American Influences on Australia (1 Viewer)

[Der Arzt]

It might go without saying but just how big are American cultural influences in Australia? I've only been living in Australia for just under two years yet I still find myself surprised by the stereotypical overuse of the word "like" and people dressing as "hipsters" (which I thought was some sort of unique American fad.) This question is just out of curiosity really. Before coming here, I thought that Australians had a markedly different culture from the U.S.

 

[scarybunny]

We get most of our TV, movies and music from the US.

Why would our fashion and culture be any different?

 

[zombie omie jay]

australia and america are super close buddies and allies


also fucking everyone in the world is influenced by american culture you dork

 

[Der Arzt]

I'm aware that most countries are significantly affected by American culture but the following is kind of what I'm referring to:

The Age Education Resource Centre

Notice in the section "Is Australian Culture under Threat" that the percentage of local newly released programmes for Britain is pretty different from that of Australia and surely Britain is as connected to the United States no?

 

[zombie omie jay]

tl;dr

 

[alax dillon]

of course australia is going to be heavily influenced by america.

fuck what a stupid comment.

considering the fact that we do indeed get majority of our media from the US.

but "is australian culture under threat"? fuck off. theres a uniqueness to the australian culture that cant be replicated by other cultures. ask the french, the canadian, the english, they all say the same thing, that australia is collectively unique in our personality and culture.

so we wear some of the same clothes and follow the same trends as americans, that doesnt mean that the traits of the average individual as well as the overall nature and culture of our nation.

i mean fuck.

 

[spazamataz]

America doesn't own the culture, quit being so selfish.

It's called the global mass culture (though I might add that research into this is quite inconclusive)

 

[Der Arzt]

I think the tone of my question has been somewhat misrepresented and I also believe the heading in that article was just regular hyperbole.

I doubt the person who wrote that actually believes Australian culture is under massive threat.

Keep in mind that I haven't lived in Australia that long and that my original question basically boiled down to "Are American trends a big thing here in Australia and is it something recent?" not "So, you Australians sure have no sense of true identity or culture huh?" It was truly just an innocent question and I'm not trolling or anything like that.

 

[zombie omie jay]

yes and since the 40s

 

[zombie omie jay]

double you double you two

 

[spazamataz]

I think the tone of my question has been somewhat misrepresented and I also believe the heading in that article was just regular hyperbole.

I doubt the person who wrote that actually believes Australian culture is under massive threat.

Keep in mind that I haven't lived in Australia that long and that my original question basically boiled down to "Are American trends a big thing here in Australia and is it something recent?" not "So, you Australians sure have no sense of true identity or culture huh?" It was truly just an innocent question and I'm not trolling or anything like that.

Yeah, some people get kind of defensive..

But it is really a global mass pop-culture type thing. I live with an American, and we do have markedly different societies, but we do have extremely similar popular cultures (and yeah like I said most countries do have a similar pop culture).

I just had to google hipster to find out what it was... hahaha

 

[alax dillon]

Yeah, some people get kind of defensive..

But it is really a global mass pop-culture type thing. I live with an American, and we do have markedly different societies, but we do have extremely similar popular cultures (and yeah like I said most countries do have a similar pop culture).

I just had to google hipster to find out what it was... hahaha

very true.

 

[merillem]

Don't, like, 20-30% of families in Sydney speak a language other than English at home?
(Stat is prob wrong, but % is huge).

I would contend Australia is influenced by lots of cultures...the USA particularly being a major one for white, Anglo-Saxon, bogan rednecks.

We're isolated down here and a woefully small % of non-native speakers bother to learn foreign languages - we should all learn a bloody second language and stop bitching about the US!

 

[spazamataz]

I just had a question in my exam relating to this......

 

[Der Arzt]

Do many people here try to learn new languages during high school?

I have a friend who knows three languages (English, Spanish, and French) at least, and may know Dutch or German( he's from Belgium but I never saw him speak either when we were growing up). I used to think this was pretty impressive when we were kids but apparently this is completely normal for young Europeans.

Do you think it should be compulsory to learn at least (at an introductory level) the basics of another language? Personally, I'm bilingual (schooled in English, but lived in a Spanish speaking country) but I have ambitions to learn at least two more languages during my lifetime: German and Mandarin.

 

[Der Arzt]

I just had a question in my exam relating to this......

What was the question?

 

[spazamataz]

Do many people here try to learn new languages during high school?

I have a friend who knows three languages (English, Spanish, and French) at least, and may know Dutch or German( he's from Belgium but I never saw him speak either when we were growing up). I used to think this was pretty impressive when we were kids but apparently this is completely normal for young Europeans.

Do you think it should be compulsory to learn at least (at an introductory level) the basics of another language? Personally, I'm bilingual (schooled in English, but lived in a Spanish speaking country) but I have ambitions to learn at least two more languages during my lifetime: German and Mandarin.

In NSW it is compulsory to do language for at least one year, and then you can choose whether or not to continue it throughout high school.

I know enough German to get me by, but I could never carry out a full conversation.

And the question was along the lines of "Does the Frankfurt School of thought still have relevance today with contemporary televison viewing practices?" which essentially means does watching TV produce a mass culture

 

[jennyfromdabloc]

Yeah Australia is pretty much just America without the niggers.

It's awesome.

 

[SDES]

Yeah Australia is pretty much just America without the niggers.

It's awesome.

we still have islanders and abos who emulate them

they even take offence to the word itself :/