American Cool

Don't worry, I'm still going to talk about China.

I don't like violent movies, but Quentin Tarantino's movies violence perks my interest.  He always shows how to kill with style.

But there's only one clip I want to talk about.  Take a look.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik-RsDGPI5Y

A little background.  Uma Thurman is a narc dealer's wife, and John Travolta is the same narc dealer's minion.  The narc dealer tells Travolta to show Thurman a good time.  Travolta is careful not to overstep his limits, and Thurman wants a little perk in the evening.  They have somewhat awkward dinner conversation, and Thurman spontaneously was Travolta to dance in a competition.

If a non-American watched only this clip, one would instantly know this is American.  Why?

Aside from the 50's music and diner, notice these are 90's people dancing to 50's music.  They're so serious about exuding a sense of cool.  This dance exudes a certain allure and confidence: "I'm so cool because I'm dancing to the beat and dancing to the dorkiest style music, but I'm not smiling because I'm still cooler than you."

The American can always take a style and transform it something else.  American art looks at a style from the past, and says screw it, I can do better.

American cool is neurotic and dangerous towards the past.  It impulsively reinvents, accepts and rejects the past.  A young country doesn't have to feel to guilty about how it chooses to interpret it's cultural history.

An old country like China is horrendously careful what it chooses how to express it's culture.   Let's revisit the 2008 Olympics.  I highly doubt Hu Jintao would have jumped off a helicopter to warm up the crowd.

But why can't the Chinese make fun of its own culture once in a while?