International Student = Myself

I feel like the media in my country is pretty much the same as the one here in America. I am just going to analyze each of the Media forms and write the differences and similarities between the two cultures in these countries.

Television – Television is the same here and there. On cable we have all the same TV shows, sometimes we happen to be a season late or so, but still we have easy access to that. Now, if you don’t have cable you are stuck with two or three decent networks. The major television network in Brazil is Globo, which is actually a very good network. In this network you can get very good soap operas. Soap operas by the way are a huge thing in Brazil, and they are really different from the ones here. I feel like the soap operas here are really over-acted. Other big network in Brazil is SBT, based on Mexican soap operas, dubbed TV shows, and copies of American game shows. The news in Brazil are very much like the news here, but I feel like we pay more attention to international issues then the American news.

Movies – The movie industry in Brazil is getting better and better with time. We have excellent actors and actresses, but we have lack of support in the movie industry. We have had a lot of good movies, but thanks to very creative people. We have some amazing directors like Fernando Meirelles who had his movies The Gardner nominated to the Academy Awards, there is also Carlos Saldanha who was responsible for the Ice Age trilogy. Actors like Rodrigo Santoro, Sonia Braga and Fernanda Montenegro who actually was nominated for the Academy Award of best actress are some of the artists really growing in the American movie business. We watch the same movies, sometimes we get them with delay because of problems with the production or the distributor. Again I feel like we pay more attention to international movies then the Americans do.

Internet – Well, internet is something very much international. We have the same culture of talking on-line, reading everything on-line, downloading music, movies and clips, watching YouTube videos. We also have a social on-line network but we use this one called orkut instead of facebook. Few people have facebook back in Brazil.
Phone – There is one thing that is really different from Brazil. In Brazil only few people have phone with easy access to internet and we barely have services that offer text messages, internet, GPS and more.

Advertisement – Adds are very much like here, we have stars endorsing products, usually we have national starts for the national products, but when an add is international we usually have the same adds as here. Famous movie starts for makeup adds, famous clothes lines and perfumes. A recent happening in Brazil was when Sarah Jessica Parker a big star in America did the advertisement for a big chain of malls.

Music – The music we hear in Brazil varies. Most people my generation or younger usually listen to American music. Everything that plays here plays there. Older people usually listen to Brazilian music. I do appreciate our music, but personally I have always liked American music better. In Brazil we are very used to download music on-line and burning CDs. In Brazil it is only illegal if you are selling material that is not yours to sell. Or at least I believe that how it works.

Free Press – We do have free press in Brazil, nothing is controlled by the government. The media there definitely affects the population. Usually the products that are showing on TV are the ones people want to have, usually on the major network. We also say that sometimes the television affects the politics, usually the candidate that the major network decides to support is the one that wins. Although they are not suppose to be open about their support we can tell who they are supporting.