Cole Frederick Caps blog #5

Cultural Texts

            A cultural text is a popular culture message that is widely disseminated to a specific group of individuals. Cultural texts can be television shows, movies, advertisements, or other messages that our widely dispersed (Martin/Nakayma 2010). These contexts don’t necessarily have to be popular to become “popular culture texts.” Individuals often take in or avoid specific types of cultural texts. For example, some people enjoy certain movies and particular types of books. Many cultural texts target a specific type of audience. The audience for a Sports Illustrated magazine is much different than a Vogue magazine. The problem with many of these cultural texts is that many individuals that aren’t part of the culture in which the text was intended for, often comes away thinking that everything they read or watched is true about the culture in the cultural text. This can lead to stereotyping and misrepresentation of different cultures. For example, an individual that isn’t from the United States may view a show like Desperate Housewives or Two and a Half Men and get the idea that is how all Americans live, when in fact these only represent the quintessential American lifestyles.

            A good cultural text example that connects with intercultural communication would be the stereotypes and misrepresentation of cultures through cultural text. People believe what they see and hear in this day and age. It’s especially common in foreigners who don’t know all that a particular culture has to offer. The first film or book that a foreigner reads about a particular culture may be the thing that comes to their mind every time they think of that culture. A first impression of a particular culture can make a huge difference. When communication between several cultures is taking place this misrepresentation of a culture can lead to massive tension and conflict. Popular culture is a huge part of our culture but it needs to be taken in with the knowledge that not all of it is completely accurate or true.

            I think the big thing I will take away from this is the fact that cultural texts about other cultures may not be portraying exactly what that culture is like. I have found myself walking away from films and books not really taking into consideration that it was only one point of view of that particular culture. I sometimes have that American popular culture bias and only see things from that scope of view. This will help me in my future intercultural interactions because I won’t have a predisposed notion about the individual or group that I am communicating with. I think this will help me to not stereotype specific groups or individuals as much. Just like any other part of intercultural communication, it takes understanding and an open-mind to communicate effectively.

Reference

Martin, J.N., & Nakayama, T.K. (2009). Intercultural Communication in Contexts (5th Edition ed). New York, NY: McGraww-Hill.

http://fullmoviesfordownload.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/Download-Movies.jpg

http://www.dosomething.org/files/pictures/books-movies.jpg