Guest Editor’s Note

Graduate - Refereed

Dear Colleagues:

Welcome to the peer-reviewed scholarship of Global Media Journal. As editor of this special issue, I am please to present five outstanding papers from the graduate student competition of Global Fusion 2003, which was held at the University of Texas last fall under the able guidance of Dr. Joe Straubhaar. All papers of the Global Fusion paper competition have been blind-refereed by three readers from AEJMC, BEA and ICA. Further information about Global Fusion can be found at:  http://globalfusion.siu.edu/  

These research papers come to us from around the world: Egypt, Japan, Canada, Australia and the United States. Countries and regions of the world that are the subjects of our contributors include: Italy, South Korean, Eastern Europe, Ireland, Hong Kong, the Middle East, China, and the North America. But more importantly, our scholars have covered a wide range of theoretical, methodological and practical issues related to media and communication across the globe.     

In this graduate student division of the paper competition, the top paper was authored by Chiara Ferrari (UCLA). "The Nanny in Italy: Language, Nationalism and Cultural Identity" examines one specific example of television adaptation that highlights the contradictions European programmers face in their attempt to embrace globalization. The Italian version of The Nanny questions the idea of universality and standardization of imported programs and proposes a new and specific nationalism by modifying the very comic elements on which the series is originally based. "Chinese Diaspora and Orientalism in Globalized Cultural Production: Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," is a paper presented by Cheng Shao-Chun (Ohio University). Using Taiwanese-American director Ang Lee's international box office hit Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon as a case study, this paper argues that a local film, even with international funding and production team, still belongs to the transnational national cinema, a particular national/local cinema in global mass culture. In "Travellers, Saints, and Fighting Men: Masculinity Goes Into the West," Michelle Lee (University of Texas) explores the late 19th and early 20th centuries Irish literary movement called the 'Celtic Renaissance,' and how it revived ancient Irish folklore, legends, and traditions, infusing the explosive political revolution for Irish independence with a cultural dynamic born from forgotten oral history. "Hong Kong Cinema in the Global Market ­The Competitive Advantage of Network Civilizations," is a report written by Shu Ching Chan (University of Texas) that explores the competitive advantage of Hong Kong cinema in the global marketplace. Chan explains that Hong Kong culture is at the junction of two major civilizations, namely the English-speaking culture and Chinese culture, which helps facilitate Hong Kong cinema to go beyond local market and be accessible to a large population in the world. Rob Prey (Simon Fraser University, Canada) is the author of our final paper, "Visions of Democracy: The Communication and Transformation of Revolutionary Ideologies in South Korea." This research examines the circulation, popularization and utilization of revolutionary ideologies within the Oconcourse of communication¹ in the South Korean student movement since 1980.

Cordially,

Leo A. Gher, Guest Editor
Southern Illinois University

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