Why is Foreign Media Consumed Now More Than Ever Before?

By Sam Juarez, Staff Reporter/Translation Team

January, 2022

In recent years, there has been an increase in foreign media consumption. This became more apparent in 2020, when there was a great increase in the number of foreign media Americans have consumed including music, movies, TV shows, fashion, etc. What is this “new trend” and why does it easily capture the attention of the western audiences?

It’s hard to believe that foreign media consumption only increased recently when it is foreigners who make up most of the United States population. More foreigners means more languages which makes the US one of the only countries without an official language. However, the place foreign media has the hardest time becoming popular in, is the United States itself. Is it ignorance that drives people away from checking out media from foreign places? Or is it an undertone of racism that is rooted in western culture? 

It seems that racism might have a big part in why a lot of people decide to stay away from foreign media. It hasn’t been until recently that people hold racism more accountable. Many people nowadays will call out racism such as microaggressions to hate crimes. This is why young people are the ones who are consuming foreign media more than any other group of people. Young people in this time are more open minded than ever before. 

It is very difficult for foreign media to make it big in western countries. As a result, foreign media has to be ten times more impressive in order to capture the attention of western audiences. However, not all foreign media can make it big in the US. In order for it to gain recognition it has to be acknowledged by the people or the judges who vote on whether a media is good enough to be recognized. Most of the judges who are responsible for this important job are older, white Americans, who are not as open minded as the young people. For this reason, foreign media has been robbed from being recognized which is still a big problem to this very day.

During the 2020 Grammys, the most anticipated act nominated that night was the successful, Korean group known as BTS. BTS have made a name for themselves in the music industry by breaking multiple records and making it big in the western industry despite the language barrier. It was obvious to people that they were going to be the first K-Pop group to win a Grammy that night with their English single “Dynamite”. However, as many records that BTS broke, it somehow wasn’t enough to receive a Grammy. The judges decided this themselves. It seems they were not  familiar with foreign acts and decided to play safe by giving away this award to an English act they were familiar and “comfortable” with. 

It is the undertone of racism that makes it hard for foreign media to make it big. Whether it’s the audience themselves or the people on top who decide if a piece of media is good enough to be acknowledged. It shouldn’t take these people’s acceptance for western audiences to finally give attention to foreign media. There will be a time where this is no longer an issue. However, it will take a long time before that can ever occur. For now, keep an open mind and try to explore beyond English media, and in the end, you will find yourself enjoying foreign media much more.