Why must America change it?

Question

How comes everytime something British goes over to America, it's changed? For example harry potter and the philsopher's stone, telly tubbies, the office etc etc

They completely changed the cast of the office for American actors and changed the storyline so that it's 'relvant' to Americans'. It's not the office then if it's a different cast!!!! I watch American programs all the time and i can get the drift 99.9% of the time to their references. Why cant it stay as it is? Is it that hard to understang what's happening/accents?

Then why don't they change tv over here for us? It took me ages to work out who Martha Stewart (though i am still unsure i think she's some sort of jail bird who was once a homemakerish type person...) is and i often hear references that go straight over my head!

Telly tubbies was supposedly dubbed and they got rid of the narrator man.
Harry potter became Harry Potter and the Sorceror's stone.

I would give better examples but i have not been to America to experience the joy of cable tv!

Millions of people over here and the world watch American movies, and comedies, and dramas and read the books. Don't you as a American find it offesive that who ever is in charge thinks you're too thick to understand what's going on so have to spell it out to you? For example:I and us British understand the program friends though their lifestyle and goals is different from my lifestyle. Or sex and the city when they were going on about foreskin. Over here that's the norm but they made a big deal about it yet i got what was happening!

Answer 1

In the case of The Office, the style of humor may have something to do with it. It's all about viewership and ratings. They didn't just "change"it, they revised and familiarized it and tested it b4 mass producing. Also, our TV ratings guidelines don't allow certain dry humor which the Brits are famous for. I haven't watched British TV in years, but using the old stand-bys of Benny Hill and Monty Python, you get away with a lot more than we ever could, lol.....god, I miss those shows.

Answer 2

British comedy is different than American comedy. You use a lot of different words that doesn't make sense to anyone here. On the British version of the office, the cast is all British ... we don't know that cast and can't relate to them. But the cast of the American version of the office is well known here in North America, especially Steve Carell.

As for Harry Potter, the book wasn't changed. The only thing that was changed was the spelling of words, which they did for every country the book was sold in. Also, it makes sense that they changed it to "sorcerer" because sorcerer means a male wizard, but an interesting fact is that J.K Rowling and the editors of the book were the ones who changed it to that, so perhaps you should ask them why they chose to do that

.The teletubbies shows here were the exact ones you watch in England. I live in Canada, but most of our programming is American and the comedy in North America is all the same. It's different in the UK. Also, PBS shows A LOT of British shows and there is also BBC America and BBC Canada.

Answer 3

ok i will stand by my american office 100 percent! i love the british office, too, but they're different shows. ricky gervais (creater of the british office) is a writer on the american office. he helped create it, so it was his vision. i don't compare the two. they're both incredible shows in different ways.

and how could harry potter have been changed? it's a book, my friend. it's the same book. telly tubbies? it's exactly the same here! and i don't know why you'd even be using that show to trumpet your superiority.

sigh. sounds like yet another case of "europe does it better." which you do, in most regards. honestly. i'd much rather be there. but you could have found waaaay better examples of how america ruins british stuff. lord knows what we'll do to beckham.

Answer 4

The british mindset is far and away different from Canadians, Australians and people from the US.

There are many references, words and slang that only the avid british watching people would get. Also sly references to UK issues would not be of much value to say someone living in BC and not living through similar issues.

So yes they have to change it enough to speak to the audience. And it is not a bad thing. We do it all the time
with even Shakespeare.

To do well in the entertainment field you must be willing and open to changing things up to get to your audience.

Answer 5

united statesa. has consistently been changing. regrettably for the extra serious in recent cases. that's not a rely or replace considering is often consistent - it particularly is an argument of regaining a real coronary heart to grant coaching and ward off the greed and discomfort and blood that money-lust brings. With coaching, American can become some thing extra advantageous than it particularly is now. without coaching, united statesa. will in basic terms sell itself out (this is, American leaders will sell united statesa. out).

Answer 6

Well you may have something, but the opposite is probably just as true as well, i.e., when something from the U.S. makes its way over to your side of the Atlantic. At the risk of sounding over simplistic, I guess it's just a matter of things being adapted and modified from one culture to another culture.

Even though Brits and Americans share the same language, our cultures differ.

Answer 7

Marketing ploys, Americans cannot accept anything at face value, we aren't comfortable with something unless you "sell" it to us. Pepsi sold us water out of the tap and we bought it, need I say more. It is a sickness.