This scene from the HBO series "The Newsroom" critiques the notion that American is the greatest country in the world, but then also plays into that idea of American exceptionalism, saying that America can once again become the greatest country in the world.
It begins with Will McAvoy reciting the answers of the other two characters, which are typical answers before being pushed to the point where he gives his real answer. He then begins a rant pointing out the many shortcomings of America. Something to notice is that in this rant the audience is shocked that he is saying all of this.
But when McAvoy starts to speak about America used to be the best, he starts to play into this ideology. He talks about standing up for things that were right and fighting for moral reasons, yet as we've seen in our class, our history doesn't necessarily show this our history. How is displaying "savages" right or moral? Were the wars we fought out of moral ideals? This ending half of the video very simply shows the idea of exceptionalism stating that American was the greatest, and can once again become the greatest.
To think of your country as greater than all others is Exceptionalism in pure form. Will McAvoy dispels the myth of American Exceptionalism–that America is the greatest country in the world–yet he asserts that it was at one time the greatest, and could be again. He begins to tell his little narrative about what America used to be to explain just why it was so great. He speaks about America standing up for what is "right," fighting and enacting laws for "moral" reasons, sacrificing, loving our neighbors, building big things, exploring the universe, cultivating the worlds greatest economy, and acting like men. How was it that America was able to achieve this greatness? Because we were "informed by great men."
ReplyDeleteThis is a masculine centered view of why America was the greatest country in the world. It is a myth and narrative of "The Greatest Nation" and speaks to the idea that nations are imagined (as great) and created (by men).
I agree with you in the fact that it is important to note how the audience in the clip is shocked by McAvoy’s answer. What he says about America not being as great a nation anymore is not as common a thought as the idea that America is the best nation; therefore definitely showing how American Exceptionalism is still prevalent today. However, I disagree when you say that when McAvoy addresses the point of how America was once the best nation that he plays into the ideology of American Exceptionalism. I see it more that he is instead pointing out how American Exceptionalism is not as true an idea as it was in the past even though it is still a wide-spread idea (as the other speakers and questioner in the clip show). The whole point of McAvoy’s outburst is to show how degraded American culture has become in the past few generations, and therefore to point out that American Exceptionalism is a thing of the past unless we Americans step up and change that.
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