Why is Russia "always" a considered a bad guy?
Not always and not at all times; see my answer here:What has been the impact of Russian culture on Germany?Yet at least for Germany, we made our experiences in the last two world wars (where in WWII the Germans shared the status of the “bad guys” - both sides acted unbelievable cruel). Occupation of Germany by Russia (GDR) was also not that flourishing like that by the Americans.Beside that: we lived for decades between the two poles - US and Russia, and tended to see this as “good and evil”, which for some cases might be discussed…
Why are the bad guys in action movies almost always Russian?
I think you may be experiencing what psychologists call an availability bias - the tendency to spot things that are familiar more frequently than they actually occur (effectively because you tend discount examples when they don't).That said, different eras have had a leaning towards different sources of villainy. Immediately post WWII, the Germans were the obvious target.With the Cold War, "the Soviets" certainly used to be an easy target. But since the Reagan-Gorbachev era things have changed a bit.There was a period in the 90s when Hollywood cast around desperately for other sources of villainy. One of the Lethal Weapon films landed on South Africans, but for a while the tendency was to cast British actors (often Alan Rickman) as the bad guys.Eastern Europeans have come back into vogue a bit with a recent focus on foreign organised crime. But I think that the distribution of bad guys is more cosmopolitan than it has been in a long time. Look at recent Bond films (working from memory here). Goldeneye - Rogue Russian separatists (though there were Russians on the good guys' side as well)Tomorrow Never Dies - Western Media Mogul The World Is Not Enough - ultimately, a French heiressDie Another Day - North KoreansCasino Royale - Quantum, an international criminal organisationA Quantum of Solace - Quantum, an international criminal organisationSkyfall - A rogue, vaguely Latin American, agentSpectre - Spectre, an international criminal organisationOr you could consider the Bourne films - where in each case the bad guys were ultimately corrupt elements within the US intelligence system.
Why is Russia always the "bad guy"?
Because it's convenient. Every war story needs a bad guy...WW2 was good, but it had its run. People became bored with Nazis and whatnot. So the next logical step is to move forward in history and involve America's top adversary. An entire generation of Western people were raised with the few that Russia posed a serious threat to their safety, so it's very familiar terrain for game companies to walk on. Even though the Cold War is over, Russia is still the best choice for a "villain". You can't make a game about the Middle East because it wouldn't be fun; nobody wants to play a game where all you do is pummel poorly armed infantry from land and air for hours only to die in a completely unforeseeable IED blast out of nowhere. Terrible story. So you have to bring in the powerful country/powerful invidual from that country who was actually behind it all from the beginning in order to make it a good story. As you noted, China tends not to be used. Partly to avoid offending them, and I think also partly because the Russian villain still tugs on America's patriotic sentiments, whereas the USA has never actually been in conflict with China. Russia really doesn't give two rat craps about their reputation in the USA. They have never seemed bothered by being cast as villains even to this day. North Korea doesn't work because nobody considers them a credible threat. Again, bad story. That didn't stop "Homefront" from trying it and, hey, whaddya know, terrible story. As for US-Russian hostilities, well...there may not be hostilities as such, but they are far from friendly. Russia still spies on other countries extensively, and you'd be a fool to think that the USA and its allies aren't doing it right back to them.
What are some good video games where Russia is portrayed as the good guy?
I'd just add in passing that the numbers would be a lot better if Russians bought games in greater numbers. There is a pretty strong correlation between low sales numbers and getting cast as a villain (watch as the number of Chinese bad guys drops now that China is finally legalizing foreign consoles) . Big companies -- like publishers -- don't want to offend potential customers, but they don't have much of an incentive to worry about the sensibilities of people who never spend money on their product. Eventually all game villains will be North Korean.
Do Russian films portray Americans in bad guy roles like American films portray Russians in bad guy roles? If not, why? What does this say about the respective countries world view?
