[legitster]

Twain is a good choice, but he also works against the mythology of America. His whole thing was popping bubbles and making grounded stories that work against the backdrop of Americana.

Tracy Chapman is a pretty trolly answer, but I suspect the real answer might very well be a musician or filmmaker, not a writer.

[B1FF_PSUVM]

> the real answer might very well be a musician or filmmaker, not a writer.

Walter Disney, obviously.

Well, it will probably take at least another century for the fact to hit.

[dragontamer]

Stan Lee probably had more influence than Walt Disney in terms of how Americans see themselves and how people around the world sees us.

Walt Disney is overwhelmingly about older stories (Cinderella, Snow White, Sleeping Beauty), and not anything I feel distinctly "American".

The most popular and timeless properties out of Disney (ex: Mickey Mouse) aren't really telling stories or setting cultural trends IMO. Meanwhile, Superman and Spiderman (Okay, I know Stan Lee only partially had influence on Spiderman...) are closer to what people see as distinctly "American".

[breve]

Who would win in a fight between Stan Lee, Jim Henson, and Walt Disney?

Maybe Epic Rap Battles of History has the answer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PXBJIZ1NXFU

[jasonfarnon]

"Meanwhile, Superman and Spiderman (Okay, I know Stan Lee only partially had influence on Spiderman...) "

it's not like he had anything to do with superman

[coldtea]

>Stan Lee probably had more influence than Walt Disney in terms of how Americans see themselves and how people around the world sees us.

Seriously doubt it.

Both "how Americans see themselves and how people around the world sees them" was established way before both the MCU and before superhero comics became anything else than a preoccupation of the nerdy niche.

In the 60s, and 70s, and 80s, few fucks were given around the world for the Marvel comic universe (they still sold somewhat, just not that important culturally), and it was definitely not how people got to perceive the US: hollywood, the western, rock n' roll, all those were 100x more important. And Disney was way more important than Marvel at the time too.

[dragontamer]

What work of Disney (company, not the man per se...) is more influential on the modern American Psyche (today, in 2026) than Ironman, X-Men or Spiderman?

Moana? Sleeping Beauty? Mickey Mouse?

The only major "American identity" film I can think of was Princess and the Frog. Maybe Big Hero 6 (at least the San Francisco half).

-----------

The others are correct in that Mark Twain is probably the real answer. But I'm thinking of a modern media (film, comic books, etc. etc).

Maybe Wicked and Wizard of Oz counts as two sides of American culture. A push and counter push.

--------

Sleeping Beauty? That's French. Beauty and the Beast? Also French.

Great Mouse Detective? British. Alice in Wonderland? British.

Pinocchio? Italian.

[coldtea]

>What work of Disney (company, not the man per se...) is more influential on the modern American Psyche (today, in 2026) than Ironman, X-Men or Spiderman?

All of them. None of those MCU movies really did anything to the "american psyche", forgettable entertainment.

And even if they had done, the question was "in terms of how Americans see themselves and how people around the world sees us". Nobody sees Americans in in 2026 the way Stan Lee or MCU saw them. Not even themselves. How they have been seen in general wasn't determined in 2026 or 2020 or 2000, but in the 20th century. And even how they're seen and see themselves in 2026 is not defined by the MCU either.

Concerning the general view on US, Disney movies (especially including Pixar) have had much more influence. But I mentioned other even more important things: Hollywood in general (pre-MCU, from early film to John Ford, and to Copolla and Scorsese), the western and the idea of the west/'frontier', rock n' roll...

>Sleeping Beauty? That's French. Beauty and the Beast? Also French. Great Mouse Detective? British. Alice in Wonderland? British. Pinocchio? Italian.

In their Disney treatment they're 100% American.

[anamax]

In the spirit of “The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.” - James D. Nicoll

Yes, Sleeping Beauty, et al were originally from "not the US" countries, very few people outside those countries remembers that. Instead, they're Disney, or at least US.

[dragontamer]

Counter point: the opening song of Beauty and the Beast starts with "Bonjour".

Basil of Baker Street (Great Mouse Detective) literally saves the Queen of England.

Robin Hood and The Sword in the Stone are also similarly very, very British. No one can possibly confuse the issue.

[LarsDu88]

You mean Jack Kirby right? LoL

[dragontamer]

Its not like Walt Disney personally wrote or drew all his stuff either. Stan Lee was closer to actually making the story than Walt Disney.

But yeah, Jack Kirby would be closer than the other two.

[LarsDu88]

cough Ub Iwerks

[rayiner]

I think that’s correct. One way to look at it: when the Greek world expanded geographically, the new people tried to connect themselves with the Homeric stories (as did the Romans). Whose stories serve that function today? Disney.

