Has America lost its monopoly on cool? The Opinion culture editor Nadja Spiegelman joins the American expats and authors W. David Marx and Euny Hong to discuss how the world views U.S. culture and whether its cultural exports still have the lasting impact they used to.
What, are you saying our never-ending stream of shallow flawed narcissistic with dark evil secrets is somehow not generating interest on the world stage?
I don’t believe it. Everyone enjoys watching us collapsing into narcissistic rage.
Oh well, looks like yet again I’m the only person who read the article. I found it interesting.
https://archive.ph/v5nrY around rthe paywall as long as archive.ph doesn’t also piss you off. heh
I’ve found the rise of kpop and korean culture interesting, and I’ve wondered how much it feels like blue jeans felt 50-60 years ago spreading around the world. I think there is a component of exoticness to enjoy something that comes from somewhere else. But it’s also just sheer variety and new ideas. And frankly, I hope to see more cultural exchange from even more places - I mean, you can go find stuff from a lot of places now, but for it to become more common. In the same way that I think having restaurants with so many cuisines can only help bring humans together, same with music and culture.
I also don’t think American culture is one monolithic thing. It’s easy to see the downsides - the crass advertising and corporatism and profit-making for the oligarchs. But there’s a lot of great ideas out there, too.
This is an ironic post, right?
