There is a concept, dating back many decades, of the Ugly American — the idea that Americans in their encounters with other cultures are boorish, self-absorbed and uncouth, either as tourists visiting other countries, or as companies doing business with the rest of the world.
At least some part of this concept was a reaction to the immense political and economic advantages conferred on the U.S. in the era that began after WWII. When your country is a rich superpower, whatever you do is going to be judged harshly. Your misdeeds will be amplified, and your good deeds underplayed. What’s interesting about the term “Ugly American”, and its usage in the 1950s, is how much of this critical self-examination came from Americans themselves.
It’s curious though to see the exact trope of the Ugly American replayed recently in three different science fiction films, but with “American” replaced by “Human”. I’m speaking of Avatar, District 9 and Rise of the Planet of the Apes. All three films are very well made in their way, all three were very popular and critically well received, and yet they all had one more thing in common — the way they looked upon humans as the bad guys.
And not just any humans — specifically the technologically advanced, modern product of the European enlightenment. In other words, our familiar industrialized, capitalist “Western Civilization” itself. And in each case, another non-human civilization is shown to be capable of an inherent decency that our own race lacks, whether that “other” is represented by Na’vi, alien “prawns”, or mutant apes.
Some Americans in the 1950s took to looking at themselves critically, leading to the agonizing self-examination exemplified by the term “Ugly American”. We seem to be reaching an analogous cultural moment. At any rate, some sort of self-questioning is clearly in the air.