Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkeys: Difference between revisions

* Bucky of ''[[Get Fuzzy]]'' is known to give rants to this effect.

* An ''Arlo and Janis'' comic discussing the origins of Cinco de Mayo ended with a shot at the French. The next day, Jimmy Johnson [http://arloandjanis.com/?p=814 apologized for it on his blog].

'''Arlo:''' I said it's a minor holiday. }}

* The whole "Freedom Fries" debate is spoofed in a ''[[FoxTrot]]'' strip where Andy asks Paige how her French homework is coming along. Paige responds by just saying "''Excuse'' me??" Andy repeats the question, and gets the same response again. Then she facepalms herself as she realizes what Paige meant:

'''Paige:''' My ''Freedom'' homework is coming along just fine! }}

* Don't mention this trope to [[The Boys|The Frenchman]]. He'll point out the fact that you personally, even if you're American, did not in any way "save" France from the Germans, then school you on most of the meat of this article, and then he'll rip out your eyes and feed them to you.

* From the pages of Batman Annual, when Bruce Wayne tells the head of the Police Nationale that he wants to set up a Batman in Paris, he responds thus:

== Fan Works ==

* Parodied in the [[Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure Abridged|Abridged Series]] of ''[[Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure|Jo Jos Bizarre Adventure]]'':

'''Kakyoin:''' Yes, and I'm Japanese, we never attacked Pearl Harbor, now let's get outta here! }}

* When you have a fight between the cast members of the [[Mega Crossover]] [[Fanfic|fan]][[Web Comic|comic]] ''[[Roommates 2007|Roommates]]'' (main cast: [[The Phantom of the Opera|Erik]] and [[Les Misérables|Javert]] (French) and [[Pirates of the Caribbean|Commander Norrington]] and [[Labyrinth|Jareth]] (British and... Um... "British")), this insult is obviously going to be used. Sometimes even under the most ''[[Serious Business|ridiculous]]'' of circumstances- like in [http://asherhyder.deviantart.com/art/Roommates-8-100-Years-War-63348564?q=gallery%3Aasherhyder%2F22161111&qo=166 this] mini arc.

* ''[[Ocean's Eleven]]'': "They got enough armed personnel to ''occupy Paris''!... OK, bad example."

* ''[[Johnny English]]'' contains a fair amount of French bashing, because the main villain of the movie is French. At one point a British radio host asks his listeners to call him and say what they like about the French. He doesn't receive a single phone call.

* Shown in ''[[Casablanca]]'', as the city of Casablanca is part of [[wikipedia:Vichy France|Vichy France]] and [[Les Collaborateurs|cooperating with the Nazis.]] Averted at the end when Captain Louis Renault decides he will be [[Neutral No Longer]], symbolically throws a bottle of Vichy water into the trash and suggests to Rick that they leave Casablanca and [[La Résistance|join the Free French at Brazzaville.]]

** The French also show their [[Heroic Resolve]] by defiantly singing "La Marseillaise" and drowning out the Germans in the bar.

* An old joke: "Why are there trees along the Champs-Elysees?" "Because the Nazis like walking in the shade."

* Another joke:

'''A:''' We don't know, they've never tried. }}

* Old joke: An ad for a French rifle in the paper. Never fired, once dropped.

** In fact, pretty much every war that's mentioned in the book includes a headline somewhere on the page reading "France Surrenders." Even if France isn't involved.

* This stereotype is often cited by sarcastic ''[[Harry Potter]]'' fans who note the discrepancy between Fleur Delacour's reputation and credentials and [[Faux Action Girl|her actual on-screen performance]]. [[Cleolinda Jones]] [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] hers in the ''Movies in Fifteen Minutes'' summary of ''Goblet of Fire''.

* One of [[Dave Barry]]'s books mentioned that his then-toddler son had somehow amassed enough toy guns to conquer a toy nation the size of France. "Come to think of it, he probably could have conquered the ''real'' France."

** He stings both France ''and'' Italy in the WWII section of ''[[Dave Barry]] Slept Here'', describing France's defeat at the end of an epic 35-minute battle, "at which point the Italian army's truck broke down."

* This trope is explicitly [[Defied Trope]] by the French in ''[[World War Z]]'', with [[Redshirt Army|disastrous results]]. The French felt that, after nearly a century of military humiliations ([[World War II]], [[The Vietnam War|Indochina]], Algeria), they needed to win a triumphant victory against the zombies in order to restore the nation's honor, and sent waves of soldiers into the Parisian catacombs to kill the quarter-million zombies down there. The reclamation of Paris was one of the bloodiest battles of the Zombie War.

* Invoked explicitly in Tucker Max's book I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell

== Live Action TV ==

* One episode of ''[[Spin City]]'' focused on the Mayor trying to get Paris to be New York's sister city.

'''Mayor:''' Why not? It's only been done by everyone who's ever tried. }}

* Al Bundy liked to make jokes like these on ''[[Married... with Children]]'', for instance noting how another character ran away "like a Frenchman from a cap gun."

* ''Unhappily Ever After'': Mr. Floppy lists all the countries he'd like to nuke. Jack asks, "Can we kaboom France?" Floppy: "We don't have to -- France will surrender with a phone call."

