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After Noticing These 30 Things Americans Do In Movies, People Are Wondering Whether They Do Them In Real Life
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Americans have long been exporting their pop culture to the world. With TV shows and movies being among the most consumed global American exports, it's no surprise that US actors and directors are recognized all around the globe. However, for all of us non-Americans out there, sometimes the silver screens get us all dazed and confused. Do American people really drink from those red plastic cups at parties? Do they really wear shoes inside their houses? Is homecoming really such a big thing as movies make it out to be?
But we're gonna need a true expert's opinion on the matter—our Bored Panda readers living in the US! So scroll down below to read all the questions that people had about the things they saw on TV and feel free to share your answers!
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Living in a college town I can attest that yes they do. It's all anyone talks about, and the traffic jams are awful. High school football here is just as bad.
I'm afraid the impact on high school players is worse. The parents are just as rabid but the kids are younger and even more emotionally susceptible to pressure.
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It annoys me how people can get into college for being good at sports. I just think it's unfair for people who have tried so hard to get into college for academic reasons and studied hard for tests and someone can just get in for being able to throw a football
Welcome to America, where entertainment and pleasure is more important than literally anything else
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Yes... the fans are real. If only the colleges would pay the professors half as well as the coaches, I would be set for life.
Full name is unfortunately right. You also see it in high schools. You’d be amazed how many parents are really into their kids and sports even at a young age and the money they raise and the effort they put into it. Also band funding.
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I actually think this is a global thing, just with different sports. South African here, who greatly dislikes rugby (I know, don't kill me, it was my high school's fault) and you should see our whole town during rugby season. Other parts of the country it's soccer (football). Or cricket, though I struggle to understand how anything as drawn out as that could cause the hype. (I have two professional action cricket players in the family who would kill me if they knew I thought that...)
Ever watch the World Cup? Yeah, we're pretty crazy about sports, but so is the rest of the world, just different ones.
Have you been in a tavern or pub and watched the packed-in locals scream at a tiny tv set that is playing the national soccer game? Same.
If only the world knew the truth about college football, what a racket it is, and how players are exploited for revenue and not paid. As for hoopla, take a league rugby match and add thousands of underage drunks: they destroy when they celebrate and destroy when they're angry over loss.
Yes. You will meet rabid, crazed College football fans - and then learn they never even went to school there! The state of Alabama is a great example: they root for Univ of Alabama or Auburn fanatically yet a huge percentage never attended classes at either !
Of COURSE we do!! Ummm those who have an interest - then there are those like me who couldn't possibly care less.
Living in Texas I can tell you ALL football is taken that seriously from Pee-Wee to pro.
Most Americans, I suppose, love football. I hate it and so does my husband.
Umm really? What about other countries that are die hard over rugby and soccer? Ya'll either trample each other or start riots if your team is not winning.
No I love NFL football but I don't care about college at all. The players only play in a school on the average 2 years, so it's impossible to keep track of all the players.
I'm a big fan of college football - much more fun to watch than the pros to me.
Football? do they play with their FEET? I see them running ball in hand. Football is another sport.
Depends on the locale. If they have pro teams, not so much. If they don't have a pro team, they are a bunch of zealots about their collegiate sportsball.
It's insane that the players, who often are fucked up for life, are actively prevented from making money while their coaches earn millions. Slave trade is doing fine in the NCAA.
It depends on the school, and the city. In college towns, football is huge. At my school the major sports was basketball. The hype has a financial aspect. Keeping it exciting encourages alumni donations.
Yes. From pee-wee leagues to high-school, college and NFL... We all get off work early on Fridays and pack into tiny stadiums to watch kids play. Then Saturdays are high school and college and NFL on Sundays and Thursday. In order to keep our pasports we are required to watch or attend 3 games a week.
It depends on the area of the country. It's mostly a southern thing, where they glorify even high school football and raise it to a cultish level.
Don't ever move to a college town. I live in Gainesville FL...football at UF is no laughing matter. All of my Saturday nights are ruined.
Used to be in Jacksonville - I feel your pain! It is a strange obsession! But it is FUN!
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In the south it's crazy how seriously they take football. High School football is broadcast.
