Hi Judy

I've never been accused of being pro-American before. Let me savour the moment.

Yes; certainly from the outside, it always seems that the US is
self-obsessed. They subtitle Australian films (!), while we negotiate
the plethora of American accents without bother, being properly
colonised. They remake everything - Tarkovsky, Kurosawa, Shimizi, The
Office - in their own image. Terrifying illiteracies and a bizarre
propensity to believe in the Literal Truth of the Bible, very puzzling
to Australians. There are true elements in what you say; but
dismissing everything of worth in consequence seems rather, well,
adolescent.

I can't think of any culture in which the entire population is
composed of literary geniuses (which it sounds like you're complaining
about). And most writers of any quality are working against the grain.
That's a given. It seems graceless to dismiss the brilliant energies
that emerge from the US and which have so invigorated other cultures -
where would European noir film be, or modern British or Australian
poetry, or rock music, without the Americans? Admittedly, some of your
best artists have had to leave the country in order to find the
recognition they deserved. But that happens in Australia too. At the
moment I am totally addicted to HBO television, which is the most
exciting in the world. (I'd say your theatre culture is pretty fucked,
but there are honourable mentions there too - Foreman, the Wooster
Group, Richard Maxwell and all those - yawn - usual suspects).

Slashing self hatred is as blind as self aggrandisement. Or so it seems to me.

If you can't see that The Crucible or Death of a Salesman are great
plays, maybe that explains a lot. I have my reservations about Miller,
but there's no arguing that he and O'Neill - and Williams, who is far
from yawn - reinvented tragedy. That anyone can think August: Osage
County is on the same level maybe speaks to your bitterness about
contemporary culture. But hey, a country that produces sensibilities
as interesting and diverse Carson McCullers or Charles Olson or James
Baldwin or Susan Sontag can't be all bad. In my most humble opinion,
of course.

Earnestly

xA

-- 
Editor, Masthead:  http://www.masthead.net.au
Blog: http://theatrenotes.blogspot.com
Home page: http://www.alisoncroggon.com