I lived a short time in Japan and returning to the US, yeah, the US has a very visible culture that permeates every aspect of life just as much as any other country. It's just a case of a fish not knowing it's wet until it's taken out of water.
I'd even go as far as to say there are strong regional cultures within the US that Americans don't know they share until they have lived in other parts of the country. This culture for me was Midwestern culture, which is most visible in the warmth and frequency of interpersonal interactions.
@@trentludwig5402 I am from peninsular Washington, I moved to the mainland and had a bit of cultureshock, then moved to California and had a bit more culture shock, although San Diegans are much kinder than Seattlites. When I move to Texas I assume I will once again go through a culture shock.
I feel like americans have this notion that they "don't have a culture" because, in many ways, american culture was so exported abroad that it kinda became "international" culture. Every song or movie that makes it big in the US also becomes popular in other countries, so it makes it harder for americans to see it as part of their own culture. But make no mistake, while stuff like rap music or super hero films are popular everywhere, they only came to exist because of very particular element in US society, and as such should be seen as part of american culture.
Animaniacs is a good example. That show didn't translate well in other languages because a lot of the jokes required you to know a lot of famous American names, jokes that are often made of them and current events. Apparently, it didn't do so well in Japan.
I was going to mention that too, as a kid I spent a lot of the 90's in Europe, so it wasn't until I got older and started to get more of the references that I started to find Animaniacs funny.
@Trainfan1055 I know... right...?! Even *_I_* - as a Canadian - didn't understand some of the jokes and popular cultural references in the _Anamaniacs_ animated T.V. series!
One thing I've noticed about American culture is that it has become so prevalent throughout the world as a whole that some will claim that America "has no culture", just like how some Americans say they don't "have an accent", which is really interesting to me
There's a big separation in the U.S. (and many other countries) where you find that a lot of accents (or at least noticeable features of accents) go away when people live in cities. I'm not sure how true this is, but I think it's something worth paying attention to. For example, I have family in southeast Texas who all have very thick southern accents and who all talk and laugh very loud, but then when we went into a city like Houston or San Antonio, a lot of the accents were gone. Not entirely gone, but very noticeably less or different. I have a friend who grew up in Austin Texas who has no southern accent at all. I have another buddy from San Diego California who doesn't sound like the stereotyped cali surfer kinda guy at all (we did meet a few who did sound that though, but most people just sounded like Americans from the west). His mom is from the midwest though, and she still has some features of that accent (like saying the word "bag" like "behg" or phrases like "oh say"). I think all of this goes to say that a big part of American culture is how varied the people are here. Lots of people from the midwest are descendent from Scandinavian people, or how lots of people from the east coast are descendent from Irish or Italian people. This goes for other cultures as well, like how in the U.K. there are crossovers with Indian culture because of U.K. imperialism in India. India restaurants were commonplace when I was in London. Fusions of cultures make up dominant culture too. That's the end of my rambling. Had to get all that out of my head I guess lol
For real how much stuff can you say happens all over the country where as the south is uniquely southern, the Midwest has their culture, the north east, the western plains and rocky regions as well as the Pacific Northwest, California, Hawaii, Alaska which are completely unique to themselves oh and who could for get the south west, this country is so big we can’t have one big unique culture whereas Germany, France and England are basically the size of some states such as Montana,Colorado and New York.
In fairness, pretty sure there is a big difference between Bavarian and Berlin culture as well. Poland has a pretty strong east/west split I think. Each Japanese precinct is incredibly different. And China is just so huge that from Yunnan to Wuhan to Manchuria sees some huge differences.
@@JJMcCullough I'd argue that Fallout 2 is by far the best one, especially if you're into older games and don't care about messy visuals or complex systems. If you would rather just have a fun experience with some amazing writing, Fallout New Vegas is also great.
There are a couple of shows like that for me. I think shows like The Middle, Raising Hope, and My Name's Earl, while not always as encompassing or accurate to that middle class aesthetic, require a bit of that American knowledge and experience. My parents often joked about how similar some of our experiences were to instances or themes in The Middle.
Curiously enough Malcolm in the middle is really popular in Mexico (I think is popular in all of latin America). To this day is still airing in Mexican public television.
Most popular old movies are. The 80s john hughes or sitcoms like full house or the aesthetic of the show “that 70s show” Most pieces of media that take place in America’s past basically.
Fun fact: I have a deep love for Converse shoes for the simply fact that Benny ( think the Sandlot character's name is) has this epic scene where he prepares for a chase scene with the beast dog Goliath by taking out a brand new pair of Converse shoes and carefully tying them up. I think that's why I also love lacing shoes too (as opposed to slip ons).
@@uncledanni9352 4kids had an annoying habit of trying to call onigiri (rice balls) various other foods, because they thought kids were too stupid to understand a food they may not have seen before.
@@iammrbeat you know people from hollywood actually come from some of these places they write and make movies about, right? these are not all aliens just imagining things that don't exist.
@@mariacheebandidos7183 True, if Hollywood just bs there way through a show viewers would know and stop watching. Its not like a movie you can get away with that in movies.
I remember reading that King of the Hill actually has a very dedicated following in Japan. Might be apocryphal, but I like to imagine that somewhere out there, Hank Hill's loving dedication to propane and propane accessories struck a chord with a lot of Japanese viewers.
Canada is America junior. It’s just a fact. JJ has made several videos about Canada’s similarities with the states and he’s vocally criticized Canada’s anti-American nationalist movement. Anyone who would be offended by that probably stopped watching a while ago.
I know Trudeau makes us all seem like we’re uptight, but i think most Canadians would just laugh at that .. because we know we’re better than some offensive asshole online anyway (;
Earthbound and it's always Sunny in Philadelphia is pretty reliant on American culture, and the fact that earthbound was created from a Japanese perspective on how America is makes it particularly interesting.
@@music79075 it's an rpg that reinterprets a lot of the stereotypical iconography of suburban american life as fantastical. The writing is absurdist comedy that's also very endearing
I've probably watched that movie a thousand times. It was a 'go to' for teachers who came to class hungover and wanted the lights dimmed down and the kids to be quiet.
It’s funny. I watched this movie a lot as a kid, but never really understood it. It’s definitely iconic, but I think it’s a very ethnically, class and region specific film. It’s the same thing with A Christmas Story.
I think Twin Peaks is a good example. It became really big in Japan because of the weird mix of Americana, drama, and mystery to the point where Cooper even appeared in ads for a Japanese coffee company
I would also add that the tv show "The Boondocks" is a perfect representation for black American culture (and maybe black Canadians specifically from the GTA) literally with all the cultural references and the jokes on the show you'd have to be from America to understand it. Not even someone from Africa will get it.
Not even someone from America will always get it. I personally love the Boondocks, because, well, you know, its fucking hilarious. But, as you said, the Boondocks is more of a representation and satire of black American culture. And me, being a white guy, often times find some of the jokes going over my head. More often than not I get it, because black American culture and white American culture still both arose from the same landscapes, but even then being American is not always enough for something like the Boondocks, because America outside of our overarching culture also has several other subcultures mixed in.
I love boondocks because as a white boy who grew up in black communities I love the satire on a culture I've always felt apart of but sort of on the sidelines
MAD Magazine was always one of the best satirizations of American pop culture, politics and society. It was a bit upsetting to see it cease production last year
British person here. As a kid I always found parts of the captain underpants series confusing, like how the school signs were in removable letters, and being in primary school I was too young to understand that it was because it was just a foreign thing
A fun way to freak out British people is to point out how heavily we had to Americanize Thomas the Tank engine into "Shining Time Station" in order to make that bland show of steam engines and class obedience remotely palatable here.
Over The Garden Wall is a great short series that is a pastiche of pre-1940s rural americana (minus racism). American Pie (the song) is a great piece that goes over a lot of what happened in the 1960s and the cultural changes of the time.
Over The Garden Wall is fantastic and does a great job blending influences from colonial and early American New England and the “Oregon Trail” period of prairie life.
Pedantic correction, but the song is called "The Day the Music Died". People called it "Bye bye Miss American Pie" for a long time, and now most often "American Pie" since the movie with that title came out ... But it's very specifically centrally about the plane crash that killed some valued musicians, and I feel like that focus gets lost when people increasingly stop using its real title. Again, I know this is super pedantic lol. Anyone will still find it by searching up the wrong title, so 🤷
Quite a unexpected one, but as a swede I’ve always concidered the SimCity games extremely american, in everything from the way houses look, to how you basically need to have a grid road pattern to make your city efficient at all, to how the citizens revolt when you raise taxes above 12%, et cetera et cetera.
&c &c. As far as taxes go, we don't play rule of the chief/warlord. Here in Hawaii, certain politicians seem to try to be a chief. There are a strong bloc of would-be quiet, competent technocrats. Each one of these two archetypes are soaked in corruption, and broadly derive from our diverse cultural archetypes. The staid New Englanders are largely extinct as a force.
Also you have to zone areas, while old cities aren't built like that. It's just bad planning to have all the shops be 50 miles away on the other side of a highway.
Fun fact: at least in the Spanish-language version, Bojack Horseman changes a lot of the pop-culture references, so instead of vomiting on Brittney Spears, Bojack says he vomited on Gloria Trevi.
That 70s Show is definitely extremely American! I feel like most sitcoms are also incredibly culturally specific, as their humor derives from social/cultural situations.
Other people have probably mentioned what I'm going to echo but: america's "lack" of culture makes a lot more sense if you think of the states as individual nations. A decent few are sized like countries and generally an american citizen can say much more about the culture of their state than they can about the country as a whole.
Our culture from my state is never trust a politician ever, and that deep dish pizza is great. And the rest of the state agrees with the former, while hating those who say the latter for different reasons.
Yes and if it’s not the entire state it’s a couple states that form a “culture”. Obviously California and Texas have their own cultures but where I live New England (which consists of any state east of New York being Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine) is considered to share many cultural elements, while also having very noticeable state based traits. Just an interesting country when it comes to culture and it be cool to see what states “identify” with each other the most.
Hallmark tried to base a movie in Minnesota-Wisconsin area. It was shot in another state with no research in to the culture. It was so jarring they said Minnesota-Wisconsin locations but everything else wasn’t Minnesota-Wisconsin.
@@James-ep2bx The United States is essentially a more functional version of the Holy Roman Empire. We are 50 separate nations that could easily Balkanize into three to a few dozen separate nations. Discounting English and Spanish, most states have rather commonly spoken third languages, for example.
I really like the typical American diner, just as a trope and a very real place you can visit. I've been to so many that are exactly as depicted on TV, but every time I see them on TV I always think they're exaggerated even though they're not. Gotta love them though, cheap middle of the road breakfast food included.
The Diner, or really any sorta greasy spoon kinda place, is probably the most ubiquitously American thing I can think of. Everyone has eaten at one of these kinds of places, or will at some point.
@@georgewilliamson5667 glad I'm not alone in that. I love that feeling you get eating breakfast at 5am in a diner, I'm just never sure of its heartburn or nostalgia.
I used to not live in the US but even having lived here, every show that is centered around a school- elementary or highschool. Like they have never quite been like that in real life but it paints such a clear picture of a school (even if its not accurate)
Lorena Vodniza that’s very true. I’ve met a lot of foreigners who have learned a lot about American school culture just by watching almost any television show.
