Poll: Is Great Britain Culturally dead?

[duedmen]

I wouldn't say so I mean Britans still got an amazing music scene a strong movie scene a prideful history. I'd say it's not so much britians culture is dead so much as a lot of cultures absorbed this or that from britan during the period in which it was still the good ol' empire I mean being Canadian most people think we share a strong amount of american culture and this is true media wise but you can see in our roots we've kept quite a bit of our british heritage

 

[SenseOfTumour]

No, its arse.

I mean, yes X Factor is part of our culture, but I know we can do approximately 783 million times better. How did we get to point where karaoke, and shows about antiques/property sales/gardens/DIY replaced most of our quality drama/comedy/documentaries. I'd honestly prefer repeats of old sitcoms to about 95% of TV output on the main 4 channels, but the licence fee is still worth it for the 5% that I like.

That reason is also why we shouldn't take complaints too seriously, as if you don't like late night offensive comedy, why are you tuning into it, when you've got another 50 or so freeview channels, there's quite enough TV made for everyone to enjoy something.

I guess what I'm saying is I don't think X Factor should be held up as something to be proud of, if it makes enough money to fund making some good TV that won't be popular, I'll let it live. (letting Cowell live is another question)

 

[Jamash]

I can understand why some people of school age may think that Britain is culturally dead, indeed it may appear to be from their restricted point of view, but they would be wrong and need to grow up, travel the country and live a little.

Great Britain is far from culturally dead, but a lot of it's culture may not be easily accessible to those without financial independence, their own transport or matured tastes.

 

[BlueberryMUNCH]

Er...Isn't it the exact opposite?! Maybe the other team was better at debating, but seriously, we are more Culturally rich than ever before, in my opinion. Sure, maybe 'the masses' don't enjoy theatre or classic novels, but a massive number still do. Besides, times change; what is 'culture'?
We are more Culturally diverse than ever before, and people indulge in many other activities since they simply can't afford typically 'upper class' activities.

Our music scene is in a Golden Age right now in my opinion; we are producing some of the finest Hardcore, Grime, and Dance music on the planet.

But as a fellow 'Escapian' [love it;D] said earlier, Culture isn't just the fine arts. Culture is everything. And bloody hell, I'll be damned to say we don't have everything on this Island>:].

...Okay, yeah, don't take that literally. You know what I mean.
But really, people must be really close-minded to think Culture is dead in Britain. That's what I think, anyway.

 

[hudsonzero]

I think you might have been reading the daily mail to much.

 

[El Poncho]

That reason is also why we shouldn't take complaints too seriously, as if you don't like late night offensive comedy

That reminds me, Frankie Boyles new show is on tonight, lets see how long it lasts!

I'd say we culture, some of it is bad and some is good. I think we have a great comedy circuit for example.

 

[PowRightInTheKisser]

in terms of patriotism and such, that other countries have in bucket loads, we are dead. or dying.

Don't confuse patriotism with jingoism...

mostly cos we are made to feel guilty for things that happened in the past. not just by ourselves. have you ever gone to a foreign country and had them judge you negatively purely cos you are british. i have been many times

I've never been made to feel guilty abroad because of actions in Britain's past...unless you mean the football hooliganism of the 70s and 80s, that seems to be one perception of the British that doesn't seem to have died down. Although I still wouldn't say I was made to feel guilty about it.

i didnt confuse patriotism with jingoism. i havnt met many brits who are proud to be british. of the few i have met they are guilty of jingoism. and just because you've never been made to feel guilty about being british doesnt mean it doesnt happen. it just does't happen to you.

and besides who are you to critique my experiences? i havnt seen you post on this topic. unless its to criticise someone elses post. but then who am i to criticise your decision to criticise others

/hipocrisy

 

[DonMartin]

That is all.

 

[omega 616]

I don't know, whats Culture? If you mean like films and paintings, I have no idea. I don't follow the art and film scene 'cos I finding it boring as hell (and art is really piss poor these days, a loop of David Beckham sleeping is NOT art, it's god awful).

If you mean our drinking culture, no that's very much in over drive! Our drug culture is healthy as an ox! The knobs who abuse both are about as cultured as a yogurt.

