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As an Australian, I have noticed a shift personally in feeling like I identify more with "European" culture, compared to 10 years ago I felt like we were the 51
by mindwok 15d ago
As an Australian, I have noticed a shift personally in feeling like I identify more with "European" culture, compared to 10 years ago I felt like we were the 51st state and I felt very close with the US.
This seems to be shared by others, I remember reading there was a survey that asked Australians who they felt our closest international friend was. The US was the top answer for over a decade, having stolen the crown from the UK I think in the late 90s or something. Recently though, it switched to New Zealand.
- drekipus 15d agoI don't believe that. Can you find this survey you were talking about?
- latexr 15d agoBasic web search for “australia survey closest international friend” returned https://poll.lowyinstitute.org/charts/australias-best-friend-world/ https://poll.lowyinstitute.org/charts/australias-best-friend...
- drekipus 15d agoRight, so the US had a high of 35% and then dropped and has never been higher than that. I just wanted to check the OPs survey because it could have been something different i.e.: that supports the claim
- cosmic_cheese 15d agoFrom the American side it felt like we had more cross-pollination with Australia in the 90s than in the decades following. Disney even had a studio out there that animated some of the TV shows it aired in the US (and presumably in Australia too). Not sure what changed.
- carefree-bob 15d agoApart from the "Crocodile Dundee" and "Men at Work" phenomena in the late 80s, there is no real cultural pollination between Australia and the US, as far as I can tell. It's too far away and there are no real reasons for Americans to visit, nor are there enough internationally notable Australian music brands, films, or products that give visibility to the country, which is one price of being a commodity producing nation rather than finished goods. We know about Japanese and British prodigious cultural output, Japanese manufactures, German cars and Swiss machine tools and watches, but what product makes Australia stand out? Coal, copper, etc. Didn't Australia used to have an auto industry? I kinda feel like Australia stopped producing culturally relevant output in the late 80s or 90s.
- tecoholic 15d agoHaven’t Australians just moved to US - Keith Urban, Chris Hemsworth, Russel Crowe, Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie and the list goes on … it’s not the same way as Japanese’s or Korean output, because English as the native language makes the transition seamless and doesn’t stand out. Oh! I forgot JIRA and Atlassian are Australian too :D Now you really can’t deny you haven’t felt the Australian influence in your life. Lol
- carefree-bob 15d agoThat's a good point, the US might just be sucking all the culturally relevant output out of the country.
- 2muchcoffeeman 15d agoI think Australia imports too much American culture. So we want to participate in the same culture. So the stars try and get work in Hollywood. At least singers participating in K Pop bands is within the region. It’s too bad because Australia produces some really good stuff and most of it never gets the attention it deserves, not even from Australians.
- inkyoto 15d agoThat is a relatively recent change. In the 80-90's, the most popular destination for Australians was the UK: Nick Cave, Kylie Minogue, Lisa Gerrard (of Dead Can Dance fame) and many others moved up there.
- -0_0- 15d agoThere was a really great writeup by someone who worked in that Disney animation shop on a blog I once stumbled on - he wrote about how he took on the 'job of a lifetime' as a teenager while his mother was terminally ill and how that impacts your priorities. Incredibly moving read that I unfortunately can't find now, but it covered how the Sydney office ended, from memory it was a combination of CGI changing the industry, and cost - Australian wages weren't cheap and the studio was mostly used for producing direct-to-video sequels which was a market that dried up. The actual big influence on the Australian-American cross pollination though, I suspect, was Rupert Murdoch's expansion into the American film and TV industry. For all his faults, he was a big champion of talent from his homeland in both his movies and Fox TV network. Even the infamous Simpsons Australia episode was likely influenced by the big influence of Australians at Fox at that time.
- snypher 15d agoWas it James Baker? https://www.james-baker.com/news/the-inbetweener/ https://www.james-baker.com/news/the-inbetweener/
- sbseitz 15d agoTrump.
- apercu 15d agoAlso the GOP. They stopped being "conservative" a long time ago and became performative terrorists.
- Barrin92 15d agoAs a German guy who backpacked through Australia for a while when I was studying the drinking culture definitely made you guys seem European I can you tell you that much, I didn't feel far from home
- mynameisash 15d agoI'm surprised - aren't AU & NZ super close culturally and aligned politically? I would have thought the US, CA, et al would be vying for a distant second.
- BLKNSLVR 15d agoNZ is always the correct answer but is rarely given because it's taken for granted.
- marcus_holmes 15d agoIf they'd only just admit they didn't invent Pavlova, it would definitely be obvious. But the Kiwis are a stubborn bunch...
- latentsea 15d agoNot need to claim you didn't invent it when you did.
- bashtoni 15d agoNZ isn't big enough to think about. Don't tell them because they get very upset.
- pinchydev 15d agoNot only close, but NZ was originally slated to join Australia and is indeed named in the original Australian Constitution (that created federation) as one of the original 7 states.
- aussieguy1234 15d agoAustralians and New Zelalanders don't need a visa to travel either way. In NZ, I approached the immigration desk with my American partner at the time, they stamped her passport with a visa but said to me I didn't need one.
- tripleee 15d ago
- zulux 15d ago[flagged]
- loufe 15d agoIdentify in what way? What do you mean by "identity with"? The other poster is speaking of their own experience
- marcus_holmes 15d agoYou do not understand it. You are probably listening or watching the same folks who are calling the UK an "Islamic sultanate".
