Mtv Networks And The Middle East Essay

The role of the Middle East has been very crucial to the United States, especially after WWII. The U.S. had three strategic goals in the Middle East and consistently followed them throughout various events that unfolded in the region. First, with the emergence of the cold war between the Soviet Union and the U.S., policymakers began to recognize the importance of the Middle East as a strategic area in containing Soviet influence. This also coincides with the U.S. becoming increasingly wary of Arab nationalism and the threat it posed to U.S. influence. Secondly, the emergence of the new Israeli state in 1948 further deepened U.S. policy and involvement in the region while also creating friction between the U.S. and Arab states which were

Iconic legends like Michael Jackson, Madonna, Bon Jovi, Prince, Def Leppard, and Guns N' Roses built MTV. Music fanatics like myself used to run home from school, just so we could witness a Michael Jackson music video. MTV is the reason I listen to all genres of music including Rock, Hip-Hop, Pop, and R&B. BET was so instrumental in making sure R&B artists were recognized and respected. If it wasn't for BET, legendary musicians like Patti LaBelle, Luther Vandross, Anita Baker, and New Edition may have gone unnoticed by the world. MTV and BET were important factors in the music business- I just wish the networks understood how essential they are in this battle to get music back to its dominance. Music deserves to be played/viewed on the major MTV and BET channels- not the affiliate MTV and BET channels that most people don't have access to. Television is a vital platform, and artists need that platform in order to help promote their

their culture. Television over the years has molded the minds of its viewers – young and

Have you ever wondered about MTV and how it became as big as it is today? The reason for this is that it has been around a while and your parents may have even watched it when they were younger. So, they have a little experience in how to draw young teens to watch their programs. MTV got its big start and revolutionized television as modern viewers know it today.

MTV provides the artists a place to visually promote their music and publicity. Therefore, it links the music industry closer to the entertainment business. At the time, when there was some limit to non-direct fan marketing platforms back at the 1980s, musicians used to rely on radio, promotions and record shops, and that is, briefly speaking, to gain exposure. MTV is a channel that provided not only audio but video experiences to their audience which lead to a much broader audience and to a chance for the artists of better expressing their music and building brand awareness. These eventually lead more artists to pay more attention on their style of appearance, and some of them even triggered trends in the fashion industry. As the song names and band names appearing at the start and the end of the music video, it visually

MTV, formally known as Music Television, is one of the most viewed networks on television today. Roughly thirty-three years old, it has changed the American culture drastically in more than just one way. Specifically targeting teens and young adults, the MTV network provides all of the most up to date gossip on celebrities, highlights the latest fashion trends, promotes versified lifestyles, and defines the music industry of our generation. However, this so-called “idolized network” has not always been this way. The American culture has been affected by MTV through the creation of the network, the transformation from simply just music television to inappropriate reality shows, and the promotion of inappropriate content.

As America headed into the 1980s, two decades of social and political upheaval have left the nation rattled and the economy weakened. The Iran hostage crisis shook America's confidence and many looked for a new kind of leader to steer the country into the new decade. Ronald Reagan led America into a new era of prosperity leaving the soul-searching of the 60s and 70s behind. The nation was ready to enjoy itself and with plenty of new toys to play like VCRs and video games, Americans spent more time at home and soon something called cable TV would make it even harder to leave the living room. With the new innovation of the TV, one of the ideas for a channel was a marriage between music and television. This new idea for a channel devoted to something called music videos would end up revolutionizing and often scandalizing an industry that had no choice but to embrace the fact that music in the 1980s had to have a face with videos. By having these music videos, they would change the way we look at music and the way we look at the world. This cutting- edge idea was a new medium perfectly suited to a new generation and that idea was called, MTV. This leads to the question: How did MTV influence pop culture of the 1980’s? This topic is worthy of investigation because the coming of MTV has had a significant impact on the way people see pop culture. Before researching the topic, the writer had limited knowledge on MTV and only knew about the music itself. In the paper, the writer was

One of the most important events to influence music in the 80s was the creation of MTV (Music Television). MTV was the first station to exclusively play music videos, hitting the airwaves on August 1st, 1981. The first music video to be played on the channel was the Buggles' "Video Killed the Radio Star," as music is constantly changing the focus would shift from music to fashion and famous people doing idiotic things. The original idea was for the station was to play music videos twenty-four hours a day, every day. This has obviously changed since then, but the innovative concept created a whole new kind of pop star.

