Abstract
To allow Americans to enter Saudi Arabia in 1945, King Abdulaziz sought counseling from the religious party where they issued a fatwa of permission. Only then were the Americans able to help the Saudis extract oil and build the world's largest industrialized oil company, Aramco (McHale 622-623). The subject of this paper is not the oil industry but its consequences and impacts on Saudi culture. Focusing on television, this paper examines the impact of American pop culture and its neocolonial influence on Saudi culture. Through the first English Saudi channel, which was founded in 1957, American pop culture introduced America to Saudi citizens. It also examines the hegemonic impact of American pop culture on Saudi Arabia that, while being resisted by fundamentalist religious groups, has contributed to the reshaping of Saudi modern culture. Keywords Pop-Culture; Neocolonialism; Television; Imperialism; Religion Author Mohammed Ghazi Alghamdi is Assistant Professor of comparative literature at King Saud University. His research interests are comparative literature, Saudi Literature, American Literature, popular culture, Critical Theory and Criticism. He is the author of Writers and Nations: The Case of American and Saudi Literatures (2021).