American Exceptionalism is the notion that the Americans have a distinct and special destiny different from that of other nations and is the single most powerful force in forming the American identity; the identity formed throughout history, aimed at maintaining superiority and aspiring to leadership. This way the Americans have got a sense of mission to fulfill, not only as part of their national identity, but also as an inseparable element of their international role as a leader. But this sense of mission exceeds far beyond the reality that the US administration is the worlds military master who leads wars and manages disputes, eradicates communism and establishes democracy, as part of its hard power.
It farther entails soft power strategies the US administration sincerely follows in the international field of power. As Joseph Nye states, soft power plays a role in the domain of intangible power resources such as culture, values, identity, and institution to get ot hers want what it wants (qtd. in. Evelyn Goh, p. 79). This means bringing unity in others ideas and ideals in line with the American interests. To reach this end first it should persuade others to believe in its difference and superiority, and then have its so-called values distributed all over the world, in order to establish them as the best values for humanity. Through these games of power, then, US administration makes advantage of this national sense of mission to accomplish its international ends.
Exceptionality, as Paul T. McCartney (2004, p. 401) states, emerges two impulses associated with; exemplarism and vindicationism. By exemplarism it is meant that the Americans want to set a model for all others, according to their ideals and values, which are believed to be far superior than the others and also in line with the essential values of mankind. Democracy, for example, is not an American value to which others are unfamiliar or unwilling to accept. However the Americans identify democracy with their own values and virtues and this way try to propagate American democracy all over the world. Vindicationism means to change the world in a way to think and act more and more like the Americans. Others must accept American democracy with its necessary elements, in order to transcend. However, the essence of Exceptionalism is maintaining superiority all over the rest and making them its followers. But the only viable way to achieve this superiority for the Americans is by canonizing their cultural products.
Canonization, primarily the concept of exclusively presenting some works of literature as valuable, is applicable to any other cultural product. Since any cultural product may not find a place in the worlds canon, a tremendously huge investment proj ect is needed for it to gain the membership. In addition, to maintain the membership, the product should have certain characteristics, without which it would turn out to have no values. These characteristics are, according to Harold Bloom (1995, p.3), strangeness and originality added to beauty. To add to the formula he provides for canonicity, I find multi-layered-ness necessary for a cultural product to end up in the canon. Any cultural product having, or at least pretending to have such characteristics will find a place in the international taste and will survive; these are American products, labeled with American values, which should survive to help this country achieve its goal as the worlds leader, with the least costs and injuries.
Cultural products, ranging from American clothing style to American movies, from American foods to American poems, from American advertisements to American music, should have exotic qualities in order to draw attentions, and at the sa me time to reaffirm American values as the best. They should be original in terms of representing American ideas to the audience. The peoples all over the world should find it a novel experience in their lifetimes of dreaming for better, aspiring for solutions and enjoying transcendent feelings.
Beauty is the second element in selling a cultural product to peoples, as canonical. By beauty is meant aesthetic American values. But the yardstick for beauty in the so-called culture industry is not necessarily humane or spiritual. The producers have discovered that by providing colorful pictures of romance, depicting masculine strength and feminine tenderness they would achieve what they are after: attracting audiences all over the world. Even they have come to the conclusion that by mythologizing these aspects they would glue the consumers to what they provide them with.
Finally, any canonical product is to have several layers of meaning and applicability in order to attract the widest range of audiences at the same time. The producers are wise enough not to overlook the issue of cost-effectiveness; i.e. satisfying millions by paying the least and receiving the most. They intimately are aware that to appease the thirst of millions of people with different, and sometimes contending, cultural backgrounds, ideas and ideals, religious beliefs and ideologies, monetary budgets and lifestyles they should offer something of utility; otherwise they will be losers, both commercially and politically.
Having provided all these elements in a cultural product, the producer will assure himself and the whole American system that the product will enter the cultural canon. Then the result would be most satisfying and not only the sense of mission Americans feel is fulfilled, but also the US administration will have others want what it wants, in the most peaceful way.
However a question remains unanswered and that is whether these are achieved so easily? billions of dollars are invested annually, millions of people work hard all the time to provide new ideas, researches are conducted all through continents, and new movements are created and the old ones die recurrently to achieve this end. Hundreds of billion dollars go to American companies annually, hundreds of million people compete to compete hard to achieve the standards, ideas are changed into what the powerful want, and people are drowned in the new movements, for those in power to become more powerful. But the Americans are ignorant of others awareness. Not everybody buys American values today.
References: Bloom, Harold 1995. The Western Canon (New York: McMillan) Goh, Evelyn 2003. Hegemonic Constraints: the implications of 11 September for American power. Australian Journal of International Affairs, 57, 79. McCartney, T. Paul 2004. American Nationalism and U.S. Foreign Policy from September 11 to the Iraq War. Political Sciences Quarterly, 119, 401 .
Author:: Mahshid Mayar
Keywords:: Exceptionalism, cultural product, Canonization, culture industry
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