What does the world think about America? In this special edition of Metropolis that was produced right before the 2008 presidential elections, we asked our correspondents to find stories that show how people in their country look at the USA. Despite the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Americans are still very popular in most parts of the world.We witness the many remarkable influences that America has on the world, from the first Harley Davidson Club in Shanghai to Obama-supporters in the Kenyan village Nyangoma- Kogelo, the hometown of Obama’s half-brother. He has mixed emotions about the successful campaign of his ‘Baby Brother’, as he calls Barack Obama. He thinks that his popularity is great for Kenya, but he despises the commercial exploitation of Obama’s portrait. Everywhere you look you will find T-Shirts and DVD’s of Barack Obama, and the salesmen make good money, while his family doesn’t receive anything.
In other parts of the world we find people who depend on the American influence in the world for their daily income: from sexy waitresses in the first Hooters bar in Beijing to a Hezbollah painter in Beirut who spends his days painting impressive anti-American wall paintings.
