Foreigners=Villians

In many American films, the villains are always often portrayed as "non- Americans". It is most common to see films such as Indiana Jones "The Temple of Doom" portraying the hero as an all American handsome strong white man, and the villains being Chinese. I feel its easier to distinguish between the villain and the hero if they not only acted differently but also physically appeared different as well.




In the film "Bad Boys 2" starring Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, the interesting thing about the images of what a villain was in this film didn't play off physical difference, it played off culture and nationality. Even though the heroes and the villains were the same skin color there nationalities, cultures, languages, ethnicity and beliefs were all different, thus classifying them as "non-Americans" or villains. It is very interesting how Hollywood has created this idea of orientalism in judging a persons culture as a whole. By watching this film a person could develop many stereotypes about the Haitian culture, or relationships between people of African decent. Maybe Jamaicans, Blacks, Haitians and Bahamians don't get along, and the blacks are automatically seen as the hero in that situation because they're American.