Question 6

Exoticism and Globalization are both very apparent in this video of Conan O'Brien exploring and venturing down the streets of India. Exoticism is when parts of another culture are appropriated into our own to make ours appear exotic and unlike any other. Exoticism was created based off of globalization because as a nation we have learned that in order to make our products more popular and pleasing for others, they needed to be different and exotic. The United States has truly globalized the idea of being America or simulating our culture globally, however many countries are not able to contribute to globalization because bigger, more dominant countries over shadow them. This video highlights the negative aspects of globalization. In this video, Conan O'Brien shows step by step how curtains in India are made. They have scenes showing sweatshops, yet they try and make up for it by making it more glamorous by having all of the workers wear the same, clean, typical Indian clothing, have elephants roaming around the streets, and making everyone in the video act as if they are all so excited to see a celebrity from America. Also, O'Brien speaks a different language to show the cultural barrier that globalization has created, however in India many people speak English and are very westernized. They also show manual labor such as the men crushing berries to dye the curtains red. Finally, Conan is brought back to the stage of the show where the curtain that we just saw made appears. He shows the ignorance of people when he pretends the curtain is in fact special and exotic, when in reality that was not how it was made at all. This relates to Confusing Exotica by Ghosh and his idea that things are made to look exotic so more people will buy them, but in reality they are made in bulk where all the special labor and culture is taken away from the process; there is nothing special about the curtain being made in India if the real process was showed.