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Copyright

Diane Colman

Published On

2024-11-06

Page Range

pp. 45–66

Language

  • English

Print Length

22 pages

3. Netflix and the shaping of global politics

  • Diane Colman (author)
Chapter of: Digital Humanities in the India Rim: Contemporary Scholarship in Australia and India(pp. 45–66)
This chapter begins by outlining the meaning and importance of soft power in global politics and briefly detailing the consideration of popular culture in the International Relations (IR) discipline. It then provides a detailed description of the research design of the database project, taking account of positivist conventions in qualitative studies by utilising the hybrid methodologies in the Digital Humanities interdisciplinary approach. International Relations as a discipline understands power on a global scale. Such understanding includes the concept of ‘soft power’ and the role of popular culture in projecting and universalising hegemonic state values. In the globalised world of today, the power of individuals often transcends state boundaries. This case study is about Netflix, which, as a global actor, is the leading entertainment streaming service. Netflix has considerable capacity to influence its audiences’ ideas about the world, projecting immense soft power worldwide. Examining the ideological basis of this power is important in understanding world politics. The creation of a comprehensive database that categorises all Netflix Original films according to a carefully selected set of ontologies provides the epistemological tools necessary to suit the needs of IR studies.

Contributors

Diane Colman

(author)
Lecturer in International Relations and Global Politics in the School of Humanities and Communication Arts at Western Sydney University

Dr Diane Colman is a Lecturer in International Relations and Global Politics in the School of Humanities and Communication Arts at Western Sydney University. Her research focuses on the globalisation of ideas on social justice and their culturally sensitive, inclusive application to local challenges. Diane’s interests have concentrated on the Asia-Pacific and include East Timor's struggle with Australia for sovereignty over its seabed and consequent control over the substantial oil and gas resources required for its development. This concern with development led to research on the developmental state, extending internationally influential ideas on the role of the state in socio-economic transformation by applying them to the challenges of culturally distinct Asia-Pacific countries with an emphasis on the sustainable, long-term interests of society in Korea and Papua New Guinea. Applying the conceptual framework of culturally sensitive collective action in a globalised world has led Diane to an interest in the intersection between popular culture and world politics, forging a new multidisciplinary approach to global power.