Banana Republic: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''"Although the United States is, uh, a very rich country and San Marcos is a very poor one, there are a great many things we have to offer your country in return for aid. For instance, there, uh, there are locusts."''|'''[[Woody Allen|Fielding Mellish]]''', '''''[[Bananas]]'''''}}
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Any backwards tropical country (almost always fictitious, more often than not Latin American), that is ruled by a small corrupt clique. Also known in Spanish as "República Bananera" or "República del Plátano". Usually a [[People's Republic of Tyranny]] or a [[Puppet State]]. Will probably contain [[Jailbird of Panama|Jailbirds of Panama.]]
The terms has its origins in the [[wikipedia:United Fruit Company|United Fruit Company]], an honest-to-god [[Mega Corp]] with a [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] approach. With the help of their buddies in the CIA, and some "well-intentioned" American presidents, United Fruit created countless US-friendly military dictatorships throughout the tropics dedicated to growing '''''bananas'''''. In these countries, United Fruit paid extremely low wages and close to zero taxes. Marxist and Maoist guerrillas surfaced everywhere,<ref>[[Mexico]] was pretty much the one and only country between the US and Antarctica that still had a "democratic" government, and even then, the left-leaning ''Partido Revolucionario Institucional'' (PRI) held a near-dictatorial monopoly on power until [[The Nineties]].</ref>
Since it was usually the Communists who opposed the dictatorships
May be called "Val Verde". As seen below, however, there is a whole catalogue of fictional names for these countries.
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== Anime and Manga ==
* A mild version in ''[[Michiko to Hatchin]]''. There are police, but they're rarely there when you need them. However, since the main character ''is'' [[Dark Action Girl|a criminal]], the law's absence may be justified.
== Comic Books ==
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** Worse: in "The Broken Ear", we see two representatives of different oil companies addressing to the presidents of neighboring nations, which then fight over a piece of land shared by both, where Oil has been found. At the end of the episode, some scientist realizes there is not Oil there, actually. Then we see a newspaper's headline announcing the end of the war. Meanwhile, a representative of (legal) weapon dealers [[War for Fun and Profit|visits both governments, one after another selling them expensive equipment for the war]].
* Managua in ''[[Buck Danny]]'', located in the Caribbean sea. It appear 2 or 3 time in the course of the series with different governement each time. Two albums took place there during one of those revolution.
**
* Corto Maltese, the island nation which the US and the Soviet Union went to war over in the 1986 graphic novel series ''[[Batman]]: [[The Dark Knight Returns]]'' (named after the lead character in the Italian comic series of the same name)
** It was mentioned in the 1989 [[Batman (film)|Batman]] film.
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* A cartoon that ran in one magazine showed Hispanic-looking revolutionaries overrunning the dictator's office. The dictator, confronting the revolutionary leader, snarled, "You fool -- '''I'm''' CIA, [[Flock of Wolves|too]]!"
* Bazililand in ''[[Steelgrip Starkey And The All-Purpose Power Tool]]'', ruled by the dictator General Kingu.
== Film ==
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* Simon Templar, in Leslie Charteris' original novella "The Wonderful War", helped overthrow the corrupt government of the Republic of Pasala, which was actually a Oil Republic. In the TV series, the episode of the same title changed the setting to a [[Qurac]].
* In Latin America there's a whole style of books dealing with this. They're called "dictator novel" and, like the name implies, they tend to focus more on the man with the power rather than the country itself.
* ''Don Quixote, U.S.A.'' by Richard Powell was a partial source of the story for ''[[Bananas]]''. The [[Accidental Hero]], though, was a Peace Corps agronomist who believed San Marco could become less impoverished by developing a banana industry. Then he {{Spoiler|'''accidentally''' took over the revolution from its [[Identical Stranger]] leader, '''accidentally''' led it to victory, and years later is still "El Presidente" of}} a prosperous small nation which {{spoiler|no longer really fits the Banana Republic description}} aside from its geographic location. Speaking of his original attitudes, he remarks, "[[That Man Is Dead|He was a fine young man and I miss him]], but, Name of God, he was certainly stupid."
