Roma: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"In Romani, there is the saying that ''kon mangel te kerel tumendar roburen chi shocha phenela tumen o chachimos pa tumare perintonde'', 'he who wants to enslave you will never tell you the truth about your forefathers.'"''|'''Ian Hancock''', Romani scholar}}

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is no relation (ethnic or etymological) to the Romans or the Romanians. Sometimes the two are confused, which is probably because the "â" used in the native name for Romania gets lost in the English translation. There is also no connection between the Romani and [[Irish Travellers]] beyond a historical reputation for a nomadic lifestyle.

 

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== Anime and Manga ==

* Who else but a character actually [[Meaningful Name|NAMED Gypsy]] in ''[[Kimba the White Lion]]''?

** Noah also makes a point of explaining to Ed that the proper name for a "gypsy" is a 'rom' in the movie.

* Faye deliberately played into this stereotype in ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'' (for ''whatever'' reason) in an attempt to get Spike to let her go. Since she's actually from Singapore, it's a miracle he bought it in the first place.

* [[Word of God]] says that [[Sailor Moon|Sailor Pluto]] (who can technically known a bit of the future) is [[But Not Too Foreign|part Roma]].She's also the only dark-skinned character, itself a old shoujo comic holdover to european folklore where it was asociated with darker skin or the (Arab-influenced) Spanish.

* {{spoiler|Dimitri}} from [[Kurobara Alice]], who {{spoiler|is half Romani and half Polish and spent his early years with his mother's Romani group, until he's "discovered" by a rich Austrian family and taken in as a bording student.}}

 

== Comic Books ==

* [[The DCU]]:

** A plotline in the ''[[Batman]]'' Comic Strip of the 1940s had a Gypsy lad framed for murder. Colorful clothing, check. Hot-tempered, especially when it comes to the honour of his sister, check. Strong distrust of the police and legal system, check. Actual murderer? Not so much.

** Nightwing has Romani blood, unless someone [[Retcon|retconned]] it.

* One ''Tales of the [[Green Lantern]] Corps'' story had [[In Space|a close-knit society of space-travelers, whose ships resembled caravans]]. Since they refused to take help from outsiders, the local GL empowered one of their number with a power ring. There was a bit of Romani stereotyping involved: the temp-Lantern was a self-aggrandizing hothead, and his grandmother was a wise woman.

* The [[Marvel Universe]]:

** Nightcrawler was raised by gypsy sorceress Margali Szardos. His [[Excalibur (Comic Book)|Excalibur]] teammate Meggan {{spoiler|AKA Gloriana}} is Romani too. In Captain Britain and MI:13 Annual #1, a flashback of her childhood shows her and her family running into some bigoted Englishmen and [[Empathic Shapeshifter|she shapeshifts into a hideous Gypsy stereotype]].

* One issue of the Belgian "Kiekeboe" comics deals with this. Most Gypsies are actually honest people whose worst crime is begging, though there is one who gives the rest a bad name by stealing.

* When we first see Gypsies in ''[[Castle Waiting]]'', they're horse thieves, murderers, and scoundrels with ties to people who buy babies. Fits with the fairy tale themes, but still has [[Unfortunate Implications]]. Thus, the next Gypsy we see is honest, upstanding, and likable, and although we don't see the band he came from, every indication is that they're generally nice people.

 

== Film ==

** Appropriately enough, while the film shows there to be a large amount of ill will toward the "gypsies" in the surrounding area, the self-perpetuating stereotype of them being thieves and cutthroats was largely disproved when Frollo begins to terrorize and imprison them along with any perceived sympathizers. Frollo attempts to use the stereotype to his advantage and bribe the people immediately after oppressing them to no avail.

* A Gypsy camp provides Holmes and Watson with some important clues on an anarchist cell tied to Moriarty's plot in ''[[Sherlock Holmes a Game of Shadows]]''. They do take Watson's luggage, his coat, and his scarf; though it's implied that they were simply playing up the stereotype in order to mess with Watson when one of them gives the scarf back.

