The Best Examples of American Culture (chosen by YOU) 

Part of the challenge is separating ideological or philosophical conceptions of “Americanness” from more literal ones. I tend to favor the more literal approach of seeking manifestations of lived American experiences, as opposed to portrayals of more abstract American “ideals,” or “themes.” Some people might say Star Wars is very American, for example, but I wouldn’t... at least, not by the criteria I’m using here.

When he was calling us smart it was like a 1st grade teacher telling us how we were her favorite class ever

Hating SNL is more American than liking it.

"America and Canada are part of the same culture. It's fine. It's fine." For some reason I needed to hear that. That's such a small profound line, and it makes me feel unity with Canada despite our made up little border.

In terms of modern music depicting modern Americanness, I think Kendrick Lamar's To Pimp A Butterfly fits the bill perfectly.

The Sandlot is super American. The Godfather is also very American, I've even written a paper about it.

I'm a Canadian living in Michigan. I resonate so fully with our countries having a common culture even as we cling desperately to regional distinctives. I love your last line. "America and Canada are part of the same culture. It's fine. IT'S fine."

I think I love earthbound so much because it shows a Japanese interpretation and understanding of America much the same way that Americans interpret Japan over here, which is to say in a shallow and very visual heavy way.

I owe you a huge thanks for making videos like this. Growing up and living in the American midwest if I so much as hinted at the fact that I like American culture I get beat down. Videos like these are pretty much the only place where our culture is appreciated in any way.

I feel like regular show is a quite American pop culture peice as it has so many parodies and criticisms of pop culture

This reminds me of when I was in Japan. There was a kid watching Zootopia in the car.m and it got to the DMV scene. I started laughing uncontrollably and everyone else was confused as to why. I tried explaining it. It didn’t work.

I would say that Red Dead Redemption 2 deserves a spot because it really doesn't rely on it "Western" theme. It feels like a period piece and has fun with a ton of still relevant issues that eventually shaped the modern US. Even it's map is a carefully constructed caricature of America and it's history.

The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius is another show I see as expressing American culture and feels American

I truly love Over the Garden Wall. It really shows the folklore side of America that not many mediums of entertainment tend to focus on. The New England style forests, the old colonist-like clothes, it's all so good. I want to live in that universe.

How about the illustrator Norman Rockwell, he idealized America in his artwork. Also another artist would be Andy Warhol.

I love that you can take apart cultural items like this without straying into the political- very deft analysis all around. Truly an enjoyable video to watch. Awesome work, JJ!

I am so happy folks are still bringing up Over the Garden Wall. I remember watching it when I was a child and really, really liking it. It has so many great themes and is amazing atmospherically.

I would add Gravity Falls as another example of a TV show that feels American.

“We Didn’t Start the Fire” is definitely one of the most American songs that exists 🇺🇸

Even though you mentioned that country music is more regional, one singer I think is very distinctly American is Johnny Cash. Aside from his massive hits like “I Walk the Line” or “Ring of Fire” he made many songs that shed light on American culture and issues in the 1960s-70s such as “Man In Black”, “Singing in Vietnam Talkin’ Blues” and “What is Truth?”. I don’t know of many albums that were more socially aware than his promotion of the issues of American Indians, Prisoners or the downtrodden and poor than Bitter Tears, Man in Black or Live from Folsom Prison. Another good album (and song) which I think also details this well is “Ragged Old Flag” from 1974, which was his reaction to the turmoil of Vietnam and Watergate.

JJ McCollough is a man of the people. I love your audience feedback/follow up videos. As an American, you nailed this video on the head!

My friends and family like to make a big thing out of how different/better Canada is from/than the USA. To which I respond: Minnesota and Alberta (two places I've called home) have more in common than Alberta and Quebec or Minnesota and New York.

Genuine RU-vidrs attract genuine people

Hey JJ. I love all your videos, especially ones like these, because they teach me to look at broader social themes from multiple perspectives. I've never really noticed how the media has forged different definitions of what it means to be American. You did an awesome job explaining it. Love your videos because they make me think constructively. Keep up the great content!

Some slightly newer tracks that I feel distinctly portray certain facets of modern American culture: Father John Misty - "Bored in the USA" Sun Kil Moon - "Pray for Newtown" Arcade Fire - "The Suburbs" Childish Gambino - "This Is America" The Strokes - "Hard to Explain" Kendrick Lamar - "King Kunta" Vince Staples - "Norf Norf" Green Day - "Holiday/Boulevard of Broken Dreams" Lana Del Rey - "God Bless America - And All The Beautiful Women In It" Kanye West - "Who Will Survive America?"

