Invented the modern sitcom so not bad. This to me seems more american though. <object width="420" height="315"><param name="movie" value="//www.youtube.com/v/q5_V9RT8aR8?hl=en_US&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="//www.youtube.com/v/q5_V9RT8aR8?hl=en_US&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="420" height="315" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object>
Literature: Poe, Emerson, Twain, Hemingway, Eliot... Theater/Musical Theater: Arthur Miller, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Tennessee Williams Music: country, jazz, rock and roll, rock, hip-hop Cinema: Hollywood Science and Technology: steamboat, telegraph, tv, lightbulb, PC, airplane, nuclear power... Space Age, Information Age, advances in health Constitution, Declaration of Independence, Revolutionary War Sports (Basketball, Baseball, Football), Fashion Cuisine: Cajun, Tex-Mex, Soul, pizza, fried chicken, hamburgers, hot dogs, doughnuts, Coke
A lot of you guys are really pessimistic (or just dismissive). Here's a serious attempt at a summation of American culture: Literature: The "Great American Novel"; Moby Dick; The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn; Leaves of Grass; the collected poems of Emily Dickinson; The Great Gatsby. Music: Blues, Jazz, American Folk, Country, Rock n' Roll, Hip Hop--all genres invented in America by Americans. Significant works include Fanfare for the Common Man; Rhapsody in Blue; Adagio for Strings; Sing, Sing, Sing; Summertime; Johnny B. Goode; Rollin' Stone. Television: The Honeymooners; I Love Lucy; Seinfeld; The Simpsons; The Wire; All in the Family; MASH. Film: Just look at AFI's top 100 really. This list doesn't even take into account things like manners, etiquette, nationally held values, behavioral norms, or even sports. It's a start, but I figure everything I've listed here is what any "red-blooded American" ought to be familiar with, or at least has significant relevance to the "American experience".
The love of a good underdog story...? I imagine that's American culture... America did start off as quite an underdog, and look where it is now... economical, political problems aside... It's very flawed still but, I've yet to know a perfect country... as I've yet to encounter a perfect ideology... I'm sure everyone can agree to that...