- Are we also perpetuating Russian stereotypes
by our comments during this session?
- I believe we are Russian stereotypes.
(bongos banging)
(upbeat music)
I'm Gene.
I'm Russian and I was born in Moscow.
- And my name's Ben.
I was born in Russia.
- Hi, I'm Irene.
I'm Eric's mom.
I grew up in the former Soviet Union,
and I lived there for 12 years recently.
- And, I'm Eric.
I lived with her in Russia for 12 years.
Do you feel bad when a Russian is portrayed as a villain?
- No.
I don't like when non-Russians play Russians,
because they can't speak Russian,
and it comes out some blah, blah, blah,
and it's ridiculous.
- Alright.
Now I'm going to demonstrate
what actual Russian should sound like.
(Russian language)
- (Russian language)
Which means, I don't understand anything,
because his Russian's awful.
- So the first character we're going to watch
is Black Widow, from The Avengers.
- (Russian language)
- I heard [Foreign Language].
What the (beep) is that?
- I can actually understand them.
The guy looks Russian.
- (Russian language)
- Yo, this is like another language.
I swear to God.
- The fact that he's struggling so much,
to say these sentences and slurring some of the words,
makes him a lot weaker as a character.
- (Russian language)
- So this line right here?
She said, "Do you really think I'm pretty?"
She said it in Russian.
The way I hear that is, "You's think I's pretty?"
- I also just love that the Russian scene
is a bunch of dudes, tying up a woman,
and beating her to get information.
Did you ever have any mafia experiences in Russia?
- I did have mafia experience.
Yes I did.
I dealt with KGB.
(laughter)
- So, how accurate was-
- Very similar.
- You were in the chair like Scarlett-
- I was not tied up in the chair, no,
but definitely very scary people.
- Yeah, I guess it's a good thing that we have an example
of a Russian who's a hero and an Avenger.
This is Ivan Vanko from Iron Man 2.
- Just pause it right here.
This guy does not look Russian at all.
- Some business with you.
- Toothpick.
- I definitely like the toothpick.
- The toothpick is accurate.
- It's very accurate.
- Russians will have a toothpick
for no reason in their mouth.
And then sometimes pick it.
- You are a lot a like in a lot of ways.
The only difference between you and I, is that you and I-
- The only authentic Russian thing about this clip,
is that this guy hasn't spoken yet.
- Also the constant confused look of scouring everything,
and just being confused by the universe,
feels very Russian to me.
- Ugh. (Russian language)
- (laughter)
That's hilarious.
I have no idea Mickey Rourke just said.
- It started with "If they kill me",
and then I don't know what language
the rest of that sentence was in.
- This was better than the Scarlett Johansson-
- I was going to say Scarlett is better than this (bleep).
At least I understood her full sentence.
- It was entertaining.
- Very entertaining.
- Not accurate, but very entertaining.
This is Boris and Natasha from the Bullwinkle Show.
- Boris and Natasha single handedly ruined my childhood.
My birth name in Russian is Boris,
and when I came to America, this show was popular.
So it was always like, hi my name is Boris.
And they'd be "Oh! Where's Natasha?
Where's Natasha?"
Yeah, that's really (bleep) original.
(Bleep) you Boris and Natasha.
I had to change my name in English
because of Boris and Natasha.
- Say the name, Boris and Natasha.
- Tada!
When do we steal mattress, Boris?
- No time like the president, Natasha.
Look, we're coming to tunnel.
- Boris looks like Danny De Vito.
- Which is every Russian.
Little, pudgy father.
- Why does Boris have to be so ugly?
He's just like Quasimodo with a drinking problem.
- Who owns a jewelry store nearby you?
Probably looks like this guy.
- Probably looks like this.
Yes.
- When it gets dark, we grab mattress and a run for it.
- Now that's a good accent, I gotta say.
Look, we're coming to tunnel.
- The accent was very good.
They're very Russian.
I like them.
He sounds like my uncle, he does.
- I agree.
- This is Elizabeth and Philip from The Americans.
- We don't kill people.
Jesus.
- We wouldn't.
- These are real stories.
The Americans isn't based on an exactly true story,
but spying is a thing.
Being in another country and
having to pretend to be American.
That's a thing that happens
and it's a really interesting character.
- My dad instructed me, specifically,
to not be Russian, whatsoever.
You have to be American, he said.
And I took that to heart.
That's why I'm wearing this track suit.
- We had a job to do.
- It's the most interesting take.
None of these characters have Russian accents.
None of these characters are alcoholics,
sitting there and being macho and not talking.
- The Americans, I think, did a very interesting job
in portraying them as anybody.
It could be anybody, which is scary.
It could be you and me.
- Now we're watching Red from Orange is the New Black.
- Maybe we should all get down on our knees, and lick it up.
- Oh. I'm kidding.
They doubled our order of slop this month.
We can cover it.
What's gotten into you?
- Alright, first of all,
this character is my mom.
- She's very good, I think, because I know people like that.
- Every Russian guy has somebody like this in their life.
This is a pretty good Russian character.
The accent's okay.
- Sometimes there's a mess.
It happens.
- Notice how every Russian character,
here's how you do it.
You just take their smile, and turn it upside down.
- And she also has this attitude that's like,
calm down, I'm going to fix everything.
- Yeah, so she is definitely, I think,
she's well portrayed in terms of the strong Russian woman.
- Yeah. Good job, Red.
That was very accurate and very interesting
and very fun to watch.
- We're watching Rounders with Teddy KGB.
- Top two pair.
- Teddy looks Russian.
You've got to give him that.
- This is actually a really good character, Malkovich.
He does a good job.
- The (bleep) did you lay that down.
- That's good.
- Very good acting.
Very interesting to watch, but again,
all the characters are kind of the same.
- Yeah.
- I don't know any Russian that eats Oreos, though.
- Yeah. He's a unique Russian.
- Unique Russian.
- Russians do not like Oreos.
- Don't even know what Oreos are, probably.
- Yeah, but if they do, they wouldn't like them.
- Now we're going to watch Ivan Drago from Rocky IV.
- They are toe to toe.
The Russian towers above the American.
It's a true case of David and Goliath.
- I don't think this would be offensive.
I think this would be like, actually if you are Russian,
you might want to be portrayed like this.
He's big, he's strong, he looks phenomenal.
Good looking.
- Drago was like my ideal vision of who I would be
when I grew up.
- So this is, I think, a positive portrayal of Russian.
- But I think people would root for Rocky, right?
So it makes him the villain.
- We would root for Rocky because we're American.
But if we were Russian, we would Root for Ivan.
- I would be lying if I say that I wasn't,
at least a little bit, rooting for Drago.
- I was only rooting for Drago.
I don't like Rocky.
(bongos playing)
I think Russians are being depicted better over time.
- Yeah, we're better bad guys now.
- I just don't think it's the most interesting.
- What do you do?
Russians are portrayed as spies and as villains and thieves.
- There's more.
- It's not offensive to me that the characters
are always the bad guys.
But, at least speak well.
- Annunciate the bad things you're doing.
Don't just (Russian mumbling).
- For Hollywood, I think that maybe they should
have more roles for real speaking Russians.
I think there are many actors here who speak Russian,
who can do well and it would be more interesting.
When you bring in more authentic people,
and diversity into the industry,
and not always the same faces.
- [Eric] Thank you, Mom.
Thanks for trying to get me a job.
- [Irene] Who was I speaking to?
- [Eric] Some director.
(upbeat music)