4 ms·
Seems disproportionately many writers of the 19th and 20th century lived tough (and often short) lives, or at least endured hardship of some kind e.g. Wilde, Or
by nomilk 3y ago
Seems disproportionately many writers of the 19th and 20th century lived tough (and often short) lives, or at least endured hardship of some kind e.g. Wilde, Orwell, Poe. Wonder if it's true of writers generally?
- ghaff 3y agoMany artists in general were probably not very successful and/or otherwise had a lot of hardships in their lifetimes. Some of them became more recognized later. They're the ones you've heard of.
- TulliusCicero 3y agoSuffering can produce some awesome art. Sometimes I wonder if part of the reason for the US having far more success in exporting media worldwide compared to (Western) Europe is the relatively greater amount of suffering caused by libertarian-ish capitalism and oppression of minorities. Certainly it's hard to see American hip hop being the same kind of thing -- and thus achieving the same kind of sales -- without those two factors.
- waveBidder 3y agoI'd bet more on English being the lingua franca, and the sheer size of the States.
- bryanrasmussen 3y agoProbably also first mover advantage - the early years of Hollywood giving an edge that has lasted.
- dirtyhippiefree 3y agoIf sheer size had anything to do with it, we’d be speaking Russian or Chinese…unless you are referring to the American Empire and not just the States…
- waveBidder 3y agocomparing populationXdisposable income. Russia is only a third the size of the US, and until quite recently there was no Chinese middle class.
- TulliusCicero 3y agoThose both help, as does US prosperity. On the other hand, South Korea has recently had a big boom in its TV show/movie popularity despite being a lot smaller and also having their shows in, y'know, Korean.
- bazoom42 3y agoYeah, when the Nigerian movie industry doesn’t have the same worldwide appeal as Hollywood, surely it is because the Nigerians are just living too comfy lives. Seriously, there are multiple reasons for the cultural dominance of the US, but I dont think “more suffering” is one of them. Historically, cultural influence seem to largely correlate with economic wealth and political power.
- TulliusCicero 3y agoThat's why I said "part of". Obviously English is a factor. So is being a relatively wealthy country, hence the comparison to Europe.
- taeric 3y agoExpand the thought to general lives, and it is probably the same? Many lives were tough. In ways that we can and, in my opinion, should prevent.
- Exoristos 3y ago[flagged]
- bazoom42 3y agoLots of people suffered hardship or died young during the last few centuries. But writers were the only ones writing about it!