The U.S. Culture(s) thread

I guess this is relevant?

What was up with 80s when adult movies, like Terminator and Robo Cop, getting children's merchandise?

I wasn't there, but:

Misaimed Marketing of that sort was caused by the fact that those 80's movies, though dark, were quite Toyetic. Robocop might be an adult movie, but he still makes for a great action figure.

Also, I think people might have had less of an understanding of what was and wasn't appropriate for children. Going back to Robocop, parents would probably ask "How could such a toyetic character not be for kids?" rather than "Why do companies keep making toys for adult movies?"

Also keep in mind that this was in the wake of Star Wars, which made a killing on toys. Hollywood being Hollywood, it's easy to see them saying "those sci-fi movies sold lot of toys to kids, so these sci-fi movies might do the same".

I wonder if that's something to with why the sequel had a kid gangster.

edited 20th Nov '15 5:24:18 PM by Artificius

Have to remember the moral guardians were much stricter back then. There were a lot of things that the half-hour toy commercials like Transformers and He-man couldn't do because it would be considered too violent. Compare a show like SWAT Kats barely a decade later with explosions and shootings and a lot of implied offscreen death, ditto with Batman TAS (though that's a tangent on how rapidly standards evolved, from the soft ban on action cartoons in the 70s after the 60s Hannah Barbera shows like Space Ghost were shut down, to the 80s toy commercials, to full-scale action cartoons in the 90s) but it wasn't the case of people not understanding what was inappropriate for kids.

we had something like that over here... with *shudder* Mary Whitehouse, who hated the BBC and 99% of telly for not being Christian enough, one of the few things she liked was the children's show The Goodies, who were horrified when they found out she liked them

In America, what is some qualification of becoming an adult?

Well, there's becoming a legal adult, to start with.

It's arbitrary bullshit like everywhere else.

"Qualification" as in "criterium"? Well, if memory serves the age of majority thorough the US is 18.

In the US, you are legally an adult when you turn 18.

Age of majority varies by state, usually somewhere from 16 to 21. IIRC, Nebraska's is 19.

Like Balmung said varies by state. I am guessing Balmung is from NE now :P

Here is a collective list of age of majority by state

The whole "age of majority" thing is really complex because it depends on "age of majority for what?" Voting and joining the military it's 18 universally. Sex, 18 is most common but varies from state to state but AFAIK is never higher than 18. Driving again is usually 16 but again varies from state to state. And drinking 21 across the nation. Myself I favor one age, probably 18, all over for everything.

edited 26th Dec '15 11:10:13 AM by tricksterson

I know you can get a hardship license in some places, allowing you to legally drive at like fourteen. But you have to prove "hardship", such as no adult in your family can legally drive you somewhere or something.

Sex is known as "age of consent", usually. Also, my impression is that 16 is actually more common on a per-state basis and always ranges between 16 and 18 in the US with some special rules for special situations (close-in-age exemptions etc.). In Europe, things like 15 and 14 also exist and maybe lower.

@ Tuefel Hunden IV: That I am. And it's not like I've had my location read "Omaha, NE" for most of the time I've been here.

@ Tricksterson: It means the age at which you are considered responsible for the majority of your actions. It's often important in contract law - a contract signed with a minor (someone under the age of majority) is voidable, outside of a few special cases.

Balmung: I would laugh if we bumped into each other and didn't know it. I never trusted the location tags too often for shiggles or old.

Something I always found odd about the US sometimes is our obsession with our presidents. Sometimes it just strikes me as a bit crazy. To the point where merchandising of President themed nick knacks are actually profitable.

For better or for worse, we do require our president or presidential hopefuls to be celebrities every four years. That entails plenty of merch. People will buy Obama bobble heads or Abraham Lincoln decorative plates - no, I don't have one yet - for a variety of reasons from genuine admiration, spur of the moment election fever, or just because having the leader of the nation on a PEZ dispenser tickles their funny bone.

Part of this is that America's national identity (perhaps ironically) is tied fairly closely to its politics. Its government is also almost as old as the nation (unlike most nations, America's only really been under one regime), which feeds into this.

Not much Taylor or Harding merch though.

Oh there is plenty out there if you really want to find it. Mostly for Taylor though. Redbubble.com and café press have you covered there. He had several coins with his mug on it that are valued collector items and his portrait artworks seems to be popular as reproductions, posters, and pins.

Warren G. Harding gets some secondary merch because of a High School with his name and the generic café press nick nacks. Other then that though he does seem to be light on the collectibles.

Publishing obituaries: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Speaker for the Dead comes to mind. (And the ideas in that novel probably came about an outgrowth/projection of this same practice, so...)

leader worship is not a good thing... over here if you had a David Cameron bobblehead you would look at as if you were, at the very least, a bit weird, of course anyone who had Blair merchandise has long since burnt it. Though books of quotes from participially well respected former leaders are seen as acceptable, the most common being Churchill

Plenty of people still respect Blair and his books have popularity. Blair's foreign policy fuck ups don't undo his successes in other areas.

Edit: Nevermind.

edited 20th Jan '16 6:52:18 PM by TotemicHero