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Around the World in 8 Sundays: Eastern Europe

It is time for another trip around the world! Today we’ll be taking a look at Eastern Europe through characters and film!

A huge thank you to Heather at Seriously Geeky Sundays! for organizing this!

25th October – Around the World in 8 Sundays – Eastern Europe

It’s week two of our Around the World in 8 Sundays, a multi-week theme taking us around the world, and this week our spotlight is on Eastern Europe.

Who is your favourite character of Eastern Europe heritage?

I can’t pick just one, so I made a list of a few of my favorites from over the years. 

  • Chekov – There is no way I can NOT include him! He’s fun, handsome, and full of life!
  • Anastasia
  • Borat
  • Black Widow (MCU)
  • Scarlet Witch (MCU)
What is your favourite film set in this region?

As an American born in the 80s, I remember a ton of action movies set in Eastern Europe because of the Cold War. Teenager me was an avid reader of all things Tom Clancy. I’m going to skip over Cold War era action movies and sit down and remember ones that made an impact on me.

  • Chernobyl – HBO’s mini series
  • Band of Brothers – an HBO WWII mini series
  • Captain America: The Winter Soldier

 Believe it or not, I’ve never seen Schindler’s List, otherwise, it would most likely be at the top of the list! 

In Hollywood characters of Eastern European descent are often stereotypically cast as the villain, can you think of a hero instead?

Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch from Avengers. She is easily one of my favorite Avengers in 

  • Avengers: Age of Ultron
  • Captain America: Civil War
  • Avengers: Infinity War
  • Avengers: End Game
Image courtesy of Wikipedia

She is (in my opinion) the most powerful human avenger and does everything in her power to protect Vision. I’ve always wanted to see more of her in the MCU (I am happy she is getting her own show on Disney + even though I don’t subscribe to it…too many things to subscribe to nowadays. I’ll stick with Netflix and Amazon Prime). 

Greek mythology frequently features in pop culture, which appearance has interested you the most?

Loki – wait, wrong pantheon. 😉

I’m not much of a Greek mythology fan (mainly because Zeus is just gross), but I absolutely loved Xena: Warrior Princess when I was a kid. My sisters and I were obsessed with the show and would spend many hours making “weapons” from sticks and pretend to be our own band of Xena warriors. 

Which Eastern European country or location do you feel is overused in pop  culture and which is underutilised?

The Soviet Union is the most overused because of the Cold War.

I’d like to see more of Estonia. They were our allies in the Iraq War, and I’d like to see more of them. I know there are some compelling movies to be made!

Flag of Estonia

By Originally drawn by User:SKopp.
Blue colour changed by User:PeepP to match the image at [1].
– http://www.riigikantselei.ee/?id=73847, Public Domain, Link

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