NewYorker - 3/25

Jameson had some very interesting quotes that directly apply and relate to everday, real life. One quote that stuck out was "at one with the official culture." We discussed how that is not true in American culture, because what is American culture? There is no 'oneness' about it and there is nothing official. We are considered a great melting pot, or tossed salad, or curtain - each individual bringing their cultural/immigration roots with them and adapting to one another. So as an American, it is hard to describe an official culture because there is a blend of so many cultures, and there is constant adaptation, and many subcultures throughout.
If anything, our culture is a cult of the new, where there is always a new product being developed, always something being improved and 'solving our problems.' Advertisers will never tell you that you are perfect, because they need to sell a product to you.
And why is it that Americans obsess over blood, torture, death, and horror? There is always a tough exterior (the picture of the hip hop artists) to show that we are a dark culture and developed a tough skin, a hard attitude. All we see on the news nowadays are the bad things that happen to people - we obsess over Britney's attitude, if Tony Parker is cheating on Eva, if someone declares bankrupcy, or was shot, if someone is missing, etc. Why do we feed off of people's misfortunes? Does it make us feel better about ourselves as individuals? That the unfortunate event didn't happen to you, so it makes you feel better? It's very sad, and pathetic, that this is what it has come to in media. Not to mention that sex is everywhere as well - even in a 30 second commercial!
And how how depth is being replaced by surface - we have become such a shallow culture, and so superficial, that now it is better to look good on the outside than it is on the inside. Or how we prefer a superficial painting, like Andy Warhol's "Shoes" over Van Ghou's painting of his boots. It's pathetic. But can we say such things and generalize, and make this assumption about American culture? So that maybe we do have an official culture - a fake and shallow one.