Papers - Conference 2009 - Institute of Latin American Studies

But how Brazilians consume brand new foreign audio-visual productions? For this question,most of the time, the answer is paying. For those who can afford it, there are diverse means to getin touch with world elite‟s music, movies and series such as cable television, internet, cinema,etc. Each one of them requires different preconditions and, in doing so, releases its status valueover its users. Internet requires from its user a previous knowledge about the content that (s)he isaiming to get, a fast connection and works better if its user has some familiarity with computersand English language. Movies on cinema, and in movie rentals, tough they can be chosen atrandom, also require a certain prior acquaintance about its content from the viewer because of itsmodus operandi. Both internet and cinema – for their common characteristic- thus offer differentstatus layers for their users at one‟s eye; the more exclusive is the content to be consumed, thebetter.Paid television, though, provides its subscribers with both local channels that transmit North-American series, cartoons, shows, etc and foreign channels that are broadcasted in real time,when comes to news, or with a little delay to subtitle insertion – in most of other cases. Eitherway, paid television content in Brazil is mostly foreigner and broadcasts in English withPortuguese subtitles (when a paid TV channel does not transmit in English or Portuguese, thechannels are paid within the “Ethnic” package 15 ).Moreover, the link between Brazilian paid television and north-American culture is so evidentthat almost everything within the former has an English name - from Paid television companiesto its channels and shows, even when they are local productions. What is more, even nowadayspaid TV design is an outspread, or a simplification, of the north-American commercial televisionscheme (Williams, 1990), where audiences are attracted to pay directly to the producers for theirfavourite entertainment ways – bypassing an external advertiser necessity. Furthermore, onewould argue that such entertainment system is moved by the consumerist ideal that one can haveeverything, that money can pay for, in excess (Baudrillard, 1998), in which the US, throughout19 th and 20 th century, became its major icon (Stearns: 66-71, 2001).Therefore North-American culture is seen as a synonym of exclusiveness and wealth also withinmedia usage. Is not just a matter to be able to pay for something that most of the population15 http://netcombo.globo.com13