The Great Return: The Re-Culturalization of White America
An Overview and Visual Analysis of White American Culture in Media.
Many years ago, I was deep into the analysis of a market research project that focused on race. In the process of delving into the analysis, I came across an insight that baffled me so I turned to ask a colleague .
“Do white people see themselves as having no culture?” I asked. His response? “No, they don’t.”
I had never considered the idea of being without a culture to belong or relate to so this concept was difficult to grasp. I also felt that this couldn’t be right. No one has “no culture”. In fact, when American’s visit other counties our culture becomes very apparent and it is only then that we learn that we are perceived as being too “loud” too “smiley” or that we are rude, brash and, for the most part, unworldly.
The truth is, America has many cultures, often regionally based, which can make it difficult to feel like we have a singular, unified way of existing. While the sentiment of being without culture may be coming more from metropolitan cities, I wanted to know what was guiding the way white culture and identity are often overlooked in the US.
This curiosity still exists today we are experiencing a new resurgence of White American culture on our television screens in a way that feels very apparent compared to the past. To begin to understand how white American culture is conceptualized and why, we have to consider the sum of many different inputs, over time.
Establishing the White American Framework
I later learned that the reason many white Americans feel as though they have no culture is because their culture is the norm- the standard from which we all live. White American culture can also feel allusive because of the way Americans value individuality unlike other groups that prioritize community and have more apparent cultural practices.
While most cultures are defined by their collective rituals and traditions, white American culture exists more as an invisible framework that dictates how people are meant to exist within a given society. While other cultures may rely on aspects that provide a sense of connectivity and togetherness such as food, dance, music, language etc., white American culture has primarily focused on establishing, enforcing and monitoring the rules and laws around acceptable decorum and behavior. The framework that White Americans constructed and continue to maintain serves as the backbone from which society is to exist. Deviations from this framework are marked as “other” and often face ostracization or social policing.
This does not mean that white Americans do not have ownable cultural elements, artifacts and behaviors. For a long while, for example, America became unilaterally known for baseball and apple pie. But the ubiquity of white culture can feel invisibly obvious to those who already exist within it and unnatural to those who don’t which may underscore why some white American’s view themselves a “culture-less” when comparing themselves to other groups.
Toni Morrison has used the following metaphor to describe the invisibility of whiteness: it is like the fishbowl that contains both fish and water. Whiteness, in other words, provides the very context for meaning-making. It supplies the norms and categories against which all groups are measured. But the categories of whiteness are invisible as constraint because we keep focusing on what is inside them — the water and the fish, rather than the fish bowl itself. — Audrey Thompson
White American Culture of the Past
The creation of the White American Framework began centuries ago. The US has had, at a minimum, two significant eras where American culture was established and forcefully reinforced. The architects of these moments were majority white American citizens striving to create a central American identity across a very divided nation.
The first era was the Americanization Movement of the early 1900s where America was being forced to deal with 1) an onslaught of immigrants from Europe and Asia, 2) paranoia around American loyalties after WWI and 3) shared existences with Mexicans, former slaves and Native Americans. This prompted a new “America First” movement that put specific rules around language, hygiene, behavior and decorum into place to redefine what an “American” was. During this time period, assimilation and ascendency towards a singular White identity standard became the keys to success.
The post WWII peacetime era of the 1950s spurred a less intrusive Americanization movement but would set the formula from which Americans would model themselves after for decades. The atrocities seen in Germany combined with a rise in American-made innovations served as the foundations for a new wave of American morals and exceptionalism. Additionally, life in America shifted dramatically as access to automobiles and highways allowed white Americans to flee urban centers and live in the suburbs with stay-at-home wives and husbands who became sole providers while maintaining perfectly manicured lawns. Today, owning a home with a white picket fence remains the core of the “American Dream”, even if increasingly inaccessible.
How White Became Basic.
The journey to basic begins with Millennials and how they broke away from convention.
