Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Why does american/british movies always make russia the bad guys?

Someone else mentioned stereotypes, and that really sums it up. Americans in particular almost require stereotypes in order to understand the world... let's look at some examples of American film stereotypes:

- stiff or uptight people are always played by British

- romantics have typically been portrayed as French

- over-committed, over-dedicated people are shown as Germans

- Mexicans are shown as poor

- Italians are shown as loud

- French are seen as cowards

- Germans are shown to have no sense of humor



etc.



And, as someone else pointed out, the accents mean a lot as well. German and Russian accents are more harsh to American ears, and they tend to make believable "bad guys"... whereas it's harder to buy into a bad guy with a French accent.



It also reveals the utter ignorance that the average American has about world affairs... Using the previously mentioned example of Rocky, it's easy to see how ignorant Americans were about Russia. As far as I could tell, there wasn't even a real Russian anywhere in that movie! And of course, America was portrayed with sunshine and swimming pools, while Russia was shown as snow-covered and dismal.Why does american/british movies always make russia the bad guys?Glad to see so many other people concerned about the Russian stereotypes. I've always thought it was an unfair and damaging way to think about such a modern progressive country which is supposed to be our ally. It's hard to shake the cold war feelings if U.S films keep perpetuating these stereotypes

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Why does american/british movies always make russia the bad guys?
russians were cruel because of stalin but compared to hitler he was much worse. The americans saw them cruel because they raped and killed german civilians what they dont understand is that they killed millions of russians and jews. It's retribution not because there callous.

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Why does american/british movies always make russia the bad guys?Because it sells. Lots of viewers still cannot shake off the image of Russia being the Communist Evil Empire from the Cold War. Using stereotypes have been a show business strategy to target audience for a very long time. And it definitely works. Almost 90% of the time when I tell an American that I am Russian, first things they come up with is the Mafia, Cold Winters, and Ivan Drago (from Rocky IV). I used to get pissed at that, but now I just accept the ignorance.
WHY indeed. it sells! rocky balboa draped in old glory against the communist great ivan (russian) drago not russian (byelo-russian or ukrainian??!?- those yushinko and timoshinko names with "o" are NOT russian).

james bond in a "pig" slipping into ussr from austria thru a pipeline. the great 007!!!

can you picture rocky against ngu nguyen from vietnam?? and what would the vietnamese audience do when he won? applaud? or 007 sliding thru a pipe to iran? wait, iraq, which was a friend back then, which was an enemy? at the beginning of filming iran was enemy, at end it was iraq. too difficult. russia is a perennial enemy. even today!!

it sells!Why does american/british movies always make russia the bad guys?probably from my point of view (im only 17) is that we are not completely to make movies where middle eastern peoples are the enemy unless it is a war movie, although a few have popped up. film makers most likely remember the cold war with more detail, thus making russians the bad guys.

sorryWhy does american/british movies always make russia the bad guys?
Due to the cold war after WWII- and they were communists while we are the democracy who views the communism as an evil thing (which it is- no freedom).
2 Words honey. AMERICAN PROPAGANDA. They're brainwashing the world into believing stupid stereotypes. The media is a very poweful tool for getting these things across.Why does american/british movies always make russia the bad guys?
its a common theme - we've had them as enemies in the past and the language is harsh sounding to our ears (which unconsciously affects our perception of them, similar to german)
because of the Cold War. Also, its not only in moviesbut also in video games like Call of Duty Modern Warfare
To be fair in Russian movies Americans are bad guys. e.g. Brat 2.
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