ABSTRACT
The history of mentalities is always a history of ambiguities, and the history of the meaning of America in European discourse especially so. Since Columbus, the European reaction to America was situated somewhere between condescension and fear, ignorance and fascination, superiority complexes and inferiority feelings, apprehension and information. For many centuries, the term "America" has been most ambivalently placed in the landscapes of most European minds. For many centuries, "America" has functioned as a distorting mirror and as a screen on which European social, economic, political, and cultural changes were reflected and, often conveniently, misinterpreted. America had become a metaphor for total enthusiasm, but also for total rejection, already in the sixteenth century. The major attraction of American popular culture for young people lies in the fact that it always contains an element of rebellion against the tastes of the parental generation, politicians, priests, and teachers. America first and foremost signifies wealth, power, youth, and success.
