World's Cultural Capital

[monolith94]

Andy Warhol and Lichtenstein = ARTISTIC GODS!!!

[GePap]

Well, Markus, look what city is winning!

Real Lufe isn't civ3 people: cuture does not build up, it does not accumulate: it must be made constantly, it is about vibracy and life, not abou staid and fossilized remains. Take Vienna: incredible churches, museums, palaces, Operas and so forth, and yet, much of it has an old, worn, has been quality, a city living on past glories, not present ones. It still is a great city of culture, as it does have great Philarmonics and Operas, and is the modern music capitol of Austria, but there still is some life missing. Vnice is the same: a living museaum piece, admired yes, but whats the last thing to come out of Venice?

As for the pop. culture and LA thing......

NYC is the birthplace of US pop. culture- it was in NY that Jazz was transformed from a local to a national music, it was in the NY area that film begun, and TV as well. Mor eimportantly, it was in NY that American advertisement, the life blood of pop. culture, begun, and it is still the unquestioned capitol of adverisement. Pop. Culture is produced in LA, but its financed from NYC. The director is in LA, the owners, who make the decisions, they live in NY. It was in NY that countless immigrants mixed their culture with American culture: pop culture is a mix, a stew of influences from all parts of the US, and abroad, and it is in NY that this takes, place, or at least, it is NY that makes it possible, thorugh its patronship.

NY may not have many ancient building, except a few we brought stone by stone, but it can not be surpassed, (though perhaps equalled) as a repository of world art treasures. It has some of the greatest and most important cultural institutions in the world.

NY has dozens upon dozens of newspapers in 20 plus languages, and countless stores feeding the cultural needs of 40 plus nationalities. You can go to the Polish parade, then the Hispanic, then the Italian, then the Chinese, then the German, then the irish, then the Dominica, or Puerto Rican, or Colombian, or mexica parades. You can enjoy chinese new year in china town, the go see Bollywood starts in Nassua county, there to entertain the Indian disapora, then eat Korean food at Koreatown, or Japanese, or thai, or actually, whatever cuisine that exists in the world. Eating cannolis in Mulberry street, and then turnign a corner and seeing a McDonalds sign in chinese is a real eye-opener.

To me, the proof is simple: If you work in the world of:
Music, film, TV, fashion, advertisement, theater;
If you are a painter, sculptor, a composser or musician, a producer, actor, an academic, an art critic, architect;
If you own a company that produces art, a company that stages art, a collector of art, a collector of pop culture;
What city do all these individual have an equal need to visit, in which city could they all find what they seek and more? In what city can a person of any state go and actully survive, if you find the right neigbohood, without ever speaking anything other than your own native toungue? In Paris? perhaps, in Calcutta? No

Answer: in NYC.

[Japher]

If I have to pick one city that influences world culture I would be hard pressed, but I would have to go with LA. This is only because LA has been more able to spread it's culture world wide through movies and the related industries. I want to point out, as others have, that it is not the content of the movie that is indicative of the culture, yet it is the industry of movie making, the creation of icons, and the propogation of the stardom popularity that is flexed by LA making these movies.

I do, however, believe that selecting a cultural capitol of the world is rather difficult. San Francisco Bay Area has a lot of cultures that intertwine through out the area, yet I am sure other cities do as well. Paris though? I have not been to Paris in over 5 years, and I still do not feel any cultural influence from France at all. Tokyo? Sydney? It is hard for me to say seeing how I was born in raised in Cali.

[Kontiki]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov

I think NY is still the winner here. Cities around the world strive to be like NY more than any other town. It is held as the quintessential metropolis, where art, theater, film, literature, etc. all thrive in a very small geographic area. There is a reason why, moreso than any other city, NY is the setting in books, TV, and films.

While true, it is also valuable to remember that New York has and continues to strive to be like London. Granted, NY has passed London in much of the grandeur, but culturally, as in theatre, literature, etc, there is a huge amount of emulation on the part of NY.

[SpencerH]

GePap

all those things are also present in London

[Kontiki]

Originally posted by Switch
Toronto, Ontario.

It is THE most multicultural city in the world.
And some of you might like it even more.....second largest gay population, next to San Francisco.

Or am I going by the wrong definition of culture?

I think you are going by the wrong definition. Even still, Toronto is a cultural crap-hole. I know - I live there. For Canadian cities, Montreal has an infinitely greater amount of culture than Toronto.