* ''[[Snatch]]'' features "pikeys" prominently (it's never outright stated if they're [[Irish Travellers]] or Roma). They're portrayed as shifty, unintelligible ("periwinkle blue!"), and rednecks in trailers. Most of the other characters underestimate and hate the Romani ("I fuckin' hate pikeys."), but in the end, {{spoiler|the tribe kills the most powerful local crime boss, rigs a fight to win loads of cash, and vanish from their campsite, alluding any police investigation.}}

* ''[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0293668/ Gypsy]'' / ''[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264314/ Return of Budulai]'' TV miniseries (USSR). Both did as well as they were almost destined to do: this theme gives the perfect pretext for including as much of [[Cool Horse|horses]], [[Whip It Good|whip-cracking]] [[Badass]] [[Horseback Heroism|riders]] and mildly exotic song and dance as needed, which makes surefire audiovisuals. The series used these possibilities well and maintained high enough general quality to not waste them.

* ''Golden Earrings'' is kind of Dances With Tambourines. Sneaking into Nazi Germany on a secret mission to steal the formula for phlebotinum, Ray Milland runs into a band of movie gypsies, including Marlene Dietrich, and Murvyn Vye as the leader, Zoltan. They disguise him as one of them, teach him their ways and save his life. After the war, of course, he returns to them.

* Romani factor into ''[[Brotherhood of the Wolf]]''. The film starts with the two heroes defending a gyspy woman and her father from being persecuted by thuggish soldiers. The gypsy woman, who suffers from seizures, is teased as a possible love interest for Mani. However, the gypsy community in general is rather violent and confrontational. Ultimately it's revealed that {{spoiler|they're working for the villains, which results in a rather brutal come-uppance.}}

* Both the film and the book ''[[Thinner]]'' by [[Stephen King]] feature a modern band of gypsies whose leader curses the main characters, and who fulfill the main trope and stereotype fully.

* The Emilio Estevez film ''The Way'' features a gypsy boy who steals Tom's backpack (including his son's ashes). Tom's friends tell him there's no point in reporting the theft to the police, as they would never be able to track the boy down. However, later that night the boy's father comes to the bar where the main group is commiserating over the loss of the backpack to return it, incredibly shamed at what his son had done. To make up for it, he invites them to a party that night where the expected music and dancing occurs.

 

== Literature ==

* The Gyptians are Roma/Gypies with Alternate Etymology in ''[[His Dark Materials]]''. They are still portrayed in an archaic and "mysterious" way, but they are at least pretty damn heroic and invaluable allies of Lyra.

** They're a slight variant in that rather than having caravans they live in barges on the East Anglian Fens, and seem to have a strong Dutch influence in their language. It can be speculated that in the setting's [[Alternate History]] for whatever reason they moved from the Netherlands to settle in East Anglia; in real life a lot of Dutch people did migrate there.

** The people who cannot lie (actually, some can, but it's a unique and respected skill among them) are called Zoons and live in barges. Maybe calling them gypsies earlier was a [[Translation Convention]]. Or maybe the Disc has gypsies ''and'' Zoons.

** Considering that the word "photographer" on the Disc derives from a Latatian term for "one who prances around ordering people about", the etymology probably has more to do with gag references than geographic origin.

* There's a gypsy caravan in ''Conrad's Fate'' by [[Diana Wynne Jones]], who travel between different worlds.

* There's the gypsy clan in [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[Thinner]]''. One of them knows magic and curses the main character after the latter became responsible for his daughter's death.

* The ''[[Wheel of Time]]'' series has a culture of 'Tinkers', which is a [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]] to Roma, right down to being unfairly distrusted as thieves by other cultures. The key difference is the addition of [[Strawman Political|Straw Pacifism]].

* Similarly, 'gipsies' are suspected of complicity in the sudden death of a young woman in Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's ''The Adventure of the Speckled Band', but [[Sherlock Holmes]] proves they had nothing to do with it; {{spoiler|it was her stepfather}}. (The [[Red Herring]] is the assumption that {{spoiler|the Speckled Band of the title is a gypsy neckerchief}}.)