That's interesting, cause I never know how much is accurate and how much is exaggerated. (The whole cliquey subcultures thing, for instance. Is that exaggerated or do people really sort themselves into boxes like that?)
@@eoghan.5003 Students are cliquey, but this idea that the cliques are so rigid, and so clear (ie, to the point of everyone dressing the same, having 100% of their identity derived from the clique, the clique being named, and extremely well-known across the school, etc) is an exaggeration. It becomes a useful storytelling device to have all these clear-cut rival gangs in films like Heathers, or TV shows like Glee.
@@eoghan.5003 People who were teenagers in the 80s tell me high school cliques were very real. I guess that's because friends are made through similar interests ex. If you're in a certain club, you're more likely to make friends with other people in that club. In my school most of my classmates make friends first and then bring them to the club that particular students like. That's what I did. Cliques in my school just don't exist. The basketball players don't only have basketball players as friends. There's no such thing as jocks only being friends with jocks, geeks with geeks etc... even though it is probable and makes sense to a degree.
Eoghan Connolly It’s very exaggerated, trust me. There a lot of overlapping between different groups in my high school. High school in American tv shows in my opinion is not accurate at all, they’re not really supposed to be so who really cares?
I discovered the show two years ago so I have no idea if Breaking Bad was big internationally but I feel like it really captures a lot of American culture. Themes of masculinity and capitalism interweaving, the healthcare system, the war on drugs, It seems like a solid, if pessimistic, depiction of American culture to me.
I’m from Albuquerque and they depict our city quite accurately. It’s crazy how they even refer to it as “the duke” or “duke city” which is something only native Burqueños (people from Albuquerque) would really get
@@Taekwon-Brando I love how you refer to the people living there by a very Spanishified word. No me quejo, es nomas gracioso. Se hablan así acá en México también.
@@Seth-mu3wo hahaha i honestly love all of the slang that we use here, your average southern New Mexican accent is pretty much Spanglish and native mixed together
From my experience it seems as if only those who have never really gone outside of the US are the ones who think there is no American culture. It isn't until you start exposing yourself to other cultures that you notice how unique and different American life/culture really is.
A couple years ago, we had a group of students from our sister city of Fujinomiya come over to our school and basically be “shadows” for the people in the people who took Japanese as their language class. I was one of those and I was paired up with this one kid who was actually really into American culture. He liked skateboarding a lot and someone just straight up gave him a tech deck which he loved so much that he just wouldn’t put it down and kept playing with it while I was doing finals. We spoke about stuff we liked and he was actually more into American cartoons like South Park than I expected. I didn’t even know south park was a thing in Japan until he told me about it
You’d be surprised how much American cartoons spread. It’s the same why anime is kind of just every where. Every really really Japanese stuff like that dragon maid show.
"Seinfeld" is extremely American in a very specific way. Someone like me who grew up on the East Coast will find its cultural tropes and references instantly recognizable while someone from Alabama might struggle to decipher the humor. I think that's an important point: the most definitively American stuff has strong regional characteristics because anything that generalizes "America" nationally is by definition a compromise. Other examples include Whit Stillman's excellent parody of/celebration of New York WASP elites "Metropolitan", "Freaks and Geeks" nailing middle class Midwestern high schools in the early 80s, the excellent depiction of directionless Californians in "Sideways", "The Florida Project"'s heartbreaking portrayal of Floridians on the edge etc.
I thought the same thing. I was like THAT is what it means to be American. Right there summed up in a few seconds. Lol that’s the freedom people speak of
Okay, but if you can't mention the most American games without the GTA series it exists as a satire of lower class America and the life they wished they had.
White Noise mostly true however while rockstar games is based in America the game is made by rockstar north witch is based in Edinburgh so it’s a British American game
Right now I’m thinking about how there’s kinda a separation between ‘American’ culture and ‘Americana’ as an aesthetic. Or at very least, ‘Americana’, despite the name, is only a subset of all American culture. Like, Sufjan Steven’s ‘Illinoise’ album is undoubtedly Americana, but does it fit into the American zeitgeist as well as, say, American Idiot? Extending from that you can ask about the very important niche culutral elements of the US, and whether they also fall under the ‘American’ umbrella (to keep on the music theme, 90s West Coast Rap has a VERY distinct sound and style to it, but is it considered American or Californian?)
Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide seems like a very "American" representation of middle school junior high. Malcolm in the Middle fills a similar role for looking at the life of a lower-middle class American family.
As someone who grew up with ned's declassified and then went into middle school, that show was made about middle school for 3rd graders. People in my school liked it, but we all pretty much agreed there is pretty much nothing accurate about how it portrays middle school. Honestly, I feel the best representation of american middle school is ironically how south park portrays elementary because those kids act like teenagers but they do kid like things, that's how middle school really is. Another good example is All grown up, but that's really others' experiences than my own.
I think there's a difference between what different countries consider "middle class". In the UK MITM's family would probably be considered upper working class, because they are relatively poor and often struggle for money, but are not completely destitute. Middle class here is going to nice restaurants and skiing holidays, and having a well kept semi or detached house in the suburbs. Upper middle class would be an upgrade to a bigger house, somewhere in the half million to million area. Upper class is the million pound mansion and above.
The Looney Tunes would reference a lot of specific American things and they even got a short that has a lot of 1940s celebrities that even now people wouldn't get the reference.
Yeah, old Looney Tunes cartoons certainly had a lot of references to 1930s-1950s americana in it. You ever seen that old one called "Hollywood Steps Out" where the whole cartoon is nothing but a rapid-fire cavalcade of caricatures of early 1940s stars?
@@tylerbaldwin9513 yep i was thinking about that one the most. It even has a J Edgar Hoover cameo with that g-man pun that would be lost to foreign people and people in the US
I think it's funny how rabbits are only associated with carrots because Bugs Bunny eats them when he says "What's up, doc?" which is itself a reference to a movie that was popular in the 1930s.
Mr. Daw it is very American and you can tell because of how hopeless and brutally honest it is where every half decent person dies and the dishonest survive and even thrive and that overall the old way of freedom essentially dies painfully and slowly leaving behind anyone not with the times and that even if you win you lose
@@Aj_Cartier GTA 5 especially. That's like modern America. That game takes a good jab at American politics and economics. While these replace names for places like California with San Andreas and Los Anglos with Los Santos. The 3 main characters give you a good inside perspective from essentially 3 unique and 3 very large groups of American backgrounds and their criminal connections. I would argue GTA 5 is a take on modern America and RDR is a take on old America or pre-modern times.
I've realized over the years that most Americans actually know more about their own country than do non-Americans, in spite of that being so popularly claimed to be otherwise. Which is a normal thing, really. It is normal to be more knowledgable and accustomed to your own country. But after traveling the world and hearing oversea opinions and knowledge on America...I've come to the conclusion that America has been sensationalized and warped in the media to such an extent that people actually know very little about the country, despite how much the think they know from consuming so much American media. I think the most ignorant, bizarre idea is the claim that Americans "Have no culture." They say this as they swim in it without even realizing. For perspective, imagine if in an alternate reality, Japan had America's same status and influence, and foreigners followed the idea that they have "no culture" while wearing kimonos, eating Japanese food, and using Japanese language and common behavioral customs. If you are American and suddenly come to this realization, it's a very surreal one. You live in the one of the most known, yet unknown of countries in the world.
@@AnnaHans88 The British empire spread its language worldwide, also other cultures (like the French and Italian) have a far superior influence in shaping the current global fashion and cuisine than the USA does, nonetheless I believe that Silicon Valley, Hollywood, and the music industry used to be America's most influencing exports but as stated in the video are now pandering to global audiences and the Chinese regime.
back to the future, baseball games and hotdogs, and grand theft auto are the most American things I can think of at the moment. I am American but I rarely step back to think about the things that are unique American culture, I just see them as things that happen around me or things I enjoy
Reminding my self NY, California and Texas aren´t the whole US helps....having lived in the UK, I even kow there is more to your country than a Queen, Choclate box houses and London.
fiona fiona don’t forget Florida, then you really have the big four. I was on a trip a few months ago in London, were a local and I got to talking, he asked where I was from and I told him Maryland. He had no idea where that was, and I don’t blame him, that’s an issue when you're from the 9th smallest state.
A British friend of mine had a laugh one time when I told him that the American stereotype of the Brits was bad teeth. He told me the Brits typically depicted Americans as enormous teeth.
We Didn't Start The Fire by Billy Joel is one of my favorite songs from my childhood. Just a non stop naming of famous people or events during the artist's life to that point.
Team Fortress 2 takes place in the 60's, and while it's hard to pinpoint specifics, the general vibe is pretty American, and of course there are a lot of cultural references if you look into the lore (the comics for example). The game is exclusively multiplayer, so it doesn't have much depth at a glance, but the engagement with American culture is interesting, especially since it is influential over contemporary RUclips culture.
Honestly, I think everybody has been exposed to American culture to some extent, no matter where you live, I mean, pretty much all the shows and movies I've been exposed to since I was a kid are from the USA. Being a screenwriter in South America, I can say that most my scripts have been influenced by American creations in one way or another. Also, I really like the movie "National Treasure", even though I know it can be inaccurate, it got me really interested into the history of the USA and I've learned so much since I saw for the first time.
My first thought was Weird Al, who talked about so many American things in funny ways, from foods, to fears, to online shopping. I also feel like some American TV commercials should get a mention because even though I've always lived in Canada, I grew up getting some US TV stations, and they had some iconic advertisements, like Progressive with Flo standing out, and the absurdity of Superbowl commercials and performances.
I know I'm a little late but as a teen I really loved Gravity Falls. I think it's a really good example of some humor mixed with adventure. I like the meta references (especially in the first episode) pertaining to how Americans view their own culture with things like "Tourist Traps" and Summer camping trips. It's a really delightful show, and I recommend everyone take a look.
I remember watching the show when I was 6 and looking back at how amazing it still is today. I wish there were more shows like Gravity Falls that were marketed as kids shows but felt way more adult.
I'm gonna say Parks and Rec is very American and requires a bit of knowledge about American culture to understand a lot of the references. Ron's unabashed libertarian principles clashing with Leslie's progressive idealism, the relationship between the media and the local populace, the absurd Town Halls, the over the top local fairs with mini horses and games and rides. These are all satires of nuanced Americana that you don't get unless you've lived it. I've given up showing my favorite show to my Peruvian girlfriend. It just doesn't work.
As an American i never realized that parks and rec had “satire” necessarily, in the sense that to me it just seemed normal, like I live on the coast and not middle America like Indiana, but I 100% could believe that these people with these personalities are real, existing and acting and reacting the way they do in real life somewhere in the vast country of the United States
@@YujiUedaFan Well it’s a show made in the US about Americans in the American mid west with a lot of characters that hold American values like Ron who loves guns,hates big government and dislikes the queen of England so yeah it’s definitely super American.
Honesty d&d,while it might seem medievalist at first, is actually a big reflection of American ideas of the frontier and civilization and the conflicts between them.
