“MTV to Start First Network Aimed at Gays,” by Bill Carter and Stuart Elliott, New York Times, 26 May, p. C1.
MTV is a monster content force within globalization’s spread around the planet. I remember well watching MTV India during my time there in 2001: at once a very foreign inflow of ideas and concepts as well as a very artful localized adaptation of a music-selling model (something about which India could teach Hollywood quite a bit—if you’ve even seen a Bollywood musical). In short, MTV is not to be misunderestimated as a global force for change—both good and bad but always profound.
When MTV steps out ahead of the pack (but not much, considering Bravo and Showtime) to announce a new network aimed at gays, it pushes the envelope not just within our borders, but ultimately—through its inevitable extension—throughout the Core.
And yes, like McDonald’s or other key content “global” networks, the spread of MTV (and all its regional variants) around the world is a decent proxy measure of globalization’s advance—namely, the extent of the Core.
Why does this matter? Again, globalization’s frontier is where Core content meets Gap traditions, and far more than our politics, the power elites inside the Gap fear our sexual mores—the far worst of which is (in their opinion) our burgeoning acceptance of homosexuality.
Trends like this are why I say globalization is coming to the Gap—and especially the tradition-bound Middle East—whether we support it or not. The Global War on Terror is an enabling factor only—not the main show. That is what I mean by waging war within the context of everything and not solely within our narrow definitions of conflict.
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