VNU Journal of Science: Foreign Studies, Vol. 30, No. 4 (2014) 19-30

Transcultural Flow of Globalized TV Franchises: Examining The X Factor and from a Discourse Analysis Perspective

Nguy n Th Thùy Linh* Faculty of Linguistics and Cultures of English Speaking Countries, VNU University of Languages and International Studies, Ph ạm V ăn Đồ ng, C ầu Gi ấy, , Vietnam

Received 29 September 2014 Revised 23 November 2014; accepted 27 November 2014

Abstract: The process of cultural globalisation does not always imply cultural homogenisation. Instead, global culture forms are ‘glocalised’ in order to be appropriate and accepted in a new cultural context. This is evident when examining the judges’ comments in The X Factor and Vietnam Idol , the two versions of , one of the most famous reality show franchises in the world. A combination of quantitative genre analysis and qualitative discourse analysis was used to compare transcribed extracts of the judges’ comments taken from both programmes. The explanations for the findings were sought through the interviews with some native speaker audience members in both cases and backed by relevant literature. The study revealed that despite the similar format of the TV franchises, different specific judging strategies were employed to adapt to different communication styles, audience tastes and cultural values of the British and Vietnamese cultures. Keywords: Transcultural flow, glocalisation, discourse analysis, media, TV franchises.

* 1. Introduction Robertson proposes the theory of ‘glocalisation’, stating that globalisation of In the current era of globalization, culture does not necessarily lead to the television industry has developed into a global homogenisation of (and by implication market with the growing popularity of media destruction of) local cultures. This is because franchises, through which the same or similar the processes of global homogenisation and programmes are broadcast in various countries heterogenisation are “mutually implicative” and around the world. Does this support cultural “when one considers them closely, they each imperialism and make the world more have a local, diversifying aspect” [1: 34]. homogeneous? To answer this, sociologist Pennycook [2] considers this as “transcultural flow” which means the ways in which ______“cultural forms move, change, and are * Tel.: 84-989314446 Email: [email protected] 19 20 N.T.T. Linh / VNU Journal of Science: Foreign Studies, Vol. 30, No. 4 (2014) 19-30 reused to fashion new identities in diverse 2. Methodology contexts”. 2.1. Stage 1: Carrying out the discourse This study aims to contribute to this theory analysis by examining two versions of Pop Idol , one of the most famous reality show franchises in the 2.1.1. Data world, from a discourse analysis perspective. The first stage of the programmes, namely The first version is The X Factor , the successor Audition, comprises of a massive number of of Pop Idol in Britain where the programme auditions performed by thousands of aspiring first appeared. The second is Vietnam Idol , the pop stars. Although most of these auditions are Vietnamese version of Pop Idol . The X Factor not shown publicly, some of them, usually the has achieved a great success in Britain over the best, the worst and the most bizarre, are last ten years. It is the biggest television talent selected to be broadcast over the first few competition in Europe, with 200,000 weeks of the show. Each audition starts with a auditioning and 19.7 million UK viewers (a stand-up, unaccompanied performance 63.2% audience share) for series 6 [3]. delivered by a single or a group of contestants Meanwhile, Vietnam Idol was imported into of their chosen song. After that, the judges Vietnam in 2007 and has attracted a relatively provide a professional critique of the act and large audience since then. The two programmes decide whether the contestants can go through are expected to be exactly the same from the to the next round or should be sent home. content to format and presentation. However, to what extent are they, in fact, similar? Are there The data for analysis included all the any adaptations of the shows to fit the specific judges’ comments in 40 auditions (20 from The context? If so, what are the effects of those X Factor in English, and 20 from Vietnam Idol adaptations? In attempt to seek answers to these in Vietnamese) of this round. All of the samples questions from discourse analysis perspective, were taken directly from the programmes and this study focuses on one aspect of the were not subject to preliminary selection. They programme: the judges’ comments. Moreover, were transcribed and organized into four although the competition is made up of several separate groups for analysis as can be from stages, only the first round, namely the figure 1 below. “Audition ”, is examined. The judges’ comments

The X Factor Vietnam Idol (in English) (in Vietnamese)

‘Pass’ auditions ‘Fail’ auditions ‘Pass’ auditions ‘Fail’ auditions (E1- E10) (E11-E20) (V1- V10) (V11- V20)

Figure 1. Classification of the data.

