Globalizing the Girl With The Dragon Tattoo

The article dealing with The Simpsons we read this week brought up a lot of good points about the way American culture is becoming globalized. We are exporting our entertainment like other goods to make a profit. In the process, many shows will loose their humor and wit because the language gets lost in translation. This article made me think about the Girl With the Dragon Tatoo franchise which was originally from Sweden, but was also turned into an American film. While Americans are the ones importing entertainment this time, there is still the sense of needing to make certain versions of a story for certain cultures. The film was much more violent in Sweden and the character of Lisbeth was a little more freaky looking. While the American version has it's share of violence, it is very different from the Swedish film. The reason changes are made in film and television is so that one culture will not be offended by another cultures norms or humor. The question becomes why even try to make films and shows global? Of course it is done for the profit, but do the shows lose meaning and do they actually do damage to the shows image? I think that trying to fit shows like the Simpsons into certain cultures does not work because the humor is just not there. The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is different because the story is still remaining true to itself, but the violence is what is changed. The question is if changing things that are done in one context to another is a good idea. Samantha Morales