The Effects of American Consumerism on Mexican Youth Life Style; A Semiological Analysis of the Movie “Season of Ducks”

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

student

Abstract

Nowadays, a well-known phenomena that
influences the life style of many all around the world is “American
consumerism” which can be taken into consideration as a global trend. The
modern age is featured with the effect of technological advances in all aspects
of life whether in life style or consumption pattern. The Mexican society and
the youth in particular are not an exception in this regard. Having a long
geographical border with the USA, and acting as a bridge connecting the Latin
Americas with it's northern neighbors, has intensified these trends of changes
in Mexico. Therefore, taking into consideration the different and wide aspects
of globalization; the present study surveys one of the indices of globalization
namely “cultural globalization in line with Americanization” in Mexican
society. To this end,the research theoretically of the present study is based
upon ideas from Anthony Giddens and Ronald Robertson. In this way, and based on
the symbols employed in the movie “The Season of Ducks”, Roland Barthes’s
semiology method – preliminary and secondary reasons - were used.The main
question of the study is to survey the effect of consumerist culture and
American life style on Mexican youth’s life. The question is answered based on
the analyses of the surveys of the available symbols.

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