You Love Us! Fact.

[Sundae]

You just can't help it.
Of course you can't.

boston.com

Rule Britannia
By Matthew Gilbert
Globe Staff / February 13, 2011

^American Author^

Go ahead, declare your independence. The event will still track you down, it will sidle into your consciousness and heat up like a fever — first an ad for a commemorative mug, then a Lifetime movie, then a People story about the snubbing of Dame Helen Mirren, and finally a live streaming 3-D extravaganza at your local cinema in the early hours of April 29. It will win, the Royal Wedding, no matter how enlightened you are or how steadily you revolt.

And not only will you be looking at Prince William, Kate Middleton, and Westminster Abbey in the coming months, but you’ll be drowning in buzz about “The King’s Speech,’’ Colin Firth, and Christian Bale, favorites at the Oscars in two weeks. Also set to continue the British charge into your mind: The 2012 Summer Olympics, which will be in London and which NBC will no doubt present with an excess of local travelogue and history.

Even American icons will be looking at you with British eyes — and I’m not only thinking of CNN’s reality-star-journalist Piers Morgan, anointed our new Larry King. Young Brit Henry Cavill and dual-citizen Andrew Garfield are slipping into tights as Superman and Spider-Man, respectively, joining Bale’s Batman in a superheroic flight across the pond. About the casting of Cavill, Stephen Colbert recently complained, “His name is Superman, not Smashing-gent’’ and he crashed in Smallville, not “Wee-chestershire.’’

And so it seems we’re undergoing an Anglo-tainment show of force, and many of these invaders — think “Twilight’’ teen idol Robert Pattinson and idol-to-be Alex Pettyfer of “I Am Number Four’’ — have very good teeth indeed. We generally pat ourselves on the back for being the premier global tone-setter, but the current load of imports and our forthcoming obsessions suggest a less limited view. My advice: Surrender and let Britannia rule for a while, let the Danny Boyles and Christopher Nolans and Dame Judi Redgrave Bonham Carters of the world show us wot’s wot.

After all, we have always benefited from our close community with Britain in music, from the Beatles and Rolling Stones to Radiohead and Amy Winehouse. In celebrity culture, Diana is the once and future queen — expect lots of “What Would Diana Think’’ stories in the coming months and gobble them up. And in the movies, Britain has long signified quality (from Daniel Day-Lewis, Jeremy Irons, Emma Thompson, and Helen Mirren back to Greer Garson and Vivien Leigh) and sometimes even money (“Harry Potter’’).

Right now, some of the more interesting and psychodynamic British influence is on TV. In the past decade, we’ve assigned Britain the role of a powerful older sibling by casting Brits as authority figures on reality shows. On “American Idol,’’ Simon Cowell first established the hypnotic effect that a British accent can have in a reality context — and he will continue to do so, when “The X Factor’’ premieres in the fall on Fox. Today the list of powerful reality Brits is long, including foodies Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver, Nigel Lythgoe and Cat Deeley on “So You Think You Can Dance,’’ Len Goodman on “Dancing With the Stars,’’ and Jo Frost, modestly known as TV’s “Supernanny.’’

These people speak — Learn to cook! Don’t baby your kids! Listen to Susan Boyle! — and we the people obey. Turns out that, despite our global reputation for self-righteousness, we’re also ready to be bullied a bit. We know Brits aren’t as compelled as most mainstream American stars to be loved by audiences, so they’re more likely to be honest. That’s probably why “America’s Got Talent’’ judge Morgan won the CNN job when King retired; unlike Ellen DeGeneres, who was almost pathologically nice during her brief judging stint on “American Idol,’’ Morgan is able to ask unpleasant questions of his guests. Think of Ricky Gervais, who brought his British sensibility to bear on the Golden Globe Awards and proved to be much too willing to be disliked by the Hollywood elite. He spoke and the stars cringed; they had hired a tamed bulldog but got a Russell Brand jumping for the jugular. Audiences, meanwhile, cheered.

