# International film baddies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 13, 2018, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-film-baddies/819552 "2018-08-13T22:26:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Banksiaman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/banksiaman/32/3334_2.png) [@Banksiaman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Banksiaman)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-film-baddies/819552/1 "2018-08-13T22:26:19Z")
Any action film needs bad guys, and your baddies will probably be either the national enemies or those within your society whose motives you deeply distrust. So Hollywood gave us a bunch of evil Ruskies, Chinese and more recently Arabs, and has moved from national enemies to Muslim terrorists and even businessmen or deluded environmental zealots who blur the lines with ruthless resource stealers. In other big national movie traditions - I’m thinking Indian, Chinese, Korean, Turkish, but there are others - who are their bad guys? ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-film-baddies/819552/2 "2018-08-13T22:47:00Z")
> [@Banksiaman](#): > > In other big national movie traditions - I’m thinking Indian, Chinese, Korean, Turkish, but there are others - who are their bad guys? Based on the same logic, I’m going to guess British, Japanese, and Greek or Armenian, respectively, but I’m not entirely sure either. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2018, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-film-baddies/819552/3 "2018-08-13T22:49:48Z")
Us? ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-film-baddies/819552/4 "2018-08-14T03:25:54Z")
> [@Lamoral](#): > > Based on the same logic, I’m going to guess British, Japanese, and Greek or Armenian, respectively, but I’m not entirely sure either. China certainly has a zillion movies and TV shows about the war with Japan, but I don’t know if I’ve heard of any stories taking place in the modern day with evil Japanese. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-film-baddies/819552/5 "2018-08-14T03:34:45Z")
Only basing this off anime but Japanese shows that dabble in international stuff tend to have the USA has either the outright bad guy or the shadowy guy behind the scenes constantly meddling in their affairs. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-film-baddies/819552/6 "2018-08-14T06:46:20Z")
> [@Banksiaman](#): > > (snip) > In other big national movie traditions - I’m thinking Indian…(snip)- who are their bad guys? Pakistanis. Unless they want the film to do well in Pakistan. Pakistani drama serials avoid making Indians the villans for the same reason. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2018, 8:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-film-baddies/819552/7 "2018-08-14T08:15:00Z")
The baddies in Russian cinema are usually Americans (CIA types), Caucasians (e.g., Chechen terrorists), or Central Asians (Mafia types). ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-film-baddies/819552/8 "2018-08-15T07:06:49Z")
For Spain it depends on when the story is set. Americans can be the good guys if the setting is “modern day cops”, the bad guys if it’s “the loss of Cuba or of the Philippines”. They may even be the magical guys who never show up, as in _Bienvenido Mr. Marshall_. In any kind of police setting, a group of international baddies is unlikely to be fully foreign, much less from a single country: that Russian mafia team will have local collaborators, those Jihadists from one of the newer 'stans will include a Yeshua who’d converted after spending decades being a Jesús. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2018, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/international-film-baddies/819552/9 "2018-08-15T10:59:56Z")
No love for the German, Hans Gruber? Alan Rickman, we need you back! All is forgiven!