"You're psychic?" Jane - "No, just paying attention. I used to make a good living pretending to be a psychic. I tell you this because I want you to understand there's no point in hiding things from me"
Americanisation is something that could be the reason why people audiences find glamorous actors or something else that is unique more appealing to them and the text that I will be focusing is The Mentalist which is an American fictional television programme which revolves around the protagonist, Patrick Jane, whilst he attempts to find the murderer of his wife and family. He gives up his lucrative facade of being a psychic and becomes a consultant for the California Bureau of Investigation (CBI). The plot mainly focuses on Jane and his methods of solving cases in an unorthodox manner which others do not approve of. He belongs to the Serious Crimes Unit and his team consists of Senior Special Agent Teresa Lisbon, Agent Rigsby, Agent Cho and Agent Van Pelt. The character of Patrick Jane is a likeable one and has many traits that audiences can find appealing and recognise as something that they personally have themselves as individuals. The cultural shift in different countries has changed diversely due to the amount of American programming that is being depicted on our televisions every day through the digital satellite provider BskyB.
Americanisation is the influence that the United States of America has on other countries across the world. For example, there are ideologies that are portrayed on television programmes and films such as teenagers getting involved with drugs or sexual encounters and this is easily seen through British programming through films such as Anuvahoodand Kidulthood. These two films are completely different concepts however they both contain similar elements which Kidulthood could have included as a result of the influential American programming that we see daily. The Mentalist contains American stereotypes such as the vulnerable female character (Lisbon) who requires the help from Jane which could reinforce patriarchal societies although Lisbon is a physical able woman who can take care of herself however she requests help from Jane when struggling with emotional distress an illustration of this is in an episode called Little Red Corvette.This makes Jane seem the hero whereas in reality he is quite timorous when it comes to physical confrontations and prefers to remain at the background of scenes “Yeah, you guys go find out. I'll find the couch. [Stands up and turns around] Oh, there it is”. If this is a case of hegemony which is a theory that Antonio Gramsci created about the worlds elites and with America acting as an over-powering presence then this could mean that “In their process of Americanization these elites have had to open up to the general public’s demand to new kinds of entertainment and to market forces geared to meet these demands”. This would relate to the audiences’ values and beliefs being altered to fit the ideologies that are promoted to them through the programming that they watch. This is also relatively close to cultivating audiences which is a theory put forward by Gerbner because they are basing morals and principles on characters because of the amount of television that is watched across the world.
The Mentalist promotes many specific things such as original thinking and not conforming to society due to the way that the protagonist carries himself out. “Your life is in chaos, you're lonely, you're depressed, you're addicted to drugs and pornography and a little nuts, to be honest. You're exactly the kind of man that does terrible things to women. But I don't think you did this" is one of the examples in which Jane is able to use his deduction skills and his excellent eye for detail to figure something out. When all clues point to someone which makes everyone else believe that they are in fact the committers of a crime, Jane is the character who always opposes their views and points out additional details or goes about his own methods to prove his point when others do not believe him. This is based on the reading that a member of the audience takes as they have preferences when it comes to television however, with Americanisation, they are more likely to take the preferred reading that the creators of a text intends to be taken and become more law-abiding and find the programme more appealing due to the character’s personality and mannerisms. This is an extension of the theory suggested by Stuart Hall which revolved around the audience’s response to a stimulus.
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