I never realized how American the adult cartoon genre is at least the ones I like, King of the Hill, American Dad, Bobs Burgers... but when you hear they tried to make King of the Hill French you have to laugh at the idea 😂.
and I think it was a pretty wise attempt, even though it was a little left field at times (I hadn't heard of either of those video games) Hope you're not slamming it. [P.s. Foreigners, 'Left Field' is an american idiom that has nothing to do with politics. For more information, see your librarian--I'm sorry, I forgot what year it was--consult Google.]
@@Averyofthemain The last part of your comment itself was very American. At least for the current year, obsession with politics, identity politics and 'kids these days call floppy disks save icons' attitude. Anyway I'm just pulling your leg, this is coming from a born and raised Canadian
Scrolling though the covers and I'm surprised to not see anyone mentioning Twin Peaks, or David Lynch's work in general. I've always seem him as the quintessential American Auteur.
I moved from Alberta (mid-western Canada) to Minnesota (mid-western USA). The culture is very similar. It's different, but less so than western Canada vs eastern Canada or the Pacific northwest vs southern USA.
North American culture is kind of uniquely unified (in general ) but that doesn’t make Canadians any less distinct. Canada is not a “spawn/extension of America” i wouldn’t rely on any meaningful deep cultural analysis from this kid. He only talks about cartoons & video games. Effectively he unwittingly short changes the wealth /depth of great American culture. So any American oughta be insulted by this presentation (depends on their education & knowledge level, of course).
Almost all films and television shows set in schools are distinctly american as even UK schools are very different in overall vibe. Also probably anything about the police as I think we have a slightly better relationship with the "Pigs" than the Americans. Films about films tend to be really American and the level of commercialization in American media is very atypical compared to UK media.
Yeah American High Schools and American High School movies are about the most American thing I can think of as a Brit... There's so many weird references to distinctly American rituals and shit you guys have at school that no one else does, like Valedictorians and Cheerleaders and Prom and all this weird specifically American stuff I still don't truly understand lol
@@otterno.1128 Most of this isn't really relatable to Americans either (at least the youth). I think movies depicting American schools exaggerate aspects from when the writers were young or the schools in California (where movie creators are most likely from).
Also keep in Mind that alot of the American High-school movies are set in a Cliché 80s-90s or early 2000s setting, which is where you tend to get the 'different vibes'
As a Brazilian I always found wierd how american show portray high school life! Like with school sports (most notably american football), cheerleaders cliques. Other wierd things are the multitude of lockers, changing rooms for diffrent classes, lunching at school and not having uniforms. One intresting thing to me, tough were that some very american shows resonated strongly with Brazilian audiences, notably "My wife and kids" and "everybody hates chris" and I can't articulate (even tough I'm a fan of the latter) well why it was so.
Kamina Pearl I loved everybody hates Chris lol I think Brazilians can resonate with it because it shows people of color and everyday life in NYC which Brazilians in metropolitan areas can probably take a little bit away from
Growing up in the US myself, my experience is that how American media portrayed high school was more accurate to what middle school and junior high was like IRL.
The sports part is not true they .make it seem like if your the football captain you always where your schools sweater and get all the girls and shit which is so stupid
Gilmore Girls is just an endless string of references constantly in every episode, to the point that, as an American, just due to my age and interests, I sometimes only catch half the jokes 😂 It also takes place in an archetypal New England small town, full of hay rides in the fall, summer county fairs, etc. etc. The mom operates a BnB, the daughter ends up going to (Harvard? Yale?) and even her best friend is her own microcosm of the subculture of Christian Korean-American families!
If you own the original dvd box sets they have a manual that looks like a composition notebook that break down all the references in every episode of that season. It’s pretty insane!
@@Colyde25 WHAT!! I need this, even though I only own one DVD player that I hardly ever use 😂 Just as a collectible thing (and to read the guide book while watching the show!!!!)! Adding that to my wishlist! ✨
also yes the references, i still don’t get some of them lol. every time i rewatch gilmore girls, i find myself understanding some of the references and jokes i didn’t understand the last time, especially as i get older lmao.
I don’t think people realize that the massive cultural synthesis that happens in America is pretty unique. Something like Star Wars is such a conglomeration of wacky ideas from around the globe it’s hard to dissect.
weird al is cringey, "fat" and "eat it" are extremely overrated parodies that make no observations about the original song or really anything and sound like parodies my dad would come up with off the top of his head.
Weird Al is great, but also pretty cringy. Have you heard Albuquerque? I mean, that was deliberately this terrible song that just wouldn't end. (I say that even though I quite like it.)
A Christmas Story perfectly encapsulates American midwestern culture, up to and including the nostalgia for a time when the region was ascendant culturally and economically
I feel like me watching these American cartoons and shows, and then looking up the references they are talking about because I didn't get them pretty much made me learn and appreciate a lot of American culture.
The funny part about the English liking Sam and Max because it “conforms to their idea of America stereotypes” is the fact that Sam and Max probably comes closer than anything I’ve ever seen to my concept of American culture. And I’m American.
I'm from Germany. When I was in first and second grade, many TV shows aimed at children used school settings to be relatable to their audience. But those schools on TV were more often then not modeled after American schools (yellow buses, sportsbands etc) which is completely fine. At the time it simply was very confusing to me (and my friends too) because German schools look quite different and we simply didn't realize why setting was so different from what we knew :)
Sometimes it’s the way today but it’s not so much American School Settings nowadays. Most Shows for Teens and older today like Animes have a Japanese Highschool setting. Or recently saw a life Action Series for Teenagers from Australia that was set in a school and everyone was wearing those Australian School uniforms
Well, the premises for why he becomes a drug dealer is because he can't afford healthcare. So, it's not something that would be believable in many other cultures.
@@leggedit wow! They were sure ahead of the curve then on the whole electricity thing. Did they learn to see the future about stuff like electricity through their religion?
Probably well known internationally, but Mel Brooks does a great job of satirizing Hollywood and American film. Most of his later films pick a specific genre that's common in American media and plays on all of the tropes found in it, while also throwing in some American cliches and stereotypes. I would say Blazzing Saddles and History of the World are the best examples, but you see the same trends in nearly all of his films.
I've always felt that superhero fiction is a great example of American culture. Not only does it have roots in the pulp adventures that were popular in America during the 30s, but it's fundamentally based on American individualism. Superman, the first modern superhero, was specifically designed to be an exceptionally unique individual, which became one of the most defining elements of the genre: unique individuals that appeal to the American sense of individualism.
@@innitbruv-lascocomics9910 he puts it rather weirdly but I guess he wants to say that America is a very big melting pot of culture that came from natives and immigrants (including the colonists) So there might not be a uniquely American culture that goes thousands of years back but it would be wrong to say America has no culture at all.
This whole discussion about american culture is so interesting to me as someone who lives outside of america. I myself am brazilian, and grew up with american TV shows, and that actually made a big impact in my personality, especially TV shows about high school and growing up. One thing I remember clearly is that I always found so cool to have a school locker, and moving to different classrooms, in Brazil you normally just stay in one classroom and wait for the teacher, so theres no need for lockers, but in my new school it's more similar to the american system, where you go to different rooms and have your lockers, and I remember me and my friends being so excited for having lockers! It's also uncommon for schools in Brazil to have actual sports teams, we have sports but dont form actual teams with mascots and all, so when I moved to a school that has cheerleaders and sports teams, the first thing that came to mind was "wow, just like those american movies on TV"
American TV dramas seem to be placed pretty thoroughly within American culture. Two in particular I'm thinking of would be Better Call Saul and Mad Men. Without the backdrop of American culture, I can't imagine those shows as they are. The sketchy lawyer with his blow-up Statue of Liberty and the rugged individual trying to forge his own American dream only seem to make sense when situated in the United States.
It's interesting how American culture is automatically American pop-culture for you. As an European, I always assume culture with old music, art, architecture, food, books, ect.
It's because America is relatively young and doesn't have 600 years of artists and composers to define America. To put it into perspective, America was independent like 50 years before the railroad was invented
Here’s some examples for you, for music some of the greatest music genres have come from America like blues,jazz,hip hop,rock and roll, and rock, don’t know much about architecture, and depends on what you mean by art? Paintings? There’s quite a few paintings you can google, do you consider movies to be art as well? If so then America definitely has some of the greatest movies ever made. For the Books that would be uniquely American is The Great Gatsby, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain) and The Catcher In The Rye, foods unique to the US is based on region, you have shrimp or sausage gumbo and jambalaya in the south as well as American style bbq’s with specific ways to do it depending on the state and you have seafood boils, you’ve also got great seafood on the east coast too like lobster rolls and clam chowder and you’ve got buffalo wings and American style pizza in New York, Detroit and Chicago you’ve got Tex Mex in the west and a bunch of other stuff in the west coast (too much to list)
The show “My Name is Earl” is distinctly American you should definitely watch it even though they never gave us an ending to the series which makes me sad.
That series brings me back so many good memories of my adolescence, and it was an opened door to American culture for me. It was a shame that it never ended properly.
Back in November of 2018 my dad and I and two of my dad's friends drove all the way from metro Detroit to Nebraska for a Michigan State vs. Nebraska football game, and along the way we stopped at all these quirky little roadside attractions. For example, Iowa's Largest Fryin' Pan, the world's largest concrete bull, the world's largest truck stop, and the Future Birthplace of Captain Kirk from Star Trek. We also stopped at the highest point in the state of Iowa which, as you can imagine, is just the highest point in a cornfield, surrounded by other slightly lower cornfields. When we got to Lincoln for the actual game we only stayed until halftime because it was ridiculously cold. We drove 2200 miles round-trip stopping at all these funny roadside attractions (note that Google Maps only shows the trip as taking around 1500 miles round-trip), and yet we didn't even stay until the end of the game. But weirdly enough I felt like stopping at all those weird places was actually the most enjoyable part of the whole thing. Those funny little roadside attractions are the types of things that you'd only really find in America, it was just an absolute burst of culture! Never before had I felt so patriotic as that weekend in November of 2018! Lol!
I tend to think of American culture less as individual pieces of media, but particular genres or styles that remain very firmly American. In particular, I think of Westerns, not just because they're all tied to the American setting, but what they represented at the various points in American history, and how Americans view their history. I also think of jazz, as despite many other nations having very good jazz scenes, like France and Japan, jazz is still firmly in the hands of America.
@@priestofronaldalt nah, thats just bias, many countries have a Hip Hop culture that is very differnt to the US' Hip-Hop but because its not English, Americans dont come into contact with it
Fun fact, most older westerns (i.e. The Good, The Bad, The Ugly) were actually filmed in Italy by Italians, namely Sergio Leone. Hence the name "Spaghetti Westerns".
Just recently got into JJ last year but I have been a huge fan of Danny for a long time so to see his music getting the recognition it's so deserves really hyped me up!!! I love this video ten time more now
I feel that even with its murder mystery aspects Twin Peaks is a true depiction of the Pacific Northwest Region of the U.S. It has so many stereotypes of people the popular prom queen (Laura Palmer) , the honest police chief (Sheriff Truman) , the smart and observant FBI agent (Agent Dale Cooper), the “cool” guy on the football team (Bobby Briggs), the trucker (Leo Johnson), and the deceptive businessman (Benjamin Horne).This show with its mix of Pacific Northwest scenery, stereotypical American small town characters, and murder mystery aspect make it truly a great American depiction.