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2.1.2. Research methods data were analyzed and compared to find any A combination of quantitative genre possible prominent differences in commenting analysis and qualitative discourse analysis are strategies among groups that were not used to compare transcribed extracts of the discovered in the genre analysis. above four groups of sample. However, it is 2.2. Stage 2: Seeking explanations for the major noteworthy that in this case, the generalizability findings is only limited within the first round of Audition . For a wider scope of generalization, The second stage aimed at seeking the findings can only be treated as a case study explanations for the phenomena investigated in to provide in-depth information on this area of the discourse analysis. To increase the research. reliability and validity of the interpretations, Regarding genre analysis, the study this further discussion was based on employed “structural move analyses” to information from different sources. First of all, describe the general ‘cognitive structure’ of the three English and three Vietnamese native judgements (see e.g. Bhatia [4]; and Thompson speaker audience members were consulted [5]). In these structures, each move serves a about the findings through semi-structured typical communicative intention, which interviews. Furthermore, a second method – contributes to the overall communicative surveying existing literature – was used to purpose of the genre. After the global triangulate the information with the organizational patterns of the judgements were involvement of a greater number of participants developed, each move was examined in more of different types. Firstly, in attempt to detail to investigate how the specific rhetoric overcome the limitations of the small number of strategies were employed to fulfil the move’s interviewees, some internet discussion forums intention. Regarding the level of study, on the programmes were accessed to get according to Bhatia [4], a genre analysis can be information from a wider audience. Secondly, done at three levels of linguistic realization, although the study failed to include direct which are (1) lexico-grammatical features, (2) interviews with media experts (e.g. the judges, text-patterning or textualization and (3) programme producers, etc.), the expert opinions structural interpretation of the text-genre. The present study basically concentrated on the third were sought through second-hand data such as level of the text organization. However, for professional commentaries or interviews with some particular examples, comments on lexico- the judges on newspapers. grammatical features would be given to support the findings at the discoursal level. 3. Similarities and differences in the judges’ A qualitative discourse analysis of some strategies for giving comments in The X selected extracts was used to get a ‘thick’ Factor and Vietnam Idol description of the comment strategies to (1) provide examples to support the findings of the 3.1. General structure genre analysis and (2) reveal hidden or complicated features that the genre analysis was The genre analysis of 40 auditions shows unable to measure. To fulfill the second that the judgements in The X Factor and purpose, some extracts from all four groups of

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Vietnam Idol share a similar two-move “Brilliant. I think you’re fantastic” or “I think cognitive structure: this is totally insane the whole audition”. Move 1: Making an evaluation of the The second type is specific comments , performance which show the judges’ opinions on particular Move 2: Announcing the final decision (i.e. aspects of the audition. They can be divided pass or fail) into two subtypes: Without either of these moves, the cognitive (1) Specific comments on the contestants’ structure of the judgements is not complete and voice or talent, which is the primary the judgements may fail to fulfil their general concern of the competition: “I think she got a communicative purpose as this follows the really great soul voice”, “Yeah, you got a really format of the franchised show. nice natural voice”. However, although the two-move cognitive (2) Specific comments on other aspects, structures are similar, the ways they are actually which are also considered important elements established in the judgements are different. of a performance such as song choice: “It’s an While there is a clear distinction between the interesting mix and I thought your song choice two moves in the English judgements, that was brilliant”, appearance: “you’ve got great separation in the Vietnamese judgements is smile”, personality and stage presence: “Anh có quite vague. In all investigated English th th y là em có m t cá tính r t m nh m , và auditions, there are explicit signals to separate li bi u di n c a em r t khác v i nh ng thí sinh the two moves, such as “ Louis, yes or no? ”, khác”, or dance routines: “Em nh y r t p”. “OK, we’re gonna vote now ” or “ Let’s vote ”, The final type is developmental comments which are followed by the judges’ individual or advice on how the performance can be vote of “yes” or “no”. Meanwhile, in the improved. E.g.: “Em nh y r t t t, nh ưng em nên Vietnamese auditions, the representation of the phân b s c l c hi u qu h ơn”, “Em ph i luy n two moves is quite flexible without any typical tp nhi u h ơn n a, khám phá nhi u h ơn n a patterns. Notably, there is no clear-cut stage of ch không th tu ti n nh ư v y ưc”. voting with simply ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Instead, the It is worth noting that this is just a tentative final decision is included explicitly or even categorization and in some cases there can be implicitly within the judges’ evaluation. overlaps between different categories. However, this classification is necessary to 3.2. Move 1: Making evaluations examine how different types of comments or strategies are used to fulfil the judges’ purposes 3.2.1. Types of comments in the English and Vietnamese situations. The genre analysis suggests that there are - Types of comments in the English three major types of comments emerging from auditions the English and Vietnamese texts. The use of these three types in the English The first type is general comments which judgements is marked by (1) the dominance of convey the judges’ overall impression on the the first type - general comments, which are performance as a whole. E.g.: “It’s awesome”, supported by the second type – specific comments, and (2) the absence of the third type

