On New Year's Eve I spent time hanging out with friends waiting to watch the ball drop. We were playing the famous childhood game Apples to Apples and the word that we were describing was "American." The cards played included words from "motorcycles,"to "George Washington" and "Abraham Lincoln." Yet the winning description of American was the card that read "Super Bowl."Now Apples to Apples isn't a game with correct answers, because one of the players is the judge who chooses which word he or she thinks goes best. I found it interesting that football beat out two of the United States' most famous presidents... How is that possible?
I probably would have chosen the Super Bowl if I had been the judge, too and that got me thinking about America's image. Even though Apples to Apples is sometimes more about picking the funny answer than the true answer, I still think that football over presidents might reflect badly. Pop culture over government...
Carolyn! What a fun way to celebrate your New Years ;) Wish I could have been there! I love this game. You are correct, there is no "right" or "wrong" answer in this game. In fact, maybe Super Bowl and George Washington are BOTH right. I believe there is no way to measure which is more american than the other. Rather, they both fit into the same category. Just as the title says, you are comparing APPLES TO APPLES. They are the same thing, in the same category. Yet people notice different things about them. In the game, people see the same thing differently! Just why someone might have chosen Super Bowl over George Washington.
ReplyDeleteCarolyn and Sarah,
ReplyDeleteFirst of all I definitely agree with you guys about Apples to Apples- it is an amazing game. While I think that it is true that some of the choices might be personal, Carolyn-you said that you would have picked the Superbowl too and I agree. I think that there is a pattern in our society to associate the American image, not with democracy or politics but to the pop culture and traditional ideals. When I think of representations of America, football, baseball and the Fourth of July come to mind. Although I believe that much of the game of Apples to Apples is personal, I believe that as a society we tend to associate America with the more pop culture aspects over politics.