You forgot Musicals! I would say Hamilton, basically because it’s about the revolutionary history of America. Placed in the very historic 13 colonies. The music in Hamilton includes some pop culture references, it also is pretty confusing to foreigners because of the fact it is entirely about US history. If you make a part two I hope you include this!
Hamilton in reality was an early advocate of central banking, you know the federal reserve. It is pretty fascinating that so many of my fellow liberals are all about Hamilton because of the musical when we are against fed reserve
15:00 something that often confused me with references to American culture when I was a young man was the comic strip "The Far Side" - there are many examples in this comic of references to American movies, TV shows, literature, politics and history, that I didnt really understand until I took the time to look them up or until I got older and a little more exposed to American media / culture. *absolutely* reccomend The Far Side to anyone who hasn't read it, by the way
Yeah, I prefer far side to the simpsons. All the comedy shows about American culture shouldn't be cynical and farside strikes a good ballance by just be bizarre.
I think one of the most intensely American movies is Zombieland- from the apocalypse prep, to Tallahassee’s literal entire persona (Elvis loving, gun slinging, country boy with a hankering for twinkies… come on), there’s Simpsons references, a Jurassic park reference, classic ‘American Nerd’ pokes at Columbus, and an amazing score with Metallica, Blue Öyster Cult, Willie Nelson, and the ghostbusters theme song. Not to mention countless other quintessential American pop culture references.
One of your greatest videos u ever made, JJ, without a doubt!!!! I’m going to rewatch it a few times because I definitely didn’t fully catch some of the references or in-jokes you showed us. You went really in depth with the Americana “essence”, even tho it’s more focused in the older millennial American experience. A perfect example of what JJ McCullough content really is. If I showed your channel to a stranger, I would choose this, your middle class, and the Gillette video essays for sure.
True, and I think Breaking Bad also satirizes American culture throughout. Think of the fact that if Walter had been born in Canada or the UK with national healthcare, he wouldn't have gone down that path. Also look at Saul Goodman, with his obnoxious office with the bill of rights printed tackily on the wall and his corny advertisements with patriotic flute music paired with his super questionable and corrupt practice of law. And how Walt is so obsessed with building an empire that he completely outgrows his excuse for going into that business to begin with and it all becomes about being big and powerful. There's so much there.
@@ScottJB I disagree with that because a big chunk of the interactions of Walter White came from getting into an underground world of mostly minorities, ie Hispanics. Thats not “American culture”
@@ericktellez7632 Hispanic culture is a huge part of American culture in the Southwest. There have been Hispanic populations in the Southwest since long before those areas were settled by people from the US. And actually, it's interesting that most of the bad guys appear to be Hispanic at first, and the protagonists are white in the beginning, then we start to see Walt, Saul, Mike, etc are just as bad. Then later, Walt ends up being worse than any of them and joins up with Nazis who are by far the worst. That could be a commentary on the traditional American racial bias that white is inherently more good, which ends up being turned on its head.
Hey JJ, I have no idea if you read comments on videos this old, but I figured this fits the bill too well to not mention One of my favorite bands, Vansire, is extremely rich in American culture. Their new album, 'The Modern Western World' is specifically American. They romanticize the American highway system and road trips, there's tons of references to American geography, there's nods to lots of American musical styles (mainly folk, jazz, country and hip hop), and the whole thing is steeped in modern American existentialism. It's a massive, beautiful reflection on the current state of American society & I think it's the most strictly *American* collection of music I know. Definitely check it out!
Malcolm in the Middle is a perfect example, and also a really good show overall. I personally think that a good chunk of shows intended for kids/teens really encapsulate typical American culture really well because that's their goal. Shows like Recess or Drake & Josh both cover different parts and experiences of American culture through the wacky lens of kids shows.
Road trip films! The genre of road trip movies is practically in marketable in other countries bc America is so damn big. These things are packed with references to Americana that other cultures would just not get. (Plus I think people would wonder why it takes a week for a family to get to their grandmothers house but idk)
So true! I'm only 30 but I'm obsessed with 60s era doo-wop and rock and roll Ie.. the Beach Boys, the Beatles, Jan and Dean etc. I guess Americans get nostalgic ab things they weren't even around for lol.
M.S. S he’s saying Americans have a love for nostalgia so much so they will wash over the negatives and only see the positives and the aesthetics not the failures that existed in the time
I love that you brought up Danny Gonzalez. Possibly embarrassingly, he's definitely in my top Spotify artists, but he's truly talented as a comedy writer and perfectly fits the criteria of both entertaining lyrics and enjoyable tunes.
The Grand Theft Auto series is probably one of the greatest parodies of American culture.
The commercials in radio stations are what hits me especially well
@OceanBlue GTA is not about any of the issues you just mentioned
YESSSS
Satire isn't it. Just happens to be funny as hell also.
Wonderful when you realise its a scottish game lol
I lived a short time in Japan and returning to the US, yeah, the US has a very visible culture that permeates every aspect of life just as much as any other country. It's just a case of a fish not knowing it's wet until it's taken out of water.
Caerulei exactly
I'd even go as far as to say there are strong regional cultures within the US that Americans don't know they share until they have lived in other parts of the country. This culture for me was Midwestern culture, which is most visible in the warmth and frequency of interpersonal interactions.
@@trentludwig5402 I am from peninsular Washington, I moved to the mainland and had a bit of cultureshock, then moved to California and had a bit more culture shock, although San Diegans are much kinder than Seattlites. When I move to Texas I assume I will once again go through a culture shock.
I feel like americans have this notion that they "don't have a culture" because, in many ways, american culture was so exported abroad that it kinda became "international" culture. Every song or movie that makes it big in the US also becomes popular in other countries, so it makes it harder for americans to see it as part of their own culture. But make no mistake, while stuff like rap music or super hero films are popular everywhere, they only came to exist because of very particular element in US society, and as such should be seen as part of american culture.
@@guilhermecosta5171 That's so true. K-pop and K-dramas were heavily influenced by American music and soap dramas of the 70s.
Animaniacs is a good example. That show didn't translate well in other languages because a lot of the jokes required you to know a lot of famous American names, jokes that are often made of them and current events. Apparently, it didn't do so well in Japan.
I was going to mention that too, as a kid I spent a lot of the 90's in Europe, so it wasn't until I got older and started to get more of the references that I started to find Animaniacs funny.
In Brazil, "Pink and Brain" are more famous than "Animaniacs"
@@emmetbrown6328 Ironic, since that's the segment that has the most cultural and political references.
@Trainfan1055
I know... right...?! Even *_I_* - as a Canadian - didn't understand some of the jokes and popular cultural references in the _Anamaniacs_ animated T.V. series!
“No no no, fingerprints”
One thing I've noticed about American culture is that it has become so prevalent throughout the world as a whole that some will claim that America "has no culture", just like how some Americans say they don't "have an accent", which is really interesting to me
There's a big separation in the U.S. (and many other countries) where you find that a lot of accents (or at least noticeable features of accents) go away when people live in cities. I'm not sure how true this is, but I think it's something worth paying attention to.
For example, I have family in southeast Texas who all have very thick southern accents and who all talk and laugh very loud, but then when we went into a city like Houston or San Antonio, a lot of the accents were gone. Not entirely gone, but very noticeably less or different. I have a friend who grew up in Austin Texas who has no southern accent at all. I have another buddy from San Diego California who doesn't sound like the stereotyped cali surfer kinda guy at all (we did meet a few who did sound that though, but most people just sounded like Americans from the west). His mom is from the midwest though, and she still has some features of that accent (like saying the word "bag" like "behg" or phrases like "oh say").
I think all of this goes to say that a big part of American culture is how varied the people are here. Lots of people from the midwest are descendent from Scandinavian people, or how lots of people from the east coast are descendent from Irish or Italian people.
This goes for other cultures as well, like how in the U.K. there are crossovers with Indian culture because of U.K. imperialism in India. India restaurants were commonplace when I was in London. Fusions of cultures make up dominant culture too.
That's the end of my rambling. Had to get all that out of my head I guess lol
One of the biggest reasons our culture seems so "bland", is because most of our interesting quirks are on a regional level.
For real how much stuff can you say happens all over the country where as the south is uniquely southern, the Midwest has their culture, the north east, the western plains and rocky regions as well as the Pacific Northwest, California, Hawaii, Alaska which are completely unique to themselves oh and who could for get the south west, this country is so big we can’t have one big unique culture whereas Germany, France and England are basically the size of some states such as Montana,Colorado and New York.
Also a lot of american culture is exported thus people dont seem to realize how american their culture is.
Also when you grow up in a certain culture all your life, of course it's going to seem bland to you because it's the norm.
In fairness, pretty sure there is a big difference between Bavarian and Berlin culture as well.
Poland has a pretty strong east/west split I think.
Each Japanese precinct is incredibly different.
And China is just so huge that from Yunnan to Wuhan to Manchuria sees some huge differences.
No your culture just suxs.
The Fallout series used to be chalk full of references to American esoterism and pop culture.
It still is
Modern Fallout is pretty blehh today, Bethesda doesn't understand the game.
What do u mean used to be
I have never played. What would be the best one, from my perspective?
@@JJMcCullough I'd argue that Fallout 2 is by far the best one, especially if you're into older games and don't care about messy visuals or complex systems. If you would rather just have a fun experience with some amazing writing, Fallout New Vegas is also great.
King of the Hill is pretty popular in Japan, there's actually fans who argue about which is better the Sub or the Dub
Wh-what?
How do you sub Boomhauer?
@@Justanotherconsumer the same way we translate ancient Egyptian
Seriously?
@@Justanotherconsumer I've actually watched King of the Hill with subtitles on and it's a lot of "uhs" and the sounds he makes. Helps for sure though.
I think Malcolm in the Middle is a very under appreciated portrayal of middle class suburban American life
There are a couple of shows like that for me. I think shows like The Middle, Raising Hope, and My Name's Earl, while not always as encompassing or accurate to that middle class aesthetic, require a bit of that American knowledge and experience. My parents often joked about how similar some of our experiences were to instances or themes in The Middle.
Not really middle class though...
@@glimblombo Raising Hope and My Name is Earl are so close to true that it hurts.
@@Vykk_DraygoAgreed, lol!
Curiously enough Malcolm in the middle is really popular in Mexico (I think is popular in all of latin America). To this day is still airing in Mexican public television.
"The Goonies" and "Sandlot" are extremely American and very nostalgic for most Americans.
Most popular old movies are. The 80s john hughes or sitcoms like full house or the aesthetic of the show “that 70s show” Most pieces of media that take place in America’s past basically.
I was going to say John Hughes movies or Better off Dead or other Savage Steve Holland movies
Fun fact: I have a deep love for Converse shoes for the simply fact that Benny ( think the Sandlot character's name is) has this epic scene where he prepares for a chase scene with the beast dog Goliath by taking out a brand new pair of Converse shoes and carefully tying them up. I think that's why I also love lacing shoes too (as opposed to slip ons).
Except i’m american and i hate those movies
Yeah, I distinctly remember watching the sandlot like ten billion times in school when nothing was happening
0:34 - There's no Japanese reference there. Brock is simply holding a jelly donut.
They're his favourite!
