People Are Laughing At How Hollywood Portrays Other Countries In This Accurate Meme
It’s no secret that most Hollywood movies don’t quite represent reality. From polished actors to happy endings only, we’ve learned to take it with a grain of salt.
This time, we’re dealing with another big screen misdemeanor. It turns out, the American film industry does little to care about accurately portraying other countries. The meme below suggests that all it takes to portray Mexico, Japan, Africa, and India is some editing and a custom filter. Hence, the Mexican street is drenched in sepia, Japan is shouting neon, and Eastern Europe looks grey and shabby. Too many stereotypes and too little imagination have got us wondering how come it’s still okay. After you’re done with this one, here’s our previous article on why Mexico in American movies always looks the same and what it tells us about how the West (mis)represents other cultures.
P.S. The original photo was taken in Cape Town, South Africa.
Image credits: 9gag
Hollywood has been dousing non-Western countries in yellow tints on and off for years now. For example, the Netflix movie “Extraction,” which is partly set in Bangladesh, has raised the question of why Dhaka is so yellow. The Daily Star suggests that such a shade of yellow depicting Dhaka is to increase discomfort and heighten tension. The Breaking Bad scenes shot in Mexico are also doused in yellow.
People started editing their own versions in response to the meme
Image credits: myhairyass
Image credits: burnnemesis
Image credits: the_tavbo
Image credits: Carolina Llanos
Image credits: technosworld
Image credits: Elena Do
Image credits: Riccardo Castelli
The filmmaker Diego Noriega Mendoza, in response to a Quora question “Why do films and TV shows use a yellowish tint to depict countries like India or Mexico?” gave a similar explanation. “When used in film, yellow has a very distinct psychological effect: it portrays extremes, contrasts, and density.” He also claims that “our brains cannot handle yellow for a very long time.”
The color filters are also used to establish a sense of different location. Diego suggests that this tendency goes back to the first Westerns shot in color, where the desert was always portrayed as yellow. “And the heroes of these movies had to thrive in the desert: the heat, the scarcity, the outlaws. It stood to reason that it had to be yellower.”
This is what people had to say about it
Russia is always portrayed with snow. Even when a character travels there from the US in summer 🙄
Just like Mexico is portrayed with people sleeping on the streets with sombreros, singing La Cucaracha and striking piñatas XD
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Imagine how Mediterranian countries would protrayed by hollywood movies
Italy and Greece are featured in a good number of Hollywood films already. Spiderman: Far From Home, for example.
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Central and South America almost always look like dusty or tropical backwaters on TV, even the cities.
Director: "we dont have the budget for location shoots so just make the area down the street look like somewhere else the best you can" Camera man: "CGI?" Director: "No money. Use filters or something". Camera man: "Got it. *unlocks phone, opens snapchat*
What a shame that different sides of Mexico are not shown on movies or TV. It's not all cartels and resorts. Each country mentioned is so diverse.
Well that would be because hollywood is in america, you know, the country famous for its knowledge of geography?
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Яussia - snow and bear with vodka 😊😊 not enough nesting doll (matryoshka) 😊
I know movies don't really show all parts of a country, but that's because its not their purpose. Directors are pretty merciless and cut out all scenes they deem unnecessary, because it takes time and resources to record one, and why should those be wasted on a scene that doesn't change the characters or push the storyline forward in any way? I still wish there were movies that depicted small parts of countries more accurately, though, since many movies always follow the same cliche for each country, and its not hard to make an accurate bit part of the storyline.
For the people getting angry because they perceive this post to be about racism: It isn't, it is about hollywood tropes. Little visual cues they use to inform the viewer, an almost subconscious language of cinema we don't have to think about to understand. Like how a drawn blade makes a metallic 'shwing!' sound. A punch sounds like breaking glass when it hits someone's face. People hit by bullets go flying backwards. Bad guys wear black hats. Good guys shoot to the right of the screen. The list is endless. So yes, different countries have colours associated with them in films to help the audience understand where each scene takes place.
(The tropes may well be misinformed, that's for the countries' residents to decide!)
