Post #5: American Culture

Hi, Justin back here again. Today I'm going to talk to you about my views on American culture. I have always felt that culture in the US is so unique because it is a blend of so many beliefs. In class, we watched the movie Tuesdays With Morrie. It was a movie that taught me a lot about the different ways Americans are influenced by their culture. A big part of the movie is about dying. To me, death has always been sort of a taboo topic in America. People don't like to talk about it, experience it, or be around it. However, as Nigel Barley says in his book Dancing On The Grave, death is a natural part of everyone's life, and should be treated as such. The movie made me think a lot about when my grandfather died back in 2008. I was very upset, even though we had never had that good of a relationship. Even though we didn't connect in many ways, I still mourned greatly after his passing. I think that says something about the gravity of death upon American culture. Another large part of American culture is love, and how love is seen upon the face of the US. For example, it is hard to turn on the television without finding a romance or soap opera. I feel like the American media dramatizes love to a great extent. As we learned through sociological class readings and Tuesdays With Morrie, love is a huge factor in how we live our everyday lives and how we view one another. This week's lesson on American culture really opened my eyes to how different everyday values can be imposed in one's life.