The American Influence on Russia - Term Paper Example

How were Russians influenced by American media regarding body image, beauty and the way they behave? This essay is going to argue on the subject how Russians were influenced by American media regarding body image, beauty and the way they behave? It is a traditional viewpoint, that adopted American way of behavior is changing the values, which the elder generations of Russian people used to have. The given paper will discuss whether the American values make the traditional Russian values change and how these changes influenced the way of life of Russian people. Introduction It is stated that people start to speak about the values as soon as they are threatened to lose their country or to lose their freedom, equality and opportunities. On the other hand, it cant but be stated that Russian national values have drastically changed under the influence of America mainly through mass media, and especially television (Hentoff, 2002). The question remains to be open, whether Russians are too weak to resist to the influence that is determining their behavior, way of life and predicting their actions for the nearest future. Actually, it must be mentioned that the values, which they used to hold earlier, have not changed, but their attitude towards them is absolutely different in comparison to what it used to be a couple of decades ago. Thus, it is essential to discuss this issue and to prove that Russians are greatly influenced by America and this influence is more positive than negative. The history of American-Russian relationship Before talking about how exactly the way of life of Russians were influenced by America, it is essential to trace the history and roots of such influence. We live in a world of contradictions, where there is a constant need to prove the strength and power. From time immemorial there exists a confrontation between superpowers. Russia and the United States of America are the brightest samples of such confrontation (Rios, 2006). It is hard to say definitely why the American-Russian relations are so specific: different mentalities, lifestyles, cultures and, of course, ideology and history. The situation was injected by the journalists, authorities and just people eager to create sensations. An iron curtain was hung over the former USSR. The USSR mass media made monsters even of ordinary Americans and vice versa. Such situation was suppressing and largely created artificially. It was a time of proxy wars that destroyed lives on both continents .People are still getting through the effects of so-called “Cold War” which, according to The United States Department’s expression, was a global competition of two ideologies of The Free world and Communistic world (Siracusa, 23). Indeed, the relationship between these two states was tensed and complicated. Lots of pains were taken to change the situation, and nowadays there is an opinion that the history of American-Russian relationship is to be reviewed (Siracusa, 12). Fortunately, time is changing, as well as people’s opinions, views and priorities are. Unlike the USSR, The States didn’t fall apart like a card house. The living standards and foredoom of speech in the USA are on higher lever in comparison with Russia (Graydon, 2004). So, it is hard to deny the fact that Russian perception of everything somehow connected with America is gradually changing. Moreover, nowadays lots of people in Russia want to live and work in the USA, in spite of the history of unstable and tensed relations (Gabrial, 1974). It is not a secret that American way of life becomes more and more popular throughout the world, and Russia is not an exception (Kelley, 1992). A self-made man, successful businessman with a wonderful house and happy family embodies a typical American dream. As a matter of fact, at present this dream is not only American. Such “terrific man” is an epitome for most of people from the countries of the former USSR. As relations between Russia and America improve, more people change their mind of America and Americans. Russian scientists move to America, actors dream of getting Oscar drinking Coca-cola and eating hamburger (Medved, 2006). "To Russians, Americans are time obsessed. To Americans, time is money. To Russians, relationships are more important than time" (Visson, 65). Americans are dry money-makers, all they need is money, they create families after they are thirty - that what people used to say in the Soviet Union. But now American lifestyle serves as a model for most of Russian youth. American newspapers and TV channels becomes more and more popular, Russians adore Hollywood actors and top-models. Some people state that American mass media manipulates the consciousness of people and propagates unhealthy lifestyle. The point is that nothing and nobody can violate your principles and confirmations but only in the case you allow to do it. Russians allowed themselves to be influenced by America and it is interesting to discuss how and why that happened (Kunkle, 2006). Were Russians greatly influenced by American media regarding body image, beauty and behavior? Body image If to trace the evolution of body image of Russian women, it became clear that they are under great influence of America. Slim women look at us from the screens of the TV sets and the covers of the bright magazines. These women are called to persuade us in the way female beauty should look, the beauty which is able to urge all conceivable and unconceivable instincts, desires and abilities. In 90th American Barbie doll became the pattern for Russian young women. Girls were crazy about being tall and slim. The main dream of every Russian girl was to become a model – beautiful, recognized, sexy and emancipated girl in skin-tight jeans. This was how Russians understood “to be American”. However, in one decade Russians suddenly changed their mind and it became not so prestigious to be a slim and tall girl of 90-60-90 (Gaddis, 2006). This can be explained by the fact that more and more Russian people received the chance to visit the United States and look at American women. It appeared that in reality most of them do not look like as photo-models, so Russian people got calm about their look. It became prestigious to promote the natural beauty – everything natural, which is given to us by nature. It is not occasional