ABSTRACT
What makes some TV shows and films more territorially mobile and transnationally attractive than others? Political-economists will likely answer this question by emphasizing the economic power of horizontally and vertically integrated US-based TNMCs to push their entertainment media into markets everywhere. Neoliberal proponents of “consumer sovereignty” (see Chapter 6) may say that entertainment media with “global legs” responds to and reflects what viewers in every country want. Political-economic and neoliberal explanations of the global popularity of certain media products privilege corporate control or sovereign consumer choice over a more nuanced analysis of how the textual form and content of entertainment media might be designed to be consumed in many countries. Undoubtedly, the control of production and distribution by TNMCs supports the global reach of certain TV shows and films. Viewer tastes and preferences matter, too. Between the “push” of TNMCs into media markets and the “pull” of nationally grounded consumers are “texts” which are designed to travel well between anything from ten to one hundred markets or more. What, then, makes a specific entertainment text globally popular?