While we’ve borrowed many of our reality concepts from England, including “Idol.’’ “Dancing With the Stars,’’ and “Big Brother,’’ we have also been looking to the Brits for scripted TV ideas. Since the beginning of the year, we have been in the middle of an importing craze as three shows based on British dramas have premiered: Showtime’s “Shameless,’’ MTV’s “Skins,’’ and Syfy’s “Being Human.’’ There’s something inviting to American producers about these shows, which air here on BBC America, something beyond their proven success in England. The shows, like Gervais’s “The Office’’ before them, flaunt a grimness and an abrasive underside that are invisible on the likes of “90210.’’ They invite audiences into less cushy situations than usual.

While American remakes of “Life on Mars’’ and “Coupling’’ failed, the three newcomers have found niche audiences and, in the case of “Skins’’ and “Shameless,’’ reputations. Both racy shows are as unpretty as last month’s popular “Masterpiece’’ miniseries “Downton Abbey’’ was grand, as they follow the exploits of poorly parented children. Like the reality judges, these series reveal a spikier side of life and don’t soften it with moral uplift. While Showtime’s excellent Matt LeBlanc comedy, “Episodes,’’ is about how Americans water down a British sitcom for a remake, the fact is that MTV’s “Skins’’ and Showtime’s “Shameless’’ remain relatively unscrubbed. Indeed, the American “Skins’’ has lost advertisers over its nonjudgmental portrayals of sex and drug use. And as the drunken, abusive father on “Shameless,’’ William H. Macy has so far refused to romanticize or excuse his character. The guy is harsh.

Hugh Laurie is the Simon Cowell of scripted TV, in that he started an onslaught of Brits in American series. Laurie, like Morgan, Gervais, and Ramsay, is more than willing to push the envelope of likability on “House,’’ as a man for whom insults are a fine art. Likewise Tim Roth on “Lie to Me’’ and Ed Westwick on “Gossip Girl.’’ They’re leading men, but, like Idris Elba and Dominic West from “The Wire’’ before them, they are not the typically handsome and amiable types America seems to foster.

We love the British elegance of “The King’s Speech’’ and “Downton Abbey,’’ for sure, and the Royal Wedding will be all that. The 2012 Summer Olympics will be a lovely sight, too, no doubt. But it’s always fun to have someone around to box your ears every now and then, isn’t it, someone to tell you in no uncertain terms that “you are the weakest link, goodbye.’’

I don't agree with all he said.
I'm not a Royalist myself for example, and I dislike having the 2012 Olmpics compared to the Royal Wedding.
But anyone wanting to come to our street party is welcome...?

There are some perceived positives I take issue with, but I don't intend to pick apart an article which is pro-British.

My idealised opinion is that we are a teeny tiny country geographically but we have a powerhouse of talent. Which just coincidentally share the same languages as the two biggest film-making countries in the world (English is widely spoken across India, and Bollywood films will have English subtitles in rural areas) and that can't harm film distribution.

[glatt]

Yes, we do. But don't get cocky.

[limey]

Originally Posted by glatt

Yes, we do. But don't get cock.

Fixed it fer ya!!

[Happy Monkey]

Originally Posted by Sundae Girl

There are some perceived positives I take issue with, ...

No kidding. I like a lot of British TV (at least the stuff they send over here), but I'd like to box the BBC's ears for the primetime gameshow epidemic.

[Undertoad]

anglophile = about 439,000 results

francophile = About 445,000 results

krautophile = About 205 results. Did you mean: kratovil?

[glatt]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

francophile = About 445,000 results

"Cheese eating surrender monkey" = About 220,000 results

[Trilby]

I'll admit it here and now: I took 19th C. British texts and 19th C. British novel when I was at the University.

I wrote a paper on Mina Harker (Dracula) as metaphor for Britannia.

[DanaC]

Bri: you might enjoy the (hopefully) upcoming audio production of Sheridan Le Fanu's Carmilla (19th century Irish vampire story, about a female vampire, which I think predates Bram Stoker's Dracula).

If it's even half as good as the other horror stories they've done (short stories and novellas mainly) it'll be delightful. Just hoping they manage to get the funding :0

There's some details about the project here

http://www.wefund.co.uk/project/sher...fanus-carmilla

[Pete Zicato]

Originally Posted by DanaC

Carmilla (19th century Irish vampire story, about a female vampire, which I think predates Bram Stoker's Dracula)

A name I recognize not from my reading but from my love of the Castlevania series.