Question 6

This ad shows Conan in India. In terms of globalization it shows how language is spreading. Conan O’Brien is relatively “American.” In this ad he is fluent in Hindi. This suggests that the ability to learn languages is spreading and becoming easier. Throughout the ad, scenes depict his very friendly and familiar relationships with people in India. He is shown washing sheets and haggling with a man. This constructs that to have such connections he must go there often. To go there often, it must be easy for him to get there. The ease of getting there expresses globalization. The culture spread to America and lines of travel were opened because of popularity or interest of going there.

In terms of the exotic, the ad is ripe with stereotypes of India. Right off the bat, the music in the background is sitar music, which is stereotypically Indian. The opening scene is in a Bazaar. Everyone in the Bazaar is dressed in turbans and cloaks of sorts. These are both constructs of the exotic. The activities that Conan partakes in are also signifiers of the exotic. He washes clothes in a river, he dyes his silk, he buys the yarn from a large market, and he also haggles over price. All of these activities together construct a foreign-ness, the exotic.