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– developmental comments. The specific good comments are quite brief and no specific comments often focus on and the song comments are given on song choice and choice. Comments on appearance or personality appearance. Most importantly, the dominant are also given but only in exceptional cases. type of comments in the Vietnamese successful Especially, dance routine is not paid any judgements is developmental comments. attention without any comments on this aspect. Interestingly, despite the fact that these In all unsuccessful auditions, the specific auditions are ‘through to the next round’, much comments are very brief and tend to focus on more developmental comments, which imply only the singing ability, e.g. “You have no weaknesses in the performances, are given than power in your voice at all” or “I don’t think the good comments. your voice is right for the recording”. This In the ‘fail’ auditions, the focus of the pattern creates very short and concise evaluation is to point out significant evaluations in most of the ‘fail’ auditions. weaknesses in some specific aspects, which - Types of comments in the Vietnamese make the audition unsuccessful. This purpose is auditions achieved either explicitly through specific An opposite situation is found in the comments or implicitly through developmental Vietnamese auditions. While only a few general comments. Notably, although these auditions comments are given, the developmental are failed, most of their judgements start with a comments are found in 100% of the positive or at least neutral comment rather than judgements. a negative one. In these cases, a good comment In ‘pass’ auditions, specific comments are on other aspects such as personality or dancing used to highlight some striking good features of is employed to comfort the contestants before the audition in terms of voice, personality, stage the major negative comments on singing are presence, and dance routines. Notably, these given.

Figure 2. Linguistic strategies to increase the strength of comments in the English auditions

No Linguistic strategies Examples in ‘pass’ auditions Examples in ‘fail’ auditions 1 Direct way of giving “It’s awesome”, “It’s great”, “It’s “You have no voice at all” comments very exciting” 2 Choice of strong and “fabulous”, “brilliant”, “fantastic” or “terrible”, “awful”, or “insane” emotional descriptive “wonderful” adjectives 3 Use of intensifiers “absolutely”, “particularly”, “really”, “absolutely” or including adverbials and “totally”, “Well done. Great great “definitely” repetition great” 4 Use of comparisons “There are some good singers we’ve “You’ve got one of the weirdest put through in your age categories voices I’ve ever heard in my life” but I have to say you surpass all of them” or “One of the best groups we’ve seen in my opinion” 5 Use of small talk, i.e. the “When you walked in and I thought “What did your girlfriend do when utterances that touch on Oh God four hairdressers” you do that?” topics other than those directly related to the intended action

