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The impact of cultural stereotypes
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Stereotypically, Americans are viewed as closed-minded, self-centered, and materialistic. On the other hand Americans can be independent, innovative, and driven and determined when completing the task at hand. Unfortunately, some of the negative characteristics of Americans outweigh the more positive characteristics. The term “Ugly Americans” (or Americans behaving badly) is suggested a great deal throughout the film by the Whitman brothers. From the time the Whitman brothers arrived on the train they immediately became a nuisance. It started off by simply just irritating the steward who collects the train tickets. Each brother had his own obsession whether it was locating a power adaptor, getting high off of Indian cough syrup, buying a
poisonous snake and brining it aboard the train, repeatedly having to be reprimanded for smoking cigarettes on the non-smoking section of the train and even having an affair with an Indian steward woman named Rita (Amara Karan).
Americans do all of things any other person in the world would do,but because their history they think they can do things that nobody else can do. This is where it plays into the first idea of John Steinbeck is that americans contradict themselves too many times during our lives just to get what they want. An example of this from “Paradox and Dream” is that when they something they will trample over anyone to get but we always want help. This is one way the idea can be shown by showing how Americans be crude but also seeking for approval and help from people around them. Another way the idea can be shown in “Paradox and Dream” by “We are able to believe that our government is weak, stupid, overbearing, dishonest, and inefficient, and a...
Americans are defined by the respect they have for their country and its government, in taking advantage of their freedoms and rights that they gain by showing respect through allegiance, pride, and loyalty.
Human beings all around the world are different in many ways. They all have their unique and physical characteristics, as well as different personalities. They each also have different ideas and thoughts on different topics. America is made up of a great amount of diverse people with diverse, even conflicting opinions and ideas. Diversity is a major component of the foundation of our country. The cliché of American as a salad bowl is extremely true. Every person is different and every person in his or her own way makes up a small part of America. Without the diversity of ideas and beliefs of Americans, the nation would not be nearly as successful as we are. A major similarity between Ralph Waldo Emerson's Self Reliance and J.D Salinger's Catcher in the Rye is a non-conformist ideology that both exhibit, and the idea that one should choose their own individuality above confomity.
The United States is an immense country, with many residents and citizens descending from immigrants who have influenced many customs, traditions, behaviors and ways of life. Unlike many old world nations, the United States does not have a homogenous population or a traditional homeland. However, American culture can be interpreted as being largely based in Western Europe with influences from the Native Indians, Africans, Asians, and elsewhere.
The first American worldview that I will introduce is that time focuses on the future rather than the past. This means that Americans tend to live for the moment,
competitive, and the compassion we bring to others are some, of many, American characteristics that help set us apart. These are the three characteristics that I have chosen to write about.
What is one of the most embarrassing traits that describes the average American? Before the answer is revealed, here are some items that might give you hints. The first is food. The American's love of eating out and then discarding left overs to make room for new items is astounding. Scraps of food are thrown away like dead worms, ending up either in the treads of a car or a shoe, or washed away in the rain. Second is money. This resource is the one thing that can bring the country to its knees, let alone the average American. The tendency for Americans to spend money on useless things, or to go out and bet their money in the hopes of winning more is what can define many average Americans. Third is the overuse of energy. From the misuse of natural energy to the lack of efficiency in the energy cycle, Americans greatly under appreciate the importance of energy. Lastly is poor time management. Time is arguably one of the most valuable (if not the most valuable) resources known to man, yet Americans have seemed to master the ability known as "time wasting." Has the answer revealed itself yet? Yes, there it is, in the last sentence. The answer is wastefulness, if you haven't yet figured it out. American are some of the most wasteful people in the world. Discarding everything from food, to money, to time -- Americans not only waste their own, but sometimes those of other people as well.
Defining the American character is quite difficult because American identity is vaguely founded on shared values and ideologies, more so than a particular creed, race, or culture. In order to describe the American character, we will consider the dominate and distinctive qualities of Americans as interpreted by J. Hector St. Jon De Crèvecoeur and Thomas Paine. First, we will examine how Crèvecoeur illustrates Americans as industrious, prideful, and political in “Letters from an American Farmer.” Then, we will analyze from Thomas Paine's “Common Sense” how he depicts the prevalent qualities of Americans to be driven by justice, liberty, emotions, and individualism. Also, because both authors consider the American character and culture different
The American Self is the common character and values of American people which evolved depending on governmental philosophy, religious belief, and economical aspiration from beginning of its formation to the present. Any of the change in the above factors would contribute to the evolution of the American Self. Over time, the American Self changed from communalism, whole hearted religious faith, and interest in material goods to individualism, self interests, and greed.
The American persona has meant many different things since the formation of the country, because its ideals are ever-changing. What began as more humble and community centered ideals eventually turned into self-focused and egotistical ideals. True, not all people of America embody these ideals, but the world views its people by these prominent traits. Some characteristics of what defines an American have stayed the same, but today the American ideal is vastly different from the vision of the founders.
The movie I decided to analyze for this course was American History X (1998), which stars Edward Norton. Though this movie isn’t widely known, it is one of the more interesting movies I have seen. It’s probably one of the best films that depict the Neo Nazi plague on American culture. The film takes place from the mid to late 1990’s during the Internet boom, and touches on subjects from affirmative action to Rodney King. One of the highlights of this movie that really relates to one of the key aspects of this course is the deterrence of capital punishment. Edward Norton’s portrayal as the grief stricken older brother who turns to racist ideologies and violence to cope with his fathers death, completely disregards the consequences of his actions as he brutally murders someone in front of his family for trying to steal his car. The unstable mentality that he developed after his father’s death really goes hand-to-hand specifically with Isaac Ehrlich’s study of capital punishment and deterrence. Although this movie is entirely fictional, a lot of the central themes (racism, crime punishment, gang pervasiveness, and one’s own vulnerability) are accurate representations of the very problems that essentially afflict us as a society.
As part of our study of culture, my peers and I were asked to write a paper reflecting our own cultural background. I have always considered myself "all American". I shop, I eat fast food, I drive my own car, and watch too much television.
The age old question that many ask today is “what is an American?” America is continued to be called the “melting pot” of the world. This statement refers to the combination of different cultures and ethnicities throughout the United States. The diversity of America should not take away from the history and foundation it was found upon. ...
Being a foreigner to this country, I have viewed American Society in a different way. There are a lot of factors that changed my perspective to the American society and of them is the literature I have studied during the process of having English as on of my major subjects. I can strongly say that American society is very much different than the environment I used to live. There may be similarities but there are few. American society tends to change a lot of times, its culture slowly evolves the American society to a whole different level.
All over the world the United States is recognized as a land full of opportunity but it is also recognized as one of the most materialistic countries in the world. Americans through the years have always determined their self-worth by how much stuff they have, how much money they have. Americans also tend to be the most materialistic because of where they live. They live in a country full of riches and where the standard of living is so high those are partially why Americans are materialistic the other part is that it is just human nature. We not only live in a country of riches but we are sad having about everything we need. Unlike other countries a lot of Americans are not in a bad economic state and this from the perspective of another person in a low economy country may be seen as being materialistic. Based on various accounts we can say that Americans are materialistic but they are materialistic to an extent, the U.S is a country where now we define our self-worth by how much we own.