United States

Etats-Unis

  • Big, states, united
  • capitalism & consumerism, New York, LA, Trump
  • capitalism, fast-food, individualism
  • Capitalism, Hamburgers, Work, Apathy
  • conservative, capitalism, military, corporations
  • diverse, modern, advenure
  • fast food, national parks, movies
  • Freedom, constitution, fries, diverse
  • Hamburgers, Divided, Mixed
  • home, big, diverse
  • home, big, president
  • Home, Music, Movies, New York City
  • Huge, LA
  • Large, divided, diverse
  • large, freedom, life
  • Loud, fast, large
  • Modern, Diverse, Large
  • My grand parents, my family, the American "dream", home away from home, politics, study, work, culture, cold
  • problematic, racism, ignorance, home
  • science, land, patriotism
  • Anti-communisme, capitalisme libéral, liberté
  • armes, division, patriote
  • armes, New York, Obama
  • Basket Ball, Mustang , Gros
  • bouffe, grand, argent
  • consommation, excès, pouvoir
  • Cowboy, grande vie, excessif, Trump
  • Grandeur, puissance, rêve americain
  • hamburger, liberté, rêve américain
  • Hamburger, Trump, Coca-Cola
  • liberté, rêve américain, ce bon vieux Donald
  • libéralisme, coca-cola, Trump
  • Mal-nutrition, Donald Trump, Climato-sceptique
  • Malbouffe, grand, prétentieux
  • New york, sandwichs, dollar
  • pouvoir, Trump, extrémisme
  • Rêve, grandeur, puissance
  • rêve américain
  • Skate, diversité, déséquilibre
  • Trump, burger, arme à feu
  • Trump, Nations Unies, monde
  • Wall street, Trump, burger

Discussion

Les Etats-Unis sont associés à la grandeur que ce soit par la taille du pays, l’influence des multinationales qui ont vu le jour sur ses terres comme Coca-Cola par exemple, ou encore la puissance militaire que ce pays constitue, et la place que Donald Trump a dans le monde.

The phrase “American dream” was alluded to a lot by ENSEIRB students but only once by an MIT student. Young Americans have started doubting the concept of the American dream. Is it still viewed seriously by others? Or is it just holding on as part of a stereotype?

Effectivement, comme le suggère emma, je pense que l’idée de “American dream” associée aux Etats-Unis persiste en tant que stéréotype que nous avons cultivé depuis plusieurs années. On peut d’ailleurs constater du côté des élèves de l’ENSEIRB que les notions de surconsommation, de mauvaise alimentation et d’excès reviennent même plus souvent que l’idéal de “American dream”. Au final, en comparant avec les réponses que les étudiants de MIT ont données à propos de la France, il me semble que leur vision de la France est plus idéalisée que la nôtre envers les Etats-Unis.

Regarding the idealized responses and ideas of MIT students on France which are quite generalized, I found it quite interesting that the responses from ENSEIRB students consisted of many political comments and ideologies. It is particularly interesting that there were markedly more responses of “Donald Trump” than the MIT students. It could be, though we still hear of his actions and public statements, constitutionally, the president has more formal power over foreign relations than over domestic policies. I wonder if perhaps the French media cover as much as, if not more, than the American media on Donald Trump.

I also noticed that MIT students mentioned some form of “diversity” quite a bit, much more than ENSEIRB students. While I think in the U. S. we tend to see our country as more culturally diverse than most of Europe, I wonder how much truth there is to that, and whether young people in France see us as more, less, or equally as cultrually diverse as they are.

Regarding your comment Yoshi, I think here we have grown accustomed to Donald Trump’s antics, tuning them out oftentimes and just getting conditioned to expect what used to be the unexpected. Overseas, however, they may not hear about his antics every day so when he does get brought up, it is quite memorable, leading to more mentions of his name in association with the United States. Furthermore, Donald Trump is the face of America overseas so invariably, he will be tied to our country as a whole.

I think it’s interesting that the ENSEIRB students mentioned weapons a few times, but none of the MIT students did. Perhaps the right to bear arms is such an unfamiliar concept in France that it is a distinct feature of the U. S., while for the American students it has be the norm for as long as we have been alive, so we don’t automatically associate the U. S. with weapons.

Julia’s comment made me think about weapons rights. Do the ENSEIRB students think that gun control measures will help solve some issues in America? Or are there other issues that we should tackle first?

Agreeing with Julien, after I analyzed and commented on the section on France, I notice that the MIT students’ understanding of France is much more positive and idealized than the ENSEIRB students’ understanding of the United States. In this case, some of the ENSEIRB students mentioned words like “excessive”, “pretentious”, and “guns”, as well as “climato-sceptique” and expressed more of a dislike to the United States. I’m guessing this is because of the media and recent news coverage on the United States, primarily dominated by Trump and his ideals which in turn make him representative of all the US, which is not a true representation of all Americans nor of all the US.

I definitely agree with Julien’s interpretation that MIT students had a much more positive and even possibly naive view of France, while ENSEIRB students associated more negative words with the US. It’s interesting that Julien says that the idea of the American dream associated with the US is the result of a stereotype, but I still do wonder whether ENSEIRB students see the American dream as something viable or whether it’s all just a cliché.

Pour répondre au commentaire de Stephen, je pense que le contrôle des armes pourrait réduire le nombre de drames aux États Unis, mais il y en aura toujours. En effet, même en France, où la possession d’arme est interdite, il arrive régulièrement que des décès aient lieu à cause de l’utilisation d’armes, dans des règlements de compte par exemple.

Je pense que acfiallo a raison sur le fait que l’image que nous avons des Etats-Unis est étroitement reliée à Trump qui est d’ailleurs très médiatisé. Comme le disent abrito et acfiallo, cette médiatisation influence largement notre point de vue alors qu’en réalité on se doute bien que les Etats-Unis ne se résument pas simplement à cette figure politique.

After analyzing the French section, I find it a little interesting that a lot of MIT students said home, and on the French section nobody mentioned “home” or anything related. Could this be because french students consider their food, political build, and culture more as home than they consider France as home?

La question de Jorge est intéressante. Je pense que la France se caractérise plus par son influence culturelle (dont la gastronomie) et politique que par son territoire physique. Cela peut expliquer le fait que les français s’attachent à tout cet aspect immatériel du pays. Elle ne se distinguera peut-être pas par sa taille ou par ses paysages mais son charme va plutôt résider dans les idées qu’elle véhicule à travers le monde, l’importance de son “Soft Power”, les valeurs que partagent les français.

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