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3.2.2. Strength of comments ti p vào vòng trong” or “Chúng tôi ch ưa b While the Vietnamese judges make every thuy t ph c b i cách hát c a em”. effort to form moderate and balanced Notably, comparisons and ‘small talk’, judgements, the comments in the English which are quite popular strategies in the English auditions tend to go to extremes. These evaluations, are totally absent from the contrasting purposes are accomplished by a Vietnamese auditions. Instead, the judges’ number of different strategies. opinions are regularly expressed in the form of advice, which sets the general tone of - Strength of comments in the English encouragement and sincerity in most of the auditions judgements. For example, the advice “Chú ý hát It is quite common for the English judges to thì v i cái gi ng ó, v i phong cách di n ó, thì make black-and-white judgements in both em s thành công” is used to encourage the ‘pass’ and ‘fail’ auditions. Similar linguistic ‘fail’ contestant. strategies are employed to pay contestants massive compliments with excitement in the 3.3. Move 2: Announcing the final decisions former case and form very straightforward, strong and even ruthless negative judgements 3.3.1. Decision announcements in the with a sarcastic voice in the latter case. English auditions - Strength of comments in the Vietnamese As mentioned in section 3.1, in the English auditions auditions, the final decisions are made in a In both the ‘pass’ and ‘fail’ Vietnamese separate part of voting. By choosing between auditions, the comments appear to be balanced, the two clear-cut options ‘Yes’ and ‘No’, the moderate and constructive with many hedges judges can directly express their own of various forms. conclusion. Notably, it is quite regular that the judges hold conflicting opinions (i.e. different Firstly, this impression is created by the choices of Yes and No), which leads to a highly patterns of the comments, in which both unexpected result of each audition. positive and negative comments are given in the judgement (see 3.2.1 above) to mitigate the Regarding the phatic purpose (i.e. impact of the statements. establishing and maintaining the good relationship between the judges and the Secondly, the hedges can be found in the contestants), a common strategy that is form of word choice including descriptive popularly employed by the judges, especially in adjectives and modifiers. The choice of such the refusals, is disassociating themselves with mitigating adjectives as “m i v a ưc ưc”, the decision: “I’m gonna have to say No” or “It “kha khá”, “c ng ưc”, “không n t ưng l m” has to be a No from me”. Another strategy is (instead of ‘fantastic’, ‘awful’, ‘terrible’), including the judges’ feelings to minimize the supported by the modifier “ch ” or “r t”, shows imposition of the decision, e.g. “Sorry it’s a the judges’ apparent intention of lessening the No” or “No, but thanks for coming”. impact of the criticisms or level of compliments. Besides, there is a common trend 3.3.2. Decision announcements in the that the compliments or criticisms are not Vietnamese auditions expressed explicitly but are implied through the In the Vietnamese auditions, the decisions decision, e.g. “Em x ng áng m t c ơ h i i are announced in a much less obvious and

N.T.T. Linh / VNU Journal of Science: Foreign Studies, Vol. 30, No. 4 (2014) 19-30 25 direct way than in the English cases. Without a 4. Potential interpretations of the differences separate voting phase, they are given in various forms with great emphasis being placed on As most of the similarities are due to the maintaining the rapport with the contestants. nature of the media franchises, this part focuses The acceptance can be announced directly, only on the significant differences between the e.g. “Theo ch thì ch s cho em m t c ơ h i vào judges’ strategies for giving comments in the vòng trong” or, in most cases, indirectly by two programmes. “Chúc m ng em!” The excited voice and the 4.1. Types of comments: general comments vs. wishes themselves create quite emotional developmental comments statements, which work well to build the friendly relationship between the judges and the Regarding the types of comments, a striking contestants. feature is while the English judgements are full Meanwhile, all of the refusals are expressed of general comments and have very few indirectly with the support of several phatic developmental ones, an opposite situation arises strategies, including: in the Vietnamese evaluations. This sharp (1) implied statement: “Chúng ta ph i t m difference is mainly due to the different cultural bi t nhau ây”, “H n g p l i em”. values of Britain and Vietnam. (2) encouragement, e.g. “C g ng h ơn n a In the English auditions, the general nha. Em còn r t tr .” comments are popular because they serve well (3) a prospect of “next time”, e.g. “Nh ng the judges’ purpose of communicating cu c thi nh ư th này còn di n ra nhi u, em có information (i.e. their opinions on the th ng ký tham gia l n sau”. performance). The brief and direct general (4) unreal alternatives, e.g. “N u chúng ta comments help to save the precious time of the gp nhau s m h ơn, tr ưc cu c thi này, thì anh show, and more importantly, show the s có th có nh ng l i khuyên t t h ơn cho em”. directness in the style of communication of a (5) judges’ personal feelings, e.g. “Ch r t low-context culture like Britain [6]. Moreover, tic ph i nói nh ư v y” or “Chúng ta ph i t m as suggested by an English native speaker in the bi t nhau ây, nh ưng các anh ch ây u interview, “the judges are not in the position to rt quý em”. give advice” due to the common rule of “don’t give advice until it’s asked for”. This One final noteworthy point is that of all 20 explanation, to some extent, reflects the Vietnamese investigated auditions, there is only individualism of the British culture, whereby one case where the judges have disagreements “everyone is expected to look after himself or on their final decisions. Moreover, in that herself” [7] and thus there is no need for the exception, the judges appear to feel judges to patronise any contestants. uncomfortable in arguing with each other, Furthermore, in such a culture that highly which then needs a joke to be over (“Em ph i stresses personal space as Britain, giving advice gánh trách nhi m v s r n n t c a ban giám can be considered “imposing”, thus become kh o ây (c ưi)[...] Chúng tôi b r n n t quá quite “offensive” indirect criticisms [8]. ln vì em r i”).

