My Year Of Meats Analysis

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The Role of Media Representation In Society The novel My Year of Meats has captivated readers by introducing a cross-cultural story of the intersections of television, meat industries, life, and love. In the novel, media representations have been the main force accelerating the trend of globalization, specifically in Japanese society and fosters a new culture in human society. The influence of media is growing stronger and stronger over time and the power of the media has also increasingly gained those influences on either individual, such as Ueno and Akiko or Japanese community. Media representation has brought human interaction and society to a highly interconnected and complex level, but at the same time challenges human perceptions over …show more content…
Ueno, in “My Year of Meats”, is a typical example that is negatively affected by media. Ueno, is a chief of BEEF-EX which sponsors the My American Wife! show which Jane is working for. Ueno is a traditional Japanese man but prefers to call him as ‘John’ because he thinks his Japanese name not is not modern. Deeply influenced by the media and partly from his company, Ueno always embraces his idea of America that America is only filled with white families and incorrectly stereotypes about American values by listing the desirable things which US families must be completely perfect and applies those thoughts on the show. Therefore, Ueno always demands the show has to be directed by his idea and disregards the opinion of Jane, the one who was born and grew up in America and also absorbs American values better than anyone in his crews. Consequently, as one of the episodes the show is aired, Ueno is so upset when Akiko graded it the low score over its authenticity as said, “’You’re missing the whole point.” John sighed, exasperated. ‘You just don’t get it. The whole point is to show perfect families. We don’t want families with flaws’” (Ozeki 129). In those conversation, John argues with Akiko regarding his family’s point of view. His tone shows his angry as he thinks that Akiko seems not to understand the main value of the show. According to John, America families must be flawless and he does not want the imperfection in the show could compromise his opinions about America. As the author describes, John is inherited the patriarchy ideas from his society. Over the media representations, Ueno is deeply obsessed with his illusion about American as well as Western culture. However, it is undeniable thing that media has played a significant role by propagating US culture