Weebs
@林 yeah that's hotdogs and hamgurgers.
i never understood the joke when i watched it and still dont. could someone explain this joke in GLORIUS detail. merci en advance
@@uncledanni9352 4kids had an annoying habit of trying to call onigiri (rice balls) various other foods, because they thought kids were too stupid to understand a food they may not have seen before.
Parks and Rec is a really great look at American-style local government
What Hollywood thinks Midwestern local government looks like, I suppose.
@@iammrbeat Midwestern? Doesn't the show take place in Oregon?
Baby Inuyasha Pawnee, Indiana
@@iammrbeat you know people from hollywood actually come from some of these places they write and make movies about, right? these are not all aliens just imagining things that don't exist.
@@mariacheebandidos7183 True, if Hollywood just bs there way through a show viewers would know and stop watching. Its not like a movie you can get away with that in movies.
I remember reading that King of the Hill actually has a very dedicated following in Japan. Might be apocryphal, but I like to imagine that somewhere out there, Hank Hill's loving dedication to propane and propane accessories struck a chord with a lot of Japanese viewers.
I hear they argue about Sub vs Dub as well
I’ve read that before too, but always thought it was just a joke someone made. Would be pretty crazy if true though.
He's the ultimate Sariryman
Wait, what?
just like we have weeaboos, they have ameriboos
5 seconds in and JJ has already pissed off 90% of Canada
The other 10% were already pissed at him anyway, so he might as well go big or go home.
Canada is America junior. It’s just a fact. JJ has made several videos about Canada’s similarities with the states and he’s vocally criticized Canada’s anti-American nationalist movement. Anyone who would be offended by that probably stopped watching a while ago.
I think that's a simpsons reference
The other 10% is France jr.
I know Trudeau makes us all seem like we’re uptight, but i think most Canadians would just laugh at that .. because we know we’re better than some offensive asshole online anyway (;
Earthbound and it's always Sunny in Philadelphia is pretty reliant on American culture, and the fact that earthbound was created from a Japanese perspective on how America is makes it particularly interesting.
Dang what is the portrayal like?
@@music79075 it's an rpg that reinterprets a lot of the stereotypical iconography of suburban american life as fantastical. The writing is absurdist comedy that's also very endearing
@太郎山田 It's not England
@太郎山田 bro the place they live in is based off Ohio
@太郎山田 coming from an American. EagleLand is clearly a blatant parody of America and it’s bald Eagle mascot.
A very American childhood as portrayed by "The Sandlot," now a nostalgic family movie favorite.
The era of 90s kids movies. Moat of which were set in the past.
I've probably watched that movie a thousand times. It was a 'go to' for teachers who came to class hungover and wanted the lights dimmed down and the kids to be quiet.
That movie got me into playing baseball
It’s funny. I watched this movie a lot as a kid, but never really understood it. It’s definitely iconic, but I think it’s a very ethnically, class and region specific film. It’s the same thing with A Christmas Story.
YES!!!!!
I think Twin Peaks is a good example. It became really big in Japan because of the weird mix of Americana, drama, and mystery to the point where Cooper even appeared in ads for a Japanese coffee company
I would also add that the tv show "The Boondocks" is a perfect representation for black American culture (and maybe black Canadians specifically from the GTA) literally with all the cultural references and the jokes on the show you'd have to be from America to understand it. Not even someone from Africa will get it.
That show is absolutely brilliant
Many Americans don't really get it though either. They just think it's vaguely funny.
Static Shock should also be there.
Not even someone from America will always get it. I personally love the Boondocks, because, well, you know, its fucking hilarious. But, as you said, the Boondocks is more of a representation and satire of black American culture. And me, being a white guy, often times find some of the jokes going over my head. More often than not I get it, because black American culture and white American culture still both arose from the same landscapes, but even then being American is not always enough for something like the Boondocks, because America outside of our overarching culture also has several other subcultures mixed in.
I love boondocks because as a white boy who grew up in black communities I love the satire on a culture I've always felt apart of but sort of on the sidelines
MAD Magazine was always one of the best satirizations of American pop culture, politics and society. It was a bit upsetting to see it cease production last year
I remember MAD on cartoon network. I loved watching spy vs spy
British person here. As a kid I always found parts of the captain underpants series confusing, like how the school signs were in removable letters, and being in primary school I was too young to understand that it was because it was just a foreign thing
American here, thanks for bob the builder
A fun way to freak out British people is to point out how heavily we had to Americanize Thomas the Tank engine into "Shining Time Station" in order to make that bland show of steam engines and class obedience remotely palatable here.
@@JJMcCullough How dare you insult Britain's favourite train cartoon.
@@JJMcCullough Oh that reminds me! Theodore Tugboat!
J.J. McCullough , I got freaked out when you typed: Americanize. That “-ize” looks rough. The “-ise” is smooth and comfortable to look at.
Over The Garden Wall is a great short series that is a pastiche of pre-1940s rural americana (minus racism).
American Pie (the song) is a great piece that goes over a lot of what happened in the 1960s and the cultural changes of the time.
Over The Garden Wall is fantastic and does a great job blending influences from colonial and early American New England and the “Oregon Trail” period of prairie life.
I LOVE OVER THE GARDEN WALL!!! You’re absolutely RIGHT!!
I will check it out
Pedantic correction, but the song is called "The Day the Music Died". People called it "Bye bye Miss American Pie" for a long time, and now most often "American Pie" since the movie with that title came out ... But it's very specifically centrally about the plane crash that killed some valued musicians, and I feel like that focus gets lost when people increasingly stop using its real title.
Again, I know this is super pedantic lol. Anyone will still find it by searching up the wrong title, so 🤷
American pie makes me cry.
What is American culture? Well Joe Exotic sure clears a lot of it up, for better or for worse.
Not really
HI MR BEAT OH MY GOD!!!
Elements of it for sure, but there’s more to it than that.
Weird seeing you here Mr. Beat
It's the Beat!
Quite a unexpected one, but as a swede I’ve always concidered the SimCity games extremely american, in everything from the way houses look, to how you basically need to have a grid road pattern to make your city efficient at all, to how the citizens revolt when you raise taxes above 12%, et cetera et cetera.
*british flashbacks*
You’re not wrong
&c &c. As far as taxes go, we don't play rule of the chief/warlord. Here in Hawaii, certain politicians seem to try to be a chief. There are a strong bloc of would-be quiet, competent technocrats. Each one of these two archetypes are soaked in corruption, and broadly derive from our diverse cultural archetypes. The staid New Englanders are largely extinct as a force.
Also you have to zone areas, while old cities aren't built like that. It's just bad planning to have all the shops be 50 miles away on the other side of a highway.
12% you say? Hol up where’s my ar-15
Fun fact: at least in the Spanish-language version, Bojack Horseman changes a lot of the pop-culture references, so instead of vomiting on Brittney Spears, Bojack says he vomited on Gloria Trevi.
I love Bojack Horseman.
I’m currently watching BoJack Horseman for the second time
Lol!
Then you end up thinking the original American writers have an impressive grasp of Latino pop culture, or that they find it fascinating
That 70s Show is definitely extremely American! I feel like most sitcoms are also incredibly culturally specific, as their humor derives from social/cultural situations.
Other people have probably mentioned what I'm going to echo but: america's "lack" of culture makes a lot more sense if you think of the states as individual nations. A decent few are sized like countries and generally an american citizen can say much more about the culture of their state than they can about the country as a whole.
Our culture from my state is never trust a politician ever, and that deep dish pizza is great.
And the rest of the state agrees with the former, while hating those who say the latter for different reasons.
Yes and if it’s not the entire state it’s a couple states that form a “culture”. Obviously California and Texas have their own cultures but where I live New England (which consists of any state east of New York being Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine) is considered to share many cultural elements, while also having very noticeable state based traits. Just an interesting country when it comes to culture and it be cool to see what states “identify” with each other the most.
Hallmark tried to base a movie in Minnesota-Wisconsin area. It was shot in another state with no research in to the culture. It was so jarring they said Minnesota-Wisconsin locations but everything else wasn’t Minnesota-Wisconsin.
Yah in many ways the US is more akin to the EU then a nation
@@James-ep2bx The United States is essentially a more functional version of the Holy Roman Empire. We are 50 separate nations that could easily Balkanize into three to a few dozen separate nations. Discounting English and Spanish, most states have rather commonly spoken third languages, for example.
I really like the typical American diner, just as a trope and a very real place you can visit. I've been to so many that are exactly as depicted on TV, but every time I see them on TV I always think they're exaggerated even though they're not. Gotta love them though, cheap middle of the road breakfast food included.
The Diner, or really any sorta greasy spoon kinda place, is probably the most ubiquitously American thing I can think of. Everyone has eaten at one of these kinds of places, or will at some point.
@@georgewilliamson5667 glad I'm not alone in that. I love that feeling you get eating breakfast at 5am in a diner, I'm just never sure of its heartburn or nostalgia.
Absolutely nothing beats a roadside diner
@@z_zoom11 Probably a little bit of both if we're being realistic
Sadly, my native city only has one left, little anthonys, but its a popular place, soooo...
I used to not live in the US but even having lived here, every show that is centered around a school- elementary or highschool. Like they have never quite been like that in real life but it paints such a clear picture of a school (even if its not accurate)
Lorena Vodniza that’s very true. I’ve met a lot of foreigners who have learned a lot about American school culture just by watching almost any television show.
That's interesting, cause I never know how much is accurate and how much is exaggerated. (The whole cliquey subcultures thing, for instance. Is that exaggerated or do people really sort themselves into boxes like that?)
@@eoghan.5003 Students are cliquey, but this idea that the cliques are so rigid, and so clear (ie, to the point of everyone dressing the same, having 100% of their identity derived from the clique, the clique being named, and extremely well-known across the school, etc) is an exaggeration. It becomes a useful storytelling device to have all these clear-cut rival gangs in films like Heathers, or TV shows like Glee.
@@eoghan.5003
People who were teenagers in the 80s tell me high school cliques were very real. I guess that's because friends are made through similar interests ex. If you're in a certain club, you're more likely to make friends with other people in that club. In my school most of my classmates make friends first and then bring them to the club that particular students like. That's what I did.
Cliques in my school just don't exist. The basketball players don't only have basketball players as friends. There's no such thing as jocks only being friends with jocks, geeks with geeks etc... even though it is probable and makes sense to a degree.
Eoghan Connolly It’s very exaggerated, trust me. There a lot of overlapping between different groups in my high school. High school in American tv shows in my opinion is not accurate at all, they’re not really supposed to be so who really cares?
I discovered the show two years ago so I have no idea if Breaking Bad was big internationally but I feel like it really captures a lot of American culture. Themes of masculinity and capitalism interweaving, the healthcare system, the war on drugs, It seems like a solid, if pessimistic, depiction of American culture to me.
I’m from Albuquerque and they depict our city quite accurately. It’s crazy how they even refer to it as “the duke” or “duke city” which is something only native Burqueños (people from Albuquerque) would really get
@@Taekwon-Brando
I love how you refer to the people living there by a very Spanishified word.
No me quejo, es nomas gracioso. Se hablan así acá en México también.
@@Seth-mu3wo hahaha i honestly love all of the slang that we use here, your average southern New Mexican accent is pretty much Spanglish and native mixed together
From my experience it seems as if only those who have never really gone outside of the US are the ones who think there is no American culture. It isn't until you start exposing yourself to other cultures that you notice how unique and different American life/culture really is.