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{{quote|'''Mac''': I don't believe it. First Noriega, then Iran-Contra now this! Tell me, is there ''anyone'' you guys ''haven't'' financed yet?
'''Abe''': [[Strawman Political|The Democrats!]] }}
* The IMF in ''[[Mission: Impossible]]'' were dispatched to one of these countries almost every episode where they weren't sent to [[Ruritania]], it seems.
* ''[[Airwolf]]'' featured a few.
* Argentinian comedian Alberto Olmedo made a series of sketches called "Pais Bananero" (Banana Country) about a stereotyped Banana Republic whose name was "Costa Pobre" (Pobre = Poor).
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== Video Games ==
* The ''[[Tropico]]'' series is basically one big [[Troperiffic]]
** [[Older Than They Think]]: ''Dictator'', an obscure text-based ZX Spectrum game, allows you to control the people of the fictional republic of Ritimba... but not for long, due to it being an [[Endless Game]] (it's impossible to please '''every layer of society''', you see).<ref>Sidenote: make sure you have got an escape plane and a couple of bodyguards before a revolution starts... they LOVE throwing revolutions at your head. Literally.</ref>
* The ''[[Metal Gear]]'' series has Outer Heaven in the original ''Metal Gear'' and Zanzibarland in ''Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake''. The later ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' games mostly avert this, with the exception of ''Metal Gear Solid 4'': Act 2 takes place in an unspecified country in 'South America', which [[All There in the Script|the end credits reveals to be Peru.]] But at that point of the series alternate history, it seems to fir the trope perfectly. There's also Gindra in ''Ghost Babel''. Well, Ghost Babel does take place in the same place as [[MG 1]]...
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== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Roger Ramjet]]'' includes among its many parodies the Latin American banana republic of San Domino; thanks to the efforts of the eponymous hero, however, it remains junta-free and is still ruled by the President and his Cabinet (which is rectangular and made of wood).
* From ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'': "I want you to catch the first plane to the Banana Republic."
* An episode of ''[[Courage the Cowardly Dog]]'' shows that in the future, the area that was once Kansas will be ruled by a literal Banana Republic (yes there are sentient bananas.)
* Roger takes over an island from the CIA in ''[[American Dad]]''. He renames the country "Bananarama", forces everyone to dance, and turns it into a resort where the only mode of transportation is floating in innertubes. The locals finally rebel when he decrees that everything be painted yellow. As one of the revolutionaries mentions, "I have painted my last child."
* ''[[The Mask (animation)|The Mask]]'' animated series had the "Plantation Republic" in one episode. It seemed to be based on a blend of Nikaragua and Honduras (guerillas, outdated prop plane fighters), but set on a relatively featureless forested island. Their welcome sign had the phrase "Now Go Away" at the end.
* ''[[Hurricanes]]'' has a
* ''[[Banana Man]]'' once had to go to a
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* Colombia during the 20th century. The United Fruit Company had a lot of power in the government, which allowed them to exploit the workers without any consequences. This incited a number of protests that led to the "Masacre de las Bananeras," in 1928 in which the Colombian army shot the protesters by the order of the government under the influence of both the United Fruit Company and the US government, who threatened to invade if the Colombian government didn't protect the company's interest.
* [[wikipedia:Republic of Molossia|The Democratic Republic of Molossia]] has been described by its "president" as a banana republic. It's actually just two plots of land owned by Nevada resident Kevin Baugh. That didn't stop it from getting [[Kickassia|invaded]] by [[Channel Awesome]].
* The [[Dominican Republic]] under Trujillo and [[Chile]] during Pinochet's rule. Also Honduras, Brazil, Argentina, and so on, especially during (and due to) the Cold War. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130513190716/http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/od/latinamericandictators/Dictators_in_Latin_American_History.htm But there were many more].
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Useful Notes/Mexico]]
[[Category:Hollywood Atlas]]
[[Category:Banana Republic]]▼
[[Category:Fictional Culture and Nation Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Banana Republic]]
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