Thirty years ago that title from a popular novel was routinely used to describe the American abroad. The American tourist by then had become a fixture in Europe and the subject of a number of jokes, and had elicited extensive comment by irritated Europeans. The Ugly American was a caricature built on the reality of a boisterous, loud, uncultured, unsophisticated, arrogant, insensitive clod — one who was prone to throwing around too much money, dressing absurdly, and acting oblivious to the subtleties of high culture.

Until recently, it has been quite easy to pick an American out of a crowd on European streets, but no more. It’s not that the Ugly American has totally vanished — there are still plenty of them wandering the world — but in recent years they have been challenged by the Germans, English, Russians and a host of others.

What is even more interesting, however, is that it has become increasingly difficult to separate the Americans from other nationalities. Seldom are Americans mistaken for Europeans, but it is commonplace to mistake Europeans (even the French!) for Americans, especially among the young.

The mass export of American popular culture has not only desecrated the landscape with Golden Arches, Pizza Huts, Coke and Pepsi, it has transformed the look of people. On a trip to France and Italy I found myself repeatedly thinking adolescent Germans, French and Italians were Americans.

When seen side-by-side with their parents the contrast is especially striking, and it raises the specter of a new kind of generation gap. In Europe this no doubt produces great trauma for the parents of the current generation, and it is probably no accident that it exists in tandem with a vocal anti-Americanism that focuses on the invasion of the icons of pop culture.

French defensiveness, for example, is now legendary. A publishing genre has been built on attacking the philistine invasion from the United States. Protecting the French language from the creeping usage of American technical terms and slang has been a stable of French cultural politics. In Quebec, similar sensitivities are served by language legislation.

In reaction to the American musical invasion, an enterprising entrepreneur started all-Russian radio in the late 90s — no music, ads or interviews in English. It was an immediate hit. A major Russian television network decided it would show only Russian language music videos.

And there have been guerilla attacks on McDonald’s restaurants across the globe, from Manila to Moscow. Other culinary imports have also been targeted.

Despite all of this the popularity of American product moves ahead unabated. What is happening? And why?

I don’t pretend to have any definitive answers but one thing is clear: Large numbers of young Europeans have chosen to model their lives on what they find in American popular culture. The lure of MTV, the advertising machinery, and the movies have made the American "look" the ideal and standard for the new generation. The fact that this might irritate their parents only makes it more attractive.

I have often tried to describe this "look" and find myself having considerable difficulty doing so. If I see it, I know it. It has something to do with fashion, but more to do with attitude expressed in particular body language. The walk and the talk express self-confidence that oozes from the pores of the American. It announces, "It’s me, I am here, I am the one."

In a commentary in The Irish Times, Kevin Myers reported that American accents are appearing on Irish radio, and that Carlsberg, the Danish brewer, has been passing its beer off as American. "Trying to be American is what being European means these days," says Myers.

I suspect he’s right, and though I really don’t fully understand what the attraction is, it exists. Perhaps it is the lure of power, the need to identify with the rulers of the Empire. Maybe Henry Luce was right when he termed this "The American Century." Or could it be that it is much simpler — that the glitz of materialism triumphs over all? Is American pop culture the shiny object that compels one to notice it, pick it up, and be filled with wonder that you, too, can possess it? There are those who insist that low culture will always drive out high culture. Is that what we’re seeing here? Is down the direction of the future?

Whatever the case may be it is a fact that Europeans are emulating Americans. Not something one would have expected in the good old days of the Ugly American when Americans knew that if you just talked louder and slower, anyone in the world could understand English. Even that misconception is now closer to the truth than one might think.

Indeed, it’s been noted that much of the anxiety lies with the threat posed by the English language in its many manifestations. It may also be that this language invasion — especially in the form of advertising and billboards — first produces the resentment. In the mid-90s, Russian friends in Moscow were vocal in their concern about the future of the Russian language, particularly the Cyrillic alphabet. On billboards and advertisements the products and services are all spelled out in the Roman alphabet, generally in English. Only occasionally is this accompanied by the Cyrillic version, which is phonetically spelled. Even to the American eye this seems odd and hints of cultural imperialism.

The assault on language is justifiably feared as language is the fundamental building block of culture. These fears will grow as the commercial English language continues to spread across cultures and over the information highway. One need only look north of the border to Quebec to see the battleground that language can be.

Where all this finally leads is anyone’s guess, but one thing is certain: this is not a temporary fascination with American culture. This is a taste that has been carefully constructed and cultivated by both producers and consumers and will be very difficult to purge.

Richard C. Crepeau is a professor of history at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. He is the author of Baseball: America’s Diamond Mind (click here to purchase).

Illustration by Ian Albert

Related Sites
- Jayne Clark of USA Today on the decline of the Ugly American.
- In a story on globalization in the Christian Science Monitor, Laurent Belsie writes, "As Western consumerism pushes into remote areas, critics of globalization worry that it will raze non-Western cultures and create what one critic calls "McWorld," which looks and acts alarmingly like a bland American suburb." 
- Ian Williams of Salon reports on the ouster of the United States from the United Nation’s Human Rights Commission due to the longstanding neglect of diplomacy.