Is there an American UCAS?

What's with the American habit of putting "American" in the titles of books and films?

• I'm referring to books such as "American Psycho", "American Vampire", "American Sniper", "American Assassin", as well as their film versions, and films and tv series like "American Gothic", "American Horror Story", "American Beauty", "American Graffiti", "American Gangster", "An American Haunting", and the uber-descriptive "The American" (there's plenty of other examples as well). Is it a fact that something will sell better in America, simply from having the word "American" in the title? Some of them I realise use it in order to place a story or character that might otherwise be a little nationalistically ambiguous (like "American Werewolf in London").  But - as most of these films and tv series are pretty obviously made in America - what is it that's really behind the decision to so forcefully mark the product as American?  It's been bugging me for a while!

• Answer:

  There are three separate answers, any combination of which apply to any given situation: 1 ) Generics A writer (usually) hopes to make money from their work.  However, with a few notable exceptions, a simple generic term (Vampire, Assassin, Sniper, etc) can't be trademarked - without trademark protection, anyone is free to make money from a property.  Those notable exceptions include uncommon terms (Avatar), non-contextual terms (Twilight properly refers to a transition between day and night, so it's not usually associated with vampires), and old classics (Psycho). For the most part, however, a term considered generic cannot be trademarked in any way. 2 ) Uniqueness Psycho is the recognizable name of a well-known film - unless they're somehow affiliated with the Alfred Hitchcock estate, any writer is going to steer clear of using the name for their own works.  Lesser-known works are seldom as fortunate - Luck of the Irish has nothing to do with a teen basketballer, Where the Heart Is isn't a whiny chick-flick, etc.  American Psycho alludes to Psycho without creating confusion. Another aspect of Uniqueness is allusion to other forms of art.  American Gothic is a well-known painting by Grant Wood and an icon of 19th-Century Americana - the movie alludes to the painting's iconography as the veneer which disguises something quite other. 3 ) Descriptive American Graffiti, for example, features a distinctly American take on a "last hurrah before maturity" - and part of that 'immaturity' involves vandalism such as graffiti.  The story's title is a pretty apt identifier for its focus/content.  I've never seen American Beauty, but it's title suggests to me the Western-ized concept of feminine comeliness (aka, Barbie Syndrome) in some fashion - the only real question is whether a man is pursuing a woman seen as beautiful or if a woman is pursuing it for herself. In a nutshell - to make sure the name can be trademarked, is (ideally) unique to the story being told, and is somewhat descriptive.