World War 1 isn't called the "War of the Century" for a reason. It was a war that would determine which nation would be the superpower of the 20th century. We all know about the political effects of World War 1 and how it led the rise of the United States as a superpower. There are already many alternate history scenarios of the political effect of a Central Powers victory in World War 1. Politics in nations and the map of the world is often discussed in these alternate history scenarios. However, a less talked about topic that I think should be more talked about would be the cultural effects, specifically pop cultural effects if the Central Powers won World War 1. Today, much of the world's culture is dominated by American culture. Think about it, 90% of the film industry is dominated by Hollywood. Most of the celebrities in pop culture you hear about today are American. Many influential figures are American. A lot of pop cultures in countries around the world are American. Many of the world's most famous companies are American. Many modern music around the world has some American influence in it. American food is extremely world famous, as restaurants such as Mcdonalds and Burger King had made American food such as the hamburger ubiquitous. The point of this thread is, what would pop culture look like if the Central Powers won World War 1? Could American culture rise to dominance? Or would German culture take it's place? Would pop culture as we know it even exist? I can think of several scenarios :

Film : Germany actually once had a film industry that rivaled Hollywood. The German film company UFA even had contracts with with the Hollywood studios Paramount and MGM. Berlin had their own roster of actors and directors that manage to rival Hollywood. Perhaps if Germany won World War 1, the German film industry might have dominated world cinema, overtaking Hollywood, thus changing the world of film as we know it. Another thing we should talk about is the animation industry. As we know, every major Hollywood studio back then had an animation department. The most notable ones are Disney (backed by Universal, Columbia, United Artists, and RKO) and Fleischer (backed by Paramount). During the 30s and 40s, Disney and Fleischer were competing against each other to see who would dominate the animation industry. Disney cartoons had a more artistic feeling, heavily centered on art, animation quality, and storytelling. Although based in the United States, Fleischer cartoons had more of a European influence, heavily influenced by German expressionism and European cinema. Fleischer, for a combination of reason lead to the downfall of the studio, which lead to Paramount firing the Fleischer brothers and taking direct control of the studio and running it until 1967. This left Disney to dominate the animation industry, creating the cliche that cartoons were for kids. This allowed the modern ideas of animation come into fruition which we all know. Cartoons are for kids, cartoons are meant to be fun and goofy. However, had the Central Powers won World War 1, this might have gave Fleischer a better chance to compete with Disney (due to it's popularity in Europe) and may have allowed Fleischer to have an equal footing or even overtake Disney. It was the Disney style that influenced the goofy wacky style of Warner Bros cartoons, MGM cartoons (Tex Avery and Tom and Jerry), as well as Columbia (UPA), 20th Century Fox (Terrytoons), Universal (Walter Lantz), and Depatie Freleng (United Artists). However, if Fleischer was able to compete with Disney or even overtake Disney, cartoons might have been seen as a serious art form, just live action motion pictures. This might as well butterfly away anime as we know it, as anime was heavily influenced by the Disney style of cartoons. This could turn out into completely different cartoons of the 20th and 21st century (goodbye Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network as we know it), with cartoons being treated as a serious art form and influenced by Fleischer's form of animation.

Music : Okay, this is a tough one. It can be said that the classical era of music ended when jazz came into prominence in the 20s, which came from the United States. Jazz directly lead to the development of rock and roll, R&B, rap, hip hop, pop, among many other modern music trends today. Before jazz, it was classical music and military marches that dominated music, such as the works of Beethoven, Mozart, Johann Strauss, Richard Wagner, John Philip Sousa, Edwin Franko Goldman, Kenneth J. Alford, and Herms Niel. Perhaps if the Central Powers won World War 1, this might have made jazz less popular in our timeline or even make jazz not being able to influence music on the rest of the world. However, rag tag music, the predecessor of jazz, was already popular in Europe before World War 1. This is a tough topic that I'm not sure what the outcome would look like if the Central Powers won World War 1.

Food : Another tough one. In our timeline, restaurants such as Mcdonalds and Burger King came into prominence after the United States won World War 2, making it a superpower. This lead to the ubiquity of American food such as the hamburger to be well known across the world, influencing the world. However, American food was already popular around the world even before the United States entered World War 1. Would German food dominated the world in this timeline? Another topic that I'm not sure what the outcome would look like.
 