First, the dissatisfaction faced by many Millennials after being lumped into one group caused them to seek ways to differentiate themselves from their peers. They leaned into their ethnicity and heritage and wore it as a badge of honor and distinction which created a doorway to a more inclusive America that celebrated and embraced differences and uniqueness. For many Americans, this also became a way to define their culture more tangibly- by tying themselves to their ancestry. Soon it not only became out of fashion to identify as simply “American” but it decreased one’s own social currency.
Second, social media has had a hand in elevating non-white American cultures as traveling outside the US became increasingly popular and visiting foreign, unknown cities grew to become the norm. Until about a decade ago, the majority of Americans were known to the world as never having owned a passport, but Millennials have actively worked to change this stereotype. The sharing of their experiences on social media made other regions look and feel more interesting and desirable. Eventually, access to lesser-known cities and exotic foods that were not common in the US became the golden ticket to being seen as cool or more interesting.
Something else was also happening around this time- shifts in gender norms & expectations. Women’s movements and record breaking legislation created new lanes of access for women as they grew to be more educated than men and slowly climbed their career ladders. Men on the other hand found themselves in the midst of an identity crisis as definitions of masculinity began to be redefined and toxic behaviors that were once the norm were being called out like never before.
The result of each of these factors has been a rapid depreciation in value of white Americaness and, because American culture revolves around the patriarchy, white American men. For more than a decade, white Americans have felt overlooked and displaced from the mainstream as their way of life was deprioritized in favor of more inclusive narratives and lifestyles. This shift in power and popularity ruffled feathers. When you are a group that is used to being in power, and ascended towards, the idea of being less preferred, or at the bottom of social standing is not easy to accept. It also set the stage for what we are experiencing today — a politically fraught cultural moment of tension and violence as racist ideals and behaviors reemerge from the past to reclaim and reestablish an old version of America.
Media as a Tool of Reclamation
Historically, when new cultures & identities emerge in the US, they are from marginalized groups with little to no power. They wish to exist freely and to be recognized as they are, for who they are, often with a hope of existing in public with little to no harassment, judgement or ostracization. This was true for Black former slaves hoping to matriculate into society, for Chicanos who desired to own and reclaim their Hispanic heritage, and for members of the LGBTQIA+ community hoping to love freely and live life without harassment.
Today’s emerging identity groups, however, are different. Unlike typical marginalized groups who have had to fight for their cultures and identities to be seen and recognized as whole, White Americans have always held the power in the US which is why this current turn of events towards “The Great Return”, has been able to happen so quickly. No where has this been evidenced more than within the media landscape.
From American Eagle to Dunkin Doughnuts, white American culture is attempting to be reestablished through media which historically has served as a key conduit to disseminate and maintain cultural norms, values and expectations. White American culture has been the primary culture on display for centuries until recent years where some of that spotlight was shared with other groups. Despite the fact that white characters, white storylines and white narratives have always dominated the media landscape, we have entered a new era where whiteness and white culture are being recentered by force with the intention of asserting a new, more visible form of superiority. No longer willing to just be the invisible blue print, whiteness is seeking to reclaim its place at the top, and harken back to a time when it was the only form of culture seen, heard and experienced in the public eye.
I explored the evidence of how the media landscape is orchestrating the intentional “Re-culturalization” of White America through movies, films and tv shows. What can be seen overtime is how media was used to uphold the framework of American society which was being actively designed around the real lives of every day Americans. By the 2000s however, only 20 years later, there was a notable shift towards inaccessible extremes and lifestyles that most Americans could never access. The 2010s, the time of peak Millennial diversity, represents the turning point and the moment that whiteness grew to be devalued for the first time. Today, in the 2020s, media is being used to facilitate a return back to the tropes and narratives of the 80s.
Below is a high-level synopsis of each decade, starting from the 1980s, but the full analysis can be found here.