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia is a good show that parodies the idea of American sitcoms. It's also filled with a lot of American stereotypes, so I'd say it is a good representation of American culture.

Come to think of it, John Hughes is one of the most "American" directors I could imagine. Basically all of his movies are based around traditional Midwestern American (or broader American) culture. Based around American families and specifically American teenage culture of the 80s.

Thank you. A much needed JJ video during quarantine.

What a great video! And I think you made good criteria of what could be considering purely "American culture" because everytime I *thought* something could be considered "American" it turned out to be regional (i.e. Appalachian folk). I think you'll find that music (not as much TV shows just based on the fact that TV shows are meant to appeal to a wide variety of individuals in the US) would be better applied to regions of the US (as is the case in Canada I am assuming). These kind of videos are really cool and I'd love to see a comparison between different Canadian cultures compared to one another (i.e. Alberta to Quebec or Newfoundland). You could do the same thing for the US (i.e. Appalachia vs the Deep South or West Coast) as well and it would be just as entertaining. Thanks my favorite simp!

I’m very surprised that Breaking Bad didn’t come up across either video.

Surprised nobody mentioned Charlie Brown

you showed up on my youtube homepage, and i have to say that your content is really entertaining

To Kill a Mockingbird, Total Drama , and especially We Didn’t Start the Fire are all great examples of American culture

Archie comics is pretty American, stereotypes of an average American high school. Riverdale the TV series may get mixed reviews though.

Late to the game, but let me offer up: The Big Lebowski Folsom Prison Blues Law & Order (notwithstanding that there's a British remake).

It would be really cool to have a series of this for every country. Great video JJ!

American Pie is my favorite song of all time! I'm really happy it was recommended. It strikes a cord with me and discusses so many important themes.

A note about Earthbound, I lived 2 doors down from the main translator of that game. The problem with translating that game was the obscene amount of puns that only work in japanese culture and language. Itoi had "dad humor" as he put it. So they heavily adjusted the humor/rewrote whole jokes to try to stick with the main story of the original while also keeping consistent with the humor beats. As a result, the whole thing "feels" more american, even if the references to american pop culture are largely missing. Hope this helps explain it, JJ

I learn so much watching your channel. Awesome

I know I'm a year late, but Joe Pera Talks With You embodies everything I hold dear about America. Especially having grown up in the midwest.

I forgot to comment in the previous video, but the movie: *Top Gun.*

Try reading any book by Hunter S. Thompson! He traveled America in the 60's-70's and wrote a first-person account of really crazy stories relating to themes like the San Fran hippie movement, the Hells Angels, and the 1972 presidential election.

Omg i love Over the Garden Wall!!! One of the best American animated series. Glad you watched it. Elijah Wood did a good job too.

i love over the garden wall, i watch it every year when autumn begins

A movie that didn't get talked about but is steeped in Americana is Sandlot.

I was sort of suprised he didn't mention the Andy Griffith Show

So glad you saw Over the Garden Wall. It is such a charming cartoon that captures the feeling of old Americana folklore.

To Pimp A Butterfly is one of the most American albums i've ever heard and yet, is a collection of vinets of that covers a group not normally scene as the center of American culture, and it does it all amazingly, good kid maad city is also a great runner up from the same artist

I just saw Forest Gump a few weeks ago. My wife was like, "HOW HAVE YOU NOT SEEN FOREST GUMP! We're watching it RIGHT NOW!" I like Parks and Rec so much!

fallout new vegas is one of the best in the fallout series

It’s comforting to hear somebody refer to something from the 90’a as modern after seeing things from my childhood become “retro” recently

It's fine, indeed. We're glad to have America Junior as part of the whole Anglo-North-American cultural stew. Also, thank you -- I binged Over the Garden Wall since watching your video yesterday. I'd never heard of it before.

J.J. I've really enjoyed these American pop culture vids. You should make other cultural ones like "most American foods" or "most American sayings" or "most American moments in history" stuff like that

My family listens to Alices Restaurant every thanksgiving. This is one of my favorite songs, and definitely worthy of being in this list.

JJ I know you often lament that your channel isn't huge, but I love it how it is. The smaller audience keeps your videos intimate, I don't know how to explain this, but it feels like they would be ruined if they got bigger. I love seeing you discuss YOUR interests-- maybe I'm just being selfish!

