American Pop Culture in Prague

One of the first things I noticed upon arriving in Prague was that young people dress like a bad 80s movie, in which wearing massively strange clothing is to be expected. While I wondered why this strange sense of fashion prevailed in a country for far from the U.S., I began to notice that the only sign of the United States besides KFC and McDonalds were huge posters for a Madonna concert coming this summer. This represents the worst of what American culture has to offer and it makes me wonder how much of America’s negative perception overseas is truly due to primacy and how much can simply be chalked up to our pop stars, for whom we are at least partially responsible for because of our constant financial support (through the buying of CDs, books, magazines).