It doesn't mean anything about minds beyond you needing to have one to care about what is seen to be popular in narrative fashions. What we see as being a proper or good story is not something that remains constant over time even within the one place, but is instead subject to change depending on the dominant tropes of a time. Shakespeare was considered partially 'unfit' for centuries in England, after all (so productions cut out the gruesome bits and gave King Lear a happy ending).
For the last decade or so, a large amount of American writing has been overly dependent on the bigger, more disastrous, more unexpected or more shocking twist that the soap opera relies on. It's a fashion, much like Justin Beiber. To my mind it's a problematic one, because the tropes of the soap opera do not lead to good story telling, which is why I wish it was not so pervasive in its influence at the moment.
That said, there are many readers who love that fashion, as the success of books I consider unreadable testifies. For my taste, the fashion of ironic class-based comedy that dominated American writing in the first half of the 20th century, and for massive themes disguised as family dramas in the 19th century are far more enjoyable and lead to stronger story telling. I firmly believe that in 100 years, Little Women will still be a classic and Twilight will have disappeared.
As to religion, there will always be a great range of personal choice, but it is publicly foregrounded in American culture in a way that it just isn't in the rest of the English-speaking world. It's not just that 55% of Americans believe in Creationism, it is the level of religious power in political decision making, from abortion and stem-cell research to the anti-NY 'mosque' movement.
Funnily enough, in fanfic this does not show up as deep discussions on personal faith, instead it usually shows up as American commenters critically zeroing in on any mention of anything religious in a fic even when at a level that is fully supported by the original text.
no subject
For the last decade or so, a large amount of American writing has been overly dependent on the bigger, more disastrous, more unexpected or more shocking twist that the soap opera relies on. It's a fashion, much like Justin Beiber. To my mind it's a problematic one, because the tropes of the soap opera do not lead to good story telling, which is why I wish it was not so pervasive in its influence at the moment.
That said, there are many readers who love that fashion, as the success of books I consider unreadable testifies. For my taste, the fashion of ironic class-based comedy that dominated American writing in the first half of the 20th century, and for massive themes disguised as family dramas in the 19th century are far more enjoyable and lead to stronger story telling. I firmly believe that in 100 years, Little Women will still be a classic and Twilight will have disappeared.
As to religion, there will always be a great range of personal choice, but it is publicly foregrounded in American culture in a way that it just isn't in the rest of the English-speaking world. It's not just that 55% of Americans believe in Creationism, it is the level of religious power in political decision making, from abortion and stem-cell research to the anti-NY 'mosque' movement.
Funnily enough, in fanfic this does not show up as deep discussions on personal faith, instead it usually shows up as American commenters critically zeroing in on any mention of anything religious in a fic even when at a level that is fully supported by the original text.