Stereotypes Of American Culture

American Culture is truly one of kind for the mere fact it has a great impact on the cultures and societies that adopt it. American culture is widely portrayed as American movies, TV shows, fast-food restaurants, and brands. These factors alone have caused a change in perspective for many individuals. Although many would say it has negatively impacted other cultures, it has not but it has made them want a change. Many American films are known for stereotyping different cultures. They don’t always show the best of the best of the culture, they tend to focus on the negative stereotypes. Throughout the years America has changed its perspective on how they tend to view different cultures. On a documentary review by Heather Havrilesky, she
explains, “...early Hollywood movies like The Sheik and Lawrence of Arabia, Arabs were depicted as exotic, wildly sexual beings.” Being depicted in a negative way leads to many believing in the stereotype. She continues to add, “...early ’80s, with the Iran hostage crisis and rising turmoil in the Middle East, Hollywood’s depictions of Arabs and Muslims became darker and more foreboding,” Truly the representation of Muslims in America is extremely flawed. Due to the events of 9/11 many Muslims are depicted as terrorists in American Culture. This has impacted how Muslims all around the world are viewed. Havrilesky goes on to explain how “cultural pollution” is a threat to Muslim identity. This means the depicted view of Muslims is affecting their own religious ways. Not only is American culture affecting the perception of others, but their authenticity.
Many cultures tend to be attracted to the Americanized films and literature. According to an article in the New York Times, by a German newspaper Josef Joffe, “... for every German book translated into English, nine English-language books were translated into German…” Having American novels translated into German creates the loss of German literature. The reason for this is more American authors and novelist are being known, which can create the loss of attachment to German authors. Joffe adds, “Today Europe’s universities have lost their luster, and as they talk reform, they talk American.” However even though American culture is everywhere, many cultures do stay true to themselves. In a blog post, Cultural Hegemony: Who’s Dominating Whom? by Deirdre Straughan, she states, “... American/Western culture everywhere, most people value their own cultures and work actively to preserve them, consuming local media, food, etc. alongside whatever foreign stuff they like.” Even though American culture is everywhere most cultures aren’t being consumed by it. Being so different from one another it obvious people tend to be curious. Adding on, Straughan states, “There’s a growing presence of American brands in India, but that doesn’t mean that Indians are adapting to American tastes.” This statement goes hand in hand with cultures staying true to themselves, but having the option to take part in the American
culture. To conclude, American culture does have a negative impact worldwide. It tends to shield the true beauty of all the cultures. Most if not all Muslims suffer from scrutiny, for being portrayed as terrorists. Not only that but the spread of American literacy and films create a loss of self-culture. But even though all of that many stay true to their own culture.