Eagle Land: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[File:rockwell 230px 3848.jpg|frame|Flavor #1]]

 

* [[Lovecraft Country]]

* [[Motor City]]

* [[Oppressive States of America]]: Left-leaning works with Oppressive may have an Eagleland type 2.

* [[Sweet Home Alabama]]

* 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 ===

 

=== 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 ===

* "American Woman," originally by The Guess Who, painted the U.S. as Flavor 2. Then Lenny Kravitz [[Covered Up|covered it up]] with a funk remix and a music video with American flags, hot girls on choppers and muscle cars, and [[Heather Graham]] dancing on top of a bus. Because of that, it's today regarded as more Flavor 1 in style regardless of its lyrics. Incidentally, The Guess Who claimed ''American Woman'' was never intended to be anti-American in the first place.

** Considering the man who wrote the song later took American citizenship, [[This Troper]] is inclined to believe them.

* [[Blur (band)|Blur]]'s song "Magic America", which is about a man who moves to America entirely because of this view of the country.

 

=== 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 ===

** Jennifer, in the Japanese version, routinely blurts out incredibly stereotypical American things: "Jesus!", "Oh my gaw!", and "OH!", for starters.

** Turn the [[Greek Chorus]] on in the DS port, and when Gordon tells Carter to have a parade ready for his triumphant return, and the Prinny says "This is a typical American victory speech. And let's not forget the 'smart American' joke, either."

* ''[[Street Fighter II]]'' introduced Guile. Guile is a tattooed, buff military man, but he's a decent guy and is considered one of the good guys, even becoming the main character in some Western adaptations.

* ''[[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 ===

* The Dydo company brings you [http://www.examiner.com/caffeine-in-national/how-japan-sees-american-coffee American Coffee].

{{quote|''That is why this amazingly detailed can of "American Coffee" is so attractive - all the cliche glamor of an All American Can, filled with everything the iconic sleazy american lives for! Bad taste? check. Sexy stripper grls? Check! Cool classic car? Check! There is even the american flag with groovy 60's lettering!''}}

 

 

== 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.

* Carrie from ''[[Bamboo Blade]]'' is depicted as a somewhat stereotypical American type 2. She is obnoxious and in-your-face, extremely arrogant, and generally disregards the traditional rules of Kendo in favor of practices she thinks are more cool. However, by the end of the anime series, she and her rival Miya-Miya do seem to have a grudging respect for one another.

* The third episode of the 1990s OVAs of ''[[Black Jack]]'' features the "Federal Unites," complete with shots of the Statue of Liberty. ''This'' Eagle Land is a corrupt, imperialist bully bent on controlling and oppressing weaker nations for the sake of their resources. This makes it ''very'' satisfying when Dr. Black Jack beats the crap out of the Vice President for {{spoiler|murdering his patient.}} Black Jack is generally a very anti-establishment work anyway, so it's likely that this was just more of the "anyone with power is a corrupt dick" mindset than an anti-American one.

** In the Japanese version, they outright left the French Van Aragano to die because he wasn't American; this was changed in the English dub to the more plausible reason of "you caused all of this so you can stay".

* Flavor 2 shows up in ''[[Darker than Black]]'' a couple of times. In the first season, the guy overseeing the American embassy is a stuck-up idiot who [[Obstructive Bureaucrat|deliberately gets in the way]] of [[Hero Antagonist|Misaki Kirihara's]] attempts to prevent a terrorist attack by [[The Syndicate]], and won't even let the Japanese police in to help security when "someone" drops a smoke bomb outside as an obvious distraction, which leads to [[Tempting Fate|the immortal line]]: "Don't test my patience-" *KABOOM* In the second season, attempts by the American government to restore their superpower status are one of the causes of the [[Melee a Trois]].

* Episodes 10 and 11 of ''[[Genshiken]]'' Season 2. Angela is shown as riding roughshod over all cultural sensitivities in Japan, in an almost painful caricature.

* ''[[Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex]]'' contains a particularly obnoxious example of type 2 in the infamous episode 10; a major plot point revolves around the "American Empire" sanctioning their forces to commit atrocious war crimes in South America, which might have been marginally forgivable given the series' alternate-future setting (in which [[All There in the Manual|supplemental materials]] reveal that America has undergone a second Civil War), but the depiction of the Japanese-American characters as ugly, condescending, manipulative cowards really has no excuse. Needless to say, some American fans like to [[Fanon Discontinuity|ignore that episode]].

* The ''[[You're Under Arrest]]: No Mercy'' special had the two [[Lovely Angels]] of the show-who already have a reputation in their traffic department back in Tokyo for excessive "enthusiasm"-go on an exchange program of sorts to Los Angeles, where they are allowed to hunt down stolen car and gun dealers with shotguns. The other [[Inexplicably Identical Individuals]], and members of the LAPD for that matter, see nothing wrong with threatening to shoot a suspect for being "criminal scum".

