Economist has a brief review of a new book on pop culture in the Islamic world and how much it is influenced by American pop culture. Some, I’m sure, see this as ‘cultural imperialism’. I think rather that its a choice to use a foreign medium to put for new visions of existing culture.

Five Things: The Sheikh’s Batmobile

LIBYANS sing along to Lionel Richie’s “Hello”, Iranians jam to Django Reinhardt, and Indonesian teenagers favour the post-punk stylings of Wire, a British cult band. Who knew? Richard Poplak, for one. Mr Poplak is the author of “The Sheikh’s Batmobile: In Pursuit of American Pop Culture in the Muslim World”, a tour through 17 Muslim countries in search of local interpretations of American culture, from cheesy reality television to Metallica. The chapters are organised by country—Libya, Indonesia, Lebanon, Iran, Afghanistan, etc—with each section prefaced by religious statistics and venerated local pop-culture icons. The result is packed with surprises, five of which More Intelligent Life has chosen to highlight.

The Economist writer highlights the following:

On heavy metal
On video games as propaganda
On vanity
On punk rock in unexpected corners
On Palestinian video games