A British friend of mine always said that Douglas Adams intended Zaphod Beeblebrox to be a stereotypical American.
Now, how do such introverted, diffident folk conquer an Empire, I do wonder?
There’s also the loud, belligerent, demanding American in the “Waldorf Salad” episode of Fawlty Towers.
That’s not supposed to be a stereotypical American. It’s a spoof of Irving Thalberg.
That’s not a stereotype of Americans or even movie producers. It’s a parody of Irving Thalberg. The Graham Chapman character is even named Irving Saltzberg.
With a pronounced Stiff Upper Lip.
Hm. And I always heard it was “in a fit of absence of mind.”
Ah, yes – Eagleland Osmosis.
BTW, TVTropes being apparently in part or in origin a British-based site, I find their America pages, especially Useful Notes, fascinating in their explication of things commonplace to Yanks but, apparently, foreign enough to foreigners to require explication.
And in all fairness, here is how all Americans view British people:
Trolly-hopping and puffing the billows, indeed!
And of course some High Class British Porn:
I think this image can be traced back to World War 2 and its aftermath. When the GIs first arrived in Britain to begin the build-up for Operation Overlord they had a reputation of being “over-sexed, overpaid and over here.” America’s vast comparative industrial wealth showed itself on the individual level, compared with Britain which had spent a year alone against Hitler’s Reich, suffering bombing due to the Luftwaffe and rationing due to the u-boat campaign. It was natural that some resentment would occur - the Axis attempted to play this up in propaganda (telling GIs that England would gladly fight to the last American for its imperialism and the British that while they fought and died Americans were busy seducing their women).
In the last stages of the war Germany pinned one of its hopes for a peace with a breakdown between the Allies. It’s difficult to imagine now but Anglo-American relations were pretty frosty at times - Montgomery for example was almost universally despised by the American brass while he was held as a hero for the British. Eisenhower’s skilled diplomacy managed to smooth things over most of the time.
Then when the war was won, it left Britain bankrupt (rationing went on until the '50s), she lost her Empire, lost her status as a Great Power. The two big winners were the Soviet Union and America, particularly America - there had been no fighting on her territory, no destruction of her cities, insignificant casualties when compared with the Soviets. Again some resentment would be natural, brashness, loudness, pushiness…during the war and after it the perception was that Americans were the only ones who could be.
Here’s another version of Python Americans…this time they don’t know what to talk about so they have to get some cards from the waiter. This sketch is more a play on boring middle-aged people, though - not sure that it’s meant to specifically poke fun at Americans.
It’s funny how national cultures can change over time – if Shakespeare is any guide, the English of his day were not terribly shy or awkward at all, likewise with Chaucer.
It certainly is a recognisable stereotype, though I haven’t seen it used for a long time (which doesn’t mean it hasn’t been used, of course - just not in the shows I watch).
It’s partly affectionate, as many stereotypes are, and, as with most stereotypes, based somewhat on fact - American tourists tend to be a bit more effusive than Brits, and for some reason also louder. The latter doesn’t apply to Americans who live here, so it’s probably more to do with just being a tourist, but speaking the same language, so being more noticeable.
And media barons are stereotyped as brash and arrogant regardless of their nationality.
And over-gunny. I recall a saying of British troops of the time: “When the Germans fire, the British duck. When the British fire, the Germans duck. But when the Americans fire, everybody ducks.”
One of my old apartment buildings had a youth hostel in the basement, so we regularly saw 20-somethings from all over the world. The Brits were funny in that they were highly offended at US stereotypes of them, but clung determinedly to theirs about Americans. We had a long discussion about “Love, Actually” where one character is certain that his accent will draw the ladies like flies in the US, and so flies to Milwaukee - where everyone is dressed like they’re performing in a production of “Oklahoma,” and he’s promptly invited home for a 4-way, iirc. And he returns to England with, I want to say Densie Richards?, dressed in cowboy boots and fringed leather vest. And they seriously wouldn’t let it go, they were so certain. A friend of mine even offered to drive them to Milwaukee, it got so insane.
They weren’t the only ones, or the worst. If I’d had one more white South African earnestly explain to me that while obviously I was okay, but their blacks were all retards who couldn’t be expected to manage their own lives…
In addition to the Python regulars, the other guest is the original Arthur Dent, Simon Jones.
Not sure what position you’re describing. The person who is not one of the Pythons (far right) is Simon Jones. The person nearest the camera (far left, back to us) is Graham Chapman.
Edit: Shakes fist at Ms Boods.
Basil Fawlty manages to make a lot of people loud, belligerent and demanding, though.
He got soundly thumped because he infuriated the very English Bernard Cribbins, a spoon salesman, because Basil had mistaken for a hotel inspector
“I’m not a violent man, Mr Fawlty” WALLOP.
The German man whose wife Fawlty upsets with his goosestep gets very loud and aggravated and shouts at Basil.
In one episode he gets into arguments with an elderly English lady who can’t hear too well.
The man with the facial tic, whose name is something like Mr Twitching ends up getting pretty annoyed with Basil.
So yes, there is that American stereotype in Fawlty Towers, but Basil’s ability to get peoples’ backs up transcends nationality, I think.
“I think this image can be traced back to World War 2 and its aftermath”
Earlier than that. The ‘ugly American’ is a fairly stock charaterization in pre-war English mystery novels / stories.
I’d have to say splunge.
The Americans countered by saying the British were undersexed, underpaid and under Eisenhower.