Why must you have your American Hero?

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I'm a big movie fan, I love films. I've watched thousands of them and they mean quite a bit in my life. But one thing I can't stand about them is that in American movies, they seem to always need an American hero.Obviously there are exceptions, like love stories that often have the American girl falling in love with a beautiful foreign man, or action movies that have Arnold Schwarzenegger as the lead role.But I was watching trailers on the Apple website and I came across a movie called Pirate Radio. I read the synopsis and it turns out the movie is actually a British movie I've seen called The Boat That Rocked. This in itself is not unusual, films often have different titles in different countries.But I then watched the TRAILER and I was left in awe! "In 1960-whatever, the British government banned rock'n'roll. But one American DJ and a group of renegades..." The entire trailer makes it seem like the whole movie is about this one great American DJ who saved Britain! That he organised everything, that he was in charge!Philip Seymour Hoffman is a main character in the movie, but he is not the main character. He had nothing to do with the setting up of the boat or the radio station, he was just a popular DJ that has quite an entertaining side-story in the movie.To see the difference that you guys get in your advertising, HERE is the international trailer, the one that everyone else in the world saw.

It's like the movie that had Americans breaking the Enigma code, or the fact that nearly every American believes the light bulb and the computer were American inventions. Given that there are so many notable genuine American achievements, the need to appropriate more looks like a feeling of insecurity, and perhaps it is.

I guess the first thing is that, unless it's an actual documentary, there is no general onus on the producers of an entertainment movie for absolute accuracy.
So be it an example of a skewed trailer as you've shown, or a skewed story as so many have been, the story is commercialized toward the paying audience.

That said, your question is valid. Why can't the general public in the US not accept a non-US-centric theme in a movie? Or, why won't Hollywood risk producing something a little different?

Another annoying, recurring theme is the mandatory love interest which always results in a temporary vulnerability for the hero.
YAWN

Here's a minor pet peeve for me... I loved the Bourne books by Robert Ludlum. I certainly never expected the movies to be fully true to the novels, as usual. But why the hell did they decide that it wasn't cool enough for Marie to be Canadian in the movies?

(no Americans were required in District 9)

I saw the trailer at the theater last week. To be honest, I didn't even notice that anyone was supposed to be anything other than British. That aside, I have noticed what your talking about and have wondered the same thing myself.

One of my pet peeves is when Germans or any other nationality speaks English with a German, Russian, Italian or any other accent rather than their own language. I realize I'm the odd man out but I much prefer sub-titles. The English with the German accent destroys the illusion of the story for me. Not only that, the nerd in me just enjoys hearing another language.

You and I both know the other is a movie buff.Last night I was watching the great escape. Had not seen it in fucking years, since like jr high and caught it on tv.that show could send me batshit these days.I was once pretty damned good at german, those days are long gone, but I still know alot of it.THey skipped the subtitles, better that way in this case.However the fake german accent they have when talking to the english speaking prisoners, the fact that the french guy at the cafe speaks perfect english with no french accent when he talks to james couborn, and james lack of an accent sometimes and not others (Think kevin costner in robin hood) sends mebatshit! Not to mention that alot of the german they spoke was mispronounced!the fucking language ruined tha movie for me! It was once a beloved film in my past, now its still done very well but the lack of decent language arts...fucking ruins it!Keeping on bobbos theme, uboat some fucking numbers, of more recent hollywood age.. a true story, but swapped to americans...yeah its fucked up.

You just have to accept it for what it is and enjoy the story, even if does hurt the illusion. Beyond that you should be strung up for not seeing that movie for so many years. The Great Escape along with The Dirty Dozen should be mandatory for every man to see at least once a year.

As should "the Quite Man" and "The Big Red One"What can I say, iv been busy for a few tears! and new movies and books and work and it takes alot of planning and effort to be a full time man slut for so many years.I sorta forgot that movie, but found it again last night.Dirty dozen is great, have not seen that in prolly 5 or 6 years, same with bridge on the river kwai, and one of hte greatest true story movies ever made (great escape was based on true shit from the book, but altered to play better) the story of Audie Murphy, played by himself, To Hell And Back.

occasionally, subtitles are problematic with my dyslexia. That said, I usually make it through fine and when remembering scenes from a subtitled movie, I remember the dialog among the characters rather than seeing the subtitles in my mind.Have you ever seen the British comedy series, "Allo, Allo"? they quite make fun of speaking in accent to indicate speaking a foreign language; especially if a character is multi lingual and moves between a comedic French accent and a cockney English one.