The visual is essentially pornographic, which is to say that it has its end in rapt, mindless fascination.

Utopia would seem to offer the spectacle of one of those rare phenomena whose concept is indistinguishable from its reality, whose ontology coincides with its representation.

The visual is essentially pornographic, which is to say that it has its end in rapt, mindless fascination.

Often, these downplay the power of cultural imperialism - in that sense, playing the game of US interests - by reassuring us that the global success of American mass culture is not as bad as all that.

For when we talk about the spreading power and influence of globalization, arent we really referring to the spreading economic and military might of the US?

And this fear that US models are replacing everything else now spills over from the sphere of culture into our two remaining categories: for this process is clearly, at one level, the result of economic domination - of local cultural industries closed down by American rivals.

If everything were transparent, there would be no ideologies.