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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   2730 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for July 7, 2023

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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The US is weird among Western countries in that the government doesn’t heavily subsidize highbrow arts, which means seeing opera, large orchestras, ballet etc is very expensive if you want non-shit seats.

In Europe, probably 80% of the average opera ticket is government funded. Almost all orchestras are substantially state-funded. Ballet is very heavily funded. ‘Higher brow’ theater (at both the avant garde end and the by-the-book Shakespeare end) is very much subsidized too.

I think this affects cultural perception in an interesting way. In the US, going to see these things isn’t necessarily a rich people thing (there are plenty of schoolteachers and college professors at Rachamaninov at the NY Phil), but it has the cultural cachet of being higher brow, higher class, and above all older, since young people aren’t paying $130 a ticket (even the cheap seats are like $90). In Britain/France/Germany, a lot of the audience to these kinds of things pay $20 a seat because they’re so heavily subsidized, so you see a lot more students, young people in general.

In the end, the European approach is preferable. The government wastes so much money on supporting the bottom of society that, at the very least, a few billion for the legitimate high culture of this civilization is owed and earned.

people aren’t paying $130 a ticket (even the cheap seats are like $90).

You can get cheap seats for under $30 and there is typically a student discount. The price is not the issue.

At the NY Phil? Not to something good, and not in seats that offer even a somewhat decent experience.

  • it was you who brought up the cheap seats

  • "Students can purchase $25.00 (including fees) rush tickets for select concerts up to 10 days in advance both online and in person at the David Geffen Hall Welcome Center. "

  • the vast majority of Americans do not live in or near NY

This doesn't really make sense an an explanation. First, Americans tend to have more disposable income than Europeans to begin with. Secondly, tickets for the sporting events, EDM concerts and other low brow media are even more expensive, yet extremely popular.

Yes, because they’re more popular. Nobody’s denying that 22 year olds will save up to spend $3000 on Taylor Swift tickets, but that doesn’t mean their price sensitivity on high culture is zero.

In the end, the European approach is preferable. The government wastes so much money on supporting the bottom of society that, at the very least, a few billion for the legitimate high culture of this civilization is owed and earned.

This does not check out.

EU spends more on the bottom and supposedly the top.

Ideal is spend on neither. Let the market decide what the "people" want.

Lesser of two evils is where you spend on A instead of A and B.

I'm assuming you want less spending because you say the government "wastes". So.. why would you want them to.. "waste" more?

Because if I’m paying 45% marginal income tax that seem extremely unlikely to change under any foreseeable government, I think at least they should use some of my money to fund things I enjoy.

“The man” is always going to take a big chunk of what you have, at least I’d like some of it to be returned to me.

Unprincipled, but understandable.

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