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Meanwhile, in the Vietnamese judgements, claimed that “vi c nêu nh n xét chung là th a, the developmental comments are frequently không c n thi t, vì m i ng ưi u t bi t qua used although they are not “asked for”. This can kt qu cu i cùng r i”. This explanation may be explained by a number of reasons. Firstly, draw on the high-context value of the giving advice is suitable for the Vietnamese Vietnamese culture “with minimal information indirect style of communication as Vietnam is a in the transmitted message” [9: 101]. relative high-context culture [9]. As commented Although the specific comments are by some Vietnamese native speakers, it is much employed in both the English and Vietnamese more “tactful” to express the opinions indirectly judgements, the focus is placed on different than directly, especially for the negative aspects of the performance. The British judges, comments which may make the contestants lose in attempt to seek for a potential singer with a face in public. In that case, an indirect strategy ‘natural talent’, seem to pay more attention to of giving advice seems to be the best policy to the voice and song choice. Meanwhile, the mitigate the impact of the comments, thus to Vietnamese judges tend to stress the ‘special’ maintain a good relationship with the personality and stage presence because what contestants. Secondly, this strategy reflects the they try to find is not only a good voice but Confucianism in the Vietnamese culture with what they call a ‘performing charm’. This may an unequal relationship between the judges and reflect the different tastes for music of the two the contestants. In this relationship, the judges / music markets. the seniors (with more knowledge and experience in the field) have both the power and 4.2. Strength of comments: extremes vs. responsibility to “provide protection and moderation consideration” for the contestants / the juniors [10]. In other words, the judges’ behaviour Regarding the strength of comments, the should take the future development of these discourse analysis shows the employment of young inexperienced contestants into two contrasting strategies in the two consideration. This purpose is best fulfilled programmes: keeping moderation and going to through giving advice. It is believed by all three extremes. While the moderate comments in the Vietnamese interviewees that the contestants Vietnamese judgements are in line with the will learn more when they are shown their Vietnamese style of communication, the mistakes and how to correct them than when extremeness in the English comments is, as they are ignored or lied that what they are doing suggested by some English native speakers, is right. Therefore, unlike British culture, “not at all the way the British people “Vietnamese culture regards giving “advice” or communicate in real life”. Therefore, this even “demands” as demonstrating care, difference does not directly reflect the sincerity, and friendliness” [11]. This accounts differences between the English and for the employment of the developmental Vietnamese communication styles. Instead, it comments in all of the auditions, even for quite shows the contrasting ways of attracting good performances. Regarding the absence of audience in the two programmes. the general comments in the Vietnamese Although the extremeness in the English judgements, one Vietnamese native speaker comments is not in line with the British every

