Politics & Power Quote by Nick Mancuso

Mancuso’s line lands because it treats Hollywood less like an export and more like a second passport issued at birth. Coming from an actor, it’s not a think-tank diagnosis so much as an insider’s shrug: the movies don’t just entertain, they quietly enroll you. The phrasing is bluntly civic - “citizen,” “country,” “nation” - as if pop culture has annexed the emotional infrastructure governments used to monopolize: shared myths, accents of aspiration, a sense of what a “normal” life looks like.

The subtext is sharper than the sentiment. “Their own and Hollywood” isn’t a celebration of global connection; it’s a reminder that identity is now bilingual, and one of those languages is owned by an industry. Hollywood becomes a parallel state with its own laws (beauty standards, hero scripts, romance templates), its own history curriculum (America as default setting), and its own immigration policy (who gets to be centered, who stays a side character). You can love the films and still feel the imbalance: one nation has borders and taxes, the other has distribution.

Context matters: Mancuso’s generation watched Hollywood consolidate into the planet’s most effective soft-power machine, from postwar dominance to cable, VHS, and satellite. By the time globalization became a buzzword, Hollywood had already trained audiences to imagine New York, high school hallways, courtrooms, and even “freedom” through a cinematic filter. The line works because it flatters and indicts at once: you’re worldly - but your worldliness might be pre-scripted.