U.S. vs. U.K. [The Battle of the Offices]

Steve Carell and Ricky Gervais

Thus far, This blog has examined how advertising and news translate across international boundaries. Today, we are examining how mass communications effects theories apply to film and TV. I have a deep love for the U.S. version of The Office, a 'mockumentary' that follows the lives of fake office workers. Over the course of 9 seasons, I, along with many others, grew attached to the characters. I cried from laughing at the humor and I cried when [spoiler alert] Jim and Pam almost broke up. This article in The New Yorker is a great portrait of the impact that the show has had on its viewers.

I always knew that the show was based on a hit BBC comedy, but I was so satisfied with my viewership experience that I never had an inclination to watch the U.K.'s Office. I have, since, watched a few episodes of the U.K. Office, and I think I know why the American version has run seven seasons longer than its predecessor.

It's all about character development. I know, this sounds cliché, but I think it's true. Michael, played by American Steve Carell, and David, played by British Ricky Gervais, star as the bosses of their respective offices. Michael is a lovable, innocent, crude child, while David is a mean-hearted and petty authoritarian. No matter how ridiculous Michael is, the workers, along with the audience, pity and coddle him. On the other hand, David is hated by his employees. Watching nine seasons of Michael's Office is much more enjoyable than watching David's wrath.

Nevertheless, it is undeniable that the U.K. Office came first. The U.K's Telegraph posted an article that compares the characters of the different shows. The article supports the concept of the American show being a copy of the British one.

So why has the American version been so much more successful? I first thought that maybe its because Americans watch more TV. The American Media Usage and Consumer Spending Report chart by the U.S. Census Bureau shows that Americans spend approximately 1,650 hours per year watching some form of television, while BARB's British Television Usage shows that the average Brit spends 1,460 hours per year watching television. Americans do watch more TV, but this increase, although it may seem large, is not large enough to exclude the watching of an entire show such as The Office.

I believe that the reason the American version of the show was wildly more successful has to do with its American-ness. Princeton's site provides an explanation of Herbert Schiller's ideas of media and cultural imperialism. He says that certain societies are brought into the global community by institutions like Hollywood, and this shapes those societies mind sets to believe that what Hollywood says is good, right, true, normal, etc. Hollywood reigns over all other film industries. It is idolized. I remember, on one of my travels to Africa, wondering why only American movies that I was already very familiar with were being shown on the TV.

The U.S. Office is globally popular. Hollywood, because of its legacy and its skill in such arenas as character development, as I mentioned above concerning Michael Scott's lovableness, is highly influential over Americans and foreigners. This enables it to generate successful film and TV.

For further investigation into the power of Hollywood, watch this video. It's a glimpse into stars' understanding of the City of Angels, and it helped me understand how idolized the place really is.

Sources:
Steve Carell and Ricky Gervais
The Office
Jim and Pam
This article in The New Yorker
article that compares characters
U.S. Census Bureau's American Media Usage and Consumer Spending Report
BARB
BARB's British Television Usage report
Schiller's cultural imperialism (via Princeton.edu)
this video on the influence of Hollywood

Hollywood "Charisma Men" in Japanese Commericals

The appearance of male Hollywood stars in Japanese commercials involves more than famous buzz words such as American cultural imperialism and globalization. It is instead more closely an effect of:

1. A negative stigma within the United States that looks down on Hollywood actors who take jobs for TV advertising. (i.e. Hollywood/film is high-brow and should not mix with low-brow televisual content.)
2. A romanticized exoticism associated with the Western man.

In Japan, unlike the United States, celebrity appearances in commercials work to promote fame rather than stain it. Japanese companies put forth an agenda of associating stars with brands in order to sell products based on celebrity fandoms. This is true to an extent in the United States, as some stars will do big budget commercials for events such as the Super Bowl, but no one sees a blockbuster star starring in an ordinary coffee commercial among the majority of the American media landscape. However, one can certainly see it in Japan as Tommy Lee Jones has become grounded as the symbol of Boss coffee.

 

Therefore, why are Hollywood actors, such as Tommy Lee Jones, George Clooney, and Harrison Ford, taking face-time in Japanese commercials despite the negative stigma?

The answer is money – the bottom line. They can make a lot of money because the stigma is not in Japan. Even Dennis Hopper commented to Entertainment Weekly, “I couldn’t believe the money they were paying me. If I could do one of these every year, I could retire.” They also do it because the likelihood of the commercials becoming vastly visible in the U.S. is small. After all, media tend to go out of America, not in it.

Furthermore, the big money given to these male superstars is mostly for their exoticism as “Charisma Men.” “Charisma Man” is a stereotype in Japan that assumes Western men are more charming, doting, and easygoing than Japanese men, and it is both originated and perpetuated by the frequent Hollywood male presence within Japanese channels. The result is that Japanese women get to utilize media to fawn over actors like George Clooney, while Japanese men are left with a cultivated ideal that they may see as either competition or normative.

Sources:

• De Zoysa, Richard, and Otto Newman. "Globalization, soft power and the challenge of Hollywood." Contemporary Politics 8.3 (2002): 185-202. Print.
• "Hollywood's Secret Japanese Commercials Are no Longer Secret" - by Brian Ashcraft
• "Leonardo DiCaprio and the easy money of foreign commercials" - by Jeff Labrecque 
• "The return of Charisma Man" - by Lisa Gay