It’s a comedy that pokes fun at a stereotype that I assume (rightly or wrongly) is pretty close to the stereotype non-Americans have of Americans-- materialistic, ignorant, goofily Christian and car-obsessed. (I thought it was hilarious, btw.)
Do people in, say, the UK “get” it? Are they surprised that Americans would make fun of themselves in this way? Do they think it’s totally serious, and only they get the jokes? Or what?
Finally, are there films made in other countries that rip on (some of) their own citizens the way this one does?
Here’s the box office for Talladega Nights in other countries. Not a huge hit overseas. Almost all the money it made came from the UK and Australia. Of course, that doesn’t tell you anything about how audiences perceived the film there. For all I know, they could have thought it was a documentary.
I can answer a little for both Japan and Australia.
Japan:
I don’t think it made it to major theaters in Japan (at least I didn’t see it advertised). I saw it only because I ordered a copy. Neither Will Ferrell nor John C. Reilly are draw cards for theater goers. This kind of humor doesn’t translate very well, and most Japanese wouldn’t get the references.
Australia:
I’m also not sure if it made it to cinemas in Australia, but it would have definitely made it to video at least. As an Australian I definitely ‘got’ the nascar scene/red-neck send-up, but then again I know American history pretty well (for an outsider) and have a strong interest in all things American. I know the names of more than 10 famous nascar drivers, for example. I also realize that this is a regional thing, and that a send-up of, say, Southern Californians could be very different, perhaps more like L.A. Story or the more nichey, Anchorman.
Australia:
Australian movies often send up aspects of their culture - see “The Castle” or even something more familiar like “Murial’s Wedding”, so it’s not surprising at all.
Japan:
Same thing - but not exactly. Fun is made of certain stereotypes but its not merciless fun. There’s often a “message” which I think is probably absent from movies like TN. Maybe you could say the same thing about the Australian movies I listed above, i.e., there is a feel-good message to them that is absent in TN?
I don’t know - did you get a feel-good message from TN? Something like, always be good to your friends or whatever?
Well, I think from a US point of view, TN is actually affectionate teasing, in that the characters are still likeable (for us) even if they’re presented as figures of fun.
I think the feel-good message is “It’s OK if you’re kind of an idiot; as long as you mean well and try your best, things will work out.” It’s a popular sort of message in the US, as you might imagine.
It made about four million in theaters in Australia, according the the link I posted above. No entry there for Japan, so I assume it wasn’t released there.
I’ve not seen the film in your OP, but it’s pretty common in some other English speaking countries for TV shows to mercilessly take the piss out of their own people, sometimes aggressively so. Film, I’m not sure about, there’s less of an industry here
You could say Mexico’s Ley de Heroides does this (makes fun of the corruption of local rural political bosses), and to some extent Rudo y Cursi (sort of makes fun of rural naivete and tastes). Both were quite popular in Mexico.
Talladega was nor released in Israel. American sports films don’t travel well, and Will Farrel just isn’t that popular here - frankly, I don’t remember any of his films shown in Israel, not even Anchorman.
As for whether any Israeli films rip on our own citizens: yes, all of them. Self-criticism is our national pastime.
This is kind of what I’m talking about-- if we in America were going to make fun of Mexico (which of course we would NEVER do), we might have political officials be really corrupt. So it’s interesting to see that that stereotype is acknowledged in Mexico too.
I phrased my OP poorly because it was the middle of the night, but it might have been more simply stated: are people in other countries surprised that we have the same stereotype of ourselves that they have of us? Are they surprised that WE think we’re just as ignorant as THEY think we are?
Thanks to everyone so far who’s answered the question I meant to ask, rather than the unfocused drivel that actually came out of my mouth.
I’ve personally never seen it, but Australia gets bombarded by American culture, so a reasonably straightforward satire about a well known stereotype like rednecks is well understood over here.
Hell we have a very simliar sub culture here in Australia, that we call Bogans. In fact yesterday was the Holiest of Holies for them called the Bathhurst 1000. Think of it as the Australian equivalient to the Indy 500.
And as to satire about ourselves, it is the favourite Australian pastime to take the piss relentlessly and mercilessly of everything and anything.
Movie examples, as has been mentioned The Castle is an absolute classic, with the simliar feel good, ‘even if you’re an idiot things will work out for you’ story.
On TV, popular ones off the top of my head, you have Kath & Kim (The Australian original not the American remake), Summer Heights High (which I believe is being remade for American TV) an oldy was Kingswood Country
I haven’t seen the movie, but every single Spanish comedy makes fun of our own stereotypes; our traditional standup comics (the ones which wore/wear disguises) make fun of those same stereotypes.
If you can’t laugh at yourself, what can you laugh at?
And of course we’re familiar with American stereotypes, although people often think they’re “comedy characters” rather than stereotypes. Spaniards aren’t surprised when an American movie features someone who should be middle-class living from bill to bill; they’re surprised to hear that those people exist in 3D, though.
Australia has a fairly strong “car culture” and so I think most Aussies, whilst not necessarily familiar with NASCAR itself, have at least a passing familiarity with motorsports, so the humour from Talladega Nights is still reasonably accessible.
I certainly enjoyed it.
I think it’s entirely possible to enjoy Talladega Nights purely on the level of “Will Ferrell Being Silly” as well- it’s not as sublime as Anchorman, but it’s still a funny movie, even if you don’t “get” all the NASCAR and “Redneck pop-culture” references.
Why would anyone be surprised that Americans made a film taking the piss out of themselves? Team America: World Police took the piss out of certain American establishments and people, Anchorman satirises American media, Family Guy takes the piss out of American Pop Culture… the list goes on.
One carton of ‘full-strength’ beer per person per day. Or 36 cans of mid or light strength beer. I’m not sure what the rules are for bottles of spirits - no mention for those.
Funny that it seemed to get a lot of press this year as it has apparently been in force for the last three years.
I don’t suppose you ever hear an American radio show called Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me… Check out the October 10th show here. (You may want to fast forward to the last five minutes.)
One of the most surprising to me is Tyler Perry. While his films are particularly geared to inner city blue collar African-American demographics, he does have crossover appeal. According to Box Office Mojo Madea’s Family Reunion did more than $60 million domestic and $50,000 (no typo- that’s fifty thousand) overseas, with Diary of a Mad Black Woman making $50 million+ in U.S. release and about $20,000 overseas. Since Europe has a substantial black population I’vewondering if the lack of interest is due more to the religious aspects of his films.
Like baseball movies, “African-American” films are rarely even shown overseas. Foreign distributors believe that they don’t have an audience. Whether this is true or not - or just a self-fulfilling prophecy - has yet to be proved. I can assure you that no more than 1 in 1,000 Israelis has even heard of Tyler Perry, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see similar numbers elsewhere around the world.
Note that this applies to “African-American” movies, and not to movies starring certain African-American actors. Will Smith and Denzel are popular everywhere.
