Extra Credits

José Luis Castañeda 

A photomontage is a combination of several images that at the same time crates a single piece; in this case the merging of the pictures generates an idea. Because of several facts and events some countries had won a certain reputation or a global perception that is not always true and accurate. This photomontage is about the stereotypes that Russia has and I will like to explain the reasons why I chose this pictures.

Russia is a very known country because of its culture, strong economy, large armed forces, research and technology and a really important role in the world history.  Because of that most of the people think in the old Russia, the USSR and the communism that’s why I put some images of Joseph Stalin, USSR logo, the army and the flag. But in the other hand Russia it’s also known because of the culture and the beautiful architecture that’s why I put some folk dancers and the most representative building in Russia, located in Moscow, that is the Kremlin. Other think that comes to your mind when someone says Russia, is the space because of the role that this country played during the space race and also in present days in the International Space Station.

The image in the top left represents the stereotype that the Russians live all the time in the winter and that they all have beards. The Russian mafia is also popular among the country they are famous because of the smuggling of alcohol and drugs. Also I put two photos of the actual president, Vladimir Putin that is the typical Russian because of the face expression, the blue eyes, and the coldness that he projects. And in the center I put a hand holding a bottle of vodka because we all think that Russians drink vodka all the time and the funny part is that is actually true but not because they like to be drunk, the real reason is that they drink it to keep their body warm.

So as we can see the global perception or the stereotypes of Russia are mostly based on the past of the country and that the idea that we have is not that bad, the stereotype of the people it is quite accurate and that in most of the cases is true. The positive side of the stereotypes for me is that they are based on something and it’s pretty interesting to found out why.