The American way of life, also referred to as American way is a nationalist ethos that adheres to the principles of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. At the core of the American way lies a belief in the American Dream, an ideal that is believed to be achievable by any American citizen through hard work and determination. This concept is closely linked to the notion of American exceptionalism, which posits the existence of a distinctive cultural identity of the United States.
Manifest destiny was the expansionist belief in the 19th-century United States that American settlers were destined to expand westward across North America, and that this belief was both obvious ("manifest") and certain ("destiny"). The belief is rooted in American exceptionalism and romantic nationalism, implying the inevitable spread of republicanism and the American way. It is one of the earliest expressions of American imperialism.
According to historian William Earl Weeks, there were three basic tenets behind the concept:
Americanization or Americanisation (see spelling differences) is the influence of the American culture and economy on other countries outside the United States, including their media, cuisine, business practices, popular culture, technology and political techniques. Some observers have described Americanization as synonymous with progress and innovation.
The cinema of the United States has dominated most of the world's medias markets since the 1910s, and is the chief medium by which the international community sees American fashions, customs, scenery, and way of life. The majority of the top 50 highest-grossing films of all time have been made either entirely or partially in the United States or were financed by U.S. production companies, even with limited or no artistic involvement. The top 50 constituents set and filmed entirely in the United Kingdom, like some of the Harry Potter franchise, or with deliberately and quintessentially British source material, like the Lord of the Rings series, count as American productions for solely financial reasons. This coopting of the works of other nations and cultures into "American" works (and the hegemonic ability to do as such) forms part of many critical definitions of Americanization.