In my last posting, Walt Disney, Jimi Hendrix, America, Popular Culture and the World, I presented some fascinating work done by the MIT Media Lab through its Pantheon website. They are using the internet to determine which countries and individuals have the greatest impact on world culture.
In this posting, I wanted to dig deeper and take a look at those countries that have had the greatest impact on the world over the last 100 plus years. You may have created a different list but my choices were: China, United States, United Kingdom and Russia.
The reason I wanted to look at these countries was to see how, each in their own way, had an impact on global culture and what impact they may or may not have had on those who engage in the business and / or practice of play. In particular, I was interested in whose ideas these countries were exporting to the world. In my next posting I will share my take away. In the meantime, take a look and see what strikes you. (Just a note: We may or may not agree with the rankings but it is an interesting place to begin a conversation about culture and the play industry.)
United States
Influencer Occupation Birth Date
- Martin Luther King Jr. Social Activist 1929
- Elvis Presley Musician 1935
- Walt Disney Producer 1901
- Jimi Hendrix Musician 1942
- Andy Warhol Artist 1928
- Bruce Lee Actor 1940
- Bob Dylan Musician 1941
- John Kennedy Politician 1917
- Stanley Kubrick Film Director 1928
- Marlon Brando Actor 1924
United Kingdom
Influencer Occupation Birth Date
- George Orwell Writer 1903
- John Lennon Musician 1940
- Queen Elizabeth Nobleman 1926
- Paul McCartney Musician 1942
- Stephen Hawking Physicist 1942
- Eric Clapton Musician 1945
- George Harrison Musician 1943
- Ringo Starr Musician 1940
- Sean Connery Actor 1930
- Anthony Hopkins Actor 1937
China
Influencer Occupation Birth Date
- Hu Jin Tao Politician 1942
- Deng Xiaoping Politician 1904
- Dalai Lama Religious Figure 1935
- Puyi Politician 1906
- Toshiro Mifune Actor 1920
- Wen Jia Bao Politician 1942
- I.M. Pei Architect 1917
- Jiang Qing Politician 1914
- Jiang Zemin Politician 1926
- Gao Xingjian Writer 1940
Russia
Influencer Occupation Birth Date
- Mikhail Gorbachev Politician 1931
- Leonid Brezhnev Politician 1906
- Boris Yeltsin Politician 1931
- Yuri Andropov Politician 1914
- Dmitri Shostakovich Musician 1906
- Konstantin Chernenko Politician 1911
- Vladimir Putin Politician 1952
- Michail A. Sholokhov Writer 1905
- Vasily Grigoryevich Zaitsev Military 1915
- Yuri Gagarin Astronaut 1934
In my next posting, some thoughts on what we in the play industry can learn from this.