Title: What American pop culture tells the world - The Washington Post
Headings: What American pop culture tells the world
Act Four
What American pop culture tells the world

Content: What American pop culture tells the world - The Washington Post
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Democracy Dies in Darkness
Act Four
What American pop culture tells the world
Police officers arrest a pro-democracy protester carrying a “Captain America” shield in Hong Kong in October. ( Alex Hoff/European Pressphoto Agency)
By
Alyssa Rosenberg
Dec. 2, 2014 at 3:37 p.m. UTC
I’m leaving the office shortly to give a talk about the successes and failures of American popular culture to a group of Chinese officials at the Wilson Center. That is a tall order for a 15-minute speech, though I imagine the question-and-answer session will be lively. But in attempting to pare down my speech to a few essential points, I found myself mulling over a question I had not considered in quite this way before. As American pop culture gets more niche-oriented at home, representing more kinds of people and telling a wider range of stories, how well does the portrait of our country that appears in the culture we consume match the American idea we are exporting overseas through our movies, television and books? I am curious about this in part because the movie industry pitches itself as a tremendous exporter of American values. As Motion Picture Association of America chief executive Chris Dodd put it in an opinion piece he published this year, “The movies and television shows we create … often serve as de facto U.S. ambassadors to the world. For many people, their first exposure to our nation has come through watching a film or television show. With themes of free expression and America as a land of opportunity, these films and TV shows have played at least a small role in the decision of many to seek our shores.” Support our journalism.