It was recently announced that the UK’s hit television show The X Factor is coming to the United States. In case you’ve never heard of it, the format of The X Factor is very similar to that of American Idol. In fact, it was created as a replacement for the UK’s Pop Idol after it went off the air. The show was created by American Idol judge Simon Cowell. Cowell’s contract with Idol ended this year and he decided not to renew it giving him the opportunity to bring X Factor to the US, something the producers of American Idol would not let him do while still on the show.
Many television shows have made the same decision as X Factor to spread their franchise worldwide. Shows from the United States are syndicated in countries all over the world and even have subtitles for countries that speak different languages. When I visited Mexico in high school, I thought it was funny that I could watch The Simpsons in Spanish on the TV in my hotel room. In fact, The X Factor is already syndicated in several countries.
Lawrence Grossberg argues that globalization has caused cultures all over the world to become increasingly similar. Syndicating television shows is just one way in which a specific country, such as the United States, can spread its values worldwide. For example, shows embedded with American culture and values can be syndicated to other countries whose citizens may decide to emulate what they have seen on these shows. If enough of the American culture reaches these countries through globalization, it could affect their society dramatically.
This is not necessarily to say that The X Factor is going to change US culture. In fact, the cultures of the US and UK are already very similar to begin with. Globalization would most affect countries vastly different than our own more than those which are similar such as Great Britain.
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