Both people who've never left and people who've never been
Exactly
@@Kessekom What region of the United States are you from?
@@clovismerovingian2239 I wouldn’t doubt the pacific states
@@Kessekom No? Lmao, lots of people have lots of heritage from other culture mainly because of Immigrants.
A couple years ago, we had a group of students from our sister city of Fujinomiya come over to our school and basically be “shadows” for the people in the people who took Japanese as their language class. I was one of those and I was paired up with this one kid who was actually really into American culture. He liked skateboarding a lot and someone just straight up gave him a tech deck which he loved so much that he just wouldn’t put it down and kept playing with it while I was doing finals. We spoke about stuff we liked and he was actually more into American cartoons like South Park than I expected. I didn’t even know south park was a thing in Japan until he told me about it
You’d be surprised how much American cartoons spread. It’s the same why anime is kind of just every where. Every really really Japanese stuff like that dragon maid show.
@@RusticRonnie Come on, we both know you know the name of “that dragon maid show” my friend. ;)
I feel like Canada is to the US, as New Zealand is to Australia, and Ireland is to the UK
And Belgium to France
It wouldn’t really be the uk and Ireland
I would think more England and Wales
Nathan Tolladay
Those aren’t independent countries though
And The Netherlands is to Germany
Red Eye
I think Austria and Germany would be better
"Seinfeld" is extremely American in a very specific way. Someone like me who grew up on the East Coast will find its cultural tropes and references instantly recognizable while someone from Alabama might struggle to decipher the humor. I think that's an important point: the most definitively American stuff has strong regional characteristics because anything that generalizes "America" nationally is by definition a compromise. Other examples include Whit Stillman's excellent parody of/celebration of New York WASP elites "Metropolitan", "Freaks and Geeks" nailing middle class Midwestern high schools in the early 80s, the excellent depiction of directionless Californians in "Sideways", "The Florida Project"'s heartbreaking portrayal of Floridians on the edge etc.
"Freaks and Geeks" was and is a criminally underrated show. It's my #2 among the shows I'm most angry about getting cancelled too soon.
8:55 that’s honestly kinda accurate. What’s more American that persuing a dream no matter how silly or strange it is
I thought the same thing. I was like THAT is what it means to be American. Right there summed up in a few seconds. Lol that’s the freedom people speak of
@@thenicflynn well it's the rationale for existence for our nation-state.
I'm rewatching Back to the Future and the whole trilogy is full of Americana.
The Fifties.
Okay, but if you can't mention the most American games without the GTA series it exists as a satire of lower class America and the life they wished they had.
White Noise mostly true however while rockstar games is based in America the game is made by rockstar north witch is based in Edinburgh so it’s a British American game
But GTA is actually Scottish.
Krombopulos Michael Scotland is in the uk
Krombopulos Michael rockstar games is an American company and rockstar north is the one that develops the game they’re in Scotland
Also, the song “Californication”.
Right now I’m thinking about how there’s kinda a separation between ‘American’ culture and ‘Americana’ as an aesthetic. Or at very least, ‘Americana’, despite the name, is only a subset of all American culture. Like, Sufjan Steven’s ‘Illinoise’ album is undoubtedly Americana, but does it fit into the American zeitgeist as well as, say, American Idiot? Extending from that you can ask about the very important niche culutral elements of the US, and whether they also fall under the ‘American’ umbrella (to keep on the music theme, 90s West Coast Rap has a VERY distinct sound and style to it, but is it considered American or Californian?)
!!!
Weird Al is a national treasure dammit!
Put some respect on WIERD AL'S NAME
i like ole JJ but dissing Weird Al man... starting to have second thoughts... lol
PUT SOME FUCKING RESPECT DOWN HE IS OUR TREASURE AND U BETTER GET WITH IT
Weird Al is American Hero
A true Icon of Music
Malcom in the Middle and Freaks & Geeks are two incredibly American shows, both of which I highly recommend
ABSOLUTELY. Bang on 90s-00s decade. Freaks n' Geeks being a 00s decade riff of the 70s and 80s, like Stranger Things is today.
Malcolm in the middle is 👌👌👌👌
Malcolm in the Middle is huuuge in Mexico! A lot of the meme culture here has been influenced by that show!
Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide seems like a very "American" representation of middle school junior high. Malcolm in the Middle fills a similar role for looking at the life of a lower-middle class American family.
As someone who grew up with ned's declassified and then went into middle school, that show was made about middle school for 3rd graders. People in my school liked it, but we all pretty much agreed there is pretty much nothing accurate about how it portrays middle school. Honestly, I feel the best representation of american middle school is ironically how south park portrays elementary because those kids act like teenagers but they do kid like things, that's how middle school really is. Another good example is All grown up, but that's really others' experiences than my own.
Yeah American middle school or where I grew up Intermediate school is a lot more chaotic then high school.
I think there's a difference between what different countries consider "middle class". In the UK MITM's family would probably be considered upper working class, because they are relatively poor and often struggle for money, but are not completely destitute. Middle class here is going to nice restaurants and skiing holidays, and having a well kept semi or detached house in the suburbs. Upper middle class would be an upgrade to a bigger house, somewhere in the half million to million area. Upper class is the million pound mansion and above.
JJ talking abt Danny is like my dream. My 2 favorite RUclipsr 🫢🫢🫢
The Looney Tunes would reference a lot of specific American things and they even got a short that has a lot of 1940s celebrities that even now people wouldn't get the reference.
Yeah, old Looney Tunes cartoons certainly had a lot of references to 1930s-1950s americana in it. You ever seen that old one called "Hollywood Steps Out" where the whole cartoon is nothing but a rapid-fire cavalcade of caricatures of early 1940s stars?
@@tylerbaldwin9513 yep i was thinking about that one the most. It even has a J Edgar Hoover cameo with that g-man pun that would be lost to foreign people and people in the US
I think it's funny how rabbits are only associated with carrots because Bugs Bunny eats them when he says "What's up, doc?" which is itself a reference to a movie that was popular in the 1930s.
Even the 2011 Looney Toons Show
@@CornmanC Was it?
In my opinion, Red Dead Redemption 2 is probably one of the most culturally American video games.
Mr. Daw it is very American and you can tell because of how hopeless and brutally honest it is where every half decent person dies and the dishonest survive and even thrive and that overall the old way of freedom essentially dies painfully and slowly leaving behind anyone not with the times and that even if you win you lose
RDR 2 is such an amazing game..
Grand theft auto 😂😂
@@Aj_Cartier GTA 5 especially. That's like modern America. That game takes a good jab at American politics and economics. While these replace names for places like California with San Andreas and Los Anglos with Los Santos. The 3 main characters give you a good inside perspective from essentially 3 unique and 3 very large groups of American backgrounds and their criminal connections. I would argue GTA 5 is a take on modern America and RDR is a take on old America or pre-modern times.
The Fallout series would also be a good candidate
One of the most ameican things is america making fun of it's self for having no culture
Ironically, America bashing has become a pretty quintessentially American thing
I've realized over the years that most Americans actually know more about their own country than do non-Americans, in spite of that being so popularly claimed to be otherwise.
Which is a normal thing, really. It is normal to be more knowledgable and accustomed to your own country.
But after traveling the world and hearing oversea opinions and knowledge on America...I've come to the conclusion that America has been sensationalized and warped in the media to such an extent that people actually know very little about the country, despite how much the think they know from consuming so much American media.
I think the most ignorant, bizarre idea is the claim that Americans "Have no culture." They say this as they swim in it without even realizing.
For perspective, imagine if in an alternate reality, Japan had America's same status and influence, and foreigners followed the idea that they have "no culture" while wearing kimonos, eating Japanese food, and using Japanese language and common behavioral customs.
If you are American and suddenly come to this realization, it's a very surreal one. You live in the one of the most known, yet unknown of countries in the world.
@@AnnaHans88 america is very twisted and sensationalized internationally. Which mean our culture became almost a default one.
@@AnnaHans88 The British empire spread its language worldwide, also other cultures (like the French and Italian) have a far superior influence in shaping the current global fashion and cuisine than the USA does, nonetheless I believe that Silicon Valley, Hollywood, and the music industry used to be America's most influencing exports but as stated in the video are now pandering to global audiences and the Chinese regime.
@@ObsidianJayMusic yeah but african nations have a culture and most them popped up in the 50-60s
back to the future, baseball games and hotdogs, and grand theft auto are the most American things I can think of at the moment. I am American but I rarely step back to think about the things that are unique American culture, I just see them as things that happen around me or things I enjoy
The most American thing is yelling at people over giving me a wet hotdog
All of the weird middle school/high school books that are super “how do you do fellow kids” that always have surviving or guide in the title
Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide
@@dallyh.2960 yeah lol
oh god why
A smart girls guide to surviving middle school 😫💅
How most Brits see American culture:
BIG EVERYTHING
Reminding my self NY, California and Texas aren´t the whole US helps....having lived in the UK, I even kow there is more to your country than a Queen, Choclate box houses and London.
fiona fiona don’t forget Florida, then you really have the big four. I was on a trip a few months ago in London, were a local and I got to talking, he asked where I was from and I told him Maryland. He had no idea where that was, and I don’t blame him, that’s an issue when you're from the 9th smallest state.
A British friend of mine had a laugh one time when I told him that the American stereotype of the Brits was bad teeth. He told me the Brits typically depicted Americans as enormous teeth.
Big Hamburger Country
@@LordBitememan you can thank Austin Powers for that 😂
The Home Alone trilogy is extremely American.
Also the college dropout by Kanye West is full of American jokes and brand references
*Duology
FancySC *Quintology
@@JJMcCullough Anything higher than 2 is kinda retarded, ngl.
FancySC LoL, I live in Winnetka!
We Didn't Start The Fire by Billy Joel is one of my favorite songs from my childhood. Just a non stop naming of famous people or events during the artist's life to that point.
I always go to showing my foreign friends Forrest Gump. It’s the most American movie I can think of.
Yeah I love Forrest Gump also I can see how many references to American culture there are. Great idea for part 2
@hooray yyy lol the whole damn movie
@hooray yyy the Vietnam war, the American dream (starting the shrimp restaurant), the civil rights movement, the aids epidemic, Nike shoes etc
hooray yyy what about him joining a football team
King Caiser Apple :D
Team Fortress 2 takes place in the 60's, and while it's hard to pinpoint specifics, the general vibe is pretty American, and of course there are a lot of cultural references if you look into the lore (the comics for example). The game is exclusively multiplayer, so it doesn't have much depth at a glance, but the engagement with American culture is interesting, especially since it is influential over contemporary RUclips culture.
Team fortress 2 is relevant to literally everything somehow
Just don't put any bread in the teleporter please
@@boccci like, other than through poker night at the inventory?
Even the foreign characters in that game are exaggerated stereotypes through the eyes of American culture.
I thought TF2 was in australia
Honestly, I think everybody has been exposed to American culture to some extent, no matter where you live, I mean, pretty much all the shows and movies I've been exposed to since I was a kid are from the USA.
Being a screenwriter in South America, I can say that most my scripts have been influenced by American creations in one way or another.
