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Visual semiotics and the national flag: A Kenyan perspective of Anglo-America's globe-cultural domination through mainstream music videos

2014; De Gruyter; Volume: 2014; Issue: 202 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1515/sem-2014-0060

1613-3692

Fredrick Ogenga,

Media Studies and Communication

This paper argues that America and Britain have succeeded in globe-cultural domination through visual semiotics and commoditization inherent in their music videos. The paper argues that Anglo-American music, often in different genres, has virtually penetrated different parts of the globe where it has been appropriated to suit the local context. However, the visual semiotics represented through their music videos reveal how they have succeeded as the de-facto authoritative authors of dominant discourses replicated elsewhere. The most visible aspect of this power play is represented in the symbolic and occasional explicit display of the American and the British flag in many of their music videos and the flashing of the “green back” – US dollar. The lyrical content celebrates the “successes” of global materialism and cultural neo-liberalism as championed by the two nations. The paper uses critical political-economy theories of the media in the context of cultural studies. It further uses semiotics as a methodology to critically deconstruct the meanings behind Maroon 5's “Like Jagger” music video from a Kenyan perspective.