The Representation of Foreign People in Movies

One of the movies I watched recently was Mission Impossible: Rouge Nation. They mostly took place in Europe, specifically Britain. They represent the British in a similar way that they represented the Americans. Another movie I watch recently was Apocalypse Now. They represented the Vietnamese as poor savages and Cambodians as very underdeveloped village people. I also watch a horror movie called VHS 2. The movie had an entire section about an Indonesian cult. This cult was represented in a very frightening way. They all committed suicide and gave birth to the devil.

In these movies, the enemies are usually always foreign, but there are also foreign people that are treated as equals. The environments were treated as alienating in Apocalypse Now and VHS 2 but it wasn't in Rouge Nation. 

The European settings tend to be more friendly compared to the Asian and Middle Eastern environments. This seems to be the case in most films. The "bad guy" is often Russian or British. I believe this is because Americans find foreign accents intimidating. Our nation has a vast history of Xenophobia and its still apparent in our sources of entertainment. 

We see foreigners through the lens of an American. Foreigners don't view themselves as evil people from dangerous lands. Most mainstream movies have a target audience to include the lowest common denominator. By having these stereotypical foreign characters, it allows a wider group of people to enjoy these movies, therefore generating a larger profit.