Modern Culture

DiscoZombie

<div class="IPBDescription">Who exports the most of it?</div> Culture:
4 a : enlightenment and excellence of taste acquired by intellectual and aesthetic training b : acquaintance with and taste in fine arts, humanities, and broad aspects of science as distinguished from vocational and technical skills

we learn about the art and philosophy of the Greeks and Romans... we learn about the technology and spirituality of the ancient Chinese... we learn about Renaissance art, British literature, etc etc etc...

What will the history books say about today's cultural output? That is, what parts of the world are currently producing the most historically noteworthy art?

Hollywood would be an easy answer... but in all honesty, I believe that very little that comes out of the popular film industry is art, and I don't think many would disagree with me. The United States in general is an easy answer, but sadly, I believe that on a per capita basis, not much memorable art has come from us Americans since, like, the beat generation... well, the film 'renaissance' of the 1970's was nice too...

I think England is still at the forefront of the music scene as it has been for the last 50 or so years...

in inventing this topic, I really had one country in mind: Japan... Japanese technology, animation, video games -- IMO, these are the trends that are making the biggest mark on the world today...

this is just something to talk about... I'll admit it's based about 40% on informed opinion and 60% on gut feeling...

so what do y'all think? <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo-->

UltimaGecko

I would have to say a lot of the culture today comes from China and Japan, with a bit of the United States thrown in too.While based on art, we have to look at electronic mediums and architecture as the new art. There are very few famous painters and drawers now-a-days unless you're big on the art-sy circle of friends.

While refering to Japan, I would base it mostly on Tokyo, with their colorful billboards and the teenage japanese (there's a famous square in Tokyo who's name eludes me at the moment, but it is a very important square if you want to get some good PR and advertising going).

China isn't quite as boisterous as Japan though, honestly I base it on my opinions of the Chinese, as I can't remember much that is truly culturally advanced coming from China recently. They do have great modern architecture though.

The US, while not having exceptionally notable artists or writers lately (although we do have Stephen King, Micheal Chrichton and Tom Clancy) does have Hollywood. Of course, you have to throw off a lot of crap movies to get to genuinely worthy movies, like the Pianist, or Rainman or something (...having trouble thinking of good movies right now...need to sleep). Not much has been going on besides film and music (most of which sucks).

Of course, I would rate Germany as one of the cultural elite...except I fear not many people would share my point of view. I enjoy the music and food that still comes from Germany..and it's historical aspects still provide ideas for cultural improvement across the globe (as well as debate).

I also wish I could add Russia to this list, but as Russia has lost much of its global power in the last decade, not much has come out of Russia lately. They do have Tatu, which not many non-Russians (or Russians for that matter) appreciate; they also have other musical artists, however unless artists speak english and sing in english they're forgotten fairly quickly. Russia is improving though, and as long as another political shift doesn't ravage the country they could become a very strong nation again.

I'd also like to stick Moldova on here...if only because of the cultural achievements that I've seen come from it. No one else will consider Moldova as a culturally adept country, but then again, not many people have heard of it. Despite it being a little known, fairly poor country (okay, really poor), it does have great culture...though not much is new.

There's also the UK, which hasn't really had much culture besides the JK Rowlings books (although that might be Ireland so I could be waaay off. I don't like th books, but lots of people swear by them.

My personal list would be:
Japan
Germany
UK
US
Russia (wish it could be higher)
Moldova
China (...not sure why though, just feels right to let a country of 1 billion + people that is fairly industrialized be here...I don't really consider India quite as advanced)


Maybe I'll go more in-depth/change my mind tommorow, I need to go to sleep now...

RyoOhki

Well culture encompasses a very wide range of human endevours, and is not limited to song, music and art. Granted these are major forms of cultural expression, and are often assosiated with "high culture" which is enthusiastically exported and imported by various cultures around the world. Other culture though is not as conspicuous.

Take American "gangsta" culture; born within typically black communities in urban environments, yet it's pressence can be felt across the world, from London to Sydney to Tokyo. This particular lifestyle is copied in other cultures by generally younger people dissilusioned with their own culture, or perhaps finding a common identity with the Americans from which this culture came.

Many Muslim students here in Australia at my university wear headscarves and traditional Arabic clothing, adopting the customs and traditions of a culture differant to the one they were brought up in.

Capitalism brings elemants of many cultures into contact with differant cultures, such as McDonalds and Coca-Cola infiltrating Russia or China. Though these stores are merely corperate attempts to exploit new markets, the stores and products bring with them cultural ideas and concepts, usually American.

In taking your Japanese example, it works both ways; many Japanese people adopt American traditions and culture. In such exchanges it's understandable that there is diffusion back, with Japanese culture and traditions catching on in Western nations. I would say though that Japan is exporting less than it is importing, from a cultural viewpoint. The people like myself who are devotees of anime for example constitute a very small section of the populace, and even we differ in our levels of cultural absorbtion (I don't cosplay, which is a good thing given that I'm 6 foot 6 and 150kg <!--emo&:p--><img src='http://www.unknownworlds.com/forums/html//emoticons/tounge.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='tounge.gif' /><!--endemo--> )

I'd probably say that America is the biggest exporter of culture, which is understandable given their world position. Other peoples know that Americans are generally wealthy and affluent, so they seek to imitate them. American corperations are also found across the globe almost everywhere, which helps the spread of American culture even more. This may very well change however, especially given the rise of Asian nations economically, especially China and Japan.