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The Limitations of Localization: a Cross-Cultural Comparative Study of Farmer Wants a Wife

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The Limitations of Localization: a Cross-Cultural Comparative Study of Farmer Wants a Wife See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/264313572 The Limitations of Localization: A Cross-Cultural Comparative Study of Farmer Wants a Wife Article in International Journal of Cultural Studies · May 2014 DOI: 10.1177/1367877913496201 CITATIONS READS 12 1,076 2 authors: Jolien van Keulen Tonny Krijnen Vrije Universiteit Brussel Erasmus University Rotterdam 5 PUBLICATIONS 24 CITATIONS 46 PUBLICATIONS 154 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE SEE PROFILE Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects: The World Hobbit Project View project All content following this page was uploaded by Tonny Krijnen on 27 August 2014. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. ICS17310.1177/1367877913496201International Journal of Cultural Studiesvan Keulen and Krijnen 4962012013 International Journal of Cultural Studies 2014, Vol. 17(3) 277 –292 © The Author(s) 2013 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1367877913496201 ics.sagepub.com Article The limitations of localization: A cross-cultural comparative study of Farmer Wants a Wife Jolien van Keulen and Tonny Krijnen Erasmus University of Rotterdam, The Netherlands Abstract Despite globalization, television is still bound to the nation-state in several aspects. The international television industry meets the national in the cross-border exchange of television content. Canned programming can hereby run into cultural barriers, which TV formats presumably can overcome, due to localization. Formats are translated to local versions that presumably suit national culture and identity. In globalization debates, localization is being used as an argument against cultural homogenization. However, there is little comparative work reviewing the extent to which TV formats are culturally specific. By comparing linguistic, intertextual and cultural codes in the Dutch and the Australian version of the British reality TV format Farmer wants a Wife, we will argue that localization of TV formats might be overrated as protection of cultural diversity. Keywords comparative content analysis, Farmer Wants a Wife, globalization debate, localization, reality TV, TV formats Farmer Wants a Wife is a reality TV format developed in Great Britain. The format has been purchased, adapted and broadcast in more than 20, mostly European, countries, as well as in South Africa, Australia and the United States. In most countries the show is extremely popular and breaks television viewing records, with the result that people from all across the world are watching a programme about farmers looking for a wife. However, different versions of the show exist, and in each country the format is localized and adjusted to suit national structures and characteristics. Farmer Wants a Wife is one of the reality TV formats that are incredibly successful on a global level and is therefore Corresponding author: Tonny Krijnen, Department of Media and Communication, Erasmus University of Rotterdam, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR, Rotterdam, Netherlands. Email: [email protected] 278 International Journal of Cultural Studies 17(3) often hailed as one of the finest examples of localization and an argument against cul- tural homogenization. To be successful, it is argued, it is essential that TV content con- nects to the norms, values, beliefs and all other social-cultural elements of an audience. If a programme is culturally distant from its viewers, it is incomprehensible or unattract- ive (Bielby and Harrington, 2002; Morley, 2001; Straubhaar, 2007). People feel at home seeing images and situations that correspond to aspects of their identity (Morley, 2001) and locally produced television provides a more accurate record of everyday life (Larkey, 2009). Accordingly, to connect the TV format to a socially and culturally located audi- ence, format-based programmes are localized (Jensen, 2007; Moran, 2009a; Roscoe, 2004; Waisbord and Jalfin, 2009). At least this is the theory of what the localization of TV formats does. As a conse- quence, localization is used as an argument to dismiss the possible globalizing and homogenizing effects of the international TV format trade: ‘Because formats are essen- tially open, they cannot be seen simply as transmission belts for Western values’ (Waisbord, 2004: 371). Citing Moran, Waisbord (2004: 380) also notes that: ‘Formats are not catalysts for cultural sameness or the loss of cultural diversity; adaptations provide opportunities for reimagining nations in various ways.’ Keane (2004: 14) proposes that local production inputs are linked to social mores and cultural values, suggesting that format adaptations: ‘are influenced by specific structures of feeling’. According to most localization theorists, the TV format is illustrative of the pitfalls of cultural homogeniza- tion and the cultural imperialist thesis. However, empirical work on the localization of television formats, its manifestations and its effects is rare (Cooper-Chen, 2005; Jensen, 2007; Mikos and Perrotta, 2012). Moreover, studies of localization are usually based on one national version of a format, highlighting the elements that are typical of the nation in which it is broadcast (Roscoe, 2004; Turner, 2005). These studies do not, however, answer questions like: ‘How local, national or transnational are format-based programmes?’ ‘How is localization mani- fested?’ Does localization mean that because a format-based programme is locally pro- duced, every format adaptation is a truly local product? For example, the Dutch version of Farmer Wants a Wife (named Boer Zoekt Vrouw) is produced by Blue Circle, the Dutch subsidiary of the multinational FremantleMedia, while the Australian adaptation of the format (The Farmer Wants a Wife) is produced by the Australian division of the same company, FremantleMedia Australia. So an international production company pro- duces two versions of the same programme to cover two national television markets. In these circumstances, can we still speak of local productions, or does the transnational environment of production prevail? Recently, the localization–globalization debate has been criticized for the stalemate it creates. As Dowd and Janssen argue (2011: 520): ‘neither approach captures fully the global situation of creative works’. The TV industry should be understood as a transna- tional field in which the national and the international interact. As well as the trade in formats (and other types of TV programmes), professional practices, aesthetic standards and cultural forms are also exchanged (Kuipers, 2011). The television industry is thus simultaneously both local and global. In order to understand the TV format as a product in a transnational field, we com- pared the content of the Dutch and Australian versions of Farmer Wants a Wife. Our van Keulen and Krijnen 279 main research question is: ‘How do the Australian and Dutch versions of Farmer Wants a Wife differ in terms of the localized elements of the format?’ This comparison enables us not only to understand how the localization of one format is manifest in two very dif- ferent countries, but to also formulate a modest empirical contribution to our understand- ing of the TV format in a transnational field. TV formats and the globalization debate Viewing the TV industry as a transnational field not only allows us to transcend the homogenization versus heterogenization debate, but to also take into account the eco- nomic factors (like market shares) and aesthetic criteria that are important for the produc- tion of TV programmes (Kuipers, 2011). Nowadays, national and international fields intersect; for example, media conglomerates disseminate TV programmes around the world to expand their markets. At the same time, television content has to address local audiences in different countries and with different cultures. Media products are cultural products and, when crossing borders, TV programmes can encounter cultural barriers (Waisbord, 2004). Television formatting can be viewed as a solution to this problem of international economic interests versus cultural barriers. TV formats are frameworks for programmes, and what is being sold and purchased is the idea and the manual to produce a show, the so-called ‘format bible’ (Moran and Keane, 2004). Local TV makers produce a local ver- sion of the format usually in close cooperation with the original producers. Some ele- ments are fixed, while others are not, and the extent to which a format can be localized, and local producers can make their own choices, is dependent on the format bible (and other limitations, as we will argue in due course). Because of cooperation between the international and national television industries, the format trade can be compared with franchising (Keane and Moran, 2008), referring to the standardization of the format on the one hand and local adaptability on the other (Waisbord, 2004). Format programmes are foreign ideas, produced domestically: ‘The global circulation of formats responds to programming strategies to bridge transnational economic interest and national sentiments of belonging’ (Waisbord, 2004: 368). TV formats negotiate between the global and the local, and can be seen as the embodiment of the standardization of content, thus providing evidence of cultural homogenization. On the other hand, the notion still exists that, at a deeper level, formats attest to the fact that television is still tied to local and national cultures
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