Joe Gwilliams 14/12/2011 In what ways and for what reasons have European visitors to America expressed critical

views of American society. The United States has, to many extents, been seen in a very critical light by the European traveler. Travellers of the 19th century spoke very cynically of America as a whole, with Oscar Wilde commenting America is the noisiest country. His comments on the American people; Everyone seems in a hurry to catch a train.1 It wasnt just Wilde, a known cynic, who had nothing but negativity for the Americas; Charles Dickens, upon visiting, remarked; this is not the republic I came to see; this is not the republic of my imagination2". Dave Gormans America Unchained is a perfect example. A perfect example of modern European travelogues on America, it tells of Gormans journey to get to one coast of the United States to the other. This journey in itself demonstrates a major criticism of America by Europeans; that it is dominated by capitalism. Gorman provides an example of this when he states I wanted to believe that the America id recently experienced was just the plastic veneer it seemed to be and that if I looked a little deeper I would find the real America, an America of substance.3 This is a perfect example of appealing to the idea that America is, in itself, in no small part due to its size, constructed entirely of chains and fast food restaurants. Another interesting point raised by Said is the authors impact on their own views. This can be seen to show that no matter what position you hold as an author, or traveler, the concept of othering still applies. Wilde may have been inherently cynical, and Dickens offended by the practice of piracy, but Gorman, seen as quite the liberal, still feels opinions inherent to the European traveler. This is argued by Said, who quotes even a specialist must deal with the knowledge that Mill, for example, made it clear in On Liberty and Representative Government that his views there could not be applied to India (he was an India Office functionary for a good deal of his life, after all) because the Indians were civilizationally, if not racially, inferior. The same kind of paradox is to be found in Marx.4 Indeed, Gormans liberal view of the states is encapsulated in an almost racist idealization; a vision of America conjured up from a lifetime of watching The Waltons, Little House On The Prairie, and Happy Days. This destruction shows that the European opinion of the Americans and their society can be seen as inherent, and therefore not reliant on the position in society. It could be said, then, that our cynical view of American society can be seen to stem from our close kinship, a relationship that works both ways. Because of the position of Old Europe and Young America, Europes inherent cynicism of America can be seen to be a personal ideal, taken from the idea of the Americans as ex-British, and as such, Britains attitude, as well as France and Hollands, can be seen as a form of postcolonialism. This can also be seen in Gormans desire to pick up on the strange and quirky locations of America; in his words he is going to seek out independent stores and idealized stereotypes, but at the same time he is also affirming the view of America as either corporate or stereotyped, as he refers to either The Man as corporate America, or Mom & Pop for independent stores. This example shows the pastiching of American society and even a sympathetic journey across the USA as making an example of the Americans, affirming archetypes prevalent in the minds of the British viewing audiences,
1 2

Oscar Wilde, Impressions Of America (Sunderland, Keystone Press, 1906) pp.51 Dickens Letters http://charlesdickenspage.com/america.html [Accessed 16th May] 3 Dave Gorman, America Unchained (London, Ebury Press, 2008) pp.19 4 Edward Said, Orientalism (New York, Penguin Books, 2003) pp.14

