
The Man Who Saw America - aaronbrethorst
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/05/magazine/robert-franks-america.html?x=1
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adventured
"In other countries you don’t feel they’re so proud of their flag"

I always find it fascinating when Europeans point this out. The pride - plenty
of which may now just be mimicry - didn't derive from a flag, it originally
derived from the ideas the flag represented. The flag represented ideals of
liberty to most Americans - that's what people had pride in, the premise that
their country represented something good (and I'm not arguing here whether it
did or not).

The other thing I find interesting about it, in my personal experience, I
rarely run across Europeans online that aren't smug about something or another
they supposedly best America at. Whether it's touting Scandinavia, universal
healthcare, free education, lower crime rates, et al. It's almost a cliche to
see things like: I live in Sweden, and here's why we're better. I see non-stop
pride, arrogance, smugness pouring out of Europe, and I fail to see how it's
any different than the pride Europeans see that Americans have in their flag.

Frank puts his pride on display numerous times in the article, no different
than an American might:

\- "just amazed how well organized everything is, how perfect everything is"

\- "they [the Swiss] have everything they need. They don't believe in wishing
wells."

I mean wow, if that's not boastful pride talking I don't know what is.

~~~
veb
In New Zealand recently, there's been a 'debate' on whether or not we should
change the flag. They've spent... $26 million on this so far, and yeah the
populace is discussing it and such, but the funniest thing I hear most often
is: "who the fuck cares?! it's a flag!"

Probably why they want to change it, to make it more "Kiwi" 'cos right now
it's pretty similar to the Australian flag, and feels more "commonwealth" than
an Independent blah blah boring nation.

I'm still confused as to why Americans love their flag. That said, I don't
think I've ever met anyone who fits the 'non-stop pride, arrogance and
smugness pouring out of Europe' 'cos that sure would be awful. At least the
American flag just breezes around without annoying anyone. Personally, I think
it's nice that people have passion/pride for their nation.

~~~
ams6110
I've never seen any country or people with more pride in their flag than
Denmark. Go to any Danish wedding, birthday, holiday party, anything... the
Danish flag is everywhere. They decorate their Christmas trees with it the way
an American might use tinsel. I've never seen anything like it in America,
except at Independence Day or political campaign functions.

~~~
teddyh
I’ve heard it explained as a remnant of World War II. During the Nazi German
occupation of Denmark, the Danish flag was forbidden. It became a resistance
hobby to sneak in the simple red-white-red colors into anything and
everything, and of course when the war and occupation ended people could
celebrate easily and powerfully simply by having the previously-forbidden
Danish flag draped over absolutely everything, and _this_ is the behavior
which remains – the Danish flag has, by now, become a simple traditional part
of many things, and there no good reason to _remove_ it, so it continues to be
present at every conceivable occasion.

Or so I have been told – I am not a Dane.

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djloche
A question that's been on my mind all day after I read this column: Do you
think this type/quality of photography work is possible to attain such fame
now? The proliferation of cameras in the time since the mid-20th century has
been significant.

I don't doubt that there are quality photos still being taken, however, I
wonder how many significant, impactful collections like this are no longer
being created because the photographer selected their 50-100 best photos from
a trip or project (as best as they could tell on their 13" laptop, and then
uploaded them to their facebook page, flickr, blog, or wherever, saw a few
hundred likes/favs, and then moved on to their next shoot.

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hudibras
I have a copy of _The Americans_ on the table in my office. I can't count the
number of times visitors have idly started flipping through it, only to get
mesmerized and ask to borrow it.

It's an amazing work of art that only gets better with age.

------
tokenadult
This 2009 NPR story about Robert Frank and his book of photographs _The
Americans_ is also interesting:

[http://www.npr.org/2009/02/13/100688154/americans-the-
book-t...](http://www.npr.org/2009/02/13/100688154/americans-the-book-that-
changed-photography)

" _The Americans_ showed a different America than the wholesome,
nonconfrontational photo essays offered in some popular magazines. Frank's
subjects weren't necessarily living the American dream of the 1950s: They were
factory workers in Detroit, transvestites in New York, black passengers on a
segregated trolley in New Orleans. Frank didn't even get much support from the
art world, he recalls.

"'The Museum of Modern Art wouldn't even sell the book,' Frank says. 'But the
younger people caught on.'"

