I've never been to America, but I know all about it from TV

From watching the TV I understand America to be…

Full of bullies and people who are being cheated by bullies. (Jerry Springer, Oprah etc.)
A place where the police can’t help. (The dukes of Hazard)
Loaded with helpful vigilantes. (The A-team, Macgyver, The equalizer.)
Full of caring parents. (Blossom, My two dads, Boy meets world.)

Egad! The Hamburglar is a ginga!

Wow, this explains why Taiwanese people all have such an easy and intuitive grasp on American values, culture and society. I was wondering about that.

I have no idea what other people do or don’t get, or what they may be touchy about – so I guess I can only give you my own opinion. I do think I “get” your basic point, and I agree with you that American culture, through TV, movies and otherwise, is widely seen by people other countries (more so than the TV or movies of other countries are in the US, without question).

The part where I, respectfully, disagree with your characterization is when you use words like “invasion” and “imperialism”, suggesting that there is an element of coercion involved. I can certainly see why the popularity of American entertainment products might rub people in other countries the wrong way (and I agree with you --and disagree with some others on this thread-- that most Americans know less about other countries than people in those countries know about the US), but the there are no military or political or other nefarious forces responsible for the fact that a large percentage of the films being shown in Shanghai or London are made in the US. The terms “invasion” and “imperialism” obviously have negative connotations, but beyond that they imply that someone is using threats or some other form of coercion to force or otherwise unjustly compel people to choose to see one film at the cinema over others – and that is simply not the case.

You are one of the posters with respect to whom I’m never quite sure when you are being serious, or a little tongue-in-cheek, or just completely taking the piss, so apologies if I got it wrong this time. But if your quote above was a sincere question then that I think this is a sincere answer: no problem with your point about the dominance of American entertainment products, no problem with the argument that non-Americans probably tend to know more about the US than vice-versa, but a respectful disagreement with the notion that the choice of which DVD to buy that is made by a consumer at a Taipei nightmarket represents any kind of “imperial invasion.”

Cheers,
H

[quote=“Doctor Evil”]Why on earth should Americans care about Victoria Station or the Sydney Opera House? Americans don’t feel the need to obsess about other countries. Smacks of a serious inferiority complex, don’t you think?
[/quote]

smacks of complete ignorance and a blinkered mentality to me. and you have just proved the point to us all out here, too. thanks for doing it better than i could.

how on earth can americans entertain the idea that, for example, the world series of baseball is a world series at all? because they don’t comprehend that there is a world outside that is any different to theirs. arrogant gnats.

flame me. i have strong opinions, i am not being judgemental!

[quote=“belgian pie”]
Ha, you see … it’s not Google earth that terrorists use to attack the US, they just watch a lot of movies … :smiley:[/quote]

But in America they blacklist movies that involve ideas ChimpyMcHitlerstein doesn’t like. [i]Everyone[/i] knows that.

['The Ground Truth' a blacklisted film about Iraq

[quote=“urodacus”]
how on earth can americans entertain the idea that, for example, the world series of baseball is a world series at all?[/quote]

Why should we care what citizens (or subjects, whatever) from some pissant country think? Baseball. What’s the matter? Americans calling it the World Series make your pee-pee shrink up even smaller than it already is? What a sad, empty life you must lead.

Well, since you’re such an expert on all things American, you’ve surely heard the old saying about opinions and assholes.

Now…don’t you have a kangaroo to molest or something?

Kumbaya, ya’ll! :bow:

The thing about American TV is that it is made for people who sit around and watch TV. So it is only a representation of what that particular slice of culture wants to see. Not everyone gets off work and goes straight to their television. Also keep in mind that not all shows get shown outside of the US. Just the ones that people outside the US have interest in. Between these two facts alone the “American culture” that people see from TV is slanted and biased.

[quote=“Hobbes”]words like “invasion” and “imperialism”, suggesting that there is an element of coercion involved

The terms “invasion” and “imperialism” obviously have negative connotations, but beyond that they imply that someone is using threats or some other form of coercion to force or otherwise unjustly compel people to choose to see one film at the cinema over others – and that is simply not the case. [/quote]

it is not my terminology, i am using it in the same sense that it is commonly used elsewhere by many other interested parties as a descriptor from non-american speaking countries with small TV production houses of their own. generally the antipathy comes from being unable to compete with american sitcoms in terms of purchase cost per episode, and therefore being priced out of their own market by the cheaper offerings from USA. this is a problem when kids and many adults learn a lot of their social background through TV. being given only american stuff to look at leads to a kid from australia becoming interested in baseball, basketball, Halloweeen, Thanksgiving, cheerleading, barbie, etc: the kind of stuff that was not originally part of the australian or NZ or irish or South African society but has forced its way in by stealth, as it were. proactive campaigns to protect the culture of these countries by the creation of local content quotas are immediatley attacked by the US and the WTO as anticompetitive. on that front, yes, it is an invasion. but no, there is probably not a sinister gang of TV execs plotting the ‘downfall of the classic stereotypical aussie teenager’ by ‘cultural imperialism’, though that is still the end result.

thanks for the compliment. i am often not sure myself.

Television reflects an artistic representation of life, and not a true picture of life.

Judging anything by what you see on TV is using poor judgement.

respect, courtesy to others, civility, all those supposedly christian values that you like to boast of.

thanks for proving your point once again.

what is kumbaya? isnt it a rallying call for all people of the world to come to God? what sort of a hypocrite are you becoming? step back a little and see how what you are saying will be interpreted by others, please.

personally, i think god is a myth, all of them.

One doesn’t need to gain an education about America by going there since in any global fast food chain in any major city, you are bound to hear them from across the room!

I thought “The Equalizer” was a very good show.

And he drove a Jag-u-ar.
However, like most good shows, it didn’t last very long.

Has anyone else ever gotten an extra chicken Mcnugget in their 6-piece chicken Mcnuggets? It happened to me once, but only once.

Erhu, surely to convey that story a little better, you should have been using the capslock. It would also add to the realism if the person you were telling the story to was Billy-Bob.

[quote=“TainanCowboy”]I thought “The Equalizer” was a very good show.

And he drove a Jag-u-ar.
[/quote]
See? Works both ways. Now you know what British people are like.

[quote=“TainanCowboy”]I thought “The Equalizer” was a very good show.

And he drove a Jag-u-ar.
However, like most good shows, it didn’t last very long.[/quote]

that was a great show. As a teenager i watched every series.

Edward Woodwood

I saw a jag on Ren Ai road last week. Much more classy than a black BMW. Apparently though if you need a spare part it is a serious problem in Taiwan. Not that i can afford one yet. One day one day may be.

Unless i get a second hand Arthur Daily job.

Lets Dialectize that using http://www.rinkworks.com/dialect/

Has ennyone else evah gotten an extry possum Mcnuggit in their 6-piece possum Mcnuggits? It happened t’me once, but only once.

:laughing:

Sounds like you’ve had lots of experience SERVING them. :laughing:

[quote=“fenlander”]
Unless i get a second hand Arthur Daily job.[/quote]

You want a second hand-job from Arthur Daily? Dude, wasn’t the first hand-job enough to send you to a prostitute?

Classic American stuff apart from the Equalizer…

Smokey and the Bandit.
Addams family.
Quarter Pounder with Cheese.
Fraggle rock.
The Red Hand Gang.
BMX’s.
Littlest Hobo.
Shatner.
That spoof detective show with Mike Hammer.