Selling America Again

September 21st, 2006General0 comments

So if you haven’t noticed, I’ve become quite a cinematic Japan-geek lately. I’ve watched more anime in the last few weeks than I ever have before. I’ve been reading about cultural differences and the meanings of certain jokes that get lost on an American audience.

There’s something really cool about experiencing another culture through its entertainment. One thing is that you see life through a different perspective — it lets you know that the world is full of diversity and options. You have a choice in ways to live.

Another thing is that only the very best stuff from Japan makes it over here — the cream of the crop. The very best of any country is bound to have an appeal. Although I’m sure that there’s a whole lot of garbage on Japanese TV that we’ll never have to see, just like the rest of the world never has to know that The Simple Life exists.

So now I have a pretty good understanding of what it must feel like when someone from another country watches Star Wars: A New Hope for the first time. The translations aren’t perfect, but what you’re seeing is just so cool, so different from your everyday life, that it pulls you in. This is the gravity that made Beverly Hills 90210 such a popular show in Russia, and the same force that makes American movies such a popular import worldwide. American culture is powerful.

But now America has taken a hit because of our foriegn policy and our perceived arrogance toward the rest of the world. We are fighting a “war on terror” using military and political means when we should really be using our most potent weapon — American culture.

American culture, as daft and idiotic as it can sometimes be, is at the same time one of our greatest assets. Earlier, Iran was moving toward reform and moderation because teenagers wanted music, jeans and freedom. The greatest threat to Kim Jong-Il’s power is illegal satellite dishes put up by his own population so they can watch foreign television.

We need to defend ourselves, but we also need to let American culture do its work. Keep putting together cool things, things that touch the world.

Yes, American culture is often just about base sexuality and dumb humor, but it also comprises jazz, hip hop, pop cinema, baseball, country music, science fiction and modern technology. At its worst it’s garbage. But at its best it’s about cultural innovation from the clash of cultures coming together in a microcosm of the world. This shit sells itself.

Culture can change the world. Japan went from “We’re coming to fucking kill you” to Kawaii in less than fifty years — from conquest by bayonet and bullet to conquest through Hello Kitty and Nintendo. Germany, same thing — BMW went from building bombers to cars (its blue and white quartered-circle emblem represents spinning propellers). Military power can conquer land but culture is what conquers people.

We’ve gotta pull back — build Starbucks instead of military bases, mobilize Brad Pitt instead of Donald Rumsfeld. ACTIVATE OPRAH!

In the war of cultures, American pop culture will always defeat fundamentalism and totalitarianism anywhere in the world. Why?

Because it’s sexy.