that majority of women become a little bit fatter (or acquire more roundish shapes) – it has been natural since the ancient times and since the times the human existed. It should be openly admitted, that looking on real American women Russians finally understood that those women who can be proud of having perfect shapes (90-60-90), and who look like models from magazines constitute no more than 10% of the whole female population (Rios, 1997). In any case, illnesses, pregnancies, age and other factors impact the female shape first of all. This is why for a woman who constantly compares herself with the way the girls from magazine covers look don’t work for raising her self-esteem, and on the contrary, decrease it; in its turn, Russian women, that high self-esteem defines good attitude towards oneself, and as a result, self-confidence, satisfaction with oneself, and ultimately, the impression, which a woman causes on the surrounding people. Maybe, it would be beneficial to find other samples for comparison, which would serve as the means of supporting the benefits of the natural real appearance of majority of women. Behavior The new samples were also given by American media. Popular American movies and advertising brought to Russians a new “woman” – “business woman”. Russians hurried to change the way of behavior in their families, making husbands help look after children, cook and do about the house, and providing wives with new opportunities to work and make carrier. Men were also greatly influenced by American media that led to appearance of “business men”, who create many new companies, have several occupations at once and have breakfast in “MacDonald”. Fast food became popular, first because it was from America and secondly because it helped new “business people” move and work faster without break for dinner (Pope, 1997). It is essential to say more about family and husband-and-wife relations. It is no argument, that family remains to be one of the core values of the American society and the shape of American family is more and more becoming the shape for Russian family. These changes are revealed through the understanding that the nuclear form of family is now expanded far beyond the traditional meaning of this value. The media and television have changed Russian value of family, putting more stress on the pragmatic considerations of career. In the husband-wife relations it has also changed from the role responsibilities toward making them shared. It is still dubious, whether it is good or bad, but it is obvious that shared responsibilities within the family now take the leading role in the formation of the personal values in Russia. Simultaneously, the greater stress on maintaining ones health in good state has become a mere obsession among the principal Russian values, and American media has played not the last role in this (OReilly: Young Americans Have no Idea of Whats Going On Because They Get Their News from Jon Stewart). Conclusion It is not a secret that American way of life becomes more and more popular throughout the world, and many states including Russia are influenced by American media. A self-made man, successful businessman with a wonderful house and happy family embodies a typical American dream. As a matter of fact, at present this dream is not only American. The fact that the American media changes Russian traditional values is evident. The character of influence can be argued but the following paper proved that this impact is still more positive than negative. Potentially media could first of all become the means and instruments of spreading American values, making not only Russian but other societies in the world adopt them. On the other hand, it is not only television or press in itself, which makes people change their values – it is the combination of many factors; the matter of choice prevails here and makes people pay attention to the news and information, which is valuable for the development of new possibilities for their carrier and can provide the means of spending free time. The changing of values occurs unconsciously, but it has taken large scales. The values are changed through the combination of media and other factors, among which economics, social life and culture. Yes, American media does influence Russian values, but it should not be taken as a sole participant of these changes. The role of media in changing values should be looked at through the prism of all factors, which at present determine people’s way of life. After the years of cold war the relations between The United States of America and Russia finally get warmer, their international ties get stronger and are still developing. Lots of people from the both countries cast an interested, not a hostile, glance upon each other. War, cold or hot, and confrontation is nothing good. Ordinary people want to live happily without any fear of being involved into various political intrigues. Works cited Hentoff, Nat. Who is the Enemy to American Values? The Washington Times, 2002 Gabrial, Ralph H. American Values: Continuity and Change. Greenwood Press, 1974 Graydon, Shari. In Your Face: The Culture of Beauty and You. 2004. Toronto: Annick Press. Gaddis, J. L., On Moral Equivalency and Cold War History. Ethics & International Affairs, 2006. Print.Globethics.net/Ethics. Kunkle, John “Differences in Work Ethic Between Russians and Americans”, 2006. Kelley, Susan D. Traditional Native American Values: Conflict or Concordance in Rehabilitation? The Journal of Rehabilitation, vol. 58 (1992): 213-217 Medved, Michael. American Values versus Television Values. 1 November 2002. 07 December 2006 http://www.michaelmedved.com/site/product?printerFriendly=true&pid=19058 OReilly: Young Americans Have no Idea of Whats Going On Because They Get Their News from Jon Stewart. 07 December 2006. http://mediamatters.org/items/200605250003 Pope, Carl. Schools of Thought: Civics, Thrift and Other American Values, Sierra, vol. 82 (1997): 18-20 Rios, Delia. Just What Are These American Values We Keep Hearing About? 25 August, 2004. News House Newsservice. 07 December 2006. http://www.newhousenews.com/archive/Rios082504.html Siracusa, Joseph ‘New” Cold War History and the Origins of the Cold War’ Australian Journal of Politics & History, 2001. Web. 25 Mar 2011. Visson, Lynn "Wedded Strangers". Hippocrene Books, 2006. Print. Read More