Popular
I thought at one time, when I anticipated moving here, that I would get all kinds of insight into Chinese culture by watching CCTV and listening to Chinese radio. More than a year since first coming here, I still couldn't tell a Cui Jun song from any other, and I have watched all of 10 combined minutes of the CCTV melodramas that all seem the same to me, just with different costumes.
I mentioned to Randy that I thought maybe we should start watching, say, the most popular TV show, to help us learn about popular Chinese culture.
"So you want to start watching Prison Break?" he asked me.
And speaking of popular TV shows, a waitress (actually the same woman who told me camping in China was safer than the US) asked me about My Name is Earl, another American show that can be seen here. She wanted to know what kind of accent that was, because she figured it was some sort of American but she had never heard it before. I seriously swelled with national pride explaining the Southern accent to her, pointing out that Jamie Presley's was exaggerated for comic effect. I wanted to tell her that the accent at the same time meant Kentucky Derby and stock car races, bourbon and potcheen, antebellum mansions and trailer parks. That it is either the most comforting or the most irritating accent an American hears. That while it isn't part of my own heritage, it is part of my personal history and I might be happier struggling with that accent than Standard Mandarin. But I didn't go that far, and just reassured her that it was a real form of English spoken by many Americans, just not me.
I mentioned to Randy that I thought maybe we should start watching, say, the most popular TV show, to help us learn about popular Chinese culture.
"So you want to start watching Prison Break?" he asked me.
And speaking of popular TV shows, a waitress (actually the same woman who told me camping in China was safer than the US) asked me about My Name is Earl, another American show that can be seen here. She wanted to know what kind of accent that was, because she figured it was some sort of American but she had never heard it before. I seriously swelled with national pride explaining the Southern accent to her, pointing out that Jamie Presley's was exaggerated for comic effect. I wanted to tell her that the accent at the same time meant Kentucky Derby and stock car races, bourbon and potcheen, antebellum mansions and trailer parks. That it is either the most comforting or the most irritating accent an American hears. That while it isn't part of my own heritage, it is part of my personal history and I might be happier struggling with that accent than Standard Mandarin. But I didn't go that far, and just reassured her that it was a real form of English spoken by many Americans, just not me.
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