Yes they do. But its no different then the football others play(soccer).Ive seen people get way more crazy in other countries.
unfortunately, yes. -Dr M, retired college professor (in whose classes the jocks rarely passed)
When I was dating and the guy met my family at Christmas or whenever, my uncle's would shake his hand and say "are you for Alabama or auburn". I had already coached them to say alabama. Everyone knows not to plan weddings or parties in a Saturday during football season. I couldn't care less about football.
Not everywhere, but if you grew up/go to school in the rural midwest YES.
How is that any different than most other country's obsession with football(soccer)? It's not really. Not saying Americans aren't obsessed, I'm not really, but I've met many Europeans who were mad for football(soccer). Hey I'm not judging, whatever floats your boat, just don't judge us for the same thing.
Of course it's different. Europeans are fans of grown men playing professional football as a career, not children hoping they can run faster than their counterparts in order to secure a scholarship.
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It's true. Saturdays during college football season, people don't do anything but watch the games on TV.
... and college basketball, baseball... Not so different than Europeans rooting for their local USSF team.
Americans also apparently answer tweets that are posted on a website as if they are actually responding to the original tweet. You guys know that these people aren't getting your responses, right?
Pretty much anything sports related is spot on, from belligerent little league fathers, to pro bowl coach meltdowns while chewing gum aggressively
Fair enough! At least "our" football actually IS a ball, that you kick with your feet ;-)
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I have seen this before, also hard boiled eggs being used, and high tech baby dolls that cry.
I always wondered this as well, I tried it once and its hard to do for me for some reason.
Yes. Here in this college town Homecoming is a major event. Vast crowds, insane traffic, blaring music.
maybe? I live in a place where seeing a taxi is pretty rare, so I wouldn't know.
Note: this post originally had 40 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.
Did Americans have self-drive cars five decades before the rest of the world? Because in films a driver never seems to look anywhere near the road.
They are filmed in the vehicle while the vehicle is being towed by another vehicle. It allows them to act out the script while being safe from accidents.
you want to know what irks me..?? watching TV/movies and when they get in a car NO-ONE puts on a seat belt..WHY..??
Well, have you never seen Kitt Knight Rider? ♡
Don't hassel the Hoff! :-)
And now I have that theme song in my head....
pretty sure that's dubai or saudi arabia
XD
Dear Panda, you know what would be a refreshing change? Ask why other countries do things that are considered odd, weird, or " hilarious ". I don't know, maybe start with Norway.
I think these lists are predominantly US based because US media is consumed globally. We in Australia don't see much from Norway for eg, so the tropes aren't as ingrained.
I think so too, so the best solution would be to just make a mixed global (or regional) article with questions about stereotypes and so we can all answer with our knowledge and experience, thus learning from one another.
Yeah, but we're all tied of hearing so much about America, aren't we? I remember even as a kid Americanised was an issue. Now it's worse than ever, the behaviours and attitudes we've inherited (or contracted), but kids seem not to realise that they hardly live in Australia anymore. We've experienced a kind of silent takeover. Now we're maybe more spoiled and entitled than they are, maybe partly because we don't shre their burdens.
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Or some other arrogant Scandinavian country where they act like everything is perfect but they drink, smoke & suicide themselves more than anyone else.
I'm not Norwegian but I had to check: Norway is 74 on the list of countries with most suicides. USA is 34.
Or are not so arrogant and say "kill themselves" or "commit suicide" to use English correctly.
Perhaps we are more successful and happier and have low suicide rates. Always have. That's an old american myth, created in the era of cold war. Fear of communists (we never were).
Yeah, they drink so much alcohol in Sweden that they make it extra expensive so the state can buy a high place in the happiness index from all the moneyyy.
Why do foreigners expect to find uniformity of thought or behavior in a country full of individuals and people from other places?
Exactly. And, please, people, note how this question doesn't apply exclusively to the USA, this is also a problem directed towards other regions and countries too.
What? Countries and regions work differently most of the time. Some things are common in some places and some are not. So what's the problem in asking if something from movies is a real or common thing? When I see how German people are presented in US movies you people should ask us more lol.
Hahaha, and vice versa (so many questions start with "why do europeans..." "why do asians..." "why do westeners..." etc. etc. We all have our little prejudices and asking questions is a sure-fire way to get rid of them, if you get your answers from the source.
Because it's true. The vast majority of these had answers that confirmed the questions.