* The Ryn of Star Wars's EU are basically this trope in - [[In Space|oh, guess]]. They have all the trappings - live in roaming caravans (of spaceships, no less), run fortune-telling games (though [[The Force|they might be on to something]]), and are generally used as [[Acceptable Targets|punching]] [[Butt Monkey|bags]] by the rest of everybody. This is the same 'Verse that spawned [[Lovable Rogue|Han Solo]], though, so they get a sympathetic portrayal, with family loyalty and ingenuity high on their list of traits. Also have a top-notch spy network, run on ''gossip''. {{spoiler|And their [[Ragtag Band of Misfits|patchwork]] [[The Cavalry|fleet]] [[Big Damn Heroes|comes through]] [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|awesomely]] in one of the later NJO novels.}}

* Sophia from the [[Cal Leandros]] series is a particularly virulent example.

* Something similar happens in ''[[Holes]]''. Madame Zeroni fits the "Gypsie Fortune Teller" archetype, but she's explicitely said to be an actualy Egyptian, or at least North African, rather than Romany stock.

** She also allegedly curses Stanley's ancestor (it's a bit ambiguous if there really is a curse or if the family just has horrid luck), but it's somewhat sympathetic, because said ancestor was an idiot who forgot to perform the simple task of carrying her up a mountain and letting her drink from a stream in exchange for her help. {{spoiler|It's implied that her curse is broken when the conditions are fulfilled and Stanley carries her descendent up a mountain to drink from a stream.}}

* Katarina Taikon's "Katitzi" book series were based on the author's own WWII wartime Romani upbringing.

* In Kenneth Oppel's ''[[Airborn]]'' series, there is Nadira, who is harassed in 1910 Paris for being a "gypsy." She irritably replies "I'm a Roma."

* A humorous short story by R.A. Lafferty called "Land of the Great Horses" pretends that the Romani were nomadic because ''extraterrestrials took their homeland'' (ripped it loose, apparently, right down to the bedrock) for geological examination, instilling a compulsion to wander so they wouldn't settle anywhere else. When the aliens bring the land back in the late 20th Century, everyone with a significant degree of Romani blood feels impelled to return to India. An epilogue reveals that the extraterrestrials sampled Los Angeles next.

* In Edith Layton's ''Gypsy Lover'' the bastard son of a gypsy and a noblewoman tries to save his foster father.

* The children's book ''The Family Under the Bridge'', set in mid-twentieth-century Paris, depicts the "gypsy" population in a stereotypical but sympathetic manner, as part of a larger urban underworld -- for instance, they're shown to steal at times, but stealing in general is treated as an inevitable result of poverty, and they're generous to their friends outside the immediate community. They more or less fulfil the "colorful vagrant" stereotype, and there's at least one fortune teller and a lot of tinkers.

* Ki from the ''[[Ki And Vandien]]'' series by [[Megan Lindholm]] comes from the nomadic "Romni" people.

** From the same author, in collaboration with [[Drageara|Steven Brust]], comes the novel ''[[The Gypsy]]'' about a gypsy wizard who fights a supernatural menace known as "The Fair Lady".

* The science fiction novel ''Star of the Gypsies''.

* In ''[[The Last Rune]]'' novels, the Mournish are clearly a [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]] version of the Roma. Heck, when one of them comes to Earth and needs to blend in, Travis decides calling them a gypsy is the best way to explain their ethnicity. For added [[Genius Bonus]], the Mournish originally came from Morindu, a [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]] of ancient Egypt, tying in with the Medieval belief that the Roma were of Egyptian origin.

 

 

== Live Action TV ==

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'': Jenny's left Romani culture, but her uncle is pretty much the stereotype. Oh, and they were responsible for Angel's curse. Which, on the other hand, did change

** Don't forget "The Gypsies are a disgusting people, we will speak of them no more *Spits* " of course that episode was a ''[[Breather Episode]]'' before the grand finale.

** Let's not forget ''Romaní'' in Chile, where the writers ''did'' some more research but the Romani also weren't amused.

