Critical Events and Reception of Foreign Culture

Abstract

/ This study examines the impact that critical historical events might have on a society’s acceptance of foreign culture. It focuses on whether the 9/11 attacks in 2001 have changed Americans’ reception of foreign-language films. Drawing upon the concept of cultural discount from media economics, the article first postulates that movies of low-context genres and from a less culturally distant market should perform better at the box office. It then asks if the impact of such cultural factors varied before and after 9/11. Analysis of the data of 594 foreign-language movies shown in the US between 1984 and 2006 reveals that the expectations derived from the cultural discount thesis receive empirical support only after 9/11. The findings have important implications for the cultural discount thesis and illustrate that critical events like 9/11 can bring about sudden historical shifts in a society’s cultural attitudes.