Has America lost its monopoly on cool? The Opinion culture editor Nadja Spiegelman joins the American expats and authors W. David Marx and Euny Hong to discuss how the world views U.S. culture and whether its cultural exports still have the lasting impact they used to.
This episode is part of “The New World Disorder,” a series exploring the disintegration of the postwar international system and how countries are adjusting as America steps aside.
Below is a transcript of an episode of “The Opinions.” We recommend listening to it in its original form for the full effect. You can do so using the player above or on the NYTimes app, Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, YouTube, iHeartRadio or wherever you get your podcasts.
The transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
Nadja Spiegelman: American culture has been globally dominant for decades: Hollywood, bluejeans, jazz, hip-hop. How is that culture faring in a time of so much global disruption? And how has the rest of the world realigned while we were busy thinking about ourselves? I invited the writers W. David Marx, the author of “Blank Space: A Cultural History of the Twenty-First Century,” and Euny Hong, the author of “The Birth of Korean Cool: How One Nation Is Conquering the World Through Pop Culture,” to talk about American cultural soft power and its impact around the world.
Welcome, Euny and David. Thank you so much for joining me.
Euny Hong: Hi.
W. David Marx: How are you? Thank you for having us.
