Kazaaam! Splat! Ploof!

The American Impact on European Popular Culture since 1945

By (author) Gordana Crnkovic Contributions by Steinar Bryn, B Lee Cooper, Laura E. Cooper, Gordana P. Crnkovic, Marianne Debouzy, Herbert J. Eagle, C Anthony Giffard, Giulia Guarnieri, Beth Holmgren, Beverly James, Uta G. Poiger, Sabrina P. Ramet Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Rodney Stark

Publication date:

29 January 2003

Length of book:

272 pages

Publisher

Rowman & Littlefield Publishers

Dimensions:

227x149mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9780742500013

Observing European debates about EuroDisney, McDonald's, Hollywood films and television programs, and other vehicles of alleged 'Americanization,' one might imagine that Europe was in serious risk of losing its distinct cultural identity in the melting pot of American pop culture. The loaded charge of 'kitsch' is a central aspect of the debate, with Disney stories, for example, branded as simplified travesties of authentic European folk tales. But the relationship between European and American popular cultures is vastly more complex. Reciprocal and interactive, it is a relationship in which the European-American partnership (for example, in cinematic ventures) has become quite common. And again, artifacts which have a certain meaning and reception in America may have a completely different meaning and reception in Europe; in effect behaving as different artifacts altogether. And finally, as this book shows, American cultural influences have penetrated not only the popular realms of European television, fashions, fast food, and rock music, but also such domains as youth organizations, literature, UFO culture, and religious faith.

Chapter 1 Introduction
Part 2 Part I: Western Europe
Chapter 3 Does Mickey Mouse threaten French Culture? The French Debate about EuroDisneyland
Chapter 4 Culture vs. Commerce: Europe Strives to Keep Hollywood at Bay
Chapter 5 Fear and Fascination: American Popular Culture in a Divided Germany, 1945-1968
Chapter 6 The Pendulum of Cultural Imperialism: Popular Music Interchanges between the United States and Britain, 1943-1967
Chapter 7 Coca-Cola Co. and the Olympic Movement-Global or American?
Chapter 8 The Impact of the American Myth among Post-War Italian Intellectuals: Modernization, post-modernity, or homologation?
Chapter 9 American Missionaries to Darkest Europe
Part 10 Part II: Eastern Europe
Chapter 11 Appropriation of the American Gangster Film and the Transition to Capitalism: Poland's Dogs and Russia's Brother
Chapter 12 Two cheers for the red, white, and blue: Hungarian Assessments of American Popular Culture
Chapter 13 Have a Nice Day: From the Balkan War to the American Dream, and the Things that Shape the Way We See Each Other
Chapter 14 Shake, Rattle, and Self-Management: Making the Scene in Socialist Yugoslavia, and After
Chapter 15 UFOs over Russia and Eastern Europe
Chapter 16 Émigré-zation: Russian Artists and American Children's Picture Books
Chapter 17 Afterword

Replete with astonishingly eloquent views on a diverse range of subjects, including religion, UFO-fixation and youth rebellion among others, this book makes compelling reading and provides a provocative platform for further discussions.