Eagle Land: Difference between revisions

* The ''Yoroiden Samurai Troopers/[[Ronin Warriors]]'' OAV "Gaiden" takes place mostly in [[Big Applesauce|New York City]], although they manage to feature some action in [[Hollywood California|Los Angeles]] towards the end for good measure. Apparently, the OAV's [[Big Bad]] carries out his attacks in Manhattan even though his base of operations is located in L.A. The 3000-mile distance between the two cities doesn't mean anything to him...or to the writers.

* ''[[Pluto]]'s'' America expy "Thracia" is fairly benign, although its leader is quick to give power to the [[Man Behind the Man|Machine Behind The Man]].

 

=== Comic Books ===

* Orvil Newton from ''[[Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines]]'' (or How I Flew From London To Paris in 25 Hours and 11 Minutes) is a classic Type 1: loud and rough around the edges, but the most honest, fair and likable guy you'll care to meet. He even throws the race (and the astronomical prize he needs to get home again) to save another pilot in distress.

* ''[[Black Hawk Down]]'': [[The Dragon]] sarcastically claims that Americans are Type 1, who don't drink, don't smoke, and live long, healthy, uninteresting lives.

 

=== Literature ===

* [[Dracula (novel)|Dracula]] has a pretty good example of type 1 in Quincey Morris. One of Lucy's three suitors, he's presented as a cowboy-type from Texas, informal but friendly and honorable. Strangely, although repeatedly described by his friends as a man of action, he doesn't engage in all that much of it {{spoiler|until he suffers a mortal wound fighting the gypsies that protect Dracula's coffin at the end and striking one of the fatal blows to kill Dracula.}}

* Subverted by Oscar Wilde in ''The Canterville Ghost''. "Americans have everything in common with us now-a-days except the Language."

 

=== Live-Action TV ===

* An episode of ''[[Samurai Sentai Shinkenger]]'' features an American who's more eager than intelligent when it comes to learning the ways of the samurai.

* ''[[A Bit of Fry and Laurie]]'' used this trope more than once, most memorably in song form, when [[Hugh Laurie]], wearing a plaid flannel shirt and a headband (he was making fun of [[Bruce Springsteen]], obviously overlooking the fact that the song "Born in the USA" is actually condescending of America), sang a song that consisted only of the words "...America, America, America..." and "...the States, the States, the States..." and ended with [[Stephen Fry]] punching him in the stomach.

 

=== Music ===

=== Radio ===

* On June 5, 1973,<ref>(as the U.S. was pulling out of [[Vietnam War|Vietnam]] while facing economic hardship and intense internal and external criticism)</ref> Canadian commentator Gordon Sinclair did a piece on his daily radio series ''Let's Be Personal'' titled "[http://www.tysknews.com/Depts/Our_Culture/americans.htm The Americans]," in which Gordon emphasized how much the U.S. has done to aid other countries (with a little [[Cultural Posturing]] on America's behalf included). To say the least, it was a significant [http://www.tysknews.com/Depts/Our_Culture/americans_story.htm shot in the arm for American self-esteem]. After [[The War on Terror]] sparked a huge surge in people who view Americans through a Flavor 2 lens, the broadcast again made the rounds, this time on the Internet.

 

=== Video Games ===

* ''[[Persona 2]]'' has Mr. Tominaga, a chiropractor who is obsessed with American culture. He has patches such as NASA and FBI on his jacket, wears a red and white striped shirt and a blue with white stars tie, has an American flag in his office, and is convinced that his [[Goldfinger|Goldfingeeeeers]] can cure anything. Interestingly enough, he's Japanese but studied chiropractic in America. Amusingly, wearing a FBI patch, depending on context, could be a full on federal crime in the United States. Pretending to be a law enforcement officer is serious business.

* [[Sonic the Hedgehog|Sonic's]] personality is said to be derived from free roaming western heroes who go where the wind takes them, a type 1 style America. Imagine the typical "free spirit" cowboy (in contrast to the "law man" cowboy) and you have Sonic in a nut shell.

