There'll Always Be an England: Anglophilia as Antimodern Leisure

North Americans have had a lengthy and often one-sided relationship with Great Britain. Long after the waning of the British Empire and the apex of Britain's exercise of global political and economic hegemony, its cultural influence remains strong. Beyond the commercial successes in the box office and the bookstore, there is a much more immersive, even fetishistic and nostalgic, preoccupation with British culture, texts, and worldview within North American society, as well as other parts of the world. Described as anglophilia, or "Masterpiece Theatre Culture," its presence in North America is not wide, but its influence on those who exercise and maintain the traditionally dominant ideology has been significant, especially within the realms of economic and political power and academia. Anglophilia can be characterized by its adoration of the class system in Britain, in particular, the upper classes and their values. It is a form of leisure which is both consumptive and performative. As an antimodernist tendency it creates nostalgia for an English past, typically a genteel one.