Also, I really like the movie "National Treasure", even though I know it can be inaccurate, it got me really interested into the history of the USA and I've learned so much since I saw for the first time.
My first thought was Weird Al, who talked about so many American things in funny ways, from foods, to fears, to online shopping. I also feel like some American TV commercials should get a mention because even though I've always lived in Canada, I grew up getting some US TV stations, and they had some iconic advertisements, like Progressive with Flo standing out, and the absurdity of Superbowl commercials and performances.
I know I'm a little late but as a teen I really loved Gravity Falls. I think it's a really good example of some humor mixed with adventure. I like the meta references (especially in the first episode) pertaining to how Americans view their own culture with things like "Tourist Traps" and Summer camping trips. It's a really delightful show, and I recommend everyone take a look.
Agreee
I remember watching the show when I was 6 and looking back at how amazing it still is today. I wish there were more shows like Gravity Falls that were marketed as kids shows but felt way more adult.
For cartoons, I would like to add Gravity falls (Pacific North-West) and Over The Garden Wall (New England)
"Portlandia" is somehow both more realistic _and_ cartoonishly exaggerated than "Gravity Falls."
gravity falls takes place in oregon
I'm gonna say Parks and Rec is very American and requires a bit of knowledge about American culture to understand a lot of the references. Ron's unabashed libertarian principles clashing with Leslie's progressive idealism, the relationship between the media and the local populace, the absurd Town Halls, the over the top local fairs with mini horses and games and rides. These are all satires of nuanced Americana that you don't get unless you've lived it. I've given up showing my favorite show to my Peruvian girlfriend. It just doesn't work.
As an American i never realized that parks and rec had “satire” necessarily, in the sense that to me it just seemed normal, like I live on the coast and not middle America like Indiana, but I 100% could believe that these people with these personalities are real, existing and acting and reacting the way they do in real life somewhere in the vast country of the United States
That show is popular in the UK and Canada so it's weird to call it a super American show.
@@YujiUedaFan Well it’s a show made in the US about Americans in the American mid west with a lot of characters that hold American values like Ron who loves guns,hates big government and dislikes the queen of England so yeah it’s definitely super American.
Honesty d&d,while it might seem medievalist at first, is actually a big reflection of American ideas of the frontier and civilization and the conflicts between them.
I never realized how American the adult cartoon genre is at least the ones I like, King of the Hill, American Dad, Bobs Burgers... but when you hear they tried to make King of the Hill French you have to laugh at the idea 😂.
The Room is Tommy Wiseau’s strange, bad, but fascinating take on American culture.
That's more like an alien showing his people how humans act through a romantic drama.
How dare you insult one of our greatest national treasures
A Canadian explains American Culture to me, an American (who's currently living in Canada)
and I think it was a pretty wise attempt, even though it was a little left field at times (I hadn't heard of either of those video games) Hope you're not slamming it. [P.s. Foreigners, 'Left Field' is an american idiom that has nothing to do with politics. For more information, see your librarian--I'm sorry, I forgot what year it was--consult Google.]
@@Averyofthemain The last part of your comment itself was very American. At least for the current year, obsession with politics, identity politics and 'kids these days call floppy disks save icons' attitude. Anyway I'm just pulling your leg, this is coming from a born and raised Canadian
Same.
Typical American making it about himself, again.
@@incisive2641 ?
Scrolling though the covers and I'm surprised to not see anyone mentioning Twin Peaks, or David Lynch's work in general. I've always seem him as the quintessential American Auteur.
Canada is “America Junior?” Oh boy! Get ready for some triggered Canadians!
I moved from Alberta (mid-western Canada) to Minnesota (mid-western USA). The culture is very similar. It's different, but less so than western Canada vs eastern Canada or the Pacific northwest vs southern USA.
The Institute for Canadian & American studies- Soviet Union side.
North American culture is kind of uniquely unified (in general ) but that doesn’t make Canadians any less distinct. Canada is not a “spawn/extension of America” i wouldn’t rely on any meaningful deep cultural analysis from this kid. He only talks about cartoons & video games. Effectively he unwittingly short changes the wealth /depth of great American culture. So any American oughta be insulted by this presentation (depends on their education & knowledge level, of course).
More like America-Lite
@@alexwyffels9788 A hybrid of European and American culture
Almost all films and television shows set in schools are distinctly american as even UK schools are very different in overall vibe. Also probably anything about the police as I think we have a slightly better relationship with the "Pigs" than the Americans. Films about films tend to be really American and the level of commercialization in American media is very atypical compared to UK media.
Yeah American High Schools and American High School movies are about the most American thing I can think of as a Brit... There's so many weird references to distinctly American rituals and shit you guys have at school that no one else does, like Valedictorians and Cheerleaders and Prom and all this weird specifically American stuff I still don't truly understand lol
@@otterno.1128 Most of this isn't really relatable to Americans either (at least the youth). I think movies depicting American schools exaggerate aspects from when the writers were young or the schools in California (where movie creators are most likely from).
Also keep in Mind that alot of the American High-school movies are set in a Cliché 80s-90s or early 2000s setting, which is where you tend to get the 'different vibes'
Pigs? What are you from the 60s man, that is so Charles Manson.
@@otterno.1128 That stuff makes High School fun and memorable. Your schools are still stuck in the Victorian era, lmao
As a Brazilian I always found wierd how american show portray high school life! Like with school sports (most notably american football), cheerleaders cliques. Other wierd things are the multitude of lockers, changing rooms for diffrent classes, lunching at school and not having uniforms.
One intresting thing to me, tough were that some very american shows resonated strongly with Brazilian audiences, notably "My wife and kids" and "everybody hates chris" and I can't articulate (even tough I'm a fan of the latter) well why it was so.
Kamina Pearl I loved everybody hates Chris lol I think Brazilians can resonate with it because it shows people of color and everyday life in NYC which Brazilians in metropolitan areas can probably take a little bit away from
Growing up in the US myself, my experience is that how American media portrayed high school was more accurate to what middle school and junior high was like IRL.
The sports part is not true they .make it seem like if your the football captain you always where your schools sweater and get all the girls and shit which is so stupid
That's how high school actually is in America
Gilmore Girls is just an endless string of references constantly in every episode, to the point that, as an American, just due to my age and interests, I sometimes only catch half the jokes 😂 It also takes place in an archetypal New England small town, full of hay rides in the fall, summer county fairs, etc. etc. The mom operates a BnB, the daughter ends up going to (Harvard? Yale?) and even her best friend is her own microcosm of the subculture of Christian Korean-American families!
@@Keroppi19 thanks! ✨
If you own the original dvd box sets they have a manual that looks like a composition notebook that break down all the references in every episode of that season. It’s pretty insane!
@@Colyde25 WHAT!! I need this, even though I only own one DVD player that I hardly ever use 😂 Just as a collectible thing (and to read the guide book while watching the show!!!!)! Adding that to my wishlist! ✨
@@Colyde25 omg really? i need that 😭 i’m such a gilmore girls stan, i grew up on that show.
also yes the references, i still don’t get some of them lol. every time i rewatch gilmore girls, i find myself understanding some of the references and jokes i didn’t understand the last time, especially as i get older lmao.
I don’t think people realize that the massive cultural synthesis that happens in America is pretty unique. Something like Star Wars is such a conglomeration of wacky ideas from around the globe it’s hard to dissect.
Independence Day (the original,not the sequel).
Also: Weird Al is cringey? How dare you?
bugleboy624 I think he was giving that he’s stereotyped as cringy, not that he actually thinks weird al is cringy
@@timolson4809 Weird Al is great! But he obviously represents one, very traditional type of American comedy musician.
weird al is cringey, "fat" and "eat it" are extremely overrated parodies that make no observations about the original song or really anything and sound like parodies my dad would come up with off the top of his head.
@@blew1t I just heard his version of "Royals" by Lorde. It was called "Foil" and was about aluminum foil.
Weird Al is great, but also pretty cringy. Have you heard Albuquerque? I mean, that was deliberately this terrible song that just wouldn't end. (I say that even though I quite like it.)
Dang I’m loving this appreciation for Danny. JJ is truly Greg.
Kimberlee Vroom | Danny is BAE
A Christmas Story perfectly encapsulates American midwestern culture, up to and including the nostalgia for a time when the region was ascendant culturally and economically
I feel like me watching these American cartoons and shows, and then looking up the references they are talking about because I didn't get them pretty much made me learn and appreciate a lot of American culture.
That’s pretty cool, what’s your favorite example so far of looking something up about American culture?
The funny part about the English liking Sam and Max because it “conforms to their idea of America stereotypes” is the fact that Sam and Max probably comes closer than anything I’ve ever seen to my concept of American culture. And I’m American.
So Sam and Max is more American than you?
I'm from Germany. When I was in first and second grade, many TV shows aimed at children used school settings to be relatable to their audience. But those schools on TV were more often then not modeled after American schools (yellow buses, sportsbands etc) which is completely fine. At the time it simply was very confusing to me (and my friends too) because German schools look quite different and we simply didn't realize why setting was so different from what we knew :)
Sometimes it’s the way today but it’s not so much American School Settings nowadays. Most Shows for Teens and older today like Animes have a Japanese Highschool setting. Or recently saw a life Action Series for Teenagers from Australia that was set in a school and everyone was wearing those Australian School uniforms
I honestly can’t fully describe why, but I feel like Breaking Bad is a great display of American culture
Well, the premises for why he becomes a drug dealer is because he can't afford healthcare. So, it's not something that would be believable in many other cultures.
Because it’s vapid and poorly emulates it’s predecessors?
Yeah
I think "The Illuminati " would be a great name for a lamp store.
Theres a lamp store in Ireland called illuminate
@@leggedit because illuminate means to light up, as does illuminati
I know illuminati is actually a religious german group started around the 1700s
@@leggedit wow! They were sure ahead of the curve then on the whole electricity thing. Did they learn to see the future about stuff like electricity through their religion?
Yea I think so I dont know much about it
Probably well known internationally, but Mel Brooks does a great job of satirizing Hollywood and American film. Most of his later films pick a specific genre that's common in American media and plays on all of the tropes found in it, while also throwing in some American cliches and stereotypes. I would say Blazzing Saddles and History of the World are the best examples, but you see the same trends in nearly all of his films.
Blazing Saddles is a film all Americans should watch
I am smarter for having read this...thx Man
We don't talk about Blazing Saddles...
@@kappadarwin9476 Oh yes we do
I've always felt that superhero fiction is a great example of American culture. Not only does it have roots in the pulp adventures that were popular in America during the 30s, but it's fundamentally based on American individualism. Superman, the first modern superhero, was specifically designed to be an exceptionally unique individual, which became one of the most defining elements of the genre: unique individuals that appeal to the American sense of individualism.
I think American fashion does have some depth, but in recent years it’s gone away. America slowly adopted fashion from other countries.
J.J.: What is American Culture??
Me, a born and raised American: 🤔
I think you aren't wrong because there isn't a lot to American culture. The States are a hodge podge of immigrant cultures all slammed together.
@@PierzStyx What?
@@innitbruv-lascocomics9910 he puts it rather weirdly but I guess he wants to say that America is a very big melting pot of culture that came from natives and immigrants (including the colonists)
So there might not be a uniquely American culture that goes thousands of years back but it would be wrong to say America has no culture at all.