 

=== Web Comics ===

* The U.S. military brings you [https://web.archive.org/web/20101223031031/http://www.usfj.mil/Manga/ Our Alliance - A Lasting Partnership]. Starring Usa-kun, an [[Adorably Precocious Child]], who's guarding the older japanese stand-in, just ''cuz''.

** May be a subversion, in that it's made by the U.S. Military for Japanese children...

 

=== Western Animation ===

* The Big Guy from ''[[Big Guy and Rusty the Boy Robot (animation)|Big Guy and Rusty The Boy Robot]]'' is a solid Type 1. Lines like "have to shoot carefully...each shot costs millions of taxpayer dollars" and "I pledge allegiance to only one flag!" are said with perfect sincerity. It's probably a deliberately-crafted image; Lieutenant Hunter is a soldier, and a loyal one at that, but he's not ''that'' cheesy.

 

=== Other ===

 

== Flavor 2 ==

* In one of the earlier books in the manga version of ''[[Ah! My Goddess]]'', Keiichi races against two students from a California technical institute. They are shown as hypercompetitive, cheating and, in the girl's case, obsessed with looks.

* ''[[School Shock]]'' presents the Americans as aggressive diplomats with their default tactic being war threats, only backing down when some kind of resistance is shown (though the resister in this case was China). At least their president has a [[Funny Afro]] and a big smile.

* Garth Ennis' ''[[Punisher]]'' run portrayed America as a glass half empty type 2, to the point where the military are launching terrorist attacks to justify war.

* Nuke, a [[Marvel Comics]] villain, is a deranged super soldier with an American flag tattooed on his face.

 

=== Film ===

* The American president in ''Love Actually'' fits neatly into the second category, a combination of Bill Clinton (a sleazy womanizer) and George W. Bush (bullying behavior and accent). When England's prime minister (played by Hugh Grant, of course) tells him off, it is portrayed as his defining moment as a leader. It should be noted that the President here is played by Billy Bob Thornton, of ''Sling Blade'' and Angelina Jolie-marrying fame.

* All of Lars Von Trier's movies that deal with America (''Dogville'', ''Dear Wendy'', etc.) depict America as a severe type 2. Or course, he's never actually ''been'' to America, [[Complaining About Shows You Don't Watch|but that shouldn't stop him from being able to portray it as hateful and evil, right?]]

 

=== Literature ===

* Let's just say most of the writers from the Latin-American [[Magic Realism]] movement had a bad image of the USA and leave it at that. García Marquez's [[Autumm Of The Patriarch]] where americans appear as manipulative diplomats who literally [[Magic Realism|steal the sea]] at a moment of economic trouble in the country of the dictator.

* ''The Ugly American'' is about American foreign aid workers struggling to win hearts and minds for the USA while being sabotaged by a variety of flavor 2s.

 

=== Live-Action TV ===

* [[Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson]]: A tongue-in-cheek emo rock take on the life of [[Andrew Jackson]]. Everyone is obnoxious and jingoistic, and the events of the show are fairly accurate.

{{quote|Washington crossed the Delaware River, Washington acted like a Rock Star!}}

 

=== Video Games ===

* [[Ben There, Dan That!]] features an alternate reality where the UK has been annexed as the 51st American state. Pretty much everything here is some form or other of gentle (or not-so-gentle) [[Take That]] to America. There's the portly guy sitting around in a miniscule castle calling himself the king, there's the shut-down fish and chip shop, and just listen to what they think of our beer when they visit the "authentic English pub" (the soulless American pisswater is the only thing the barman will serve. He's such a collossal pussy that he'll demand more ID than any rational person would carry before he'll serve the robust, flavorful, and actually-counts-as-alcoholic British lager).

** Wow, who knew "robust" was a synonym for "algae"?

 

=== Web Comics ===

** Of course, the writer's [[Word of God|commentary on the strip]] seems to imply that it was more of a jab at tourists in general than just American ones.

* ''[[Xkcd]]'' subverts this flavor—specifically the ever-popular "The World According to Americans" map made by the Jigsaw Lounge—with its own "[http://xkcd.com/850/ The World According to Americans]."

