Hollywood loves the A-word
Yup. All American.
The word must sit in the lumber room of every
cinema, a set of marquee letters permanently joined up
and ready to be re-winched into place. There it stands each time, gigantic by
day, neon-glowing by night. Like other perennials in movie titles –
“Love” and “Blood” and “Heaven” and
“Murder” and “Return” (as in a thousand sequels) –
“American” has become one of those recurring words in the language
of box-office buttonholing.
Off screen, it is the only nation-word rich and resonant enough to have coined its negative. “Un-American” came into being, in the last century, as if “American” was so proud a boast, so powerful a declaration of intent and idealism, that it had to spawn its opposite, in the same way that God’s existence mandates that of the devil.
Size is part of it. “American” suggests breadth, width and heft: a bigger, more panoramic vision. Composer and crossword geek Stephen Sondheim once noted, brilliantly, that “Cinerama” is an anagram of “American”. Like the C-word, the A-word is sizeist. And of course it is a manifestation of Hollywood trumpet-blowing and national flag-waving. But that doesn’t explain everything. (We don’t see “Indian” cropping up all the time in Bollywood titles.)
One thing the use of “American” will not be is a simple signifier of nationality.
Not as long as Americanism is considered a virtue - and our nation is led by Ugly Americans.
Off screen, it is the only nation-word rich and resonant enough to have coined its negative. “Un-American” came into being, in the last century, as if “American” was so proud a boast, so powerful a declaration of intent and idealism, that it had to spawn its opposite, in the same way that God’s existence mandates that of the devil.
Size is part of it. “American” suggests breadth, width and heft: a bigger, more panoramic vision. Composer and crossword geek Stephen Sondheim once noted, brilliantly, that “Cinerama” is an anagram of “American”. Like the C-word, the A-word is sizeist. And of course it is a manifestation of Hollywood trumpet-blowing and national flag-waving. But that doesn’t explain everything. (We don’t see “Indian” cropping up all the time in Bollywood titles.)
One thing the use of “American” will not be is a simple signifier of nationality.
Not as long as Americanism is considered a virtue - and our nation is led by Ugly Americans.
Posted: Sun - November 11, 2007 at 12:42 PM