Didn't expect you to mention Alice's Restuarant, but I've actually used it (along with songs by Phil Ochs and Tom Paxton) in my 10th grade project about Protests to the Vietnam War (I'm living in Poland but went to an American school)

Part of the challenge of defining what is "American" is that it is literally "The United States", and you have 50 of those. Now you can squeeze some of those together, but you still get a case of regionalism. And then you have the overall subcultures of urban, suburban, and rural life. I think it is similar in asking "What is Canadian". What kinds of things do Quebec, Ontario, PEI and Alberta have in common? Frankly I think it is a fluke of history that North America didn't end up like Europe -- I could very easily see the North American continent being carved up into a dozen independent nations through plausible alternate history events.

Hey JJ, do you know Tom Lehrer? Great satirist of the late 50's and 60's, wrote his own songs accompanied only by his piano. He sang about American topics of the time, about current politics and satirised also music trends. I recommend The Vatican Rag, Who's Next and his Christmas medley.

over the garden wall is so good!!! so many good memories from it

From the 1950s, "The Sweet Smell of Success" (movie). From 2016-2018, "Atlanta" (TV show). The first explores the depth of compromise one is able to plumb in order to achieve "making it big"-ness. The second explores the same theme of compromise and how low one will go in order to "survive."

Not sure if others have said this, but the TV shows All In The Family and Good Times are archetypal examples of American culture from the 1970s. Many people regard them as the first unfiltered perspectives of American society on TV. They also inspired a lot of spinoffs and other cultural references even up to today.

“That 70’s Show” is pretty American

Camouflage by Stan Ridgeway gives a really great outlook on American culture. It combines ghost stories, tropes of the Vietnam war, and anti-war sentiment of the 60's and 70's.

Just watched Tiger King, most American documentary ever!

The part when JJ was talking about very American music, I was just thinking of Miley Cyrus's Party in the USA song. XDD

I loved this video. It feels good to know that we have some degree of cultural identity. This video has made me appreciate all these pieces of media so much more!

I think that one of the most American songs is “Take the A Train” by Duke Ellington because it describes on of the most American cities, New York, and how different culture groups of people can go together and see one of the first original American art forms, Jazz

I personally liked Over the Garden Wall because it seemed to represent the very regional New England style culture that I was used to and grew up with. I find that rare as often American cultural representations focus on the South/ Texas/ the Wild West, New York (Just the city and nowhere else in the state) and California.

That simp joke made me giggle like a 12 year old girl and im not even mad XD

I always thought the A-team was pretty American. They were always helping folk who were trying to live the American dream but bad guys somehow tried to stop them.

I think the tv shows Stranger Things and Gravity Falls are great representation of American culture. The character of Spider-Man is super American and I think The Biggest Ball Of Twine In Minnesota by Weird Al is one of the funniest repetitions of a certain type of cultures in America as well

You must do a deep dive into "the office" Its so good. I love the awkward pauses and how the stars will just stare into the camera like "are you seeing this?" when someone does something stupid.

I was very surprised that you didn’t mention Bruce Springsteen’s “born in the USA” which I think have very strong social commentary on the Vietnam war and also the entire ironic situation where this song is so popular on Fourth of July

Though I know it doesn't fit into any category, I would argue Disneyland is one of the most enduring pieces of American culture. The Walt Disney Company's ethos- or at least, it's traditional ethos- is drenched in Americana. You really can't get more American than Walt Disney, and Disneyland, with Main Street USA, Frontierland, New Orleans Square, and Liberty Square (in the Magic Kingdom) are some of the most American *things* I can think of. While all the classic movies are indeed based off of mainly European fairy tales, I'd argue that Disney is a uniquely American phenomenon that has come to define American culture, both at home and abroad. Main Street USA especially is pure, distilled American culture- with references to American stories like Casey At the Bat, American symbols like Barber shop quartets and suffragettes, while it does reference a very specific time in American history, a lot of American identity is still wrapped up in Main Street. As for video games, I'm shocked Bioshock: Infinite didn't get a mention. I think someone also mentioned John Hughes movies, though as a thoroughly American genre overall, what about Road trip movies? The Road Trip Movie is something that, I think, could only really be invented in a country like the United States, because no other country quite has the mix of large size, an intricate highway system, and the car culture that America has.