Would these be the same ‘foreigners’ who think Americans are weird, odd, crazy, brainwashed, what-have-you for having our schoolchildren say the Pledge of Allegiance every day? I have to admit, the more I’ve thought about it, the more I think it’s weird and I’m an American in my 40s.
Idk, I am not from USA, not even near, but all of these things seems pretty normal to me...
@daniel lewis always has a rude comment to share.
Just another troll.
I couldn't help but notice, yes.
Troll. How to get rid of trolls: just downvote, don't answer. they feed with our indignation. They starve with our indiference.
He was especially bitter today.
He's getting stir crazy being stuck in his house.
Yeah, idk if he thinks it’s funny or what but he really needs to stop
I replied to a bunch of these 'cause I'm trying to provide legit answers. Others did so as well. Good luck ya'll. (Full disclosure, I recycled the 'Boston Harbor' joke.)
Movies and TV =/= real life, no matter what country or region you're talking about.
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Ok judging by the pizza icon, I thought these questions were going to be about pizza. They were not, , but I came here to answer pizza questions g----mn it (LOL): YES --- we love pizza and eat a ton of it. God bless Italy. YES --- we fold our large triangular pizza slices down the middle before eating. This is to control the drip of any grease (or to siphon it right into our mouths). YES --- people do eat pizza with their hands, but can also use a knife & fork. To each their own! YES --- we eat pineapple on pizza, but those that do often don't admit it for fear of persecution. YES --- Chicago deep dish is a thing. But it's only good when it is FRESH. If you walk into a pizza place and order a slice, it'll taste bad because it's probably been sitting around and wasn't made especially for you. So if you're gunna deep dish, get a whole pie fresh and made custom. I recommend Lou Malnati's! They ship too :) Thank you for coming to my TedTalk lol
I don't care about persecution! I EAT PINEAPPLE ON PIZZA AND LOVE IT. Feels so good to get that out there! The only thing I found unusual was the pizza being called a pie. This is just a comment - not a criticism please note folks. Call it what you like - just enjoy it. Best pizza I ever had was, perhaps unsurprisingly, in Italy (Lake Garda!) Thank you for the Pizza TedTalk, Foock Auff.
Yay! Finally another pineapple pizza supporter!
I’m not a pineapple pizza person but respect for having this courage
Love pineapple on pizza, here in SA we call it Hawaiian pizza, although it started in Italy.
I love each and every one of you :)
I think it's great for us all to be curious about other country's culture and traditions. What bothers me is when some people start to judge each other for where they come from. Regardless of the seemingly strange things we may do, we were all born where we were born. We didn't put in requests before birth. So we should all celebrate the beauty of our differences and have respect for each other's home no matter where it may be. Because we all love and respect our homelands. And we all deserve respect.
* standing ovation ^ That was beautiful! @bluecustardangel; I appreciate you!
Do Americans really get to have cap and gown graduations right from primary school? Here in nz you only do cap and gown ceremony when graduating tertiary education
What grades are primary? We have kindergarten, elementary, middle and high school.
Primary is the same as elementary, from roughly 5yrs old to 10. Secondary school is high school, and sometimes that's inclusive of middle school years, or you can go to "intermediate" which is essentially middle school. Then tertiary is university, college etc, anything after high school
I don't mean to sound rude, but I thought that a lot of these things were incredibly stupid. I understand that certain things are not common the world over, but most people know that the way a particular place is portrayed on tv is not how it really is. Also, I don't understand how a lot of these things are so weird and mind blowing. I am certain that not everyone in French small towns breaks into song like in Beauty and the Beast. I am certain that not all Germans wear lederhosen everyday. I just wish that the world, especially in these times, could forget all of this stuff and just get along.
I think as American tv is a dominant force in a lot of places, it is essentially the only reference point for American culture for some places and ppl, especially in far off or isolated places like where I am (nz). Most of my pop culture knowledge comes from the Simpsons parodying events etc
The only one not getting along is you right now. These were honest questions that had honest answers. No conflict at all.
Actually, I am not trying to not get along. I just said that some of these questions don't make any sense to me. They may make sense to others, but they didn't to me.
In some countries where there is great education then maybe a lot of these are stupid but there are probably many things Americans believe about other countries that fall into the same category. Also - Lauren Caswell is so right. There is a lot of US TV and much of it depicts a life that is in some ways very different.