** ''Amor Gitano'' is an interesting case. The Romani characters were all good. The villains were all nobility. But then, this is an adaptation of ''The Count of Monte Cristo''.

* [[The Tenth Kingdom]] had Roma, they were friendly and hospitable although wolf warned the others two rules: 1) Don't eat anything you haven't seen them eating, 2) Never refuse anything, this rule basically meant Tony had to do some really embarrassing singing. They also fit the Gypsy Curse trope but they hardly unprovoked and magic isn't uncommon in [[The Tenth Kingdom]]

* The ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' episode "Bloodline" centered around a clan of Romani who slaughtered families and take the daughters as brides for their pubescent sons; they also did their share of shoplifting and car theft. Although It's pointed out by Agent Rossi that these people are following a bastardized version of Romani culture.

* ''[[Barney Miller]]'' had an episode in which an elderly Rom was caught vandalizing and otherwise harassing a joke and novelty shop owner. He spraypainted the word "murderer" in Romany on the side of the building. Turned out the shop owner was a former officer of the guard at Birkenau, and the old man was one of the few survivors. Det. Harris gave a summary of [http://isurvived.org/RomaniLiquidation-Birkenau.html the Romani Liquidation].

* An episode of ''[[Murdoch Mysteries]]'' had a Romany camp implicated in a robbery, and Inspector Brackenreid pressurised into arresting them by the backers of his mayoral campaign. {{spoiler|It turned out to be the son of his main contributer, and Brackenreid quit the mayoral race in disgust when he threatened to withdraw his support if his son was arrested}}. The main representative of the Roma was a woman who had a sort of resigned amusement when Brackenreid asked if she was Queen of the Gypsies, sarcastically asking if he was King of the Police. On the other hand, she also put a [[Gypsy Curse]] on him, but with a slight suggestion she was deliberately playing to the stereotype.

* The stereotypical fortune telling Gypsies showed up on ''[[Dragnet]]'' a time or two.

 

* Donovan's songs are full of references to gypsies, especially to his friend "Gypsy Dave" Mills. Mills is blood, by Dono's description, and he has other Romany and Irish Traveler friends.

* Gypsy Kings anyone?

* In Jennifer Lopez's video for ''Ain't it funny'' she makes friends with some Romani women and meets and dances with a ''very'' handsome Romani man.

 

 

== Tabletop Games ==

** There was a book written for that had Gypsies who embodied the 19th century stereotypes -- mysterious, sneaky -- living in the 21st century. Oh, and it had a statistic that represented "[[Unfortunate Implications|Blood Purity]]." Players, and indeed, [[Fanon Discontinuity|writers tried to forget about that one]]. It even got a [[Discontinuity Nod]] in a later edition, which omitted the Gypsy book and mentioned that inaccurate information about Gypsies can be found in [[RPG|RPGs]].

* The Roamers in the ''[[Blue Rose]]'' RPG are Gypsies of the "brightly coloured caravans and fortune tellers" kind. Their name is a pun on Romani as well as being descriptive of their lifestyle.

** Likewise, the Roamers of ''Sufficiently Advanced'' are the same idea [[Recycled in Space]], albeit with full access to the (well) sufficiently advanced technology of the setting.

* ''[[Talislanta]]'' has the Sarista, although they're [[Lovable Rogue|portrayed in a fairly sympathetic light]].

* In ''Dreadful Secrets of Candlewick Manor'' the Romani are the brightly colored, nomadic, musical type. Given the intentionally vague faux-30s time frame of the game, this may be a bit more forgivable. Notably, they're actually much more honest than the norm for the setting -- although they have the same intentionally ill-defined "Dreadful Secrets" as anyone else and an air of mystery, both the local Romani colony in general and the two characters specifically provided are generally likable, although one's a bitter and hot-headed youth, and the other's mysterious. Also notably, they're specifically mentioned to speak perfect English, unless faking bad English serves them better for hiding some of their secrets -- we didn't say they were ''totally'' honest, just better than the usual level of corruption and nastiness that most of the other characters and groups show.