Not true at all
This whole discussion about american culture is so interesting to me as someone who lives outside of america. I myself am brazilian, and grew up with american TV shows, and that actually made a big impact in my personality, especially TV shows about high school and growing up. One thing I remember clearly is that I always found so cool to have a school locker, and moving to different classrooms, in Brazil you normally just stay in one classroom and wait for the teacher, so theres no need for lockers, but in my new school it's more similar to the american system, where you go to different rooms and have your lockers, and I remember me and my friends being so excited for having lockers! It's also uncommon for schools in Brazil to have actual sports teams, we have sports but dont form actual teams with mascots and all, so when I moved to a school that has cheerleaders and sports teams, the first thing that came to mind was "wow, just like those american movies on TV"
American TV dramas seem to be placed pretty thoroughly within American culture. Two in particular I'm thinking of would be Better Call Saul and Mad Men. Without the backdrop of American culture, I can't imagine those shows as they are. The sketchy lawyer with his blow-up Statue of Liberty and the rugged individual trying to forge his own American dream only seem to make sense when situated in the United States.
A recent example is OZARK!
It's interesting how American culture is automatically American pop-culture for you. As an European, I always assume culture with old music, art, architecture, food, books, ect.
It's because America is relatively young and doesn't have 600 years of artists and composers to define America. To put it into perspective, America was independent like 50 years before the railroad was invented
Here’s some examples for you, for music some of the greatest music genres have come from America like blues,jazz,hip hop,rock and roll, and rock, don’t know much about architecture, and depends on what you mean by art? Paintings? There’s quite a few paintings you can google, do you consider movies to be art as well? If so then America definitely has some of the greatest movies ever made. For the Books that would be uniquely American is The Great Gatsby, To Kill A Mockingbird, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Mark Twain) and The Catcher In The Rye, foods unique to the US is based on region, you have shrimp or sausage gumbo and jambalaya in the south as well as American style bbq’s with specific ways to do it depending on the state and you have seafood boils, you’ve also got great seafood on the east coast too like lobster rolls and clam chowder and you’ve got buffalo wings and American style pizza in New York, Detroit and Chicago you’ve got Tex Mex in the west and a bunch of other stuff in the west coast (too much to list)
@kevinprzy4539 can sports count too? Like baseball
The show “My Name is Earl” is distinctly American you should definitely watch it even though they never gave us an ending to the series which makes me sad.
That series brings me back so many good memories of my adolescence, and it was an opened door to American culture for me. It was a shame that it never ended properly.
OMG I used to love that show! I did think it was a shame that they just cut the series off like that. The Little Chubby finale was good though.
I loved that show growing up. It made me make a ridiculous bucket list
@@Supertomiman that bastard pulled a Castro on me!
I love it! I feel like not many other shows show that demographic of America, a suburb, low income area. And it’s fun to watch
Back in November of 2018 my dad and I and two of my dad's friends drove all the way from metro Detroit to Nebraska for a Michigan State vs. Nebraska football game, and along the way we stopped at all these quirky little roadside attractions. For example, Iowa's Largest Fryin' Pan, the world's largest concrete bull, the world's largest truck stop, and the Future Birthplace of Captain Kirk from Star Trek. We also stopped at the highest point in the state of Iowa which, as you can imagine, is just the highest point in a cornfield, surrounded by other slightly lower cornfields. When we got to Lincoln for the actual game we only stayed until halftime because it was ridiculously cold. We drove 2200 miles round-trip stopping at all these funny roadside attractions (note that Google Maps only shows the trip as taking around 1500 miles round-trip), and yet we didn't even stay until the end of the game. But weirdly enough I felt like stopping at all those weird places was actually the most enjoyable part of the whole thing. Those funny little roadside attractions are the types of things that you'd only really find in America, it was just an absolute burst of culture! Never before had I felt so patriotic as that weekend in November of 2018! Lol!
Man that sounds awesome. I wanna go on a trip like that one day
... you went back to Michigan because you were cold?
I tend to think of American culture less as individual pieces of media, but particular genres or styles that remain very firmly American. In particular, I think of Westerns, not just because they're all tied to the American setting, but what they represented at the various points in American history, and how Americans view their history. I also think of jazz, as despite many other nations having very good jazz scenes, like France and Japan, jazz is still firmly in the hands of America.
Rap as well
@@priestofronaldalt nah, thats just bias, many countries have a Hip Hop culture that is very differnt to the US' Hip-Hop but because its not English, Americans dont come into contact with it
@@jalchi8367 I mean INVENTED rap, America is the birthplace of rap!
Fun fact, most older westerns (i.e. The Good, The Bad, The Ugly) were actually filmed in Italy by Italians, namely Sergio Leone. Hence the name "Spaghetti Westerns".
Yeah like blue jeans are 100% American culture. they have just been around for ever and never go fully out of style. Plus they’re from the us.
Just recently got into JJ last year but I have been a huge fan of Danny for a long time so to see his music getting the recognition it's so deserves really hyped me up!!! I love this video ten time more now
I feel that even with its murder mystery aspects Twin Peaks is a true depiction of the Pacific Northwest Region of the U.S. It has so many stereotypes of people the popular prom queen (Laura Palmer) , the honest police chief (Sheriff Truman) , the smart and observant FBI agent (Agent Dale Cooper), the “cool” guy on the football team (Bobby Briggs), the trucker (Leo Johnson), and the deceptive businessman (Benjamin Horne).This show with its mix of Pacific Northwest scenery, stereotypical American small town characters, and murder mystery aspect make it truly a great American depiction.
You forgot Musicals! I would say Hamilton, basically because it’s about the revolutionary history of America. Placed in the very historic 13 colonies. The music in Hamilton includes some pop culture references, it also is pretty confusing to foreigners because of the fact it is entirely about US history. If you make a part two I hope you include this!
Don't forget high school musical!🎵
@@djdancer4513 So true! What team?
Hamilton in reality was an early advocate of central banking, you know the federal reserve. It is pretty fascinating that so many of my fellow liberals are all about Hamilton because of the musical when we are against fed reserve
@@terintiaflavius3349 Liberals are against the federal reserve? That is news to me.
@@crystalwolcott4744 WILD CATS!
15:00 something that often confused me with references to American culture when I was a young man was the comic strip "The Far Side" - there are many examples in this comic of references to American movies, TV shows, literature, politics and history, that I didnt really understand until I took the time to look them up or until I got older and a little more exposed to American media / culture.
*absolutely* reccomend The Far Side to anyone who hasn't read it, by the way
Chris Probst that’s a great example.
@@JJMcCullough thanks JJ :)
Yeah, I prefer far side to the simpsons. All the comedy shows about American culture shouldn't be cynical and farside strikes a good ballance by just be bizarre.
I think one of the most intensely American movies is Zombieland- from the apocalypse prep, to Tallahassee’s literal entire persona (Elvis loving, gun slinging, country boy with a hankering for twinkies… come on), there’s Simpsons references, a Jurassic park reference, classic ‘American Nerd’ pokes at Columbus, and an amazing score with Metallica, Blue Öyster Cult, Willie Nelson, and the ghostbusters theme song. Not to mention countless other quintessential American pop culture references.
One of your greatest videos u ever made, JJ, without a doubt!!!! I’m going to rewatch it a few times because I definitely didn’t fully catch some of the references or in-jokes you showed us. You went really in depth with the Americana “essence”, even tho it’s more focused in the older millennial American experience. A perfect example of what JJ McCullough content really is. If I showed your channel to a stranger, I would choose this, your middle class, and the Gillette video essays for sure.
It just occurred to me: Breaking Bad. I can't imagine that show makes as much sense if you don't understand Americans.
Ill add the Wire too.
videogamebomer the wire is a great one! And most of it is pretty realistic too.
True, and I think Breaking Bad also satirizes American culture throughout. Think of the fact that if Walter had been born in Canada or the UK with national healthcare, he wouldn't have gone down that path. Also look at Saul Goodman, with his obnoxious office with the bill of rights printed tackily on the wall and his corny advertisements with patriotic flute music paired with his super questionable and corrupt practice of law. And how Walt is so obsessed with building an empire that he completely outgrows his excuse for going into that business to begin with and it all becomes about being big and powerful. There's so much there.
@@ScottJB
I disagree with that because a big chunk of the interactions of Walter White came from getting into an underground world of mostly minorities, ie Hispanics. Thats not “American culture”
@@ericktellez7632 Hispanic culture is a huge part of American culture in the Southwest. There have been Hispanic populations in the Southwest since long before those areas were settled by people from the US. And actually, it's interesting that most of the bad guys appear to be Hispanic at first, and the protagonists are white in the beginning, then we start to see Walt, Saul, Mike, etc are just as bad. Then later, Walt ends up being worse than any of them and joins up with Nazis who are by far the worst. That could be a commentary on the traditional American racial bias that white is inherently more good, which ends up being turned on its head.
King of the hill set in Quebec sounds insane I want to watch immediately
Hey JJ,
I have no idea if you read comments on videos this old, but I figured this fits the bill too well to not mention
One of my favorite bands, Vansire, is extremely rich in American culture. Their new album, 'The Modern Western World' is specifically American. They romanticize the American highway system and road trips, there's tons of references to American geography, there's nods to lots of American musical styles (mainly folk, jazz, country and hip hop), and the whole thing is steeped in modern American existentialism. It's a massive, beautiful reflection on the current state of American society & I think it's the most strictly *American* collection of music I know. Definitely check it out!
Futurama has a ton of American culture and references smashed into it
The absolute best example is Malcolm in the middle. That was my life.
Malcolm in the Middle is a perfect example, and also a really good show overall. I personally think that a good chunk of shows intended for kids/teens really encapsulate typical American culture really well because that's their goal. Shows like Recess or Drake & Josh both cover different parts and experiences of American culture through the wacky lens of kids shows.
I think Disney's Recess is the epitome of an American Childhood sprinkled in with american satire in each episode.
Road trip films! The genre of road trip movies is practically in marketable in other countries bc America is so damn big. These things are packed with references to Americana that other cultures would just not get. (Plus I think people would wonder why it takes a week for a family to get to their grandmothers house but idk)
I feel like America’s love for the past throughout most of its history largely plays into its cultural identity
Underrated comment. I see this every single day, across multiple generations of Americans.
So true! I'm only 30 but I'm obsessed with 60s era doo-wop and rock and roll Ie.. the Beach Boys, the Beatles, Jan and Dean etc. I guess Americans get nostalgic ab things they weren't even around for lol.
Lady Wren
What the hell are you talking about...
M.S. S he’s saying Americans have a love for nostalgia so much so they will wash over the negatives and only see the positives and the aesthetics not the failures that existed in the time
The x files is the combination of American conspiracy theories, Americana consumerism, and rabid military nationalism.
And just straight up urban legends and cryptids
I've never actually watched that show but this description has peaked my interest quite a bit haha
@@yungdomino4718 it's actually pretty interesting!
The show Freaks and Geeks, as well as the movies National Treasure and Joe Dirt are all VERY American.
I love that you brought up Danny Gonzalez. Possibly embarrassingly, he's definitely in my top Spotify artists, but he's truly talented as a comedy writer and perfectly fits the criteria of both entertaining lyrics and enjoyable tunes.