You could just Google those things you see on American tv and see from that if they are true.
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My company had some of our coworkers from Denmark working in our office in Indiana not so long ago. One of our coworkers got married and invited the people from Denmark to join us at the reception. Well, they played the Hokey Pokey and the people from Denmark thought we were playing a joke on them. They had never heard or seen such a thing for children in their entire lives. They couldn't believe it.
I just watched a Hokey Pokey video clip and yes, wtf?
What is the Hokey Pokey? I'm familiar with the Hokey Cokey which is a dance (barely) but I don't know a game with a similar name.
‘You put your right foot in, you put your right foot out...’ we played as children.
Ohhh... never heard it called the hokey pokey or tokey before! Funny how things get altered (btw I'm not claiming either one as the original but I expect one version was to start with).
Hokey cokey, tokey and pokey, I've heard it called all three but it references the dance u and Michelle Geiger are talking about (you put ur left hand in, etc). As a side note, I dnt know about other places but in nz hokey pokey is an ice cream flavour (vanilla ice cream with little caramelized sugar bits)
I find the questions a bit stupid. I ha e one very intelligent one though. Do Americans always eat ice cream from the same 10 l. bucket? Because it's freaking disgusting.
Do you mean when you see a character on TV get out a fairly large carton of ice cream and spoon straight from it - typically a women who has been dumped? Sometimes shared with a female room-mate. I've seen that on a number of sitcoms (Friends - the women get a tub for Chandler). I just assumed that it was an exaggeration tbh. The characters in these programmes clearly don't eat that much ice cream!
We actually do share ice cream like that
What? No idea what you're talking about. Unless you mean the bucket they scoop individual scoops from in an ice cream shop which they do in other countries too.
So yeah, it's as bad as we thought.
I used to admire the US. Seventies, eighties. Growing up. Now, I'm just glad I don't live there. What's wrong with you?
Nowhere seems to be getting better these days though - don't you think? Mass consumerism and greed has many downsides.
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Our electoral college.
Exactly. I wouldn't even go there on vacation now.
I'm confused. Is someone trying to persuade you to immigrate? Don't. We'll be fine without you.
Do Americans actually use that yellow pencil for everything? I see those pencils all the time in movies, like when police writing reports and stuff
The standard bulk pencil is yellow. Yes.
Standard HB pencils - the most common type and by the most common brand - in the UK are yellow and black.
Do Americans really go to strip clubs like in the movies ?
Yes nasty ones.
Yeah, but even we know it's a bit creepy. Funner than hell, but creepy.
American strip clubs are nasty with the dollar bills hanging off the girls. It's the biggest turn off ever.
Ok, I thought this was gonna be a fun read, but no. These questions are way too friggin stupid. Like "do Americans really have a salad with dinner".. or "do people really eat pb&j-sandwiches".. And what is meatloaf.. Like REALLY!? You never tried any of those? I saw like 3-4 questions here who were actually good.
Not everyone's had those things. Pb&j's and meatloaf are things that are less common outside of the US. It's like a Swedish person demanding to know why Americans haven't tried Knäckebröd.
Knackebrod....oooohhh...with butter, fish, cabbage....my oma served it....I miss it. It has to be imported here, because no one will make it here. -Dr M
Isn't meatloaf something that exists in various countries? Austrians have faschierter braten, Czechs have sekana, South Africans have bobotie, Brits have haslet.
@ Tor Rolf storm look dude people live in other places and they just wanna know what life is actually like b/c im pretty sure there just lookin fot some mothertruking answers
Have you ever actually left the US, lol? As a Brit who lives there now ALL of these were valid things that I have noticed. No need to be a dick just because you're culturally isolated :)
This thread (and some of the comments) makes me really happy to be a European.
Why is everything super-sized in the US? Food portions are insane and the cars are immense. Also: why do you guys turn the AC in public buildings and offices to Arctic settings?
2 different questions. Super Size is about McDonald's and they started that trend. The AC is on because men wear a wool suit and a jacket so they need to be cooled off. Women always end up feeling cold and have little heaters under the desk and a sweater hung on the back of their chair.
Do Americans really knock on doors instead of ringing the doorbell? Some houses in the movies are so big but no one uses the doorbell
Yes... and it's really really annoying!