The more common answer...can be anything as that is chance, there so much butterfies we need a net and even them the impacts would be massive.
 

oberdada

Gone Fishin'
The German movie industry in OTL was highly competitive after WWI due to inflation and therefore favourable exchange rates and extremely low production cost.
Movies made the profits abroad.
When the currency stabilised that advantage was gone, Metropolis was the last movie produced that way and UFA went almost broke over that.
The second blow was the end of silent films few years later.
The advantage of having a much larger home for English language movies can't be butterflied away.
 
USA pop culture is exported to the entire world bevabec they enjoy economic domination over eveeyoev else and have enjoyed it since before ww1 (though it wasn't as clear back then). Even if the Central Powers defeated the Entente the US would have grown to become an economic hegemon.

You need the US to suffer a lot to avoid them having the strongest pop culture.
 
USA pop culture is exported to the entire world bevabec they enjoy economic domination over eveeyoev else and have enjoyed it since before ww1 (though it wasn't as clear back then). Even if the Central Powers defeated the Entente the US would have grown to become an economic hegemon.

You need the US to suffer a lot to avoid them having the strongest pop culture.
Indeed, and that afro-american music would come to have a significant influence on the development of music in the next century was already predicted by none other than world-renowned composer Antonín Dvořák after he had come into contact with black music during his 1892-1895 sojourn in the USA because "In the Negro melodies of America I discover all that is needed for a great and noble school of music".
 
How early did the Central Powers win is the question?

If they want before Russia's Revolution or even after the Febuary Revolution but before the October Revolution, things would become quite different than say a fair bit later on.

As you put it in film, Germany would definitely begin giving Hollywood some potential run for its money, especially since with the social liberals taking power, they are probably not going to be as restrictive as the the school US cinema was. This in turn would cause American film industries to begin changing and probably for rules to loosening up.

However, I disagree on blaming Disney for being responsible for animation being viewed as primarily a children's medium. This was the result of the 1950s and 1960s, where television animation began appearing and because of their cheap quality, only kids were interested in it and therfore that's how the marketing and direction took place into it. Disney was family-friendly, but not exclusively for children. As such, I don't see much changing here unless Germany invests in television animation and to where it starts affecting American profits. This could push Fleischer and Disney and other animation names to have the government provide incentives or financial assistance to keep up for the sake of national pride or something.

Alternately, the potential lack of a Red Scare and with no WW1 to distract the USA, the Progressive Era might not have ended so we'd have a different 1920s that could lead to first amendment protections being applied to films and other mediums (such as comic books) sooner.

There is one massive thing to consider: Disney was a WW1 veteran. While he was an ambulence driver, the experience did change him and the nation as a whole. A US never involved in WW1 would be quite different. Perhaps Disney's work would be different. In my timeline I am making (where one of the changes is the Central Powers managing to win, albeit barely), Disney ends up working for Baum during the latter's last years and it influences Disney later on. He reads the Oz books and other Baum's works to his daughters and his films focus more on "American fairytales" though it expands later on.

As such, it could be possible something similar could happen here if Disney ends up being influenced elsewhere. It could also further differentiate themsevles from Fleischer's works as well, though both could carve their own initial niches. Disney with more flights of fantasy and Fleischer with more actiony stuff.

German literature should also be considered, especially when the space race eventually begins, it would provide fascinating viewpoints.

However, the pop cuture of a non-USSR Russia would also be unique and would shape Germany and the USA.

Music and food are tricky like you mentioned. German immigrants in the USA would maintain more pride in their culture and so I could see more German influence on American cuisine along with a couple other places (especially in Africa if Germany manages to keep their colonies.)

Though the lack of WW2, the Holocaust and so on would also apply massive changes to itself and open up new opportunities.

China is also a big number to consider. Granted by this point, it'd have to overcome the warlord states though without the Communsits as much, the KMT may be able to furhter unite the nation, but I suspect the USA would have to bail them out when Japan gets empire fever and tries to get them.
 
Top