Top Gear and American Stereo Types

USA Eastern Road Trip

This episode of Top Gear takes place in the United States.  The boys are on holiday road tripping up the eastern side of the US. Jeremy is in a Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG, Richard is in a Porsche 911 GT3 RS, and James is in a Ferrari 458 Italia.  They begin in the North Carolina on the Blue Ridge Parkway.  Their first stop is an old NASCAR racetrack.  Here they proceed to race around the track where Jeremy becomes a little tail happy.  He proceeds to ruin the rear tires on his SLS.  He needs to find new tires for the car.  He finds himself in need of help from the mayor of the town he is in.  The mayor is seen as being as a southern hick.  The dominant ideology of the people who are trying to find him a tire are seen as being dumb lower class Americans.  The British presenters are seen as being higher class and of the dominant class.  When Jeremy finally makes it to his overnight stay the other two are already there.  They next scene is the three presenting the news back in the studio.  They are focused on Christmas gifts for the motoring enthusiast.  When they return to the road trip they find out they are staying at a motor racing park and hotel.  They are told to go race around the track.  Jeremy again becomes too tail happy and ruins even more tires.  James and Richard engage in a proper race.  Richard tries to keep up with James but is unable and spins off the track.  The boys are presented with another challenge.  They are to perform a drive by shooting.  They are to shoot out of their car at paper targets.  When the three receive weapons training Jeremy becomes over enthusiastic.  The are competing against each to see who can score the most points in the paper target, which are in the shape of their ex performance car driver known as the Stig.  Jeremy is the last to; he cheats by using a rife instead of a handgun.  After another knights stay they are told to report to New York City.  On the way they find a drag strip where Jeremy and James race in the rain.  Neither car could complete a race due to the track being too wet.  After they leave the track they cut back to the studio where Jeremy interviews Director Danny Boyle.  After the interview the tree end up in New York City.  They are given the challenge of making their way up town.  However they are not allowed to use the ring road. The winner would appear on an American morning chat show.  They think it will be some American pop show, but they in for a surprise.  The show is a morning work out yoga show.  James wins the race and when he appears he looks so uncomfortable.  After the trip is over they cut back to the studio where Jeremy and James race the same two cars in a drag race.  The race is a dead tie.  

The Americans represented I in the show are seen as hicks.  They have southern accents, which are seen as a sign of inferiority.  One of the tire shop owners has such a thick accent he is said to not even be speaking English.  He also has a large beer belly, a shirt with cut off sleeves, and tattoos.  He is seen as being lower class and of lower standings than the British men.  While the southern Americans are being seen as lower class, the show they are set to appear on are seen as having high class Americans who are extremely popular.  The southern Americans portrayed in the show are not what all Americans are.  The images portrayed in the show are false images.