Scene from Life and Debt: The tourists are riding the in the bus driving through Jamaica listening to the tour guide point out what they are seeing as they drive by. They drive by ‘MacDons’ and Baskin Robins the tour guide gets really excited as she specifically points out those two buildings. The background music is ‘One Love’ by Bob Marley.
Passage from A Small Place by Jamaica Kincade, “ The thing you have always suspected about yourself the minute you become a tourist is true: A tourist is an ugly human being.” (p. 14)
Scene from a Sandals commercial I saw the other day was an advertisement to visit Jamaica, I saw the inside of a tour guide bus driving though the extra green and blue landscape, the couples are swimming with the tropical fish underwater, the scene then cuts to couples eating a romantic candlelight dinner on the beach with the sun setting in beautiful oranges and reds. All while the background music is ‘One Love’ by Bob Marley.
There are many ways that these 3 instances connect to make the world flat. The first obvious reason is the use of ‘One Love’ by Bob Marley. I personally think it is over used, but at the same time I think you could ask anyone at almost any age and they could say that they think of Jamaica when they hear that song. That is making the world flat by showing how easily one thing can relate to another, and how most people could connect the two.
Another way these 2 instances connect is the tourist aspect of it. I know as a tourist, and as someone who lives in the United States first of all, people think that when people come to the US they need to know English. But as another token, those same people also think that everyone should use English and that when they travel, they should be able to speak to people in English. Which is not the case, that might be one reason why when we travel, natives of that country may think we’re arrogant, because we don’t take the time to learn of their culture, but we expect them to learn ours.
Also, another side of the tourist aspect is that tourism is pretty much everywhere. There are hotels all over the world, and people like to go travel all over the world, surprisingly to us, people come to visit Minnesota. We may not understand why and don’t get why people are so surprised about the Mall of America, but if we were to look at it the other way around we go to California to go see the Golden Gate Bridge when for people who live there, it is common place.
This makes the world flat if you have the idea that everyone else is just like us, and tourists are tourists no matter where they go. Tourists bring money to help the economies to other countries that in turn help the global economy.
I like the idea that the song "One Love" is a symbol of globalization. We discussed in class that the song was first released in Jamaica a few years after their revolution as a call to the new nation to unify. The song did not become an international hit until it was released in Britain several years later.
ReplyDeleteI think it is interesting that such a politically charged song has been turned into the anthem for the Jamaican tourist industry. We may live in a globalized world, but that doesn't mean that the meanings of cultural artifacts stays the same as they are passed from country to country.
Like Emma, I also find your connection between the song "One Love" and globalization very interesting and particularly insightful. As you said in your blog, the association of that song with Jamaica is a huge indicator that the world is flat. I think this idea is very interesting because it is just one song out of billions, and just one country out of all of the countries in the world. But their connection is strong and very evident, and I can't say for sure, but I'm guessing it could be world-wide. This immensely strong association of "One Love" with Jamaica clearly shows globalization in a very specific way, but I think it's key in getting a full understanding of the movie Life and Debt and globalization as a whole.
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