Mamma Mia!

Mamma Mia! has proven to be a great hit in Singapore. It was the leading movie in the box office the week the movie was released.

In this musical film, it features Sophie (Amanda Seyfried)was brought up single-handedly by her mother, Donna (Meryl Streep). In westernised countries, this is a rising phenomenon today. This is probably attributed by their culture, where the people are more liberal.

Besides that, low context culture has also played a major role in the long separation of Donna and her new husband, Sam( Pierce Brosnan). Previously, this couple broke up when Donna learnt that Sam was engaged. When Sam left, Donna assumed that Sam will not come back for her and was just playing with her feelings. However, Sam had gone back to England to broke off his engagement with his fiancée. When he returned to look for Donna, through someone else's words, he knew Donna was seeing someone else, thus assume that Donna has already given up on their relationship which led to the deep misunderstanding.

If one takes a look at the weekly box office results or the movies currently available in cinemas, rarely will you see a local film on the list. Most movies are overseas films and which are the main sources for the movie industry. The rising of foreign films in Singapore movie industry reflects media globalisation in Singapore, where the market is open to commercial programme providers.

The main purpose of this film, 'Mamma Mia!', was to provide entertainment. In the process of watching this movie, we learnt about the American culture. As mentioned in the cultivation theory, messages from this movie, will not influence us audiences' attitudes directly, instead, it will be cultivated indirectly.

Overall, I feel that Mamma Mia! was a entertaining and comical movie. It's worth the time and money to watch!

The Recession Blues

After months of agony of hearing or reading one bad news after another with regards to the economy, the Ministry of Trade and Industry finally announced that the economy shrank in the third quarter, and faced a decline of 0.5% as compared to last year's figures last Friday. For the last two quarters, there has been a contraction in the local economy, making this the first technical recession in Singapore since 2002.



Ever since the fall of big names financial institutions such as Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and AIG, many investors are starting to panic. It is only now that Singapore is feeling the impact of the global economic downturn. However, Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry, Mr S. Iswaran stated earlier that Singapore is in a better position to withstand the real economic effects as compared to the period of 1997. This is due to the re-structuring of the Singapore financial system which our our central bank, Monetary Authority of Singapore, has adapted and managed.

Singaporeans will definitely feel the pinch now that recession has set in. Many people are worrying about clearing the bills and providing the basic necessities for the family. I've also heard of people who have received a lower paycheck and many, especially in the manufacturing sector, have been retrenched. The group that will strongly be affected would be the middle income families, especially when prices for commodoties, electricity, water and transport have increased.

I guess Singaporeans should cut the habit of spending in excess and save more to ensure survival. In time of crisis like this (which I forsee will last till up to two years)it is important that Singaporeans manage their finances well. Measures could be made by using public transports, eating homecooked meals and switching to fans instead of air-conditioners.

So what have you done to save?

Source: The New Straits Times, http://www.straitstimes.com/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_288879.html

Goodness Gracious Me!

"Kids mirror adults. That's why we need to behave well before we can teach our kids manners." This is a quote taken from The Straits Times, page B12, 4 Oct 08 issue.

In the full page article, it mentioned that Singaporeans need to brush up their social graces. It seems like it is a phenomenon in Singapore at foodcourts to see patrons leaving the table with dirty trays, drinks spilled and food scattered on the table.

Typical Singaporeans in general has this perception that they are patronising the food court to fill their stomachs, rather than cleaning up. To them, the job of cleaning up belongs to the cleaners. Thus, The Straits Time has come up with the 'Goodness Gracious Me!' campaign, in hope that Singaporeans would learn to be more gracious and civic-minded towards others. The underlying purpose of this attribution is to improve the well-being of the locals, through how people behave and relate to one another.



As seen above, a gracious society covers culture, heritage, education and civics. To start of, education plays an important role. The first picture shows that the mother teaches her son to be 'gracious' by actually not clearing their mess so that the cleaner can do their job to clean up the tables. Children see their parents as role models, and thus often model after their behaviours and actions. As such, it is not surprising that Singaporeans are not as gracious as expected.

The environment also acts as a non-verbal stimulus. All it takes is probably for a few person to take initiative to clear their own trays and food, leaving a clean table for the next diner, to start the ball rolling. There is then a high chance that others will follow suit. For example, at IKEA restaurant, customers are encouraged to clear their own tray. There are some initiative customers who do that but majority still doesn't. Perhaps, IKEA restaurants need to have more banners placed at a more prominent place so that more people will get to see it.

Whether this campaign to work towards a more gracious and civic-minded society, depends a lot on us. Furthermore, with the integrated resorts coming soon and a expected increase in the number of tourists to Singapore, there is certainly a need for us to work on that. Ultimately, how these tourists view Singapore is based on our attitude and character. Everyone should play a role to help preserve the good reputation of Singapore!