We can see the cracks starting to show in US military and economic hegemony. To be sure, they’re still the most powerful country in the world, but they can obviously no longer take on the rest of the world combined like they could in the 90s.
But more insidiously, the US still seems to be the hegemonic hyperpower in terms of cultural output. Even countries that are geopolitically at odds with the US happily and ravenously consume its art, entertainment, and literature, and to a lesser extent, those from loyal vassals of the US such as Japan, south Korea, and Western Europe.
It’s not just due to reach. I feel that cultural output from the US (and vassals) is genuinely more creative, technically advanced, complex, innovative, and prolific than cultural output from the rest of the world. As someone of Chinese descent who doesn’t strongly identify with American culture, this weighs on me heavily.
I’ll compare American and East Asian cultural output since that’s what I’m most familiar with.
Hollywood cinema is obviously the gold standard the world over. American films such as The Matrix, Blade Runner, and Fight Club are full of symbolism, innovative cinematography, and complex narratives. Korean films such as Snowpiercer, Parasite, and Oldboy are not far off. In comparison, the top Chinese movies such as The Wandering Earth 2 and The Battle at Lake Changjin are rather simplistic and don’t necessarily have a lasting cultural impact, even in China.
Chinese TV is pretty good, with hits like Nirvana in Fire and Reset. But there has been no Chinese series with the wide reach, critical acclaim, innovative and sophisticated narratives, and lasting cultural impact of American series like Breaking Bad, Star Trek, The Sopranos, and Friends, or Korean series like Squid Game. The average Chinese person has heard of Friends, but only a vanishingly-small number of Americans have heard of Nirvana in Fire.
Chinese pop music is largely samey-sounding ballads. Listen to one of the songs by Li Ronghao or Joker Xue, and it could’ve been released today, a decade ago, or two decades ago. In contrast, Western and Korean pop music are constantly evolving and trying new things. Even more creative Chinese artists like Lexie Liu, Hyph11e, South Acid Mimi, and Absolute Purity are largely following established trends and not really setting new trends. Chinese music has no answer to jazz, rock ‘n’ roll, hip-hop, and house. The most identifiably Chinese music simply uses traditional instruments, but there’s nothing particularly groundbreaking or creative about mashing folk instruments with existing pop music. K-pop, J-pop, and even LatAm, West Asian, and Indian pop have immediately identifiable sounds, whereas most C-pop sounds like it could’ve been made anywhere at any time. C-pop has little appeal even in places like Hong Kong. If you look at the HK charts, they’re dominated by foreign artists like NewJeans Jungkook, Yoasobi, and Taylor Swift, with a small handful of HK and Taiwanese artists, but not a single mainland artist. That seems really shameful to me.
Japanese manga and American comics are considered the gold standard, with Korean manhwa a solid third. Meanwhile, Chinese manhua suffers from amateurish art, clunky pacing, unlikeable and selfish main characters, and boilerplate, tropey plots. If you thought isekai was overdone, wait until you see the endless cultivation stories in manhua. It’s kind of embarrassing, really.
It’s a similar story with literature, video games, and animations.
So, why is there such a large discrepancy in the quality of cultural exports coming from the US, Japan, south Korea, and Western Europe vs the rest of the world? Is it simply that these countries are richer so more people have the opportunity to pursue art, and studios have larger budgets? Is art like technolgical advancement in that you have to build up the know-how from the ground up? Or is there some cultural or governmental aspect in countries of the International Community™ that genuinely fosters creativity?
People often talk about this in terms of soft power, but imo what’s even more important is cultural self-confidence. If domestic art or art from friendly cultures is good enough to satisfy one’s own needs instead of having to import everything from countries that want to subjugate your own people, I think that would greatly boost collective well-being, sense of identity, and mental health.
On a personal note, this has been a nearly obsessive worry of mine for the last year or so. I’ve tried talking to a therapist about it but they just suggested that I try to stop identifying as Chinese and start identifying as American. Not very helpful advice. I don’t really have anyone to talk to this about, so I hope I can start a discussion here.
Really great read, this whole thread.
I think most other things I thought to say have been voiced thoroughly. I just have one more (which has been touched on too but anyways):
Is there perhaps a subconscious anxiety here: that socialism, aka a materially better society, a society where people suffer less, makes life a little more boring? That pain = good art?
I know I have this fear, sometimes.
And I think this is a truly late-stage Western way to think. Bad = Bad, but Good = Secret Bad, if not Good = Even Worse. We are so used to good things here being bad things in disguise, we have an inherent distrust of good things. I think it lends to Sinophobia of the Chinese project, and ideas like “Heaven is a place where nothing ever happens,” or similar ideas that are essentially cope talk where suffering = cool, or suffering = indispensible. As fascism tells us, after all, “to live is to suffer.”
I know I have feared my life ever improving because the idea that I would never make good art again is intolerable.
But, deep in my heart, and deep in my mind, I know this isn’t true. Making HAPPY art that is also GOOD may take some unlearning and re-learning, but it is possible. If it isn’t, then reality itself is grim, and I refuse to believe that until socialism has had its fair shake with the human psyche.
I remember being very disturbed at myself once, when writing answers to a fun little 50 music question Tumblr prompt. One question was “what is a song that makes you happy?” For every other question, I debated between 2, 4, 10 different songs. For this question, I could not think of a single one. But, is this because the only good music is painful music, or because I have a painful life in a painful society and so, naturally, pain is something I relate to the most? And that there is an absence of music that is both happy AND sincere, talented, and emphasized?
Some thoughts.
i’m an artist, and i can say with utmost confidence, that this is utter bullshit. I make much better art when im comfortable and happy.
I am glad to hear this, I hope only to be wrong with this worry. I know I suffered a lot in 2023 and I’ve written some of my best stuff, probably 10x in volume of my entire previous works combined. This experience makes this thought seem true to me, which validates a truly horrifying worldview, so hearing your opposite experience is a little soothing.
Most art comes from rich playboys that are sons of rich playboys. Yea even the good bits. Pain and trauma just make it harder to do art, because now instead of drawing my brain is shitting on me about past events. Most of the pain artists talk about is just afluenza or like their lover leaving them for sucking
I can see this in like, fine art, and a lot of film, but I guess from my perspective most art I consume is hip hop, full of stories of genuinely poor people having terrible experiences, and it seems like my favorites have particularly painful ones. Again that might just be how I relate to it though.
Even after we have highly developed communism, there’s going to be plenty of pain to go around from physical wear and tear, loss of loved ones, family drama, romance, loss in competition, etc. so I think we’re safe even if your premise holds true.