Mike Medavoy and Nathan Gardels: "American Idol After Iraq: Competing for Hearts and Minds in the Global Media Age"

Join us for a lecture on "American Idol After Iraq: Competing for Hearts and Minds in the Global Media Age," with co-authors Mike Medavoy and Nathan Gardels. Medavoy is Chairman and CEO of Phoenix Pictures and Gardels is Editor of the New Perspectives Quarterly.

Thursday, March 11, 2010
5:00 PM - 6:00 PM
UCLA School of Theater, Film, & Television
Room 1422, Melnitz Hall
Los Angeles, CA 90095

Parking available in Lot 3, $10. Parking kiosk located at Westholm and Hilgard. Pay-by-space parking also available in lot 3.

About the Book

(Excerpt from Foreign Affairs, October 2009) Gardels and Medavoy, two of California's most creative public intellectuals, bring a West Coast perspective to the role of culture in foreign policy. As they trenchantly demonstrate, the shifts in U.S. popular culture since the 1960s have had a dramatic impact on global perceptions of the United States. Today, the global media marketplace is changing again; U.S. cultural products compete with Brazilian and Mexican soap operas, Japanese animation, and Chinese and Bollywood films. In much of the world, MTV offers more local than U.S. content, and companies such as Disney are increasingly producing content for non-U.S. markets and sensibilities. Paradoxically, Americans are often less aware of global cultural trends than people in other countries are; saturated in their own media, they see fewer foreign films and fewer foreign television programs. Gardels and Medavoy offer interesting observations on these and other trends. Their most intriguing prescription is for the creation of an organization modeled on the Council on Foreign Relations that would focus on the role of culture in international affairs. More about the book.

About the Speakers

Mike Medavoy began his career at Universal Studios in 1964. He rose from the mailroom to become a casting director. In 1965, he became an agent at General Artist Corporation and then vice president at Creative Management Agency. Joining International Famous Agency as vice president in charge of the motion picture department in 1971, he worked with such prestigious clients as Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola, Terrence Malick, Jane Fonda, Donald Sutherland, Gene Wilder, Jeanne Moreau, and Jean-Louis Trintignant. More recently Medavoy published a book, “American Idol After Iraq; Competing for Hearts and Minds in the Global Media Age,” which reflects on the impact of media on U.S. foreign policy with co-author Nathan Gardels, editor of the National Political Quarterly. To learn more click here.
Nathan Gardels has been editor of New Perspectives Quarterly since it began publishing in 1985. He has served as editor of Global Viewpoint and Nobel Laureates Plus (services of Los Angeles Times Syndicate/Tribune Media) since 1989. These services have a worldwide readership of 35 million in 15 languages. Gardels has written widely for The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, New York Times, Washington Post, Harper's, U.S. News & World Report and the New York Review of Books. He has also written for foreign publications, including Corriere della Sera, El Pais, Le Figaro, the Straits Times (Singapore), Yomiuri Shimbun, O'Estado de Sao Paulo, The Guardian, Die Welt and many others. His books include, "At Century's End: Great Minds Reflect on Our Times" and "The Changing Global Order." He is coauthor with Hollywood producer Mike Medavoy of "American Idol After Iraq: Competing for Hearts and Minds in the Global Media Age." To learn more click here.