Asians poised to dominate, says Chopra
By Shellie Branco
Gotham Chopra
|
Future dominant players in the realm of media and technology will come from Asian markets — with Bollywood and anime among the major forces shaping world culture, said international journalist Gotham Chopra.
He recounted an interview in Pakistan for the children’s news program Channel One that started with chitchat, mangos — and the discovery of a picture of Osama bin Laden. When he asked his host whether the west should be afraid of the man pictured (this was before September 2001), his host put another question back to him, about what he had done that morning.
“Turned on the TV,” responded Chopra.
“And what did you see?”
American content, Chopra admitted.
Maybe it is we who should be frightened of you, his host said, concluding his point.
This discussion, and other travels, helped lead Chopra to a new awareness of the power of multimedia. “The superpowers of the future going to be defined less by military might and more by cultural muscle,” he said.
In the world of multimedia entertainment, Asia has considerable cultural muscle, and a large and demanding market. For example, in India, there will be about 550 million teenagers in 10 years, “all of whom,” said Chopra, “will have considerable money to spend on entertainment.”
Add to this the accessibility of multimedia creation today. Film has become a democratized medium: Anyone with a digital camera, a laptop and a blog can create a movie. And studios are increasingly trying to appeal to outside markets. The film “The Last Samurai” is one example, with its theme of suppressed love appealing to Asian audiences.
Chopra, a creative consultant to Vice President Al Gore’s cable project Current TV, also believes objectivity in journalism is “going out the window.” Americans are completely distrustful of news—and, as for reaching an 18-to-30-year-old audience, it’s tough to convince a teen to care about the plight of Sri Lanka, he said. As it stands, Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show” is the leading news source for the younger demographic.
To access a full video of the presentation, look in the sidebar at right.
|
