Popular culture in America is a fascinating observation. The title of this blog first came to semi-popular attention many years ago on the release of the film 'Evil Angels' about the disappearance and tragic death of the 9 week old Azaria Chamberlain at Ayrs Rock, Australia. The film follows these events and the conviction of her mother Lindy Chambelain. Lindy, played by Meryl Streep utters the words, 'a dingo ate my baby."
The line itself would have faded into cinematic obscurity had it not been taken up in an episode of Seinfeld in which the character, Elaine delivers in the utterly inane remark that, "maybe a dingo ate your baby."
Its bizarre but from that moment on some Americans seem compelled beyond normal reason to say that line to any Australian they are meeting for the first time. Having not done a count of it I can't tell if this is the more popular line to, "that's not a knife." I suppose I could get very tired of it after a while but I am oddly pleased that so many Americans seem to know anything about Australia, including these inane lines from Australian movies. It would be easy to get irritated and impatient with this kind of repetition but I find it strangely comforting. In any case the fact is that Australians are exceedingly popular with most, if not all, Americans. I think we ar very unthreatening to them. They love our accent, and I will write more about that soon, and they want to know as much as possible about Australia and Australians.
Australians are still largely unknown to most Americans but they are eager to know more about us. They want to know why we drive on the wrong side of the road; they want to know all about how we live; they want to know about the sports we play. Most Americans won't ever get to the Australian shores but they still love Steve Irwin, Paul Hogan and Hugh Jackman. The Outback Steakhouse while having nothing to do with real Australian ciusine but it is hugely popular because of its Australian theme.
Come back within a few days and I will have a bit to say about the Australian accent. Look out for the title, 'I Paid a Lot of Money for this Accent.'
No comments:
Post a Comment