Posted August 12, 2009
In theory, the visual media that a nation produces is reflective of the culture and society. In practice, a given country's media tends to be more like a distortion or a caricature of what the given country's actual people are like. But if what was on our TVs precisely mirrored reality, what would our homelands be like?...
I know GOG has a fairly broad multinational community, so I invite anyone to post whatever they think of their own TV programming, or how they percieve other country's programs.
America - According to TV, Americans are stupid, aggressive, paranoid, and extremely promiscuous. The stupidity varies from mere ignorance to actual suicidal idiocy; intelligent people in our society tend to be repressed by less intelligent folk who somehow have more socio-political power. Guns are extremely common and most people know how to use them; all citizens are prepared to turn into vigilantes at a moment's notice if given the opportunity. Free love is universally accepted. America is also populated almost exclusively by beautiful white people.
Japan - If anime is anything to go by, all of the East Asian people who once populated the islands of Japan have been overrun by people from western cultures or, more likely, been mutated into strangely beautiful humanoid monsters with oversized eyes, unusual sweat glands, sporadic circulatory systems, and bizarre hair and eye colors. These mutants invariably have an assortment of superpowers, ranging from being able to move and attack at improbably speeds to being able to spontaneously withdraw items from nowhere. They may also regenerate from injuries incredibly fast or be able to enlarge their heads when they are enraged. They, too, tend to be promiscuous, probably moreso than the Americans.
United Kingdom - The British are a bipolar bunch. One moment, they're so placid and civilized that you have to wonder if they are really a human species (as opposed to a collection of androids). The next moment, their behavior is unpredictable to the point of being impossible to understand. In either mode, however, they're unfathomable to outsiders.
I know GOG has a fairly broad multinational community, so I invite anyone to post whatever they think of their own TV programming, or how they percieve other country's programs.
America - According to TV, Americans are stupid, aggressive, paranoid, and extremely promiscuous. The stupidity varies from mere ignorance to actual suicidal idiocy; intelligent people in our society tend to be repressed by less intelligent folk who somehow have more socio-political power. Guns are extremely common and most people know how to use them; all citizens are prepared to turn into vigilantes at a moment's notice if given the opportunity. Free love is universally accepted. America is also populated almost exclusively by beautiful white people.
Japan - If anime is anything to go by, all of the East Asian people who once populated the islands of Japan have been overrun by people from western cultures or, more likely, been mutated into strangely beautiful humanoid monsters with oversized eyes, unusual sweat glands, sporadic circulatory systems, and bizarre hair and eye colors. These mutants invariably have an assortment of superpowers, ranging from being able to move and attack at improbably speeds to being able to spontaneously withdraw items from nowhere. They may also regenerate from injuries incredibly fast or be able to enlarge their heads when they are enraged. They, too, tend to be promiscuous, probably moreso than the Americans.
United Kingdom - The British are a bipolar bunch. One moment, they're so placid and civilized that you have to wonder if they are really a human species (as opposed to a collection of androids). The next moment, their behavior is unpredictable to the point of being impossible to understand. In either mode, however, they're unfathomable to outsiders.
