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February 25, 2006
David Hasselhoff, American Icon or Embarrassment
I ran across this, well, this disturbing music video of David Hasselhoff (hat-tip to Jon), and what was most frightening to me was not the image of Hasselhoff snowboarding in a full-body fur parka while holding a salmon in his teeth, but the fact that he's a huge international star throughout the world, except for here in America. He's one of our biggest cultural exports, while our own reactions to him vary from disgust to embarrassment.
That got me to thinking about how we perceive other cultures through the media that we manage to import from them. We see Mexico via the scantily-clad game show bimbos on Telemundo. Brazil is one big topless beach filled with super-models. Britain is a hilarious nation of wacky misfits practicing their silly walks. And Japan is a nation of fetishists who spend their time fantasizing about tentacle rape and young schoolgirls.
Surely there are elements of truth to it, since we are seeing selections of their locally produced and consumed media, so these themes must have some resonance in the nations of origin. But they also reflect on us in that our culture selected those portions to import. Do they look upon these tidbits with great derision only slightly diluted by mild acknowledgement?
The rest of the world has latched onto our vacuous Hasselhoff and are forming their image our culture with him in mind. Thus, I must ask: Is David Hasselhoff America's tentacle porn?
Blog by Dan at February 25, 2006 12:25 PM
Comments
My girlfriend Lime, a Korean, was also disgusted by the video. Well, wait, she asked me if it was intended as outright stupid comedy, and then when I explained my suspicion that, though it's supposed to be lighthearted and cute and funny, it's not really intended to be full-on comedy, she just kept saying, "Oh God. Oh God."
The funny thing is that, even not so far away, Koreans have tons of misperceptions about Japanese culture. Japanese look either like ravenous imperialistic wolves or porno-fetishists to many Koreans, too.
Lots of Koreans see Americans generally as white and well-to-do, as well, and I think that's largely to do with media imports -- there's far more 90210 than there is Steve Irkel here. Places like Scotland are almost off most peoples' cultural radar here, which is funny.
But I haven't met any big Hasslehoff fans here. Is he actually such a big international star, or is it just that there's a certain degree of fandom out there, which is also exploded into a kind of perception of non-Americans as radically different? I'd be curious to know just how huge an international star Hasslehoff actually is.
Then again... gapes in shock.
Posted by: gordsellar at March 28, 2006 07:58 AM