Y. LU
tions, individuals and cultures and negotiated through contesta-
tions of locality, nationality and global citizenship” (49). Thus,
“contra-flow” is about the movement of cultures from one place
to another, like a two way traffic-lane, where individuals are
said to live “between cultures” (Thussu, 2007). Differs from
“dominant flow”, “contra-flow” derives from the less powerful
regions of the world, or to say, the peripheries of global media
industries. “Contra-flow” has emerged in that global mass me-
dia programming is reversing the dominant (Western) direction;
flows of global culture are no longer from the West to the rest
but a two-way movement. (Kavoori, 2007) The development of
Indian movie industry (popularly referred to as Bollywood), the
spread of Latin American telenovel (always referred to as soap
opera), the rise of East Asian “Wave” (often represented by
South Korean) and the expansion of CCTV-9 of China are all
examples of contra-flow. The following paragraphs will use
some of these contra-flows as examples to illustrate the rela-
tionship between contra-flow and dominant flow in specific.
There is often a misunderstanding in terms of the relationship
between dominant flow and contra-flow as some maintain that
the existence of dominant flow largely smother the possibility
for contra-flow to grow. Nevertheless, this notion is too simple
to depict the whole picture behind dominant flow and contra-
flow. The relationship between these two flows involves in a
much more complex way. The globalization of Western or
westernized media flows across the world, in a way, inspires
the development of contra-flow, and as contra-flow becomes
stronger, it begins to challenge the dominant position of the
West in global industries but so far it cannot reverse such domi-
nation as imbalance between the dominant and contra media
flow in the world is still manifest.
Whilst the globalization of Western media has increased
Western culture’s influence, it also contributes to the develop-
ment of contra-flow. The flow of western media products
across the globe, exemplified by the proliferation of the Amer-
ican movie and television exports, has inspired the development
of non-Western media organizations, opening up new opportu-
nity for the flow of media content across the world. As many
US-led Western media conglomerates have successfully local-
ized their content to make their media products globally popu-
lar, media organizations from the non-Western society have
benefited from this process. Some of these media organizations
have smartly learned from the successful experience of those
Western media conglomerates, and then skillfully applied to
their own media products so as to make them go globally.
Moreover, ‘the globalization of Western or Western inspired
media has also contributed to the creation of professional ca-
reers in media and cultural industries by stimulating the forma-
tion of important global hubs for creative industries (Thussu,
2007: p. 13). In a sense, dominant flow spurs the emergence of
contra-flow.
As contra-flow becomes stronger, it somehow challenges the
power of dominant flow. It is no doubt that the traffic of global
media nowadays is not just one way—from the West to the
rest—but a two way movement. Over the last decade, the world
has witnessed an increasing growth of non-Western media con-
tent originating from creative hubs like Hong Kong, Cairo and
Mumbai (Banerjee, 2002). The access of digital technology,
satellite and broadcasting networks and the physical movement
of people around the world have contributed to the growing
flow of media content from the non-Western society to the
Western society (Thussu, 2007). Non-Western nations such as
India, Japan, South Korean and Brazil have become more and
more crucial in terms of the circulation of international culture.
From Latin America telenovela and Indian movie industry to
regional broadcasting like the mandarin language Phoenix
channel and the 24/7 news network Al-Jazeera, contra-flow has
become an indispensable factor in distributing global culture.
One key instance of contra-flow is the Latin America teleno-
vela. Since the late 1970s, Latin American telenovelas have
been exported to the America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and the
Middle East. “Their worldwide success suggests that they are
no longer a uniquely Latin American phenomenon but a major
global commercial force with extraordinary social and cultural
importance” (Rego & Pastina, 2007: p. 100). Leading by Brazil
and Mexico, this transnational telenovelas has been produced
by many Latin American nations such as Venezuelan and Co-
lombian, and has been widely exported to the rest of the world.
By 2005, as Thussu quoted Martinez (2005) in his book Media
on the Move, “the telenovela had developed into a 2 billion
dollars industry, of which 341 million dollars was earned out-
side the region, being broadcasted in 50 languages and reaching
over 100 countries from Latin America to Europe, Asia, Africa
and the Arab world” (2007: p. 25). Merely Brazilian teleno-
velas have been exported to more than 130 countries across the
world. In 2005 alone, over 30 Brazilian telenovelas were aired
in more than 20 nations around the world, programming more
than 10,000 hours. The same year, the number of subscribers of
the Brazilian TV Globo reached almost 2 million internation-
ally. The presence of Latin American telenovela, challenges the
conventional West-to-non-West cultural and media flow. It also
challenges the hegemony of Hollywood’s cultural exports since
Latin American telenovela has a strong local cultural root
(Rego & Pastina, 2007).
Another key example of contra-flow is the Indian movie in-
dustry as always referred to Bollywood. “Given its size and
diverse social and cultural antecedents, India is among the few
non-Western countries to have made their presence felt in the
global cultural market” (Thussu, 2007: p. 26). The increasing
international visibility of India is largely dependent on its
movie industry—the Bollywood. Benefited from the develop-
ment of digital technology and expansion of television, the
movie industry of India has witnessed a leap since the early
2000s, with numerous Indian movies are now shown regular
across the world. Each year, more than one billion more people
buy tickets for Indian movies than for Hollywood movies, and
the quantity of movie produced by India every year has also
transcended the Hollywood’s. Currently, Indian movies are
shown in more than 70 nations across the world. In spite of
their popularity in the Arab world and central Southeast Asia,
Indian movies have also reached to the Western society, for
example, Dil Se (1998) was among the top ten box offices in
Britain in 1998 and Taal (1999) was among the top twenty in
the United States (Govil, 2007). From 1989 to 1999, Indian
movie exports saw a five-fold growth: the exports of Indian
movies increased from 20 million dollars in the early 1990s to
100 million dollars by the end of the 1990s. “In 2000, Bolly-
wood held a celebration of its own at International Indian Film
Awards ceremony at London’s Millennium Dome with the
show broadcasted lively to over 120 countries” (Govil, 2007: p.
85). The same year, Missin Karshmir (2000), became the first
Indian movie to release in New York’s Times Square after
Sony obtained the overseas rights of it. In 2002, Lagaan (2001)
was nominated among the Best Non-English movies in 2002
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