Tenebrae
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- Mar 21, 2005
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Just now I was on a thread which was about the weather. My pal rdhd posted about the weather in Atlanta, where he resides, which in turn had me ask my nearby colleague: "Hey, you know what's the current weather in Atlanta?". He looked at me, a little bit confused, and asked: "Where is Atlanta?" Okay, before anyone here shake their heads in disbelief, remember that the guy's Chinese (do you know where to place Guangxi province on a map? 
), so I added: "It's in Georgia", but since he still looked confused, I said: "That's where The Walking Dead takes place..." which had him immediately enlightened: "Aaaaaaah, yes, I see!"
Honestly, this could just as well have been posted in the Silly Stuff forum, but I chose to stick it up here instead, because this little anecdote stresses a fundamental aspect of politics: soft power. One of the things that makes America great is the way it sells itself and its image to the world. One could think rather reasonably that a zombie invasion is not the best way to portray your native state, but think about it. In every episode of Walking Dead, Georgia is shown as a fantastic place with breathtaking landscapes. Rather gloomy, granted, but really beautiful in its fallen glory. And since American TV series are exported all around the world (the Walking Dead is very popular among my colleagues), it is usually the first thing we foreigners see of America before we are old enough or lucky enough to travel there ourselves. And when we do, where do we go? That's right, to the places we saw in the fiction that had us dreaming as kids and young men.
Yours truly discovered Mount Rushmore in that amazing scene on Hitchcock's North by Northwest. Clint Eastwood and John Ford had me fall in love with the Old West culture. Hell, even the goddamn New York City sewers look like a glamorous place when seen in TMNT (do you know any other place in the world that successfully marketed its sewers as a great place?), and those are only the sewers of this fantastic city.
I could go on like this, but I think you get the picture. Remember the tremendous strength of soft power next time you laugh at the next Hollywood dumbed-down production for export. It could be the reason why your country is still among the most admired in the world! Other nations would do well to try to emulate America's unparalleled success in this matter.
), so I added: "It's in Georgia", but since he still looked confused, I said: "That's where The Walking Dead takes place..." which had him immediately enlightened: "Aaaaaaah, yes, I see!" Honestly, this could just as well have been posted in the Silly Stuff forum, but I chose to stick it up here instead, because this little anecdote stresses a fundamental aspect of politics: soft power. One of the things that makes America great is the way it sells itself and its image to the world. One could think rather reasonably that a zombie invasion is not the best way to portray your native state, but think about it. In every episode of Walking Dead, Georgia is shown as a fantastic place with breathtaking landscapes. Rather gloomy, granted, but really beautiful in its fallen glory. And since American TV series are exported all around the world (the Walking Dead is very popular among my colleagues), it is usually the first thing we foreigners see of America before we are old enough or lucky enough to travel there ourselves. And when we do, where do we go? That's right, to the places we saw in the fiction that had us dreaming as kids and young men.
Yours truly discovered Mount Rushmore in that amazing scene on Hitchcock's North by Northwest. Clint Eastwood and John Ford had me fall in love with the Old West culture. Hell, even the goddamn New York City sewers look like a glamorous place when seen in TMNT (do you know any other place in the world that successfully marketed its sewers as a great place?), and those are only the sewers of this fantastic city.
I could go on like this, but I think you get the picture. Remember the tremendous strength of soft power next time you laugh at the next Hollywood dumbed-down production for export. It could be the reason why your country is still among the most admired in the world! Other nations would do well to try to emulate America's unparalleled success in this matter.
