Spanish Culture Vs American Culture

In The Way, the director, Emilio Estevez, represents many cultural aspects of Spain. Some of these elements are similar to American culture such as geography and hostels and some are different like paradors and social situations.
In The Way, Tom goes to Spain to recover the body of his son who died while traveling El Camino de Santiago and decides to take the pilgrimage himself. The United States does not have any major pilgrimages. However, it does have many marathons which are sometimes run as spiritual pilgrimages. While on the pilgrimage Tom and his group of fellow pilgrims stay at many hostels. Hostels are present in the U.S. as well. They’re a very cheap alternative to hotels and many times provide food as well as bed. At one point Tom passes through Basque Country, an autonomous community where people …show more content…
These autonomous communities could be compared to states in America as each community has cultural differences from others. However, the states are more “connected” than the communities in Spain. During the movie, I saw many wind turbines along El Camino. Similarly in the U.S. there are many turbines to generate wind into energy, especially in Texas. In Spain they used incense in the catholic church and it signified prayers going up to the saints. Incense is used in some Catholic masses in the U.S. as well. During the movie Spain appeared mountainous, green, and hilly. The Cantabrian Mountains and the Pyrenees Mountains are similar to the Appalachian or the Rocky Mountains in the United States. Both countries have areas that are mountainous. Spain has gypsies who are highly superstitious and don’t t typically allow outsiders in. The United States has a gypsy population of just over one million. In the movie, Tom consumes pintxos which are