In pop culture, movies and video games in the last decades of the 20th century

Introduction. The second part of the 20th century, from the post-World War II period onward, has seen a gradual expansion of international mobility. As a result of the process of economic and socio-cultural integration that since the 1990s we have begun to define more precisely as globalization, the world has become increasingly smaller. The Schengen Treaty and low-cost flights, moreover, have made Europe a unique space in terms of tourism as well. Even my generation, which experienced childhood in the 1980s, can hardly remember a Europe of borders and passports. However, despite the shrinking of the world, the fascination of distant lands remains. Mass tourism has only confirmed, according to fashions and times, the attraction for those lands that intrigue, attract, seem exotic. It should always be kept in mind, however, that the category of “exoticism” is determined by point of view, and that here we start from the European worldview. Continua a leggere “China and Japan in the Western imaginary” →