Load More Replies... Yeah, I didnt really read the article...I was going off what Gerry said. I was also on my 4th glass of chardonnay, soooo, yeah. Disregard I guess. I will however, copy and paste my response for a more appropriate article in the future. I will make sure to read it as well. Cheers
It would be even more accurate if the Japan photo was accompanied by old timey Chinese music.
it's a joke referring to the fact that it is called "down under".
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I wished they narrows down to Nigeria I am sure the color will be black.
No, Nigeria is in Africa so we get brownish tint like there's dust on everything.
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The quality of light truly is different all over the world. When you travel you see the colors the painters from those places use are accurate. Plen air painters painted what they saw. Photographers are accurate, but as you see, can manipulate color. The air in these countries all carry matter from the land, they reflect the water, the vegetation.
The quality of light is also different all across the year. A sunny day in Florida in August is totally different from a sunny day in Florida in November.
Load More Replies... I don't know were that city is, but it's not the USA. The license plates on the cars look to be European.
I guess you don't watch Hollywood movies. There you can find your source and information, but series do it as well. Also, since when Eastern Europe is a race?
Load More Replies... Russia is always portrayed with snow. Even when a character travels there from the US in summer 🙄
Just like Mexico is portrayed with people sleeping on the streets with sombreros, singing La Cucaracha and striking piñatas XD
Load More Replies... Imagine how Mediterranian countries would protrayed by hollywood movies
Italy and Greece are featured in a good number of Hollywood films already. Spiderman: Far From Home, for example.
Load More Replies... Central and South America almost always look like dusty or tropical backwaters on TV, even the cities.
Director: "we dont have the budget for location shoots so just make the area down the street look like somewhere else the best you can" Camera man: "CGI?" Director: "No money. Use filters or something". Camera man: "Got it. *unlocks phone, opens snapchat*
What a shame that different sides of Mexico are not shown on movies or TV. It's not all cartels and resorts. Each country mentioned is so diverse.
Well that would be because hollywood is in america, you know, the country famous for its knowledge of geography?
Load More Replies... Яussia - snow and bear with vodka 😊😊 not enough nesting doll (matryoshka) 😊
I know movies don't really show all parts of a country, but that's because its not their purpose. Directors are pretty merciless and cut out all scenes they deem unnecessary, because it takes time and resources to record one, and why should those be wasted on a scene that doesn't change the characters or push the storyline forward in any way? I still wish there were movies that depicted small parts of countries more accurately, though, since many movies always follow the same cliche for each country, and its not hard to make an accurate bit part of the storyline.
For the people getting angry because they perceive this post to be about racism: It isn't, it is about hollywood tropes. Little visual cues they use to inform the viewer, an almost subconscious language of cinema we don't have to think about to understand. Like how a drawn blade makes a metallic 'shwing!' sound. A punch sounds like breaking glass when it hits someone's face. People hit by bullets go flying backwards. Bad guys wear black hats. Good guys shoot to the right of the screen. The list is endless. So yes, different countries have colours associated with them in films to help the audience understand where each scene takes place.
(The tropes may well be misinformed, that's for the countries' residents to decide!)
Load More Replies... Yeah, I didnt really read the article...I was going off what Gerry said. I was also on my 4th glass of chardonnay, soooo, yeah. Disregard I guess. I will however, copy and paste my response for a more appropriate article in the future. I will make sure to read it as well. Cheers
It would be even more accurate if the Japan photo was accompanied by old timey Chinese music.
it's a joke referring to the fact that it is called "down under".
Load More Replies... I wished they narrows down to Nigeria I am sure the color will be black.
No, Nigeria is in Africa so we get brownish tint like there's dust on everything.
Load More Replies... The quality of light truly is different all over the world. When you travel you see the colors the painters from those places use are accurate. Plen air painters painted what they saw. Photographers are accurate, but as you see, can manipulate color. The air in these countries all carry matter from the land, they reflect the water, the vegetation.
The quality of light is also different all across the year. A sunny day in Florida in August is totally different from a sunny day in Florida in November.
Load More Replies... I don't know were that city is, but it's not the USA. The license plates on the cars look to be European.
I guess you don't watch Hollywood movies. There you can find your source and information, but series do it as well. Also, since when Eastern Europe is a race?
Load More Replies...
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