United States

Etats-Unis

  • big, American Dream, war
  • Burgers, Beer, powerful
  • career, settle, comfortable
  • climate change, inequality, innovation
  • Cold, hike, burger, individualism
  • cowboys, hot dogs, guns, trump
  • Diverse, big, freedom, dream
  • freedom, diversity, fragmentation
  • Freedom, science, Hollywood
  • Hamburger, Universities, Work
  • imperialism, fast-food, New York
  • Large, freedom, melting pot, diverse
  • loud, energetic, diverse
  • Massachusetts, Nevada, Las Vegas
  • money, tech
  • New York, home, political turmoil
  • power, modern, tech
  • Powerful, Freedom, Mandate
  • Pretentious
  • Superpower, Influence, Home
  • Trump, Independence , powerful
  • Alaska, Hollywood, films
  • Buildings, contrastes, puissance, pistolets
  • force, diversité, opportunité
  • Hégémonie, obésité, capitalisme
  • Leader, développement, Chine
  • Militaire, puissance, technologies
  • New York
  • pays, étranger, puissance
  • Pouvoir, influence
  • puissance, armes, Donald Trump
  • Puissance, démesure, Trump, obésité
  • Puissant, arme à feu, indépendant, technologie
  • rêve, capitalisme, modernité
  • rêve, symbole, politique
  • rêve, vaste, oser
  • surconsommation, immense
  • surcôté, excès, surconsommation
  • travail, grands espaces, capitalisme
  • Trump
  • Trump, armes, puissance, Amérique
  • Trump, pollution, armes

Discussion

Bonjour, nous sommes en accord sur le fait que les USA sont une grande puissance, mais en France nous insistons beaucoup sur des clichés comme les armes, ou alors nous citons Trump puisqu’il est beaucoup présent dans nos médias. Vous semblez plutôt parler des Etats-Unis comme un pays ou vous pouvez faire des études, une carrière et un certain confort de vie

Hello, I find it interesting that what I would consider common American stereotypes only really show up in the responses from the MIT students. I agree with Brieg that Trump is always in the media; he’s been in our papers almost every day since he announced his candidacy for the last election. However, I partially disagree with the statement that American students see the United States as a place to study and maintain a standard of life: The use of words/phrases such as “pretentious”, “political turmoil”, and “inequality” almost imply a level, albeit low based on the responses, of disillusionment.

I agree with Marissa that certain stereotypes can only be found from the MIT side. However, I think there’s a difference in the stereotypes by Americans of America, and people outside of America, hence some stereotypes only appearing on the MIT side. Just like what Brieg said, the first words that people in my country (I’m an African international student) think of when they hear the United States are money, skyscrapers, dreams, opportunities and other stereotypes, similar to what is seen from the French side.

Hi,
Like Brieg, Marissa, and Gianna have noted, there are many stereotypes presented on both sides. I actually disagree with Marissa in the second half of her comment because I believe that the US is a good place to study, we’ve got top-ranking universities and opportunities that are very sought after. I think that this view of America very much exemplifies the American Dream: you work hard and it pays off.

Another point is that both sides described similar stereotypes with different words. An example of that difference is that the American students wrote names of typical American foods (burger, hot dog) while the French students wrote “obesity.” I think this goes to show a difference of how the two different cultures view Americans and their consumption habits.

Hello Breig,
How has you view changed about the United States once Trump was elected? Do you feel that France’s relationship with the United States has deteriorated after Trump was elected? Does the French media support most of the forge in diplomacy that involves some sort of partnership between the French government and that of the United States?

Hell0 all,
I am also curious about how France views the United States with Trump in office. I wonder if the president is always a subject that is talked about frequently in France or if it just him. For example, was Obama a well known figure in France when he was president?

Bonjour,
Nous parlons souvent des présidents américains lors de leurs éléctions, mais après nous n’en parlons plus trop, que lorsqu’il font un gros dérapage ou qu’il se passe quelque chose de spécial. Pour répondre à Charliem6, je pense qu’Obama était aussi connu que Tump, on parlait d’Obama car c’était le premier président américain noir, et parce qu’il semblait toujours sympa. Mais aujourd’hui on voit souvent Trump à la télévision ou sur internet, où il est principalement moqué, il est vu comme quelqu’un de stupide, dangereux et raciste.

Salut Charliem6 !
Trump est vu en France comme quelqu’un de dangereux et de grotesque notamment avec tous les tweets qu’il fait chaque jour. Obama lui était vu comme un grand orateur, qui avait beaucoup de classe. Et quelle est la vision des américains par rapport à Emmanuel Macron ou encore son prédécesseur François Hollande.

