America as Ambivalent Superpower in Recent Mexican, Australian, and Chinese Media

Abstract

America as a superpower is alleged to be able to set the news agenda through framing devices that even foreign media often mimics. A noteworthy theory explaining how this agenda is set is given by E.S. Hermann and Noam Chomsky in their propaganda model (PM). The PM model would assume educated elites in the US and in other comparable states (like China) will simply reiterate the framing narrative given by a state. Five films from non-American directors are selected and several issues the state has a consensus on are used (immigration, Iraq) to test the PM. In only three cases was the PM confirmed and even in those not for the reasons given by Hermann and Chomsky. In two cases the PM was moderately disconfirmed. While the PM is a valuable model, it needs refinement by taking more seriously how ideas by social groups in society such as feminism and gender equality complicate the agenda of the state. The conclusion makes recommendations how the PM can be better built to examine how non-Americans view America through film and the mass media.