God is an American
William Tuckley Byrne is a second year Politics and International Relations student.
Introduction
Music is never mere artistic expression. It provides a unique preview into the spirit of the times that academic study can miss. As a journal of international affairs, what is it that art can do for our understanding of world politics? Crafted in the wake of the so-called ‘End of History’ (Fukuyama, 1989), Bowie’s electronic track I’m Afraid of Americans sought to satirise the homogenization of American mass culture. Johnny, a British tourist, experiences the fear this inculcates in him first hand. How useful is this work for understanding the Anglo-American relationship? Here, I argue it is as salient as ever for understanding this relationship and the continued hegemony of the US in the UK politically and culturally.
Political aspects
Politically, the track gives insight into the subordinate nature of the UK on the global stage. As Mearsheimer observes, following WW2 the British had to accept a more minor role in checking the Soviet threat when it became clear ‘only the United States was powerful enough to assume that demanding task’ (Mearsheimer, 2001, p.328). This extends up through the end of the Cold War, as ‘the United States had grown so powerful with regard to the rest of the world’ to become essentially the only great power (Fukuyama, 2006). While no longer the only great power, it is still clear even today of the political superiority of the US over the UK. It is impossible to imagine the UK directly opposing any major policy move by the US, in fact there are cases where the UK directly caved into pressure from its counterpart to go through with a specific act, as with the Huawei ban (Helm, 2020).
The role fear plays in the song’s lyrics and music video portray this powerfully. The British Johnny figure capitulates, “I’m afraid I can’t help it” in reference to his fear of the American. Bowie’s portrayal of this figure in the music video goes even further, fleeing at the sight of the symbol of the American in Nine Inch Nails Trent Reznor. There is a helplessness to this relationship, a total and abject despair over the weakness of the British will.
Cultural aspects
Culturally the case is all the clearer. It is well known that the American style culture war has been exported far beyond its own shores to plague so much of Western politics today. Yet beyond this, so much of the British psyche has been Americanised (Asgard, 2024). From the TV shows we watch to the food we eat, to the lingo we use in everyday conversation, it is clear the “special relationship” is far more one-sided than the raging British nationalist would ever wish for. We live in an era of globalisation, of unprecedented technological advancement. America, as the hub of the highest form of capitalist consumerism, dominates this.
The aspects of cultural dominance are central to Bowie’s track. It is noted that the impetus behind the song came when he was travelling in Java, and saw the first McDonalds open there, ‘the invasion by any homogenised culture is so depressing’ he said, ‘the erection of another Disney World’ (Edwards et al, 2020). The lyric: “Johnny combs his hair, and Johnny wants pussy in cars” is especially biting in this sense, as it exemplifies the overrunning of this emblematic Brit by an unstoppable cultural force, one of the driving forces of which is the sexual image of the new American dream. The piece is almost tragically humorous in this regard, with the incredibly simple sentences marking out the Americanised Johnny as not just soulless but stupidly so.
What the song points to is that this “fear” the UK holds of America, is not just about political domination, or even cultural domination, but about the withering away of non-American identities from within distinct realms of meaning in the international sphere.
Understanding Bowie today
How does this relate to today? Since the release of the song, these two nations have gone to war in Iraq together, a financial crash, and have waded their ways through the rise of populism. As Trump now sits once again at the wheel of American foreign policy, it is up to the UK at this crucial moment to decide whether God will continue to be, as Johnny believed, “an American.” As Philip Cunliffe argues, to foster true independence from American hegemony in the era of Trump, ‘is to start from within, through a project of national renewal’ (2024). Bowie’s defining mission always involved making self-aware our own identity, today he forces us with this track to ask what our national identity will be at the end of the end of history. Bowie ended up dying in America. Will the UK survive that fate?
Works cited
Asgard, Z. (2024). America has warped our minds. Available at: https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/america-has-warped-our-minds/ (Accessed: 11 November 2024).
Cunliffe, P. (2024). America First leaves Europe Last. Available at: https://unherd.com/2024/11/america-first-leaves-europe-last/ (Accessed: 11 November 2024).
Edwards, G., Weingarten, C.R., Spanos, B., Newman, J., Vozick-Levinson, S., Johnston, M., Doyle, P., Sterling, S., et al. (2020). David Bowie: 30 Essential Songs. Available at: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-lists/david-bowie-best-songs-33438/space-oddity-1969-2-154735/ (Accessed: 11 November 2024).
Fukuyama, F. (1989). ‘The End of History?’, The National Interest 16 (summer), pp. 3-18.
Fukuyama, F. (2006). The Clash of Cultures and American Hegemony. Available at: https://www.the-american-interest.com/2006/09/01/the-clash-of-cultures-and-american-hegemony-2/ (Accessed: 11 November 2024).
Helm, T. (2020). Pressure from Trump led to 5G ban, Britain tells Huawei. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/jul/18/pressure-from-trump-led-to-5g-ban-britain-tells-huawei (Accessed: 11 November 2024).
Mearsheimer, J. (2001). The Tragedy of Great Power Politics. London: W.W. Norton & Company Ltd.
Rivieccio, G. (2021). David Bowie’s “I’m Afraid of Americans”: More Relevant Than Ever. Available at: https://www.culledculture.com/david-bowies-im-afraid-of-americans-more-relevant-than-ever/ (Accessed: 11 November 2024).