 

=== Web Original ===

{{quote|Narrating: Meanwhile, in the peace loving America (then shows Linkara randomly shooting in the air)}}

* [[The Nostalgia Chick]] has made a [[Running Gag]] out of being hypocritical about this, yelling at directors like [[Michael Bay]] for glorification of the US army, but then being relieved that France was to blame for the destruction in ''[[Godzilla]]''.

 

=== Western Animation ===

** They become recurring villains, and manage to be ''worse'' examples of Type 2 in their other appearance, polluting the village for no better reason than sheer disregard for its inhabitants and the environment.

** [[Hilarious in Hindsight|Ironically]] the show is voiced by ''Canadian'' VO so it's a kind of a [[Take That]] by a country frustrated with being mistaken for America.

 

=== Other ===

* Amusingly, ''Persia'' as depicted in the ''[[Prince of Persia]]'' movie comes across as this, seemingly being an Expy/allegory for modern America; a monotheistic empire that's praised for its just and fair system of governance, but also seen as arrogant bullies by less powerful civilizations, with obnoxious taxes and a utter failure to find the Weapons of Mass Destruction.

* In ''[[The Triplets of Belleville|Les triplettes de Belleville]]'', Belleville closely resembles [[Big Applesauce|New York City]]. All of its citizens seen in the background are grotesquely obese. Even the Statue of Liberty is a fat woman holding a cheeseburger. On the other hand, they are portrayed as polite, happy, hard-working, and if they have the time to, helpful to anyone in need. Possibly [[Subverted Trope|subverted]], as Belleville may just be another city in France.

 

=== Literature ===

** You can learn everything from [[For Dummies]] books, even "How to become president of the USA: In 10 easy steps".

** [[Otto von Bismarck|Bismarck]] is a herring, Frankfurt a sausage factory and [[Napoleon Bonaparte|Napoleon]] one of the greatest brandys in world history.

 

=== Live-Action TV ===

** The US President in the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "Last of the Time Lords" is a subversion of Flavor 2; he acts like one and will say so himself, but at heart he was a Flavor 1, albeit misguided.

* [[Steven Moffat]] does seem to be trying to take a step back from Russel T. Davies' Flavor 2 stereotype into more of a hybrid Flavor 3 on ''Doctor Who,'' but on ''Sherlock,'' he didn't have quite so much luck. He decided to switch the New Jersey native Irene Adler to British, but since that gave us [http://deecrowseer.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/sherlocks2lp01.jpg Lara Pulver as a badass dominatrix,] there weren't many complaints about that. However, this had the unfortunate side effect of making the only American characters in the series were the operatives (CIA I believe). The only one who had any substantial characterization screamed Flavor 2, threatening to kill Watson to make Sherlock open a safe and beating up Mrs. Hudson (whose age isn't given, but her actress is in her mid-70s) to make her reveal the location of a piece of evidence. No one really cried when he "fell" out the window (multiple times.)

 

=== Tabletop Games ===

* ''[[New Horizon]]'' has Xanadu, a mostly Flavor 1 stereotype that happens to be quite racist. Of course, this is a a faction on an alien colony in the future instead of America proper but...

* Andoran from the ''Pathfinder'' RPG.

 

=== Video Games ===

* ''[[Team Fortress 2]]'': the Engineer is Type 1, the Scout and Soldier are Type 2.

** Also, the aesthetic design of the game is, according to Valve, inspired by artists such as J. C. Leyendecker, Dean Cornwell and [[Norman Rockwell]], all designed to recall Type 1. The fact that everything (no seriously, [[Government Conspiracy|EVERYTHING]]) is either a desert, a [[Paper-Thin Disguise|badly-hidden spy base]], or both makes shift just a little towards Type 2.

 

=== Web Comics ===

* Brother/Sister America from ''[[Scandinavia and The World]]'' are mostly type 2 caricatures, but done in a good-natured enough way that it can be classified as a mix.

** Their type 1 tendencies are shown [http://satwcomic.com/a-trip-into-american-culture when the Scandanavians visit America,] although they're still kind of jerks.

 

=== Western Animation ===

'''Routalempi:''' Yeah, that's so true.

'''Pöysti:''' Now, don't generalise, there are lots of smart people there too. (gets a flat stare from everybody) What?! }}

 

== Real Life ==