For the first time, TV shows, started to affect the way people saw themselves. “...The music video channel (MTV), which debuted on August 1, 1981, influenced the way people interpreted music, fashion, television, advertising, and consumer culture. In many respects, the ubiquity of music videos changed the way people viewed their own lives. Suddenly, it was as if each person with the right car, sports coat, and stylized accessories was the star of their own personal video and constantly in the spotlight” (Batchelor and Stoddard 77). MTV influenced not only the entertainment industry but also the daily lives of American people. Suddenly, everyone wanted to have fancy cars, sports coats, and glamour and fame. Being in your own “video” was like escaping the reality of the world and absorbing the spotlight. “...By the end of the 1980s, 60 percent of American television owners got cable service–and the most revolutionary cable network of all was MTV...The music videos the network played made stars out of bands like Duran Duran and Culture Club and made megastars out of artists like Michael Jackson (1958-2009), whose elaborate “Thriller” video helped sell 600,000 albums in the five days after its first broadcast. MTV also influenced fashion: People across the country (and around the world) did their best to copy the hairstyles and fashions they saw in music videos. In this way, artists like Madonna (1958-) became

This will lead to the mass media homogeneity that will dissolve cultural differences. Cultural imperialism started right after decolonization when political or military control of another country could not be practiced. Psychological forms of control began to be used and were facilitated through the rapid integration of global telecommunications systems. They pushed American culture that promoted the ideas of consumption and instant gratification that would spread global capitalism and increase profits. The cultural imperialism argument has several strengths as well as weaknesses. It’s main strength is based on the idea that mass media from larger nations negatively affects the smaller nations because the national identity of smaller nations is lessened or lost due to media homogeneity inherent in mass media from the larger countries. Sometimes local interpreters keep some cultural diversification by transforming the imported media to meet local demand. The media is still influenced by the core but is also still unique and successful. Examples of this include the success of Korean pop music and Bollywood cinema in their respective “geolinguistic region.” The media imperialism theory fails to fully understand the internal historical and social dynamics within periphery countries. The West may have implanted the model of television consumerism, but the West is not required to sustain it and today many US programs lead the world in their transportability across cultural boundaries but are rarely the most popular when viewers have reasonable local options. (L&B p340-342)(Peripheral Vision) The social construction of reality theory attempts to explain how and why individuals view the world in a certain way and what role the media plays in shaping that view. It suggests that the media actually

Popular culture can be defined as “The knowledge of current or up-to-date events. It can refer to music, television, film, sports, and anything in the public domain.” (reference.com.n.d.). MTV operates globally and one may argue that MTV shapes their audience tastes however in present times the public has vast options and therefore can easily dictate by choosing the channel that best suits their tastes and wants. MTV’s power to adapt to change has worked to their advantage as they have been able to capture their target audience throughout their existence.

In 1979, Nickelodeon, “a cable channel for kids 2-11 years old, was launched in the United States”. Nickelodeon provided a wide-range of programming which including “live-action, comedy, drama, animation, music and sports and game shows”. By 1995, Nickelodeon was the highest rated basic cable network and international expansion was very realistic and just getting started. To successfully transition internationally Nickelodeon allowed the channel to have its own “on-air identity and slogan” for each endeavor. Nickelodeon used an “International Swat Team” to launch the network into other countries and once established turned it over for local personnel

The music industry has been around for over two centuries (PBS). Its volatility can be measured by its ability to shift and change according to its time period, the technologies that arise through the ages and the public’s shift in musical taste. The music industry is comprised of many different components, organizations and individuals that operate within it. Some of these components include the artists who compose the music themselves, the producers that engineer the sounds created by the artists, the companies that handle distribution and promotion of the recorded music, the broadcasters of the music such as radio

One of the biggest challenges for MTV was the controversial content that it is used to show on their normal channel and regarding this the main difference they had to adapt. The sexuality, use of alcohol, politic criticism and religion criticism are some of the main characteristics of MTV on other countries that are not as conservative as Arabs. With these characteristics MTV has achieved success through the Western hemisphere, be- cause the black humor they use is normal among the youngsters and instead of feeling sensible with these, they see it in a humorous way. But, in the Arab community they still conserve the traditional values supported by their culture. In an effort to adopt the strategy of “Think Globally, Act Locally” MTVN (Music Television Networks) executives made it a point to learn the cultures and make shows that relate to the cultures as op- pose to exporting the American culture. In order to achieve this goal the channel adopted a decentralized

Satellite TV move to the way that affects culture. Most of the TV programs now days are received to the whole world; people can have the access to all of theses programs at the same time, and they can see all the same news and