# Do you think \_\_\_ is universal? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 12, 2006, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-___-is-universal/383885 "2006-12-12T22:47:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![According\_to\_Pliny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e7dd6/32.png) [@According\_to\_Pliny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/According_to_Pliny)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-___-is-universal/383885/1 "2006-12-12T22:47:58Z")
I hear these sentiments: Humor is universal Music is universal Film is universal (this is the theme clip shown at all foreign film theaters) But I can’t stand eastern European humor. It relies on polemics, stereotypes, and seems more like stump speeches than jokes. I really cannot take much Tibetan, Indian or Chinese traditional music. Like chalk on the blackboard. And some films should never leave their home country. Do you think there is anything where you can say “\_\_\_ is universal”? What would that be? ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-___-is-universal/383885/2 "2006-12-12T23:16:48Z")
I agree that all three – humor, film and music – have a basic, essentially universal appeal. That said, content will always vary from culture to culture, and other cultures often regard such differences in POV and interest appealing – or less so. Not to mention that a dominant, mainstream culture provides different standards of humorous interest, filmmaking techniques and topics and musical genres than its counterculture(s). That said: Cooking is universal. Art is universal. Storytelling is universal. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-___-is-universal/383885/3 "2006-12-12T23:22:14Z")
I agree with **Askia**. Saying that something is universal doesn’t mean that every specific example of it has universal appeal, but rather that the concept is universal. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-___-is-universal/383885/4 "2006-12-12T23:32:09Z")
[These films](http://www.universalpictures.com/) are Universal. ---
**Author:** ![Malienation](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4af34b/32.png) [@Malienation](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malienation)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-___-is-universal/383885/5 "2006-12-12T23:33:12Z")
Humor is heavily culturally dependent, unless it’s _physical_ comedy. That really is universal. For this reason, although many sucessful American comedies bomb overseas (if they are released there at all), physical comedies do well. Physical comedy isn’t particularly common anymore here in the U.S., but one form can be found on televisions almost everywhere: the Three Stooges. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [December 12, 2006, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-___-is-universal/383885/6 "2006-12-12T23:39:51Z")
[QUOTE=Malienation] Humor is heavily culturally dependent, unless it’s _physical_ comedy. That really is universal. For this reason, although many sucessful American comedies bomb overseas (if they are released there at all), physical comedies do well. Physical comedy isn’t particularly common anymore here in the U.S., but one form can be found on televisions almost everywhere: the Three Stooges. [/QUOTE] Ooooo. Very good point, **Malienation.** I’ll add a less salient point that international action movies – a generic hero versus omnious bad guys and lots of creative fighting sequences and physical action sequences – seem to translate well across cultural barriers, whether the hero is a product of Hollywood, Hong Kong cinema or Bollywood. ---
**Author:** ![bundykala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@bundykala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bundykala)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 9:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-___-is-universal/383885/7 "2006-12-13T09:30:55Z")
No one’s spoken up for music yet? Well, not only is (most) music universal, it’s also timeless. It doesn’t generally get out of date or die of old age. Especially classical stuff. The same can be said for humour, but not all forms. **Malienation** is right about physical humour, that never gets old and can be appreciated by everyone. But the same can’t really be said for films. I mean, practically everyone likes some form of music, and there wouldn’t be a soul on the planet who doesn’t enjoy a good laugh. But I for one don’t think films are universal. They’re wonderful, but not everyone’s cup of tea. ---
**Author:** ![Tanbarkie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a698b9/32.png) [@Tanbarkie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tanbarkie)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-___-is-universal/383885/8 "2006-12-13T15:12:36Z")
[QUOTE=bundykala] No one’s spoken up for music yet? Well, not only is (most) music universal, it’s also timeless. It doesn’t generally get out of date or die of old age. Especially classical stuff. [/QUOTE] Wow. I couldn’t disagree more. While I agree that the concept of music is universal, I think that the appreciation of individual works of music is very subjective, at least as much as film, and is heavily based on the cultural perspective of the listener. Most world music and avant-garde modern electronica is incomprehensible to me, for example, even though I acknowledge that there must be giants in those genres. I simply don’t like them. At the same time, there are lots of people who find the punk and indie rock I do enjoy to be simplistic noise. Who’s to say their opinion is worth more or less than my own? ---
**Author:** ![bundykala](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@bundykala](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bundykala)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2006, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-___-is-universal/383885/9 "2006-12-13T22:14:11Z")
I didn’t necessarily mean all types of music. My opinion (and it is just an opinion) is that while everyone enjoys _some_ form of music and _some_ form of humour, not everyone enjoys films the same way. ---
**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-___-is-universal/383885/10 "2006-12-14T01:41:17Z")
[QUOTE=Tanbarkie] Wow. I couldn’t disagree more. While I agree that the concept of music is universal, I think that the appreciation of individual works of music is very subjective, at least as much as film, and is heavily based on the cultural perspective of the listener. Most world music and avant-garde modern electronica is incomprehensible to me, for example, even though I acknowledge that there must be giants in those genres. I simply don’t like them. At the same time, there are lots of people who find the punk and indie rock I do enjoy to be simplistic noise. Who’s to say their opinion is worth more or less than my own? [/QUOTE] Furthermore, as I learned in a _Math and Music_ course that was otherwise mostly useless, when anthropologists play music that is seemingly-universally acknowledged as having a certain quality to it (say, joyous, or sad) to cultures that are greatly insulated from the cultures that produced it, they do not perceive the same qualities in the music. In fact, they often don’t really appreciate it at all, since it’s so different from their own music. ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-___-is-universal/383885/11 "2006-12-14T02:17:10Z")
Sports. Soccer in particular. ---
**Author:** ![Manatee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/50afbb/32.png) [@Manatee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manatee)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-___-is-universal/383885/12 "2006-12-14T02:32:50Z")
Monsters are universal. Every culture has had 'em, as far as I can tell. ---
**Author:** ![hawksgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ed655f/32.png) [@hawksgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hawksgirl)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-___-is-universal/383885/13 "2006-12-14T02:38:00Z")
Families. Every culture has a system of caring for and rearing of children. ---
**Author:** ![Hippy\_Hollow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hippy_hollow/32/4841_2.png) [@Hippy\_Hollow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hippy_Hollow)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-___-is-universal/383885/14 "2006-12-14T02:46:39Z")
[QUOTE=Askia] Cooking is universal. [/QUOTE] And its closely related cousin, EATING. Everybody loves to eat. I would also add in the experience of pain and loss (too esoteric for the OP) are universals. I also think alcohol, in some form, is part of virtually every culture out there. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-___-is-universal/383885/15 "2006-12-14T03:33:16Z")
[QUOTE=Ellis Dee] Sports. Soccer in particular. [/QUOTE] Eh? Is that the one where you have to bat the ball at something called a “wicket”? ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 8:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-___-is-universal/383885/16 "2006-12-14T08:54:12Z")
The “Piss Shiver”. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2006, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-think-___-is-universal/383885/17 "2006-12-14T09:08:26Z")
Don’t forget sex. Sex is quite universal, as evidenced by the world’s healthy-sized population, although attitudes toward it certainly are not.