This is a story of a culture that lives in the hearts and minds of people, not a place...
Look how happy this burger flipper is! Look at him! He's so happy! There isn't even any ham in his hamburgers! He flips his burgers to D. I. S. C. O. music, and he is HAPPY!
What a lovely lovely thing the American Dream is. I totally buy into it. I've had the very best of it. I've flown in Boeing jets, driven Ford Mustangs, eaten McDonalds drive-thru, spelled words like "color" and "center" deliberately when in an American English context. I love the way that American culture has enriched every part of my dull beige British life.
I like British culture too. Some of it is cheap and tacky, like Spice Girls and the St. George's flag, but some of it is edgy and just downright edge-of-your-seat unmissable. Who can tear their eyes away from the tormented souls, the mumbling, bumbling, sexually repressed and oh so terribly polite British demeanour, where we start and end every sentence with a "Sorry".
You can't beat the brash snarl and roar of an overdriven electric guitar. However it's the British homage to American stadium rock that somehow lasts, beyond the brilliance and inspiration of Hendrix and a rock-and-roll 60s generation, who burnt out in a blaze of glory.
Let's see how many clichés we can pack into a single sentence about The Americans, who are the candle that burns twice as bright but burns half as long. Like a moth, we are attracted to their bright flame, but like Icarus, we need to be careful that our wax wings are not melted. You can't stare at the sun for too long. There's a little black spot on the sun today, it's in the same old spot as yesterday... yes The Police, and their illegal alien in New York are pretty clear about where they would really like to be Citizens.
I would love a precious Green Card, but I fear rejection by the prettiest girl on the planet... by which I mean the United States of AM-ER-IC-AH, F**k Yeah! I'm not even kidding. When I'm there, I feel like I just stepped onto a movie set. I find myself just gawping at road signs, or pinching myself when I'm driving down the freeway.
So, it's true. If you make great music, great movies, and you are contributing volumes and volumes of literature, art, music and amazing companies, technology, and thought leaders... how is it surprising that everybody wants to live there, and have a slice of the American Dream
That's the true "trickle down" effect, in my not-so-humble opinion.
Please let me in. I'm a refugee of the humdrum boring life that is not at all what I was brought up to expect from Hollywood and the adverts that told me I need to consume consume consume. I'm not even joking. Or maybe it's my dry British sense of humour. Dare I say... irony?
America, I love you x (I really do)
