Stern Magazine’s US Stereotypes
From Davids Medienkritik comes this collection of stereotypical depictions of Americans, as presented in Germany’s Stern magazine: USA: The Divided Land.
My favorite image is this one:
The caption translates as: “‘If you forget about the liberal crazies on the east and west coasts, we live in a really nice country.’ —Ronald Wilhelm, President of the lawn bowling club, Sun City, Florida.”
I like that image for a personal reason: Thirty-one years ago, when I was 12, my dad was transitioning between wives #2 and #3, and simultaneously being re-deployed to Washington D.C. by his overlords in the military-industrial complex. As part of the attendant reshuffling I was sent to live with my grandparents in Sun City Center, FL, and I spent most of the next 6 months as that retirement community’s youngest citizen, unofficial mascot, and general pain in the ass. Also, I did a lot of lawn bowling, and I did it on that very field. Seeing that image brings back memories of my childhood.
March 26th, 2005 at 12:39 pm
I like that image for 2 reasons:
1) this guy lives in florida, and yet he’s complaining about “the liberal crazies on the east and west coasts” — that has to come off funny to Germans.
2) the composition of the photo invokes the impression that this guy is currently lawn bowling (angle o the arm), from a foot away,with his eyes closed (head up in an awkward manner like he’s not focusing on anything), and doing very poorly. — again, that has to come off a little weird to the germans.
March 26th, 2005 at 2:18 pm
Hahah. I want a 727 in my yard when I get old.
March 28th, 2005 at 12:01 pm
I’d rather be a ‘crazy liberal’ on the coast than a dumb inbred in the heartland.
March 28th, 2005 at 1:40 pm
Absolutely, because all of us who live anywhere but the coast are inbred. Can we please stop this shit? I live in Ohio and ymatt lives in Texas, and while I can’t speak for him, I’m just as tired of being judged geographically as anyone else, anywhere else.
March 29th, 2005 at 6:01 am
Hey he called me a crazy liberal, so i am just stating what i think, which i think i’m allowed to do here.
March 30th, 2005 at 4:31 am
so mnah!
March 30th, 2005 at 8:27 pm
Yeah, totally, we’re all just expressing our thoughts. This is just a sore issue for me.
April 1st, 2005 at 12:50 pm
Understandable. I do it too.