Speaking purely anecdotally, a Belgian friend, an attorney who worked briefly at a former form, brought over her collection of discs for my daughter to listen to. Astrid's taste is pretty poppy, but there was not a Britney in the pile. It was all French and Dutch, quite a lot of it just Belgian, btw, not even French French or Dutch Dutch. Now, it didn't sound like much, just Europop, but even that is a bit diff from the American stuff.
And European movies are still way more interesting, all those slow narratives and character studies without climaxes or clear endings, lots of moral amibuity, not a car chase or an exploding whatever in the lot. Compare the French Le Femme Nikita, which the French's idea of an action film -- some shooting but mostly brooding and a lot of character development -- to the American version.
--- Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com> wrote:
> Joseph Wanzala wrote:
>
> >I would tend to agree with Doug that "[the]
> narrative of relentless
> >homogenization and decline badly needs some
> fact-checking." and
> >"that there are all kinds of cultural
> microenvironments." However, I
> >think Wojtek does have a point. While there is a
> lot of interesting
> >cross-fertilization within mainstream American
> music genres and
> >certainly an important creative regeneration in R&B
> for example
> >which has to some extent eclipsed Rap/Hip Hop, it
> is in fact more
> >difficult for so-called 'world music' to break into
> these same
> >markets - without diluting or compromising its
> authenticity - which
> >defeats the purpose. So, from an internationalist
> perspective, the
> >American music scene does seem rather insular -
> even though it might
> >even be said to be experiencing a mini renaissance.
> The same people
> >who enjoy "Green Day, Snoop Dogg, and cross-genre
> collaborations
> >like Nelly/Tim McGraw and Jay-Z/Linkin Park" are
> quite insensible to
> >musics (sic) from outside - while 'world music'
> enjoyed phyrric
> >popularity during the late 80's early 90s, (with a
> little help from
> >samaritans like Paul Simon and Ry Cooder -
> Graceland/Buena Vista
> >Social Club) it has been increasingly difficult for
> musicians in
> >these genres, who enjoy great popularity and
> marketability in
> >Europe, to gain a meaningful foothold in the US,
> notwithstanding the
> >growing immigrant populations and seeming creative
> fecundity of
> >mainstream American musicians.
>
> Oh, I agree that the U.S. scene, with some
> exceptions (I hear all
> kinds of stuff just walking around NYC), can be
> pretty insular. But
> Woj's view of the rest of the world drowning in
> American crap just
> isn't true.
>
> Doug
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