So, I love anything I can take ownership of as an American. I love talking with people from all around the world about their cultures and what they thing about my culture as an American. As you pointed out in the last video, it's cool because most Americans don't really feel like that have any kind of culture that is uniquely American. Anyways... I feel like an entire series or even a whole channel could even be dedicated to highliting Americanisms and culturally unique American things. If you went on to go more into this in other videos, I would definitely continue to watch, like, and enjoy them. I love American arts, American holiday traditions, American consumerism and it's hand in every aspect of the American life, and of course, uniquely American food, phrases, family dynamics and cultural stigmas about time management and money... The list just goes on. I love America. (side note: I also love other places too. I love the whole world, but America's really cool too.)

Loved this and appreciate the fact a Canadian is bringing to us. I have to take exception with your statement that country music is regional though. Maybe it used to be, but you can find many, many country music fans in all fifty states. Last August, Billboard's top three hits were all country songs. I'm really sad you left country music out. But, it's fine. It's fine.

'Riders on the Storm' by the Doors has an interesting and dark take on the relatively modern American folklore with its themes of the highway and family. Bob Dylan is one of the most American authors out there. "Boyhood" by Richard Linklater depicts life of a young boy in Texas of 2000s and the early 2010s and includes various cultural phenomenons of the era.

Thank you so much for mentioning Twin Peaks. Gotta love David Lynch

I'm late to the conversation, but I've always recommended "Planes, Trains, and Automobiles" to those wanting to know more about American Culture. Geography, weather, forms and availability of transportation, holiday observations, social/economic hierarchies and interactions, class stratification and porosity, family dynamics, employment and labor. It packs a lot and, beneath the comedy, mostly accurate. The bus scene, for example, where everyone starts singing the Flintstones theme, is quite true-to-life, including Steve Martin's initial discomfort in participating.

Dazed and Confused, Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Nebraska, Sideways, Urban Cowboy, Five Easy Pieces, HUD, The Hustler, American Graffiti, Racing with the Moon, Breaking Away

"Sclerotic". Thanks for that addition to my word bank, J.J.!

I must say, you have the best hair on the internet. I like how it keeps changing.

A missed opportunity for the music portion at the end there would have been the mention of The Mighway men. Super specific in it's styling that definitely fits in with the rest here!

Would be cool if you discussed some other forms of media, like most American books. American Gods would be my pick for that one, and maybe also The Stand?

_Alice's Restaurant_ and _American Pie_ are the first ones you mentioned that I really liked. In the latter, I think that the person who "read a book by Marx" was a composite of both Lenin and Lennon.

You should do a few of these episodes on Canada. A few good TV shows I’d say represent Canada pretty well are as follows; The Redgreen show, Corner Gas and Letterkenny

Holy Moly. I was not expecting Over the Garden Wall to end up on this list. Literally nobody ever seems to know this show. It's a freaking gem.

I think spec ops the line is also a good candidate for a distinctly American game as it's themes deal with a lot of controversies and politics around American imperialism and the morally gray use of the military. It also deconstructs a lot of the foundations of modern American shooters like battlefield and call of duty.

JJ: a Canadian simping on American culture

His screen says "don't lick black foxes" in czech and I'm not sure why.

great one!

A little late on this one but _A Long Way From Chicago_ is a book I really enjoyed as a little kid. It painted a vivid picture of rural depression-era America, mainly through its colorful characters, but it contained a lot of references to American customs, traditions, and weird behaviors. It's been a long time since I read it so this might be a case of rose-colored glasses, but I think it's something worth looking at if you're interested in American culture (especially the version of American culture we absorb as children).

16:22 Me as a German trying to talk to Austrians about the same thing 😂

In terms of musical styles jazz and blues are deeply rooted in american culture.

I’ve never heard Pulp Fiction described as a 'crime film'... 2:42 but that’s a very acute description, as every main character is committing a crime and trying to get away with it! 🤩 Amazing movie, btw.

the movie for alice's restaurant is also very good ... i love the part when arlo gets drafted to serve in Vietnam and then pretends like he is crazy to try and get out of his service , but the army only loved him more . It was very anti-war and self aware .

What is the most American pop-culture thing? American Dad! It has American right in the title!

I'd say the most Canadian game is Crosscountry Canada. Full of riveting adventure that would make anyone sweat with excitement.

I've been binging scary movies lately, and I came across the most Americana movie, The Blob from the 80's. It's a must watch.

I think We Didn't Start the Fire is a great "modern American" song that encapsules a lot of events and nuggets of jokes, that if you weren't educated about the things mentioned in the songs, it would be hard to recognize them. Especially since it has been dubbed over so many times with specific years like 2020