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onkey

- 1 year ago

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What movie would you suggest to someone who wants to understand American culture?

Can you recommend just one? Would you need to recommend more than one to portray regional (e.g.. the South), cultural (e.g. 8 Mile), historical (the eighties Molly Ringwold movies), or age differences (The Breakfast Club)?

If you live in a different country, what movie best reveals your culture?
Since I haven't seen recent movies, off the top of my head I can think of American Graffiti, Beverly Hills Cop, Coming to America, Legally Blonde, The Prince of Tides, Animal House, Meet the Parents. I'm sure you have some better ideas..

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I like that Clerks was mentioned several times. It definitely seems to sum up the collective frustration of the younger generations.

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Bob Roberts

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Swimming with Sharks

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And I'll definitely second Mall Rats, Clerks, Harold & Kumar, The Breakfast Club, Dirty Dancing. Drop Dead Gorgeous is a terrific bit of satire on Midwestern culture. Anything by the Coen brothers is also a great choice-- O Brother, Where Art Thou; The Big Lebowski; etc.

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For nostalgia, how about A Christmas Story or Big Fish? I will also second The Sandlot.
Don't really know much about war movies... Forrest Gump is important culturally, but I kind of hate the movie.
The thing with movies here is that in general the ones that are popular are extremely escapist. You can learn about American ideals-- rugged independence, rooting for the underdog, cooperation in times of duress, taking care of family (Independence Day comes to mind for a lot of those)-- but not a lot about our day-to-day culture. For that, sit-coms and The Simpsons are really best. Malcolm in the Middle always reminded me a lot of our family...

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Desperate Living

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I'm surprised by how few people have said Forrest Gump?

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I'm from Russia.Big omission of many countries to assume that in this country some sort of culture.So I can't offer movies this country.
I was raised on the American cinema since childhood.Awesome movies are unique also by the fact what are clear many people from different countries(especially films of John Hughes).

The Breakfast Club
Apocalypse Now
Platoon
Wall Street
Reservoir Dogs
Home Alone
Home Alone 2: Lost in New York
Titanic and many others.

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for sure, "Edward Scissorhands"; also "Malcolm X", "Donnie Darko", "Clerks", "Mall Rats", "Chasing Amy", "Dogma", "To Kill a Mocking Bird", the original 'Star Wars" trilogy, all of the "Star Trek" movies before the remake, "Blade Runner", "Dazed and Confused", Mannequin, "New Jack City", Dances With Wolves", "Tombstone", "The Doors", Thunder Heart", "Boys in the Hood", "The Matrix", "American History X"

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Matewan
The Godfather
Apocalypse Now
River's Edge

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Dazed and confused.

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We have culture in this country? Where?

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Talladega nights

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Caligula

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"Rubber" lol... ;D

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Network.

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Genuine American Culture was born, flowered, and fizzled-out between, roughly, the late 1950s, and the early 1980s.

Fritz the Cat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fritz_the_Cat_(film)

American Pop
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Pop

Until the latter 1950s, American culture was, largely, a homogenous expression of the newly-created American middle-class living with its unprecedented financial, industrial, and geo-political wealth during the post-WWII boom period of the 40's and 50's. Starting around 1981, American culture has morphed into a widely diverse, often-clumsily expressed amalgam of cultures co-opted from the whole world.

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Mean Girls

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Donnie Darko-The school system
Office space-9 to 5 just sayin
Family guy-
Superbad- The teens.
Stand by me- The 50s
Dazed and Confused-The 60s
Forrest Gump
The Office

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Long Ago and Far Away

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Forrest Gump

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Crash

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Mulan

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Star Wars.

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FIght Club..!!!!

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Anything involving Seth Rogen would do the trick. Which is ironic, considering he is Canadian. I even wrote a small paper about it a few months ago.

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the goonies

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Rancho Deluxe.

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Idoicracy

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hot rod

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Also maybe the Harold and Kumar movies, Borat, Meet the Fockers, Bonfire of the Vanities. I'll need to add some movies mentioned here to my Netflix list.

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Dances with wolves.

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American Beauty

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Brazil, Twelve Monkeys, Memento.... North by Northwest, the Birds....

I think those movies best describe my culture.

And Duplicity, my fav movie.

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Anything by Michael Moore should do the trick.

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It's A Wonderful Life, Back To The Future, Pretty Woman.
And I know you asked for a movie, but The Andy Griffith and Leave it to beaver shows come to mind :)

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1776

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American History X

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Forest Gump. 'Nough said.

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the Sandlot

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Crash might be a good one, many different stories within but you might need to do more than just one movie

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Gummo

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The Century of Self

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American: The Bill Hicks Story

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ROCKY FOUR

http://photos.pixyblog.com/pictorialpress/gen/500/001-055255.jpg

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The Godfather
Citizen Kane
To Kill a Mockingbird
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington
Inherit the Wind
Rebel Without a Cause
American Graffiti
Grapes of Wrath
The Help
Roots

There are many good films that would work.

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Neapolitan Dynamite...

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Crips and Bloods: Made in America.

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The Wire.

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When I was growing up it was "The Simpsons" that educated me on US matters.

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''The Grudge''.

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There will be Blood

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