[GolfPopper]

Really? Advertising/Marketing aside, "What's up doc?" would seem to have a much bigger share of the zeitgeist, even today, than the Mouse.

[oliculipolicula]

Hollywood may only think that there are any Pacific Islanders today who want to be Auliʻi Cravalho, but every allied nation hopes to get their own Emmett Brown?

[dredmorbius]

Film (and television) seems studiously underrepresented given the presence of authors, playwrights, poets, and musicians. Musicals are also absent.

I'd also suggest that cultural impact plays a strong part in Homer's prominence. The American Homer would probably be older rather than more recent (at least by present reckoning).

Francis Ford Coppola / Mario Puzo, The Godfather; Michael Curtiz, Casablanca; Steven Speilberg; Orson Welles, Citizen Kane; Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein, Oklahoma!, South Pacific, The Sound of Music, etc., might make my list.

[api]

Are you sure that works against the mythology of America?

Questioning authority and mythology is very American.

[____mr____]

lmfao

[coldtea]

Well, so authority figures tells us :)

[dnautics]

popping inflated egos is the mythology of America

[sebastiennight]

A single word could be removed from that sentence and it would immediately find widespread agreement

[dnautics]

nah. the us certainly has a lot of inflated egos, but the mythology is not like that, consider abraham lincoln, Washington "cincinnatus of the west", paul bunyan, johnny appleseed, etc.

[coldtea]

yeah, the first one :)

[colordrops]

Kubrick

[coldtea]

British.

[pchristensen]

He’s from NYC

[coldtea]

And T.S. Elliot was a Bostonian, but adopted British!

Kubrick made all his iconic movies (except Spartacus and Paths of Glory) while settled in Britain, and shot most of them in British studios.

[oliculipolicula]

Hmm

Wheres the evidence that Homer work ed for the mythology of Dark Age Greece?

If you say its his popularity..

(I would cite the Cyclics as counter evidence)

For filmmaker: itd have to be someone whom you can imagine (unironically) reconstructing Adams or other actual American heroes

So..

Tom Hanks

[kstenerud]

I'd actually put one in for Clint Eastwood.

Although most popular knowledge about him revolves around his earlier acting career (Westerns, Dirty Harry), you'll notice a distinct change in many of his films once he started directing.

* Play Misty for Me

* Breezy

* Unforgiven

* A Perfect World

* The Bridges of Madison County

* Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil

* Mystic River

* Million Dollar Baby

* Changeling

* Gran Torino

* American Sniper

* Sully

* The Mule

[samudrijan]

The American medium is film/TV. The Godfather is the great American novel. A story about immigrants moving to America and starting a family business.

[assimpleaspossi]

Today it might be but it wasn't always. I still remember curling up with a good book and I still do today. I know a lot of younger people might not even have a library card or go looking for a good novel to read.

[matwood]

Mostly agree, but I think the modern medium is film/TV, not just American. Also, apparently The Godfather book wasn't very good, but I've seen the movie so many times.

[assimpleaspossi]

Clint Eastwood didn't write any of those. He's an actor, director and producer of other people's work.

[coldtea]

Actor and Director and Producer would be more than enough for everybody. Especially combined with several Oscar wins as director and producer, and even Oscar nominations as actor (on top of iconic roles).

But he has also been an OST composer for some films.

[assimpleaspossi]

The point is a Homer or Twain, etc, were original authors of works and Eastwood was not an author of any of those works. If an unknown actor portrayed the lead in a Huckleberry Finn film, that would not elevate that actor to the level of a Mark Twain as an author.

[coldtea]

As an author no.

But as a director, they could be elevated to the status of creator, and perhaps directing is the truer American art form rather than ...epic poetry or the novel. Which speaks to the core of the question at a different level.

Besides, Homer didn't write his own plots either, he adapted original screenplays, so to speak!

[srean]

Not to forget

Letters from Iwo Jima

Flags of our Fathers.

He certainly took me by surprise by the depth of his offerings, given that I used to know him as blondie with no name and for dirty harry.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Man_with_No_Name

[throw0101a]

> Tom Hanks

Recency bias? Why not Jimmy Stewart? Gregory Peck? Humphrey Bogart? Paul Newman, Robert Redford?

[oliculipolicula]

Not really. He was executive producer of

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Adams_(miniseries)

And will be playing and producing Dodd.

https://variety.com/2019/film/news/joe-wright-in-the-garden-...

Theme of his oevre is not-so-immortal American heroes and heroism through and through

Except for Redford, the others don't have their own voice

Edit: but Tom Hanks is really only barely getting by from Hollywood getting less repressive over time

[krapp]

As far as I know, it's contested whether Homer even existed as an individual at all. "Homer" might be a collective title for various unknown authors.