N.T.T. Linh / VNU Journal of Science: Foreign Studies, Vol. 30, No. 4 (2014) 19-30 27 day way of communication, it is, in fact, noting that The X Factor won the award for suitable language for a reality TV programme Best Comedy Entertainment Programme in as “ is […] television of the 2005 although it is not intended as a comedy. hyper-real” where “normal life” tends to be Moreover, Cowell himself was named 2006 UK exaggerated due to the awareness of the camera Personality of the Year by Variety, and in 2004 [12]. In the ‘pass’ auditions, the judges’ great was named one of the Top Entertainers of the compliments together with their excited voices Year by Entertainment Weekly. Apparently, his create a highly emotional and lively atmosphere ‘brutal honesty’ has become a winning formula, within the audition room. In that way, they can which can also be found in many other British generate tremendous excitement among the reality TV programmes such as The Weakest audience, thus arouse their interest in the Link , The Apprentice or Dragons’ Den . Taking programme. The explanation for the harsh into consideration the successful results of the criticisms is much more complicated with ‘nasty’ remarks and the growing trend of being several possible interpretations. Some may ruthless in many reality TV programmes, it blame this on the judges’ personality as most of seems that this is not only the matter of an the hostile comments come from one judge, individual but an increasingly popular , who is, therefore, often called technique to attract the audience in such “Mr. Nasty” or “Judge Dread”. In many programmes. In fact, millions of people tune in interviews in the newspapers, Simon Cowell to The X Factor just to see Cowell “dishing out himself has provided several explanations for some nasty insults” to the tuneless auditionees his manner. Firstly, it is often stressed that [13]. This is not to suggest that the British Cowell is not “gratuitously rude or cruel, but audience thinks that rudeness is acceptable but rather, just honest” [13]. He reveals “I would that such behaviour is widely perceived as feel guilty about giving people fake hope when entertaining when situated in a reality TV show. I genuinely believe they have no chance” and There are several probabilities to explain this insists that his ‘nasty persona’ is “necessary phenomenon. The first explanation can be the because it stops talentless hopefuls pursuing a provision of schadenfreude, one type of taking career in the ” [14]. According to pleasure by seeing others’ misfortune. In this him, “telling them they are hopeless is a good case, the humiliating comments provide the thing” as he himself learned a lot from audience with a vicarious enjoyment by letting criticisms [15]. Secondly, his behaviour is just them indulge in behaviour which may not be the way the music business is: “People call me acceptable in real life. According to Snierson nasty, but this lot… it’s like being at a bear pit. and Wolk [17], “we watch for those awkward When a bad singer goes on stage they’re yelling scenes that make us feel a smidge better about ‘get off’ in seconds” [16]. Furthermore, he our own little unfilmed lives”. Secondly, wants to show the “ridiculousness” of the fact Cowell’s harshness makes him “a voice that that “everyone wants to be famous these days, you seldom hear in the often sycophantic, and they all want to do it the easy way” [15]. obsequious jargon of these kinds of However, it seems that all these explanations entertainment shows” [18]. It sets him aside just show one side of the matter. It is worth from hundreds of other people who could do

