Russia: Myths and Stereotypes

Russia: Myths and Stereotypes.

Hello, dear audience, my name is =, and my name is ===. We’d like to present you the project.

In our project we are going to cover such aspects as stereotypes, attitude of the foreigners, who have never been to Russia, attitude of the foreigners, who have visited Russia and some general fears about life in Moscow.

According to the surveys of the international mass-media we’ve identified some general stereotypes of Russia, which are still widespread all over the world.

In our presentation we don’t want to break these stereotypes, but to share it with you.

The stereotypes, which we are going to talk about, are about political system, food, climate, culture and people.

Stereotype № 1: The communist stereotype.

There are several politic stereotypes about Russia. The Ghost of the communism and Funny-Bad Putin are among the most popular nowadays. We’ll observe only the communist stereotype now, during the reign of Mr. Putin, while the myths about him are still in creation. The communist stereotype has been around since the beginning of the Soviet Union. Typical jokes referring to Stalin, Lenin, and Gorbachev are still popular in America and the west today. The political situation in Russia today is also called communistic by several, using and abusing the communist stereotype.

Number 2 Food stereotype.

The most popular food is black caviar and a lot of fish. People and bears are so tired of eating caviar and drinking vodka that they are trying to feed it to homeless cats and dogs. Alcohol and everything connected to it is a part of Russian culture and literature. Even the name “vodka” is very close to Russian “voda” which means water. So we can suggest that in wild Russian countryside during the drought people were drinking vodka instead of water, just to survive. Probably they did.

The samovar is the ancient version of the electric kettle. Without electricity a samovar worked on coal and produced boiling water and good mood for the whole family. To improve the productivity of the samovar it could be upgraded with an old boot which was used as a pump. We have no idea of whether it affected the taste.

Number 3: Climate stereotype.

Russia is a very cold county, where is snowing every day and frost is even in summers. When it becomes -35°C outside it becomes really important to keep ears warm and dry. But the cool Russians guys never tie the ear-flaps. A long time ago the ushanka became the symbol of Russia and one of the most popular souvenirs. They say that some not very expensive ushankas are made of Cheburashka's fur. We don't have any official confirmation or disproof of this information.

Number 4: Culture stereotype.

Russians have very nice literature – Chehov, Dostoevskiy. They are reading all days. There were a lot of scientists and writers emigrating from Russia in the Soviet time, because communist didn’t like creative people and scientists. Russian’s favorite instrument is balalaika.

 Number 5: People stereotype.

Russians are very offish, rude, they never smile. They are very aggressive and don’t like foreigners. They are very religious. Russian girls are the most beautiful in the world. A Russian wife is like a multi-functional home device, she can keep everything clean and organized, cooks wonderful, has minimal system requirements and a pretty good interface.

4. Fears.

We’d like to present you the findings of the survey completed by 100 foreigners, residing in the Moscow for more than a year.

1. “Bureaucracy is a very common thing in Russia. Wherever you come on business, there are very long queues. You don't know if you can complete your entire job in time or not. People in the queues behave like animals. When someone starts to cry in the queue, I feel very scared, I just press my body into a chair and try to make myself invisible.”

2.” Drivers. It is terrible that in Moscow there are many irresponsible drivers. I'm afraid of going by car and of crossing the road too.”

Werner, 39. Austria.

3. Nationalists.

“Skinheads are not very nice guys. And with my appearance meeting them is especially scary. Thank God, there was no any case yet.”

Geauga, 31, Brazil.

 

These were some common stereotypes of Russia. And now we would like to present couple of words of some foreigners who have never been to Russia.

1.Tokyo, November 2008, the waiter in a sushi-bar. The Japanese

- Arshavin, big money, Abramovich, Putin, bad relationships with the US.

2. Tokyo, November 2009. Logistics company staff.

- Vodka, Cheburashka, very cold

3. London, May 2010. Australian and Englishwoman, married couple, living in Australia.

He – 

- Vodka, Red Square, culture.

She:

- Cold, architecture, St. Petersburg.

 

And then couple of words and advice of foreigner, who have been to Russia:

1.You can’t survive in the Moscow Metro without knowing how to elbow other people.

2. Everybody can buy a beer and drink it anywhere, and nobody will arrest you.

3. The Russians like hanging out in the kitchen and philosophically talk about life.

4. The Russians never throw things away.

5. Their saying ‘Imprudence is the second happiness’ can only be understood by them.

6. The majority of the Russian population misuse smileys.

7. They begin celebrating New Year at 11.30 p. m. and celebrate it for three days or so.

8. Sushi became so popular that it is now their national dish.

9. The only alcohol-free places in Russia are McDonalds and KFC.

10. Russians drink a lot of tea even if they are in club and it is 3 a.m.

Everybody knows that all big countries have their own special stereotypes, including Russia .The stereotypical understanding is that Russia is a faraway, snowy country, where one must wear a furcoat and valenki (felt boots), people do nothing but drink vodka and play balalaikas, while bears are leaving their forest homes to go walking down village streets.

However, the reality of our life is very far from this idyllic myth: balalaikas, bears, and felt boots have more or less become symbols of Russia rather than attributes of everyday life.