THE
POPULARITY OF AMERICAN CULTURE:
Why
was American culture so globally popular?
America
had always been a multi-cultural society which could always
easily pre-test its popular culture before it was quickly exported
abroad. American entertainment was also about dreams and how
the individual always had the chance to elevate him or herself
to an even higher position, even if the odds often seemed impossible.
This American myth was finally becoming globally accepted by
many people on the planet.
What
other advantages did American culture have? American English
was a compressed and relatively simple language which often
fused well with the American language of popular images. And
speech was always secondary in most American movies to the flood
of visual images that came roaring towards the viewer.
American
pop culture seemed to have the right kind of images for a world
that was increasingly choked with disturbing media noise and
cultural dislocation. Even if all the noise and dislocation
was actually made in America. To many people all over the world,
the American super-hero would always be a very popular figure
in a speedy world that was now becoming increasingly disoriented,
anxious, and rootless.
America
for better or worse was now the producer of the current global
movie. Was there really any wisdom in this global movie? The
whole world was now watching it. How would this movie end? Nobody
really knew. But the cameras were still rolling, and if one
could psychologically put oneself out into space, slowly orbiting
around the planet it could be a fantastic movie indeed
.
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