Hi MathieuF, to be honest, I feel like the average American does not get the chance to interact with much French news and therefore doesn’t know that much about French politics. For example, before working in France, my only knowledge of Macron is that he’s rather centrist/reasonable, he beat Marine Le Pen, he is sort of good-looking, and he married his high school teacher. Only when I worked in France recently did I get familiar with some of his controversial policies such as the pension reform. As for François Hollande, I know next to nothing. I think this says something perhaps about the focus of the American media on US affairs and Americans’ tendency to view ourselves as the center of the world, though I think it’d be cool if more Americans knew more about international politics.

After having read adanquigny and MathieuF’s responses, it’s very interesting to see that the French view on President Trump is so extreme. Here, in the US, the views on President Trump are very split, especially depending on the media and their sources and previous biases. Do you think that the other words found on the right side (“guns,” “overconsumption,” “power”) are results of news that you’ve seen with Donald Trump or because of other sources of media? Moreover, do you feel that President Trump accentuates these American stereotypes and therefore that is the reason that you decided to use those words specifically?

I did not anticipate Trump to be viewed so harshly. I know people in the U. S. do not approve of Trump and are disgusted that he is in office, but to have other countries think the same thing is shocking. I agree with Emily about the U. S. being mainly focused on our ourselves and not French politics. I really do not know anything about Macron or Hollande. I recognize the names and could recognize a picture of them but that’s it.

In response to MathieuF, I honestly don’t think I’ve ever heard any bad coverage of Macron or Hollande, the latter probably because I did not follow politics that much and the former because the newspapers were at that time dominated by Trump’s campaign and subsequent election. Did you see coverage of Obama and possibly Bush in comparable lights, or is this view of American leaders new with Trump and his presence/fight against the media?

I think that the policies of other countries don’t so much matter to the US because the media just does not focus on such things. There is limited bandwidth to deliver information to people and there is an ocean separating Europe and the US. There are not too many European policies that have a direct impact on America. It makes sense then that average Americans would not hear much about French politics, because they are largely inconsequential (excluding trade, war, crisis response, etc…). The US already has enough politics to occupy national attention.

Pour répondre à JT, pourquoi penses-tu que la politique européenne n’est pas intéressante pour les Etats-Unis ? Dans l’autre sens, en tant que français, nous entendons beaucoup d’informations sur les Etats-Unis et sur les décisions que Trump prend pendant son mandat. Pourquoi la politique des Etats-Unis serait vue d’une façon plus importante chez nous que celle de l’Europe chez vous ?

The US is such a global player that changes in policies in other countries will produce an effect. However, the presentation of that effect is up to the media. In many ways, the media and news shape our views on what is important to us as a nation. Right now, there is so much going on in the White House that it can come off as Europe’s political climate does not affect the US.

I agree with amena but I also think that the US is viewed as one big superpower that influences many other countries. It is possible that the EU for us is similar to the US for you. We might not hear about Hollande and Macron because they just represent one country in the EU and have a tiny impact on our own lives when joined with all of the other countries.

To respond to Camille, I think that the US has a very self-centered, egotistic culture and thus the media exaggerates news within the US or prioritizes it above every other country’s. Although I don’t know for certain, I think that other countries’ news probably shows a more holistic view of global events. The US tends to put itself in a position of importance and devalue the importance of others. I think that this cultural difference between the US and France is the reason that politics are views and emphasized so differently.

I very much agree with Shelly that the United States is quite self-centered, almost looking down at countries around them. I’m not sure how polarizing French politics, but American politics have essentially gotten to the point that you don’t talk about it unless you want to hate people after the discussion. America is very concerned about and only about America, much more than we should be.

Bonjour,
Je trouve ça très intéressant la vision que vous donnez des États-Unis, qui semble tout à fait logique. Il semble normal que vous n’entendiez pas parler de la France mais entendez-vous parler de politiques d’autres pays plus limitrophes, comme le Mexique par exemple ? Ou au contraire, entendez-vous parler d’évènements importants qui arrivent en Europe et qui potentiellement pourraient impacter les États-Unis ?

Bonjour,
Je trouve ça très intéressant la vision que vous donnez des États-Unis, qui semble tout à fait logique. Il semble normal que vous n’entendiez pas parler de la France mais entendez-vous parler de politiques d’autres pays plus limitrophes, comme le Mexique par exemple ? Ou au contraire, entendez-vous parler d’évènements importants qui arrivent en Europe et qui potentiellement pourraient impacter les États-Unis ?

We definitely do hear of important events in the world that could impact us. The US is not a bubble, and has a media industry like any other free capitalist country. I agree that it is entirely logical for a nation to report mainly on news happening within its borders because that is what matters most to its citizens. It makes no sense to negatively judge America and its media companies because they report mostly on happenings in the US. I also argue that the point of a country is to be self-centered and to give the citizens the best protection and chance of success that it can. For America, this includes maintaining great military power to ensure global stability, which was mentioned in many of the initial responses above. I was wondering what French people think about military power in general?

engage