it's not about having a weak culture, but rather, what quinn and emil said about us being so diverse because our cultures are "imported" from other countries. because of this, i think that singapore might always be influenced by other countries, but that is not to say we're exactly like the rest, because i believe living in singapore brings about a different experience than living elsewhere.
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