28 N.T.T. Linh / VNU Journal of Science: Foreign Studies, Vol. 30, No. 4 (2014) 19-30 the same job on TV and thus gives him an Firstly, while in the English auditions the “unrivalled position” in the world of popular final decisions are announced briefly and entertainment. directly by choosing between ‘Yes’ and ‘No’, Meanwhile, the Vietnamese judges appear there is no separate voting phase in the to use a different strategy to attract the Vietnamese auditions and the indirect announcements are much more popular, audience: getting agreement from the audience especially in the ‘fail’ auditions. First and by following the social rules with tactful and foremost, this is because there is no equivalent exemplary behaviours. The moderate comments term of ‘Yes’ and ‘No’ in Vietnamese to suit are well in line with the Confucian value of the this particular situation. More importantly, this Vietnamese culture, which emphasizes moral difference, again, reflects the different level of discipline and human-heartedness. The former directness in the English and Vietnamese prioritizes restraint and moderation. Especially communication style. in dealing with young contestants, a great Secondly, it seems that the phatic purpose compliment is supposed to make them too self- of the second move is paid much more attention confident and lose motivation for further in the Vietnamese judgements than in the improvement while a strong criticism may English ones. In the English situation, only a make them lose face in public. Meanwhile, the few ‘negative face strategies’ (including latter stresses gentleness and compassion dissociating themselves with the decision and towards others, which is expressed through the apologising) are employed to show the judges’ soft-spoken and courteous style of politeness with the general principle of ‘don’t communication. By strictly obeying these two impose’ (For more information on positive and rules, the judges can make comments in a negative face strategies, see [8]). These tactful and suitable way, which can satisfy the strategies are particularly suitable for such a audience, thus give them a comfortable feeling culture that highly stresses personal space as when watching the show. This seems to be a Britain. Notably, these strategies are employed suitable strategy in a collectivist culture like much more frequently by the female than the Vietnam where a community spirit can be male judges. This can be explained by the found in any activity in the social life. In that judges’ personality and also by the high situation, a humiliating comment on a member masculinity of the British culture. Meanwhile, of that community may cause anger or at least in the Vietnamese judgements, various face irritation for others, thus develops a bad image strategies of both positive types (e.g. using of the show and may decrease the number of emotional language, giving encouragement, viewers. expressing feelings) and negative types (e.g. apologising) are frequently employed to 4.3. Announcing the final decisions establish a rapport with the contestants. Some of them can be considered ‘imposing’ such as There are three major differences in making encouragements in the form of advice and the second move of giving the final decisions, demand, e.g. “Do try more”. The purpose of all of which are mainly due to the different these various strategies is, again, drawing cultural values of Britain and Vietnam. support from the audience by displaying good

N.T.T. Linh / VNU Journal of Science: Foreign Studies, Vol. 30, No. 4 (2014) 19-30 29 behaviours. Unlike in the English situation, differences in styles of communication. More these strategies are used by both male and importantly, this study indicates that the two female judges, which can be explained by both target groups of audience, with different the judges’ personality and the high femininity cultural backgrounds, are very different in of the Vietnamese culture. terms of their interests as well as requirements Finally, the English and Vietnamese judges for the judges’ behaviour. Therefore, it is appear to have different attitudes towards the necessary to make adaptations to satisfy disagreement among the group. Due to the high different audience in different specific cultural individualism value, the English judges are contexts. The success of both programmes, in much more willing to express different and fact, supports the importance of these individual opinions. In many cases, the adaptations. contrasting views among the judges are This result is an evidence to the idea that exaggerated (by e.g. long pauses, background cultural globalization is much more complex music) to create the tension in waiting for the than cultural homogenisation. Instead, global unpredictable result of the audition. In other culture forms should be ‘glocalised’ in order to words, the judges’ conflicting opinions are well be appropriate and accepted in a new cultural exploited as a technique to increase the appeal context. of the show. Meanwhile, the Vietnamese judges are much more resistant to disagreement among the group. This is because of the high References collectivism value of the Vietnamese culture, [1] R. Robertson, Glocalization: Time-Space and which stresses the importance of face saving Homogeneity-Heterogeneity. In M. Featherstone, and maintaining surface harmony and censure S. Lash and R. Robertson (eds.), Global among the group. In this case, a disagreement is Maternities, Sage Publications, London (1995) 25. often considered a face-threatening action, [2] A. Pennycook, Global Englishes and Transcultural Flows, Routledge, 2007. which may damage both the speaker’s and the [3] D. French, Joe McElderry's 'X Factor' win draws listener’s face because “depriving others’ face 19.7m. Digital Spy (Hearst Magazines UK ). simultaneously damages one’s own face” [19]. Retrieved 14 December 2009. [4] V.K. Bhatia, Analysing genre: Language use in professional settings, Pearson Education Limited, Essex, 1993. 5. Conclusion [5] S. Thompson, Frameworks and contexts: A genre- based approach to analysing lecture introductions, The examination into the judgements in English for Specific Purposes 13 (1994) 171. these two programmes has shown that despite [6] D. Victor, International business communication, Harper Collins, New York, 1992. the similar format of the TV franchises, [7] G. Hofstede, Cultures and organizations: Software different strategies for giving comments have of the mind. Intercultural cooperation and its been used to adapt to the specific context of importance for survival, Harper Collins, London, culture. This raises two major issues. Firstly, it 1994. [8] P. Brown, and S. Levinson, Politeness: Some appears to be impossible to have exactly the universals in language usage, Cambridge same programmes in different cultures due to University Press, Cambridge, 1987. the restrictions on language and the unavoidable [9] E. T. Hall, Beyond culture, Anchor Press, New York, 1976.

