Americanization
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Americanization (or Americanisation) is the term used for the influence the United States of America has on the culture of other countries, substituting their culture with American culture. When encountered unwillingly or perforce, it has a negative connotation; when sought voluntarily, it has a positive connotation.
Americanization can also refer to the process of immigrants to the United States becoming assimilated into American society. This process often involves learning English and adjusting to American culture, customs, and dress.
Media
In American media, the term is used negatively to describe the censoring and editing of a foreign TV show or movie that is bought by a U.S. station. This editing is done with the aim of making the work easier for American audiences to understand. The changes can be so drastic that little - if any - evidence of the TV show or movie's true origin remains.
For television documentaries, it is an established practice in English-speaking countries to hire someone of the audience's accent as a narrator. (Perhaps the adaptors believe that seemingly jarring twangs and unaccustomed tonal patterns don't make for a return audience.) Sometimes the script is done verbatim, e.g., the PBS Nova documentary series continued to use the BBC's original word "maize", whereas an American audience would expect to hear "corn".
In Hollywood, many foreign film productions (most of them from Europe and the Far East) were remade into U.S.-produced versions for American viewers - adapting the story to conform to American culture. Most of these "Americanized" versions were filmed in American places, and with English-speaking actors. Examples include Godzilla, The Assassin (aka Nikita), The Italian Job and The Ring. In some cases, an original story from a foreign country is Americanized by recasting its lead characters as American; an example of this was the first adaptation of the James Bond novel, Casino Royale, which was produced for CBS Television in 1954. In this version, the character of Bond -- a British agent in the original novel and subsequent movie series -- is changed into an American agent for the TV version.
The song Amerika by the German rock band Rammstein is often seen as a satire of Americanization. It has received mixed reviews: some perceive it as anti-American, others as being opposed to globalization. The band views it as a satirical commentary on "cocacolonization".
Trivia
In Sweden, there is a humourous expression stating that it is the most Americanized country in the world, and the USA is number two.
Arthur Koestler described Americanization as "cocacolonization" in his book The Lotus and the Robot, referring to Coca-Cola, a symbol of American culture.