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Culture War Roundup for the week of September 12, 2022

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It has nothing to do with pandering to Africans, who are disproportionately poor and, frankly, have a variety of cultures very different from Americans.

Actual African culture can be pretty incredible. For example, there's a huge country and bluegrass scene in anglophone Subsaharan Africa (sorry about the paywall: https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/whats-behind-africas-love-affair-with-country-music). Other western musical genres have caught on too in odd places; there's a death metal scene in Angola, for example.

Yeah, that was too strong and even contradicts my more ambivalent take on the relationship here

I think it's fair to say that Africans consume American culture like most people in the world, even if, on certain matters, they are very opposed to progressive American mores. But, just as Disney still sells movies to Arab nations cause people will watch it if these things aren't rubbed in their face, Africans will also watch.

But they're still a relatively very small market and, imo, don't really influence Disney and co. that much besides being a place to be mined. IMO you can see this throughout Black Panther; the themes, the casting, even facts about Wakanda (e.g. religion based on ancient Egypt which seems to be more about African-American fascinations with that country rather than the actual religions Africans follow) all give priority to African-American concerns.