We have been taught in the United States for years about how evil the Russians really are and current depictions of them in the media aren't helping at all. If we were to follow what we saw about Russia's leader Vladimir Putin articles such as the following
http://www.cnn.com/2014/07/25/opinion/motyl-putin-is-evil/
which is found on CNN talks about how Putin is evil we would believe that all of Russia is just one giant corrupt imperial hungry monster wanting to take back what once was thiers.
Or if we were to follow what was so publicly advertised as far as the conditions of the Sochi olympics we would believe that Russians are nothing but greedy and lazy do nothings who can't finish a project to save their lives. Just type #sochiproblems in to twitter and enjoy.
Or if we were to follow how the media portrays Russia we would think it to be an ugly disgusting country filled with miserable and cold criminals. We can see this in both Marvel's portrayal of Russians in Iron Man 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGhis6vO7Lc or in Disney's portrayal of Russians in the recent film Muppets most wanted - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8hRH6mmFk4 even the way that LDS media is portraying Eastern Europe would have led me to not want to serve my mission.
The single story here is this, Eastern Europe or former Soviet Union is a miserable and cold place full of corrupt governments and hardened criminals walking the streets, and Russians are greedy, power hungry, and lazy communists.
I agree, I think there is a difference between disagreeing with another country's political decisions and assuming that they are evil. I wish that schools in America would teach more about Russia than just the fact that they were part of the Soviet Union. It paints a negative picture on a country that most of us know little about.
ReplyDeleteI never came away from watching the Saratov Approach thinking that Russians were evil because they kidnapped two missionaries. I felt it was more focused on tell their story rather than painting a picture of Russia. I came away thinking it could happen anywhere, but maybe it's just me :) Great post!
When I think of Russians, I too am a little scared. I think of cold hearted, scary people. It is hard to get away from this single story when all we hear of Russia is bad politics and terrible things.
ReplyDeleteI agree! So much negative media surrounds Russia that it's difficult to get away from the images and stories associated with Russia. This is a good reminder that we need to form our own perceptions of people and places and not be so reliant on the media for that.
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely hard to form are own perceptions if we haven't been to Russia, and aren't around very many people from Russia. The media has definitely created a false perception.
ReplyDeleteUgh, I'm so guilty of this one. I think I've watched one too many movies where the big bad Russians were trying to take over the world. It's scary how much power the media has over our opinions sometimes.
ReplyDelete"Motha rusha" always get's the stereotype of being nuke hungry and crazy. I still have a negative perception of the Russians
ReplyDeleteI had a friend go to Russia on his mission and he hates it when in film the "Russians" use the word "comrade." While small it just goes to prove how prominent this single story still is despite our world being more and more "politically correct."
ReplyDeletepreviet! i like this post. :p
ReplyDeleteThe Russians of the past aren't the same as today. Also, many of the Russians of the past aren't the ones you think of. Good post.
ReplyDeleteOne of my really good friends lived in Russia during High School, and she confirmed that the people there are more cold that she was used to, but that didn't stop her from making really good friends with people. I think it's just a different culture than many of us are used to so when we see it on tv or in the movies we are quick to make assumptions.
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