It wasn't that bad after the cold war ended, but it gradually became to politically incorrect to have the wrong kind of bad guys in films.
Movies where the bad guys were Islamic terrorists, Mexican cartels, or black gang bangers started getting criticized as racist. Now, we're basically at the point where only white nationalists, Republicans (but I repeat myself, hurr durr), The Russians, and sneering Britishers can be bad guys without drawing criticism.
In the 90's, the Michael Crichton's book Rising Sun had ruthless Japanese businessmen as the bad guys. In the movie they made from the book, when the detectives figure out the Japanese guy who did the murder, he basically points to the one American business man and says, "It wasn't me! It was Evil White Guy who masterminded the whole thing!"
The book The Sum of All Fears had Palestinian terrorists trying to build a nuke to detonate in the US. In the movie, they were turned into... DUN DUN DUUUUUN... Neo-Nazis.
I remember people saying Black Hawk Down was racist because it portrayed the Somalis as the actual savages they were in Mogadishu.
I think "Russians Bad" in movies has grown out of a necessity to have an acceptable bad guy.
Remember how Tom Clancys Jack Ryan series treated the Russians?
It ends with Russia in NATO and US and RUS fighting China's invasion of Siberia together.
It wasn't that bad after the cold war ended, but it gradually became to politically incorrect to have the wrong kind of bad guys in films.
Movies where the bad guys were Islamic terrorists, Mexican cartels, or black gang bangers started getting criticized as racist. Now, we're basically at the point where only white nationalists, Republicans (but I repeat myself, hurr durr), The Russians, and sneering Britishers can be bad guys without drawing criticism.
In the 90's, the Michael Crichton's book Rising Sun had ruthless Japanese businessmen as the bad guys. In the movie they made from the book, when the detectives figure out the Japanese guy who did the murder, he basically points to the one American business man and says, "It wasn't me! It was Evil White Guy who masterminded the whole thing!"
The book The Sum of All Fears had Palestinian terrorists trying to build a nuke to detonate in the US. In the movie, they were turned into... DUN DUN DUUUUUN... Neo-Nazis.
I remember people saying Black Hawk Down was racist because it portrayed the Somalis as the actual savages they were in Mogadishu.
I think "Russians Bad" in movies has grown out of a necessity to have an acceptable bad guy.
Remember how Tom Clancys Jack Ryan series treated the Russians? It ends with Russia in NATO and US and RUS fighting China's invasion of Siberia together.