- avazhi 15d ago[flagged]
- 1attice 15d agoTalking to Americans
- bigger_cheese 15d agoAustralia's alignment with the US was a major consequence of World War 2 and the aftermath of that. Pre WW2 we were basically in lockstep with the UK. However after Singapore fell to the Japanese it became increasingly obvious that the UK could not be relied upon to defend Australia. At the time most of the elite Australian troops were fighting in North Africa (El-Alamein, Tobruk etc). and there was a genuine perceived threat that Australia could be invaded. PNG which was Australian territory at the time was invaded. The Japanese bombing of Darwin only intensified this. Almost overnight our foreign policy swung behind the US instead. Post WW2 this led to things like the ANZUS Treaty. It is the reason there are US military bases in Australia and the reason why we have followed the US into all of their wars which we arguably had no business involving ourselves in (Vietnam, Iraq etc.). Personally I feel the recent actions of the US are not beneficial to Australia's interests at all. Trump has squandered an awful lot of accumulated goodwill already, even if another government is elected in US a lot of damage has already been done.
- autumnstwilight 15d agoI've been thinking the silver lining of the current situation is that we'll be less inclined to send troops to aid US in their latest Middle East boondoggle, in the expectation of reciprocation in the future. In other online spaces, I've seen some conservative commenters from the US asserting that America is so powerful, the rest of the world has no choice but to go along with them, and therefore there is no need to maintain good relationships and the US should do what most immediately benefits itself at all times. Certainly, there are some areas where we simply have to play along with the US, but I think they are underestimating the amount of things where they will no longer be our first choice to deal with.
- XorNot 15d agoThe problem with deciding you're so powerful you can force everyone to follow you is you actually have to force everyone to follow you and it turns out that's super expensive and costs you a lot of power in terms of committed assets to do it.
- protocolture 15d ago
- mianos 15d agoHaving spent a lot of time in the UK, EU and US, I feel Sydney is way more like California than say London or European cities, in terms of living, shopping and culture. Even things from the US are coming here, like the growth of Halloween. If you walk into a shop, the US is much more like Australia in terms of service and attitude (even though retail staff are paid vastly differently). I always thought this was due to TV and Australia having remote branches of many US retail chains. Outside of California, it's similar but diverges a lot in areas like socialism. In the recent 20 years Australia has pretty much become more like the EU in terms of socialism.
- blululu 15d agoI've always felt that Australia felt like a British version of California. Though California is itself a bit exceptional in the context of America. The two places have a lot in common though - not withstanding the fact that everyone drives on the wrong side of the road and uses different power cables.
- SlightlyLeftPad 15d agoAs an American, I identify more with European culture compared to 10 years ago.
- gexla 15d agoThis may be partially why the US dispatched the LA Rams and the SF 49ers. Even though McDonald's has hundreds of US bases in Australia, the corp lacks a rushing and passing game. I don't see the NFL being successful there, but time will tell. Interesting note, in SE Asia, I watch NFL commentators based in the UK. It's strange seeing NFL talk with a British accent. And TIL. I always thought the Hungry Jack's was a Burger King knockoff, but apparently it's actually Burger King with a different name.
- mrcwinn 15d agoAs an American, I hope you can identify strongly as an Australian. Why bother telling yourself you’re something of a European? In any case, I hope countries form ties with Europe. Europe needs be economically stronger than it is. Better for the world, so long as they can slow their tendencies toward government control and censorship.
- dofm 15d agoFYI I don’t think anyone is accepting American critique on government control and censorship right now. Maybe leave it for a decade or two.
- edgyquant 15d agoMAGA wishes it had the control over industries and speech that European governments have. Give me a break
- rsynnott 15d agoIt's, ah, not that simple. So for instance, on speech, see things like https://www.texastribune.org/2023/11/20/texas-ken-paxton-elon-musk-media-matters/ https://www.texastribune.org/2023/11/20/texas-ken-paxton-elo... . In the US, some states are politically... out there (Ken Paxton there, you almost wouldn't believe he existed, he's like a caricature: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Paxton#Legal_issues https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Paxton#Legal_issues). And they can have an impact over the whole union; in this case, a DC journalism non-profit has to take this nonsnse seriously, and had to spend resources defending itself. In the EU, some countries are politically... out there. For instance, see Hungary, particularly before they managed to dump Orban. But media organisations in, say, Denmark, don't really have to care at all about what Hungary thinks about their reporting; the sort of interstate anti-speech lawfare above simply doesn't really happen in Europe.
- dofm 15d agoI mean — Brendan Carr seems to be able to bully the TV industry pretty successfully on behalf of MAGA. Trump shakes down businesses for a government cut — Intel for example. You are deporting foreigners based on their opinions. Trump shook down most of the major law firms for pro-bono work based only on a false perception of his mistreatment. He's pursued and pretty successfully harassed major universities into various forms of consent decree. People lost their jobs for exercising their free speech over Charlie Kirk (most of whom did not really see any kind of restoration). Trump extracted settlements from major news networks for content he didn't like based on his own fantasy misunderstanding. The list goes on and on and on — Europe as a whole does not act in this thuggish, extrajudicial, capricious way.
- aaron695 15d ago[dead]
- Danox 15d agoNew Zealand and Canada felt the same way in some respects. Move on and become stronger countries.
- ulfw 15d agoWhat a weird thing that we ever felt this way as our way of living has nothing in coming with Americans (except for big trucks driving through empty lands). Our labour laws, minimum wage, holidays, our Medicare system etc etc is a lot more socialist European than megacorporist American
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- tim333 15d agoThe election of MAGA ten years ago changed US culture in strange ways.
- rawgabbit 15d agoAs an American, because of Trump's actions, I identify more with "European" culture and feel I am a stranger in my own land.