 

[supermariner]

Britain isn't culturally dead
that's practically impossible
it's just changed a lot in recent decades

as far as i'm concerned we're culturally the same in terms of media
comedy has always been our forte
and our newspapers are as hilariously biased as they've ever been

 

[GeorgW]

It's not dead. The whole world suffers from growing internationalism, and that's a good thing IMO. Britain still has a hell of a lot more of its culture intact than the rest of Europe.

 

[alexjones89]

this question can't be answered with a yes or a no.

 

[MelasZepheos_v1legacy]

Britain has culture, and plenty of it. I don't quite see where you'd get the idea that it doesn't. It might help if you defined culture for us.

I think it can mean so many different things, but from where I can see we have a lot of up and comic and already famous and established musicians, we have a film industry that might not exactly be the thriving metropolis of Hollywood but is putting out some pretty decent to excellent films, and British indpendent films have been going from strength to strength, and we have some of the best writers as far as I'm concerned (though Ireland still has a monopoly on my two favouritest.)

And we have a lot of immigration, which helps to contribute other cultures culture to our culture (overuse of the word culture there, sorry.) I saw a brilliant dance troupe out a couple of weeks ago, doing some sort of Balinese (they had a sign up) dance routine in the middle of the university.

 

[wooty]

I still think Britain has a culture, it just seems a shame that it now mostly consists of crap talent shows, celebrity stalking and knife crime.

 

[Ham_authority95]

Today (30/11/10) at school the debating society put on an interesting debate: This house believes that Britain is Culturally dead. Now I went to this debate thinking that after some brief resistance the proposition would gain a landslide victory; I was very much surprised when they lost.

Aside from the personal insults the opposition used, there argument was weak and consisted of countering the first proposition speakers speech and not much else. I just wanted to see what the fellow Escapians (is that how you say it?) thought on this matter and whether they agree with the decision of the vote.

What does "culturally dead" mean? And what is "British" culture, anyhow? These are questions you need to ask yourself.

For all I know, "culturally dead" to you, could mean that an older culture has gone 6 feet under...

(I don't live in the UK, so the above is all the insight I can really provide)

 

[Geekosaurus]

Maybe 'culture' is defined by the people viewing it. So if you say that somewhere is culturally dead then perhaps you are culturally dead. It is what you make of it.

 

[Snake Plissken]

Man, I really hope so. Maybe then all you limeys will quit picking on us Americans for being fat,lazy rednecks.

 

[The Ambrosian]

Today (30/11/10) at school the debating society put on an interesting debate: This house believes that Britain is Culturally dead. Now I went to this debate thinking that after some brief resistance the proposition would gain a landslide victory; I was very much surprised when they lost.

Aside from the personal insults the opposition used, there argument was weak and consisted of countering the first proposition speakers speech and not much else. I just wanted to see what the fellow Escapians (is that how you say it?) thought on this matter and whether they agree with the decision of the vote.

The term is 'Escapists'. A person on this site is known as 'an Escapist'.

I'll probably come across wrong but: there isn't a correct term, and even so it's only a joke, i've heard people say things like "People of Escapia" and many other similar things, i've seen threads about different things to call people on the Escapist as well.

OT: Meh, kinda. Some things are, some thing aren't.

 

[credop]

I'm British and i have to say no and yes.

It's difficult, old fashioned culture has deterited but not gone. However a new form of culture has arose. Just because it's new doesn't mean it isn't British or Cultural. I think you need to look at your definition and argue if British Tradition has gone rather than culture.

EITHER WAY.

I love to be british and so: What ho'! May we play polo among the quarters?.
Steroetype: Yes.
Loving it: Yes.

Do you love to be english or british?

Culture is always there it just depends on how many people are looking for it. I imagine in the forum there were always philosophers complaining about how culture was dead now.

I'm not sure. I feel saying just ENGL-ish is ignorant rather than British, but i prefer the old fashioned English ways rather than Welsh, Scottish, or Northern Irish.

So it's a complicated mix and i prefer to say British.

 

[Atmos Duality]

They still seem quite distinct even compared to my own country.

So no, I don't think Great Britain is culturally dead.