1980s- White Culture: Establishing The Framework + Living The American Dream
During this decade, there was a strict adhereance to the White Cultural Framework which prioritized family and traditional American values. It set the formula for daily living and centered narratives that reflected typical white American existences as it pertained to family, teenage angst and romance.
Most of the narratives that dominated this time period were realistic and highly accessible. Storylines set in fantasy driven contexts were still fairly plausible because they featured everyday people in fictional contexts.
Popular media: The Wonder Years, 16 Candles, When Harry Met Sally, Dirty Dancing, The Terminator, Gremlins, Indiana Jones
1990s- White Culture: Framework Expansion + Emergence Of Everyday Heroes
The 90’s upheld most of the ideals of the 80s, but pushed beyond the family unit to include friendships. Mature teenage dramas emerged and sat alongside narratives that featured the mischievous antics of young boys like Dennis the Menace.
During this decade, multiple cultural themes around heroism emerged and featured, every day, regular people being brave and heroic. New dramas featuring doctors and police officers saving lives, and soldiers willing to die for their country grew in popularity. Action films transformed regular Americans into action heroes to save millions of people.
While some of the narratives were extreme and farfetched, it was still based on real people who didn’t have extraordinary gifts; just tenacity and the willingness to be brave.
Popular media: Seinfeld, My So Called Life, Home Alone, Fight Club, NYPD Blue, ER, Saving Private Ryan, Die Hard, Speed, Armageddon
2000s- White Culture: Elevation Towards Inaccessible Extremes
During this decade we witnessed a shift towards the most inaccessible narratives to date as extremely wealthy, highly intellectual, and supernaturally powerful characters took center stage.
The emergence of reality TV took over the 2000s and highlighted aspects that Americans had never had the privilege of witnessing before- namely wealth. Here we witnessed the rise of the Kardashians while touring the homes and lifestyles of the rich and famous on MTV Cribs. At the same time, the everyday heroes from the previous decade were being replaced with superheroes. To be a hero now meant you’d have to have supernatural abilities.
Popular media: My Super Sweet 16, The Hills, Real Housewives, House, Dexter, Taken, Spiderman, X-men, 300.
2010s- White Culture: A Powerful, Oppressive Force + Framework Rebellion
Media produced during this decade was in response to a new multicultural reality. Here, white characters were shown less often and less favorably as new narratives and hidden stories from marginalized groups became a winning formula. Additionally, the framework that had been established in the past was beginning to crack. Americans were now able to see and witness aspects of American society that were often looked down upon in white culture on the big screen.
During this decade, whiteness grew to have negative associations as narratives featuring white characters in oppressive and corrupt roles flooded the media landscape. Films about Wall Street greed, and the MeToo movement emerged during this time as well as dystopian films featuring white characters as the cause of society’s downfall.
While the needle moved towards more accessible narratives, this decade left a stain on the reputation and perceptions of white Americans.
Popular media: Honey Boo Boo, The Fosters, Bombshell, The Wolf of Wall Street, Birth of a Nation, Black Mirror, The Man in the High Castle, Get Out.
2020s- White Culture Recentered; Reestablishing The Framework
Today, we are seeing a stark reversal from the narratives and themes that were popularized in the 2010s. A new emphasis on small towns and small town culture are working to move associations of American culture away from its coastal (more liberal) cities and into the heart of the country- a space not typically paraded on the global stage.
Narratives centering wealth still exist, especially as disparities between the 1% and regular Americans continue to be a central point of tension in the US. Unlike the past however, audiences are able to see some of the messier sides of life for those with money.
So far, it seems as though we are moving back towards the more accessible and plausible narratives that were popular in the 1980s where the common-man and the everyday family with “good American Christian values” was a central theme in the plot. What the media legacy of the 2020s will be is unknown, but it is safe to assume that white American small town culture is being put on the mainstage.
Popular media: Sweet Magnolias, Virgin River, Landman, 1923, Echo Valley, Dopesick, Reacher, Mare of East Town, Monarch, Your Friends and Neighbors, Hunting Wives, Loot, Succession