Joe Gwilliams 14/12/2011 In what ways and for what reasons have European visitors to America expressed critical views of American society. that The USA in and of itself has a society of stereotypes, i.e. those of American television, or of oddities/ carbon copies. There can be, in stereotyping, at least, any forms of normality, only those of extremes. This dystopian ideal is continued throughout the main theme of the text, as it proves to be a challenge to find stores not operated by chains; but the specific locations in themselves are so quirky that it must have been a challenge to find them. This relationship between the European and the American can be seen as a perfect example of Othering. Coined in Edward Saids treatise Orientalism, the relationship is that the Europeans in themselves are projecting ideals onto the Americans; In this instance, Dave Gorman is projecting his opinion of America being run by chains on his earlier experience of staying in a series of chain hotels, and is therefore writing less from reality, and more from experience. The concept of the affirmed stereotype is something deeply embedded in Saids concept of othering, and as such the European stereotypes of the American varies. The desire to use the American as a comparison point is a varied historical statistic; it can be seen in the way that Gorman refers to the Americans; and is also another one of the reasons for the criticisms of American culture. The kinship mentioned of earlier can be seen in part due to the Americans parting ways from the old world of Europe, and so comparisons with the Americans are inevitable, as the new world pushed dramatically onward. However, this anti-American sentiment can also be seen to have stemmed from another twentieth century ideal; with no history of their own, the history of America can be seen to be built on fabricated, exaggerated tales, evident in the illustrious history of the Wild West, as well the tourist-oriented ideologies and the dude-ranches. As well as this, there has, towards the end of the twentieth century, a sudden adoption of Old World history ideals; Hollywood was seen to be re-writing history to include America, emphasizing the fabrication of history in order to secure its place in the world. A major example of this is the film U-571, a Hollywood production that outraged British persons because it distorted history to show Americans capturing the Enigma code machine, a key point in World War 2. This led to extreme disgust from the British public, and was even decried by the then prime minister. It also served to alienate German audiences with an overly racist and over-violent portrayal of German sailors. This Americanization of global history, as such, does lead to a severe criticism of American culture. While the New World seeks to be more Old World, however, the Old World can be seen to adopting American culture. This can be seen in two ways; voluntary, in which, since many films and television programs are American in origin, the youth of Britain can be seen to adapt to American ideals and conformity. In this way, American culture also dominates society, in shops, such as the Wal-Mart-bough Asda, or the Kraft purchase of Cadbury, or in the clothes we wear (Popularity of Abercrombie & Fitch, Hollister, Original Penguin.) or systems, such as Apples iPod, iMac, iPad, iPhone, or Microsofts Windows system, or Xbox 360 system, or music. This hostile takeover of British culture leads to suspicion of American culture, especially among older generations, with events such as the aforementioned hostile takeover of Cadbury, and its subsequent investigation/ outsourcing to Poland. This can be seen as a suspicion based on a desire to sustain ones own history, as well as a natural suspicion of the other. This

Joe Gwilliams 14/12/2011 In what ways and for what reasons have European visitors to America expressed critical views of American society. suspicion is inherent to older generations, while American ideals seem to have embodied a large portion of Britains youths aspirational lifestyle. Through this, we can see that the fundamental reason for the European attitude towards the Americans can be seen to stem from Othering. This in itself can lead to the European sense of hostility, a sense of Americans as lesser persons, viewed, as representative of Gormans book, either corporate dominated automatons, (An assertion probably stemming from the American corporate influence within Europe; Britain especially) or independent, quirky idealists (Gormans mom and pop) with little scope for normality between. As well as this, preconceived stereotypes reassert our notion of what it is to be American, and so the European stereotype means that the idea of the American and his culture can seem to be unchallenged by such travelogues as Gormans Unchained America, showing the viewing public exactly what they expect, from stereotyped ideals of corporate America to individual portrayals of weird religions and idealised portrayals of independent America. The projection of European ideals can also be seen from the American need to cling to European history, while the European nations in themselves see them as moving away from it, leading to a desperate assimilation of European history by American ideals. This leads to overt criticism of American culture, the key reasons being a similarity in culture, and a closely linking history.

Joe Gwilliams 14/12/2011 In what ways and for what reasons have European visitors to America expressed critical views of American society. Bibliography: BBC news U-Boat film an affront http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/781858.stm Dickens Letters http://charlesdickenspage.com/america.html [Accessed 16th May] Ellwood, David Anti-Americanism: Why Do Europeans Resent Us? http://hnn.us/articles/1426.html [Accessed May 16, 2010] Gorman, Dave America Unchained (London, Ebury Press, 2008) Said, Edward Orientalism (New York, Penguin Books, 2003) Wilde, Oscar Impressions Of America (Sunderland, Keystone Press, 1906)