Are we all American now?

Arts & Ideas

BBC

Society & Culture

4.2 • 598 Ratings

🗓️ 25 October 2024

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Does the reach of the USA and its cultural influence mean "we're all American now?" Anne McElvoy and her guests discuss the similarities and differences across the Anglosphere and think about the changing dynamics on the international stage. They are: Freddy Gray, Deputy Editor of the Spectator Magazine and host of the Americano podcast. Dr Katie McGettigan, Senior Lecturer in American Literature and co-editor of the Journal of American Studies. Amanda Taub writes The Interpreter, an explanatory column and newsletter about world events for The New York Times. Kit Davis, an American living in London, an anthropologist and Emeritus Professor at SOAS. Rana Mitter ST Lee Chair in US-Asia Relations at the Harvard Kennedy School.

Producer: Lisa Jenkinson

Transcript

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0:00.0	Can I just say?
0:01.5	You're about to listen to a BBC podcast.
0:04.0	It's such a wonderful listen.
0:05.6	So nice.
0:06.5	There are loads more like it on BBC sounds.
0:08.8	Different paces, different heights.
0:10.6	The roof is buckling.
0:11.9	Where you can also listen to live sports commentary.
0:14.2	It's right foot goes for goal.
0:16.7	And then enjoy even more podcasts full of analysis and reaction to the big stories.
0:21.7	The stat that is astonishing is they ended with the lowest amount of possession.
0:25.2	And she's had to live with that.
0:26.8	So if you love sport, a passion, it's almost like a religion.
0:29.7	Listen on BBC Sounds.
0:31.7	Sort of expecting that every week now.
0:35.8	BBC Sounds, music, Radio, Podcasts.
0:39.5	Hello, I'm Anne McHelvoy and this is the Arts and Ideas podcast.
0:43.4	Welcome to Freethinking Happy we have this hour together when you might otherwise be
0:47.3	fishing around for something binge-worthy on big US streaming platforms, maybe a winsome
0:53.1	comedy set in a New York coffee house, a Boston police force drama, something chilling from the South, or a certain radio host from Seattle.
1:04.1	That phenomenon leads some people to say that in cultural habits and fixations, we're all American now, meaning it's the dominant culture
1:12.5	across a lot of the world. Henry James, the great novelist of transatlantic relationships
	...

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