Russian movies don’t portray Americans as bad guys. This is because ninety percent of the popular movies in Russia come from America with Russian subtitles of course. Ironically, we watch the same movies! However, Russians get a laugh when American actors try to speak Russian, or pretend to speak Russian. Real Russians speak Russian.You have to wonder if Russians are aware that they are the bad guys in movies? I honestly don’t think that the penny has dropped with them. Russian movies rarely portray Americans as evil guys. Usually it’s other Russians or aliens. Are we just not important enough to be evil to Russians? Why is there a villain gap?Depicting Russians as villains has a long history. Prior to the Cold War, Russia represented a geopolitical threat to the West. However, the fall of the Berlin Wall didn’t bring an end to Russian villains onscreen. Somehow Russians retained favored villain status with American studios.You have to wonder how Russians feel about always being the villain in movies? It turns out that Russians are fine with being portrayed as bad guys. They are aware that some Russians, particularly the Russian mob, do terrible and evil things. Americans lack that element of intimidation that Russians have. Sadly, American stereotypes portray the average American as either fat or stupid. Did anyone ever watch Married with Children? Even today Russians have more to fear from fellow Russians than from Americans.If you are interested in outdated movies about Russia or from Russia, check out the list below from Amazon Instant Video:The ThiefKidnapping, Caucasian Style or new Shurik's adventuresBattle for SevastopolThe Russian WoodpeckerWhite MossGabi: Russian Coffee (English Subtitled)Snow Maiden (English Subtitled)
Why is Russians always represented as the '' bad guys '' ?
This has troubled me for a little while, it kinda annoys me how bad guys in games, movies etc. always got a background related to Russia. If the Cold War still existed, I would understand, but whats the point with always representing Russia as the great evil one? Sometimes I wonder if the U.S believes that the Cold War still is active... can't anyone make a game or movie where USA is the evil ones so that we can equal this out... or will it just get banned? Another thing that bothers me is how school children in the U.S does not get educated on the fact that they lost the Vietnam war, its like their government doesn't want them know their failures in history... even if it is history. I looked up some posts that Americans students had posted; these posts were based on their thoughts of Russia; '' Its evil -- Its communism -- They kill people -- They have nuclear weapons etc. '' Whats your opinion on this ?
Are there any American movies, where Russians are portrayed as good guys, or have a Russian guy as good guy?
During World War II Russia was part of the Allied forces, so U.S. movies portrayed them in a positive light. These films would include: Song of Russia (1944) Days of Glory (1944) Mission to Moscow (1943) Russians became stereotypical villains in American movies with the advent of the Cold War in the 1950s. However, this wasn't always the case by the 60s; case in point, the following movie: The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966) In the 80's, Cold War tensions were high again, but there were a couple of films with Russians as protagonists: 2010 (1984) Moscow on the Hudson (1984) Red Heat (1988)
Why are Russians shown as bad guys in games? Is there any game in which they are the good guys?
Bad Russians in movies and games come from Cold War propaganda.And it’s easy to sell = easy money :)There are a lot of Russians positive characters, but it’s not easy to find a game about Russia without stereotypes and without a negative image (maybe Assassin’s Creed Chronicles: Russia or Metro).
Are russians video games like american games?
Americans have games which portray russians as bad guys. Basically every modern shooter video game America has involves the Russians as bad guys. Do Russians have video games in which we are the bad guys? We have "Call of duty", where Russians are usually bad in them (despite the good Russian allies), do they have games like "Call of Mother Russia", where they are fighting evil British and American troops?
Why are the germans always the bad guys?
I guess it has to do with the controversy about whether war games can influence and change your personality, character and view of the world or whether you have a certain personality from the very beginning and thus choose certain games. Since it's unclear whether your personality can be influenced by games I guess it's safer to stick with the historic truth in games that deal with wars which really took place. You might play the villain in fantasy games, yet in games that deal with reality it's simply a taboo in mainstream games to play a Taliban member or a Nazi or Pol Pot or Stalin or whoever. First of all it's an insult to all of the victims of these people to depict these real life villains as heroes and furthermore there's the danger, that you, when playing some "heroic" Nazi in computergames every day, might identify with them and spread their ideology.