Us Culture Vs American Culture

The cultural differences between North America and the United Kingdom are more significant than meets the eye, which is excellently displayed through media. There are many series that make a name for themselves in the UK, and then are later adapted into US and Canadian versions. The stereotype is that the original UK versions are always better than the versions produced in the United States; however, this is not always the case. One fantastic example of how sometimes different cultures are better suited for different styles of television is The Office, created by Ricky Gervais, with both a UK and US version. Each series is true to the culture that it was developed in, although statistically speaking, the American version did better with viewership,

Shows like Skins are based around the lives of teens that are sexually active and avid drug users. This sort of honest portrayal of youth is rarely seen among the teen series developed in America. The genre itself is often regarded as dominated by American culture, so shows like Skins present themselves as an honest homage to British youth culture. What does this say about the culture itself? Skins has been referred to as “nihilistic” when compared to the lighthearted American counterparts of its genre (Berridge 785). The difference in the way not only teens, but people in general are depicted between Britain and America may have to do with the history of broadcasting in both countries itself. American sitcoms have, for the most part, been centred around the white, middle-class family. This likely comes from the root of the “American Dream” which has been around for decades. In British television, the American Dream was never an influence. The family dynamic is different, and the youth are viewed as more of a “problem to be addressed and to be educated” (Berridge 788). The Office is not treated any different. Overall many people view the British version as more cynical. The characters have harsher personalities, and less redeeming, relatable qualities. This could be one of the reasons why the American version ran longer than the original British version (Thier). This becomes more

British television series hardly ever run for the length that most typical American television series run for:

American comedy is a producer’s medium, in which an idea is worked up, characters developed and early scripts written, and then the show is handed over to a larger group of writers to flesh out into actual scripts. British comedy is a writer’s medium. The scripts are almost always written and developed by one or two people, then taken to production (BBC