* In one episode from the final season of ''[[That 70s Show]]'', Red and Kitty, having decided to move to Florida, are showing the house to a bunch of different families. Kitty mentions that a family with the last name Dubois is coming to view the house. Red, in his typical [[Jaded Washout]] fashion, complains about it.

'''Red:''' Yes, and if they buy this house, they'll give it to the first German who knocks on the door! }}

* [[Star Trek: The Next Generation|Captain Picard]], despite [[Not Even Bothering with the Accent]]: "Signal the following in all languages and on all frequencies: 'We surrender.'" In the pilot episode "Encounter at Farpoint", no less.

* Completely inverted in ''[[The Walking Dead (TV series)|The Walking Dead]]''. According to Dr. Jenner, the guy in the CDC bunker in the first season finale, France was not only the last country to fall to the zombies, but the French scientists kept working on a cure for [[The Virus]] until the end while the American CDC scientists abandoned their work and ran for the hills.

* Brought up by a British art curator at the White House in [[The West Wing]]. C.J. Cregg is returning a painting to a woman whose family was stripped of its property during [[World War II]] by French Nazis.

'''Limey Snob:'''[interrupting] Who promptly surrendered! }}

** Actually, this is [[Playing with a Trope]] at best and [[Did Not Do the Research]] at worst In the above example, the British gentleman worked for the White House, and his exact words were 'who promptly surrendered ''it'' ('it' being the painting mentioned above) - and the British gentleman was exceedingly courteous, informing the woman of the painting's true monetary value, as well as informing her that the painting's value would continue to rise by remaining in its place at the White House. He was also gracious when the woman declined the offer to leave her painting there.

== Music ==

* Averted in the French national anthem - it's one of the most bloodthirsty ever written. This is why it sounds so cool in ''[[Casablanca]]''.

With their tainted blood! }}

* Actually accepted in the Italian anthem in the second verse: "We were for centuries / Downtrodden and derided, /because we are not one people,/ because we are divided." But certainly not in the rest of it:

Italy has called. }}

* ''[[Ruddigore]]'' suggested an early [[Stealth Parody]] of this trope with Richard's sea shanty. The French were offended, but the British tars of the song exercise their [[Patriotic Fervour]] by retreating from a French frigate without firing back at it because "she's only a poor Parley-voo" and fighting it would be [[Wouldn't Hit a Girl|"like hittin' of a gal."]]

* [[Les Misérables]] averted this pretty hard, although they were fighting their fellow Frenchmen. The students on the barricade didn't surrender to anything but death itself:

== Web Original ==

* A recent [[Unskippable]] for the opening cutscene of ''[[Onimusha]] 3'', where modern day Paris get attacked by some kind of overwhelming invading monster force, killing hundreds. Somewhat subverted when the boys say something along the lines of

* From [[Things Mr. Welch Is No Longer Allowed to Do In An RPG|Mr. Welch]]:

* [http://www.cracked.com/article_18409_the-5-most-statistically-full-shit-national-stereotypes.html Cracked.com] did an article on false national stereotypes, with the "cowardly Frenchman" as the first example.

* According to [[Take That Me|Benzaie]], this is true. [[The Nostalgia Critic]] actually calls him a "surrender monkey" during the brawl.

* In the fanfiction [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4078106/1/ Egg Belly], our favourite [[Schoolgirl Lesbians|couple]] - Konoka and Setsuna - go out for dinner at Mahora Town's French restaurant. Ku Fei sneaks in to get a picture, steals the waiter's uniform ''and moustache'', gets discovered, and - in the words of the author - "'Uh... Time for me to be French again... I surrender!'" wailed Ku Fei, turning about in the finest tradition of the French military and dashing for an alternate escape route- i.e. the window."

* From episode 7 of ''[[Super Mario Bros the Parody Series]]'':

* The website Albino Blacksheep has [http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/text/france.html the Complete Military History of France].

* Subverted in [[Mall Fight]]. Tox hails from France, and is one of the most powerful and violent Fighters.

* ''[[Skippy's List|Skippys List]]'' has examples:

== Western Animation ==

* The [[Trope Namer]] is Groundskeeper Willie from ''[[The Simpsons]]'' in 1995. Having been forced to sub as a French teacher, the brief snippet of his "lesson" plays out as follows:

** After the 9/11 attacks, it gained a new popularity in American, especially conservative, media.

** Even though this trope is mainly about American and English attitudes towards the French, the phrase was originally uttered by a character from Scotland, a country that had [[wikipedia:Auld Alliance|a long tradition]] of allying with the French against the English, arguably making this a case of [[Did Not Do the Research]].

** It was an "Un Lightsabre Terrible!"

** Also, in Make Love, Not Warcraft (2006)

'''Eric Cartman''': When Hitler rose to power, a lot of people just stopped playing. And you know who those people were? The French. Are you French, Clyde? }}

* ''[[The Fairly Odd Parents]]'' had a loving couple from France being hit by a water balloon due to Timmy's terrible aim. Their response? "We surrender!"

* In an episode of ''Earthworm Jim'', Bob the Goldfish builds a [[Evolutionary Levels|De-evolution Ray]], and decides to test it first on the [[Planet of Hats|Planet of Easily-Frightened People]]:

'''Bob the Goldfish:''' You people give up quicker than the French! }}

* When a food fight breaks out at the United Nation School in ''[[The Critic]]'', the French students immediately surrender despite being uninvolved.