Living in the former Soviet republic of Estonia, I was oftentimes the first American my acquaintances had met or spoken with for any length of time. I was treated as a novelty, almost like a toy to be shown off and explored. As the token American I had to counter many misconceptions of American culture and society.
During Soviet times, the state presented negative images of the United States to validate its claim that capitalism was a decaying system. The evening news would show pictures of American beggars on the streets, riots and the discontent and mistreatment of American minorities. Needless to say, many people were led to believe that America was a country where the rich capitalists lived well while exploiting the working class, forcing them onto the streets en masse. They thought that the average American was miserable, living at the mercy of the few rich capitalists. Somehow the propaganda which showed the discontent of the blacks did not cause the Soviet people to feel camaraderie toward the oppressed, but rather to feel fear and contempt. Harlem was a favorite image used by the Soviet media to show capitalism at its worst.
The introduction of glasnost and the collapse of the Soviet Union ended the negative propaganda directed by the state. In fact, the image was reversed; America became the symbol of success. Yet the image of American people being presented there continues to be as inaccurate as the one portrayed by the former Soviet government. While Soviet propaganda had the specific goal of championing communism by exposing capitalism's flaws, present day images are being made by Americans themselves, in the forms of movies, television shows, music and music videos.
In Russia and the Baltic states the movie theatres show "Natural Born Killers" and "Pulp Fiction," the radio stations play mostly songs with English lyrics from the West and many television stations run western serials. The soap opera "Santa Barbara" is the most popular series in Russia with people in Siberia tuning in nightly to watch it!
The images being presented now are glamorous and exciting, even enviable to many of those who lived under communism. But these non-Americans do not know the reality of American life and cannot contrast what they are seeing and hearing with actual American society. The images America uses to represent itself in the form of popular media show that white Americans are rich, while black Americans are the drug dealers and criminals with guns in their hands. Girls and young women are sex objects and high school students drive BMWs to school.
My observations may be countered by the argument that most of the films being imported into Russia and Estonia are predominantly B-films simply because they are cheaper than our better films. Therefore they give a skewed representation of American film style. Yet while I was in Finland, where all of our best movies are shown, I was asked repeatedly whether or not my light brown hair and brown eyes were considered to be very dark in the U.S. They thought that the majority of Americans are fair, blond and blue-eyed. Coming from N.Y., I certainly did not think this true, but according to the movies, magazines and TV shows, most of America is very fair. I was also often asked if my high school was like Beverly Hills 90210. People were usually surprised when I said that it wasn't.
These images combined with the products being imported from the West (McDonalds, Subway, Coca-Cola, chocolate, cosmetics, cars) have actually served to turn public opinion against Americans again. Our seemingly flashy life-style cannot be readily absorbed by people making anywhere from $60 to $200 a month. They have begun to resent our products and media reminders of the lifestyle they cannot afford. What is sad is that they are beginning to reject what they think is our culture and our lifestyle before they have even been witness to the real thing. There is no such thing as the typical American; we are a diverse country. Yet our popular culture presents a definite stereotype of American people and society. This image may not be noticed within our own country, but when it is shown to non-Americans outside our borders it becomes obvious.
