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

Abstract

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 Pop Idol, 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.