The other day, I was discussing the idea of a trip to the USA with colleagues at work. One of them mentioned that he had been there last March. I asked what he thought of it and he said that he and his family enjoyed it, but that it was like entering the 'land of the giants' and laughed.
I asked him what he meant and he said it wasn't like TV, where all Americans are portrayed as fit, healthy, and with good teeth. Oh no, he said, the streets were populated by 18 - 25 stone behemoths. It was eerie and disconcerting to be surrounded by such obesity. The 'standard' meal sizes in fast food outlets or restaurants were massive, and he said that they generally ordered meals for three, and shared between the five of them. Now admittedly he was exaggerating for the stories sake, but he said that the US is a 'Big' country in every sense of the word.
 |
| Typical Americans? |
This made me wonder what other sins TV and movies hide by their stereotypical portrayals?
 |
| Frank Cannon - the first fat American? |
For instance apart from the American private eye Frank Cannon (played by William Conrad), I can't remember ever seeing a fat American lead character until Peter Griffin in 'Family Guy'.
 |
| Peter Griffin - First true American hero? |
I had a friend, who genuinely thought that the US was largely populated by women like Farrah Fawcett - Majors (a model / actress), because that's what the back ground extras in US TV shows looked like.
ReplyDeleteI guess that this is no worse than the Simpsons portraying the British as all having rotten teeth. Stereo typing of nationalities via the media is common enough, and fairly harmless.
Interestingly, small attempts to tackle obesity levels in New York have just been blocked
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-21747568
Americans just won't face up to facts