Clock Opera

Kudos to Nicky for this fresh jelly. Compared to other remixes I've heard, this one takes the cake. Absolutely stunning.

Do You Speak American?

In his article “Media, Unlimited,” Gitlin asserts that people adopt American culture because it “is a way of being in the world, the experience of a flow of ready feelings and sensations bobbing up, disposable, dissolving, segueing to the next and the next after that—all in all, [that] kinetic feel” (Gitlin 443). After reading this I began to wonder what makes America so fundamentally different from other countries that worldwide, everyone wants to be American, and not English, Chinese, or Brazilian? Gitlin’s answer to this question is that the entertainment industry in America has been aimed at entertaining the common man, and has been widely tested by a diverse domestic population that makes it especially appealing and powerful abroad. But I don’t feel that Gitlin’s explanation is substantial enough. And I can’t help but feel there is something missing.

Why is American culture so pervasive? Brazil, for example, and many Spanish-speaking countries have extremely diverse populations. Brazil gained independence from Portugal much later than the United States, thus cultural influences from Europe are quite apparent, not to mention influence from African countries of Mozambique and Angola that contribute to the culture of the south of Brazil. I would even venture to say that Brazil is more demographically diverse (ethnically and racially) than the United States. So what makes us different?

My feeling about American culture’s permeability revolves around a concept we’ve read and talked about in class: Whiteness. I do not think American culture is attractive because it is so “diverse”, as Gitlin claims, but rather because it is so white. Historically as a country, we have perpetuated that idea that whiteness is the superior color, that whites are the most successful. And for the most part, this rings true in the United States. This idea is accepted in countries like Jamaica as well (as we read about in Outliers)—that the whiter you are, the higher social standing you have.

We even see the entertainment industry dominated by whites. Gitlin claims that many actors are from foreign countries, which is true certainly, but he doesn’t account for many of the directors and producers (Martin Scorcese, Woody Allen) that are white men. Even director Wolfgang Petersen, whom Gitlin references as a successful German director, is of course, white. Sure the actor demographic may be diverse, but the people behind the productions do not appear to be.

So why not England? So why not Australia? These countries have a primarily white demographic as well, so why aren’t children in China saying “Gidday Mate”? I am not suggesting that whiteness is the only contributing factor to American culture dominance, but that it should be considered a contributing factor. Consider the following: America was built under a free market system promoting success and the American dream in which anyone could do anything they dreamed possible. America was first populated by white Anglo-Saxons. White Anglo-Saxons have been successful under the American system. Therefore white people are associated with success. This seems like an utterly elementary theory, but this is essentially how the human mind works. We are conditioned to learn associations between two originally unrelated things (whiteness and successfulness) and the association sticks in our minds as long as we continue to see it played out, which we have.

I think that Gitlin raises a good point with the Americanization of countries around the world being imminent, but I do not think the reasons he offers for this globalization are the only explanations. I think that race definitely plays into it, even though no one from China would admit that they are eating McDonald's because white people eat there. I am simply suggesting that America has perpetuated white superiority both covertly and overtly for so long, that it retains some force in shaping how people perceive American culture as dominant, subconsciously.

Some people may consider Vicky Cristina Barcelona a foreign film. What makes it foreign though? The Latino actress? The location (Spain)? The title? This film was directed by American screenwriter Woody Allen.