[Datajack Franit]

Andy Warhol and Lichtenstein = ARTISTIC GODS!!!

Have you been sniffing fungus recently?

[GePap]

Originally posted by SpencerH
GePap

all those things are also present in London

What, being the advertisement capital of the world? how can that be in London as well?

I would place London above Paris as a cultural capitol, but, as the US, not England, is the worlds current cultural dynamo, and has been since 1945 or before, then the city that is most vital to that dynamo, is the cultural capitol, and that is NY.

Heck, it was even NY that invented the 'ammusement park' at Conney Island, it was the NY area that first had highways and parkways and so forth, hell, NY was the first city to have suburbs.

I think what many people are forgetting is that NY is not only manhattan: 2 major American cities and 40 other towns were joined into NYC in 1898, and many other towns, and even cities with their own culture (for example, the cathedral of Newark is though by most critics, to have the greatest stained galss windows in the world after chartres, which is seen as the absolute benchmark) all gravitate around the 800 pound gorrila that is NYC. Heck, NYC is the biggest city of the Western world for a reason (except if you count Tokyo-Yokahama as part of 'the west')

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by GePap


What, being the advertisement capital of the world? how can that be in London as well?

Well, I wasnt including advertising with 'culture'.

I would place London above Paris as a cultural capitol, but, as the US, not England, is the worlds current cultural dynamo, and has been since 1945 or before, then the city that is most vital to that dynamo, is the cultural capitol, and that is NY.

Heck, it was even NY that invented the 'ammusement park' at Conney Island, it was the NY area that first had highways and parkways and so forth, hell, NY was the first city to have suburbs.

I think what many people are forgetting is that NY is not only manhattan: 2 major American cities and 40 other towns were joined into NYC in 1898, and many other towns, and even cities with their own culture (for example, the cathedral of Newark is though by most critics, to have the greatest stained galss windows in the world after chartres, which is seen as the absolute benchmark) all gravitate around the 800 pound gorrila that is NYC. Heck, NYC is the biggest city of the Western world for a reason (except if you count Tokyo-Yokahama as part of 'the west')

As with Boris, spoken like a true NYorker.

I wonder where the Euros are?

[Boris Godunov]

How would they know, considering there has never been an accurate census, what the gay population of any city is? I find it hard to believe Toronto has a larger gay population than New York.

[muxec]

Odessa, Ukr

[Boris Godunov]

Originally posted by SpencerH

As with Boris, spoken like a true NYorker.

So instead of discussing, you just dismiss anyone's opinion if they live in New York? Give me a break, that's lame. In that light, let me tell you what I think in general of the views of Alabamans (and I lived there once, too).

I'm not a native New Yorker anyway, and neither is GePap. I believed NYC was the greatest city in the world before I moved here, and that in fact is WHY I moved here.

[Ethelred]

Originally posted by GePap
Heck, NYC is the biggest city of the Western world for a reason (except if you count Tokyo-Yokahama as part of 'the west')

New York NY 8,008,278

Ciudad de México 8,605,239

Mexico City is larger than New York.

If you go with the idea of metropolitan areas rather than actual cities then New York is larger.

1 Tokyo, Japan 28 million
2 New York City, United States 20.1 million
3 Mexico City, Mexico 18.1 million
4 Mumbai, India (Bombay) 18 million
5 Sao Paulo, Brazil 17.7 million
6 Los Angeles, United States 15.8 million
7 Shanghai, China 14.2 million
8 Lagos, Nigeria 13.5 million
9 Kolkata, India (Calcutta) 12.9 million
10 Buenos Aires, Argentina 12.5 million

[SpencerH]

Originally posted by Boris Godunov

So instead of discussing, you just dismiss anyone's opinion if they live in New York? Give me a break, that's lame. In that light, let me tell you what I think in general of the views of Alabamans (and I lived there once, too).

I'm not a native New Yorker anyway, and neither is GePap. I believed NYC was the greatest city in the world before I moved here, and that in fact is WHY I moved here.

What is there to discuss? I dont dismiss your arguments, we simply dont agree. We're not discussing whether NY is the worlds greatest city (where youd have a better argument IMO), but whether its the worlds cultural capital. Given that (per usual) there are no definitions as to what we mean by "culture", and the enormous scope of that topic, its unlikely that there will be any consensus. SO why bother to argue about it?

PS I'm not an Alabaman or even an American and I've lived in more cities in North America and Europe than I care to count.

[RGBVideo]

Timbuctu, Mali.