** In Ancient Blood, told from the perspective of the Strigany, is about them trying to escape from a bigoted Elector Count who is trying to wipe them out. They are described as 'Eaters of Death', as when the people of a viliage die of plague the Strigany enter the village to bury the dead and take any valuables.

** Those elders that do know of the vampires tend to avoid them though. One wished that the vampires could be forgotten.

** The Doomstones campaign also had regular gypsies, pretty much fitting the trope.

* ''[[Eclipse Phase]]'' has the Scumborn, who can be described (in the loosest of terms) as gypsies [[In Space]], or at least as cultural analogues. Subverted slightly in that the Scum are very difficult to define in general terms since the only things you need to claim the name are a nomadic lifestyle on the edges of the solar system, and a "fuck propriety" attitude. Also, Scum actually ''is'' what they call themselves-- they adopted the name everyone else was already using to describe them as a way of flipping everyone else the metaphorical bird.

* ''[[Buck Rogers]] in the XXVth Century'' had the Desert Dancers of Mercury, who were clearly based on the Gypsy stereotype.

 

== Video Games ==

* Nathan Zachary, the [[Sky Pirate]] player character from ''[[Crimson Skies]]'', has Gypsy ancestry and the default name of his personal fighter plane reflects this.

* [[Ms. Fanservice|Rouge]], of ''[[Power Stone]]''. Although she comes from the [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]] country of Mahdad rather than Earth, she basically fits the "sexy mysterious fortune-telling dancing girl" stereotype of most Romani girls.

* Gypsies live on the outskirts of several major towns and cities in [[Arcanum]]. They sell magical items and will identify items the player owns for a small fee.

* Dahna of ''[[Grandia III]]'' is pretty much a running checklist of Gypsy cliches. Singsong accent, tells fortunes, lives in a desert caravan, [[Ms. Fanservice|wears sexy outfits]], kills people with [[Black Magician Girl|magic]] and tarot cards...

* Koudelka Iasant of the ''[[Shadow Hearts]]'' franchise, primarily her self-titled prequel game, but she figures into the latter games, too {{spoiler|by being the source of Yuri's mysterious voice which guides him around, as well as being Halley's mother.}}

* The ridiculousness of the stereotypes of Romani is parodied in ''[[Sam and Max]]: The Devil's Playhouse'', with the Moles being a [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]] of Type 2 Gypsies. Sam and Max are confused by how, amongst other things, the fortune-teller mole speaks in a ridiculous accent, but not the rest of her family.

* In ''Majora's Mask'', a character is actually named "Romani", although she herself does not seem to be related to them. (It's the name of the ranch). Interestingly, she is heavily based off of/the alternate universe version of a girl from ''Ocarina of Time'' who was implied to be the daughter of the Gerudo, who ''do'' fit some gypsy stereotypes (thieves, some magic powers, desert-dwelling, and in some games, nomadic).

 

== Webcomics ==

* The Fear in ''[[The Cobra Days]]''.

 

 

== Web Original ==

 

 

== Western Animation ==

* The [[Mighty Mouse]] short "Gypsy Life".

** In another episode, Gypsies have take over the playground of Springfield Elementary, and are seen stealing a frisbee from a small child.

** Milhouse once claimed to be a gypsy so he'd be allowed to wear an earring at school. He doesn't succeed, effecting the [[Vampire Vords|wrong stereotype]], but Skinner notes that vampires are also exempt.

* ''[[Courage the Cowardly Dog]]'': Shirley the [[Fortune Teller]] (chihuahua). While she can occasionally act as an antagonist, this is either due to "the Stupid One" (read "[[Jerkass|Eustace]]") invoking her wrath, or circumstances beyond her control. She is often willing to help... for a fee. Her magical tool of choice? A ''saxophone''.

** "I see... ''I see...'' A yo-yo. It is under de sofa."

* ''[[Scooby Doo]] Where Are You'' episode "A Gaggle of Galloping Ghosts". The gang meets a Gypsy [[Fortune Teller]] who gives them dire warnings. She turns out to be the episode's [[Villain]] in disguise.

 

 

[[Category:Useful Notes/Europe]]

[[Category:Roma]]