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[10] W. Cheng, and M. Warren, You need to be http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article- ruthless: entertaining cross-cultural differences, 424518/Piers-Morgan-My-pal-Simon- Language and Intercultural Communication 6 superego.html (2006) 35. [16] S. Nathan, Cowell: ’s best. [11] T. T. M. Nguyen, Criticizing and responding to Retrieved July 15, 2008 from The Sun website: criticism in a foreign language: a study of http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/t Vietnamese learners of English, PhD Thesis, v/article1022159.ece University of Auckland, 2005. [17] [17] D. Snierson, and J. Wolk, Can’t-Be TV. [12] D. Matheson, Media discourses: Analysing media Retrieved July 15, 2008 from Entertainment texts, Open University Press, Berkshire, 2005. Weekly website: [13] K. Behbahani, Simon Cowell, aka “Mr. Nasty” http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,397796__39946 has his reasons. Retrieved July 15, 2014, from the 7,00.html LA’s The Place website: [18] P. Bowes, ‘Mr Nasty’ in hunt for US talent. http://lastheplace.com/2008/05/08/simon-cowell- Retrieved July 8, 2008 from BBC News website: aka-mr-nasty-has-his-reasons/ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5105410. [14] Femalefirst, Simon Cowell’s nasty guilt. stm Retrieved July 15, 2008 from [19] Y. Zhang, Indirectness in Chinese requesting. In http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/entertainment/Simon G. Kasper (ed.): Pragmatics of Chinese as Native +Cowell-51931.html and Target Language, Second Language Teaching [15] P. Morgan, Piers Morgan: My pal Simon the & Curriculum Center, University of Hawai’I, superego. Retrieved August 1, 2008, from The Honolulu, 1995. Mail online website: Bn a hóa các ch ươ ng trình truy n hình chuy n nh ưng toàn cu: Xem xét ch ươ ng trình The X Factor và Th ần t ượng âm nh ạc Vi ệt Nam d ưi góc phân tích di n ngôn

Nguy n Th Thùy Linh Khoa Ngôn ng ữ và V ăn hóa các n ước nói ti ếng Anh, Tr ường Đại h ọc Ngo ại Ng ữ, ĐHQGHN, Ph ạm V ăn Đồ ng, C ầu Gi ấy, Hà N ội, Vi ệt Nam

Tóm t ắt: Toàn c u hóa v v n hóa không ph i lúc nào c ng i ôi v i ng nh t v v n hóa. Các hình thái v n hóa toàn c u mu n tr nên phù h p và ưc ch p nh n m t b i c nh v n hóa c th th ưng ph i ưc “b n a hóa”, t c là bi n i và hòa nh p thêm các y u t v n hóa c a a ph ươ ng này. iu này ưc ch ng minh qua vi c xem xét các nh n xét c a ban giám kh o trong hai ch ươ ng trình The X Factor và Th n t ưng âm nh c Vi t Nam b ng ph ươ ng pháp phân tích th lo i và phân tích di n ngôn. Nghiên c u cho th y m c dù hai ch ươ ng trình có cùng d ng th c do yêu c u chuy n nh ưng nh ưng các giám kh o s d ng các cách th c nh n xét ánh giá khác nhau thích nghi v i l i giao ti p, th hi u c a khán gi và các giá tr v n hóa r t khác nhau gi a Anh Qu c và Vi t Nam. Từ khóa : Dòng ch y xuyên v n hóa, b n a hóa, phân tích di n ngôn, truy n thông i chúng, ch ươ ng trình truy n hình chuy n nh ưng b n quy n.