Culture Chop Suey: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

The reasons for this can vary from case to case. Like with [[Anachronism Stew]], it can stem from the writer's [[Did Not Do the Research|ignorance on the subject]], and they may simply not realize that these cultural elements are alien to one another. Likewise, it can be a case of [[Creator Provincialism]], when the writer uses aspects of their own culture in the fictional one, either because they aren't aware that they would seem out of place, or because they want to make it more familiar for their audience. Of course, when they're completely aware of the differences, they may be taking [[Artistic License]], blurring the lines for unique [[World Building]], or just playing to the [[Rule of Cool]] or [[Rule of Funny]].

 

 

Some cultural mash-ups are common enough to warrant their own pages: [[Ancient Grome]], [[Far East]], [[Mayincatec]], [[Scotireland]], [[Spexico]], and some versions of [[Norse by Norsewest]].

 

{{examples}}

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' has at least one scene where Ed is shown to be eating rice out of bowls with chopsticks in what is otherwise based on early twentieth century Europe.

** May simply be something he picked up from his Japanese (well, with a name like Izumi, she's certainly not a full Amestrian) alchemy teacher. In [[Fullmetal Alchemist (anime)|the 2003 anime version]] and the manga, a Japan analogue is shown to exist; Breda is once shown playing shogi and is able to answer when someone asks where it came from.

* In ''[[Wolf's Rain]]'', all of the writing is in Russian, yet there are Native Americans. With tepees, of course...which they reach after crossing a frozen strait and passing through what looks a lot like the Pacific Northwest. Funny how that actually works with real life geography (the teepees should be in the Plains, not the Southwest, though).

* An early episode of ''[[One Piece]]'' had Rice Balls (edited out by 4Kids to be cookies), even through the pirates are somewhat based on Western fictional depictions of pirates. The characters also drink sake, wield katanas, make Japanese-language puns, etc.

* ''[[The Five Star Stories]]'' practically runs on this trope. Most of the countries have some level of Japanese styling, even if it's just their samurai-inspired sword designs, but beyond that, it's completely all over the place. Colus, for instance, has castles designed to look like techno versions of Mayan pyramids, military uniforms based on post-WWII West Germany, hovertanks based on the Swedish S-Tank, & insignias based on Viking runes.

* ''[[Samurai Champloo]]'', with its rapping samurai (and graffiti ninja, and marijuana monks, and...), is more an example of [[Anachronism Stew]], but also worth mentioning in as the title's "champloo" refers to a dish not unlike chop suey, and is used in the same sense as the trope title.

* ''[[Naruto]]'' has the Land of Iron, which is Switzerland with samurai.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

{{quote|"They are five great families feuding. The Hongs, the Fongs, the Sungs, the Tangs, and the McSweeneys."

"''McSweeneys?''"

"Very old, established family." }}

** [[Word of God]] describes Ankh-Morpork as a cross between Renaissance Florence, 18th century London, 19th century Seattle and 20th century New York. (This is a simplification - it also has elements of 19th and 20th century London, post-Imperial Rome, medieval Prague, and pretty much any other city with some interesting stories attached to it.)

* All over the place in the [[Honor Harrington|Honorverse]], but [[Justified]] by the peculiarities of a humanity's Diaspora to the stars.

** Drizad is mostly farms on the surface, and a combination of [[Commie Land]] and [[Mordor]] underneath.

** Markerterion is definitely [[Spexico|California meets Spain]], with a pinch of New Orleans and Kalamazoo.

* The civilization of the Masters from ''[[The Stone Dance of the Chameleon]]'' comes across as a mixture between [[Ancient Grome|ancient Rome]] and [[Mayincatec|indigenous South American people]].

 

 

* ''[[Big Eyes, Small Mouth]]'' actually spells this out for the world of Ikaris: the Seven Stars are described as a fusion of ancient Greece and samurai-era Japan.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* The ''[[EverQuest]]'' series has the monk guilds in the human cities, which seem Asian-influenced, in what is otherwise largely [[Medieval European Fantasy]].

** In the second game, while the city of Freeport maintains a largely medieval feel, the Freeport Militia have gained a distinctly [[Ancient Rome|Roman]] aesthetic.

* Most ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' races are a hodgepodge of many different bits and pieces from real world cultures. For instance, Night Elf architecture is based in equal parts on Japanese and Northern European styles. The Draenei speak with an Eastern-European accent and are inspired in equal parts by the Roma and some South Asian cultures, but use a lot of Greek sounds in their names. Goblins are infamous for both their gold smarts (a Jewish stereotype) and the pervasiveness of the Mafia in their culture (an Italian stereotype, with a matching accent to boot).

** There was a small controversy regarding the Pandarans being too Japanese. This offended China's government and they were redesigned to be more Chinese.

* The whole ''[[Iron Grip]]'' series lives and breathes this trope, in addition to being chock-full of [[Punk Punk]] [[Schizo-Tech]]. Example : The Fahrongi are a nation that has many similarities to the [[Holy Roman Empire]], the Byzantine empire ''and Napoleonic France''. As if this wasn't enough, they have an [[Up to Eleven]] [[Crystal Dragon Jesus]] [[Church Militant]] with [[Knight Templar]] attitudes and [[Achey Scars|medieval-esque flagellants...]] [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|who serve as volunteer suicide bombers...]] The ruler of the country is something like a cross between a [[wikipedia:Caesaropapism#Caesaropapism in the Eastern Church|Byzantine emperor]] and an Islamic calif.

* The ruins of ''[[La-Mulana]]'' have design motifs that echo those of numerous ancient real-world cultures.

* ''[[Dragon Age]]'' gives us Antiva, a land of olive-skinned macho men with Spanish accents, the culture of which is otherwise based on medieval Venice.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

** Some of the individual cultures play the trope straight: Azure City is a mix of Japanese, Chinese, and Korean elements, while the Western Continent has Arabic, Babylonian, and African pieces mixed together (along with lizard-people).

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

** That game, ''Dash Dingo'', is a clear and surprisingly accurate parody of ''[[Crash Bandicoot]]'', which was at the height of its popularity. ''The Simpsons'' is pretty good at averting [[Pac-Man Fever]].

* Sokka from ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' carries a boomerang, despite his Water Tribe culture being largely based off of the Inuit people.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Settings]]

[[Category:Fictional Culture and Nation Tropes]]