Seeing the promotional videos of America made me reflect upon the image we, as Americans, present of our country and the way in which it is perceived by outsiders. One of the welcome videos depicted America as the land of the green rolling hills where food is plenty and happiness is known to all. But really, how realistic is this? As Kate pointed out, campaigns deliberately show the best aspects of a given focus and intentionally avoid others…this is expected; it’s just how it works. But then who decided that what was portrayed in the video are the best aspects of America? I think a large part of American life was left out is the freedoms that encourage self expression and creativity. If our country prides itself on its melting pot of diverse ethnicities, races, and religions, and on the uniqueness of individuals, then why weren’t these pieces present in the video? The only suggestions of diversity consisted of separate snapshots of different races and ethnicities. I don’t recall any reference to the arts and if there was one then it wasn’t memorable. Even a scene of New Orleans would have been testament to the rich culture of music and expression of originality present in the states. Also, I can understand the exclusion of religious elements or references to sexuality in a promotional video, because both are sensitive areas, but what about the handicapped? Does our video welcome the disabled? Overall I think the video displayed a very bland, homogenized group of people that all seemed pretty superficial to me.
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