So, I'm curious - is the Alan Ball hatred I see so much of on the net (no, you folks are not alone) based solely on American Beauty and 6FU? Because, if so, I don't quite get it. I didn't think AB lived up to its hype, but I certainly thought a decent night out at the movies. And I find that 6FU is different enough from everything else out there to warrant the attention. Or at least my attention.

I guess I'm confused by the vituperation he seems to inspire. Is it the critical cache vs. the actual result that's being objected to?

Is it the critical cache vs. the actual result that's being objected to?

I think that's a lot of it, for me. t rant I've watched a fair amount of SFU because it had a lot of hype and didn't initially grate on my last nerve like a rusty butter knife wielded by an overly zealous yuppie who's idea of 'deep' is having people be horrible to each other and say 'fuck' a lot...wait, where was I? Ah, yes--SFU ticks me off because it's a depressive insular world filled with petty, pretentious people with limited vocabularies who are all begging for a vicious slap upside the head. If I wanted to watch that I'd watch Married with Children reruns and have done with it. t /rant

Edit: Okay, that came out more vitriolic than I intended (if only by a little). More rationally: Alan Ball gets a lot of praise for subverting the normal happy American-family stereotype, which is all well and good, but it's been done before and done better (as in The Simpsons: the good years to give one obvious example). What gets me is that SFU isn't really a subversion, it's just the opposite side of the same coin, and thus it's just as pat and cliche filled as the original stereotype.

Ah, yes--SFU ticks me off because it's a depressive insular world filled with petty, pretentious people with limited vocabularies who are all begging for a vicious slap upside the head.

Are we talking about SFU or America here? (:

Seriously, though, I've only seen a couple episodes, as I don't have pay cable. Like what I've seen, though. Did like American Beauty, though, although I don't think I see it like everyone else.

Are we talking about SFU or America here? (:

If I was going on your current foreign policy and current 'elected' president, then maybe. :P But, y'know, us Aussies have voted a right wing racist government into power three elections running so I could just as easily be talking about us, really.

us Aussies have voted a right wing racist government into power three elections running so I could just as easily be talking about us, really.

Ah, well, there you are. Generally, people are pretty much fucked up.

Y'know - I sometimes thing Australia is the country culturally most like the U.S. This is a hell of a leap for someone who has never been there but...

Australia and the US are quite alike, culturally. t ducking and running from the Australians who would like to believe this isn't true

Obviously there are some big differences, historically and in terms of which immigrant cultures have had a large impact on the respective countries, etc. But, yeah, they're a lot alike.

Y'know - I sometimes thing Australia is the country culturally most like the U.S.

Lord knows we're the country who's Prime Minister is most interested in the inside of George Dubya's ass. Not that I'm bitter about that, or anything.

we're the country who's Prime Minister is most interested in the inside of George Dubya's ass.

That's saying a lot, too.

Obviously there are some big differences, historically and in terms of which immigrant cultures have had a large impact on the respective countries, etc. But, yeah, they're a lot alike.

I think the biggest difference would be the religious aspect. We're a predominately Anglican in theory (I think that's what the last census said), but I think it's more of a lip-service aspect of our culture than it is in large sections of the US. t /ill-informed theorizing. We worship sport far more than any religion, either way.

But there is a high level of cultural saturation. I remember that America was definitely the first other country I was aware of, when I was younger, though it was more of a gradual realisation involving the pictures of NY I saw on Sesame Street and knowing that they were from a 'different country' even if I thought I could just hop in the car and get there soonish. I remember American politics, ie the first Gulf-war, as one of the first things I reacted to on the news, (or first thing that wasn't the news-reader's pretty curly hair, anyway) The first election I remember anything about was Bush senior running against Clinton, (was he running against Clinton, or was he just the incumbent supporting the next Republican nominee? I can't remember) and my dad had to explain to me that it wasn't actually our election.

Overall, I'd say we probably see ourselves as more like the Americans, in terms of 'world-view' than even British, at this point.

Edited to sound less...something.