* Early '90s show ''[[Mad Bull 34]]'' sends a Japanese policeman on exchange to New York's 34th precinct to be [[Buddy Cop Show|buddies]] with "Sleepy" John Estes, the most violent cop on the force, who cleans up the [[Big Applesauce|Big Apple]]'s crime problem with shotguns, grenades, and a wanton disregard for legal procedure.

* 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 ===

* Seen in ''[[In Bruges]]'' with the overweight American tourists, and then lampshaded when Ray picks a fight with one couple over [[The Vietnam War]] and the assassination of [[John Lennon]]. He feels no remorse until [[Mistaken Nationality|he learns]] that they're [[Canada, Eh?|Canadian]].

* In the German film ''Kein Bund F?rs Leben'' the Americans (especially the commander) are mostly type 2 but with a subversion: The German soldiers are worse!

 

=== Literature ===

* Ditto for Ian Fleming's [[James Bond]] novels involving Americans (''[[The Spy Who Loved Me]]'', ''[[Goldfinger]]'' and ''[[Diamonds Are Forever]]''): No sentence is complete without at least one "buster", "buddy" or "...see?"

* In ''Partners In Crime'' [[Agatha Christie]] depicts an abrasive American who calls Europe "Yurrop" (actually this pretty much is how Americans pronouce it). He's the bad guy.

* ''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 ===

** In the same episode there is an example that is closer to the first stereotype. A trio of Buffalo Bills supporting teens watch the President Elect getting zapped live on TV, as they don't speak they are portrayed in Letterman Jackets/a Cheerleader outfit, eating fried chicken ''and'' pizza. The fried chicken tub has a star spangled banner on it, this probably meant to simply show that they are American to UK viewers. What, no cowboy hats nor six-shooters?

** Notably, the episode is presenting the President as a big prat who we want to see shot... while he's ''right'' that PM Saxon is a boob who's mismanaging the situation and not following protocol, and the President puts UNIT, a ''United Nations group'', in charge of the operation. Which is a wee bit of a disconnect.

** The first new series had the first Dalek captured by an American laboratory, populated by rich bastard Van Statten, Simmons, whose job largely consisted of torturing the Dalek, and an idiot security guard who didn't listen to the Doctor's advice. But the American ''women'' in that environment seem particularly strong and non-stereotypical, such as Van Statten's right-hand woman who eventually {{spoiler|has him mind-wiped and put in some city beginning with "S"}} and the brave young female trooper who faces down the Dalek on the stairs long enough to buy Rose and Adam enough time to escape. As depictions of Americans in [[Doctor Who]] goes, it's actually one of the better ones.

*** [[Hypocrite|She then winds up ordering Torchwood to shoot down the retreating enemy ship]].

** It's subverted a bit with the "Children of Earth" special for ''Torchwood''. The American general who shows up makes many (deserving) accusations against the British (in the context of this universe anyways) during his visit. There's even a bit of a nod towards the tendency towards Type 2 Eagle Land when at the end, the Prime Minister intends to save his career by blaming it all on America.

* ''[[A Bit of Fry and Laurie]]'' does this occasionally, notably in "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6riY-103vbc Kicking Ass]" and "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUKOebCbINc From Here To Just Over There]".

* [[Kenny Everett]] had the bombastic [[General Ripper]] character of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJYZrVc1kCY General Cheeseburger] (the post-[[Watershed]] version was called General Bombthebastards), whose solution to every problem involved rounding up those responsible in a field and [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|bombing the bastards]]. Also his shoulderpads served as launch pads for ICBMs.

{{quote|US Government: 'Sup UK, can we just kidnaps this random citizen in Wales without proof of any terrorist connections?

UK Government: Sure, you can even kill a civilian or two and we'll just pin it on a left-wing lobby group for the Opposition.

* [[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 ===

* Though you only see him for a minute in ''[[GoldenEye 007 (2010 video game)|Golden Eye Wii]]'', Sky Briggs is an unabashed Flavor 2 Eaglelander—he greets you with a friendly drawl, walks with a swaggering mosey, and confidently boasts that his "boys" are ready to face any threat with their [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|superior firepower]].

* In ''[[World of Warcraft]] Cataclysm'', the new Goblin race are basically this, in spite of not even coming from America. A group of greedy industrialists with a 'money makes right' attitude, they exhibit shocking ignorance about the rest of the world, a mercantile ruthlessness that would be shocking if it weren't [[Played for Laughs]], the kind of taste in clothes that you'd expect from Paris Hilton, and an absolute belief that if you weren't born a goblin, you're not as good as they are. They're basically every negative stereotype of America, from trailer trash to Hollywood excess to robber barons, all rolled into one.

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

 

=== Web Comics ===

* ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'': [[The Government]] isn't that bad. Even [[The Men in Black]]. But ''[http://egscomics.com/?date=2008-05-26 tourists]''...

** 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.

 

=== 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 ===

{{quote|(original) '''Darla''': Mister Pussycat, listen to me; you don't have to be good, but you had better be...Big and Loud!...

(German) '''Darla''': Let me tell you my philosophy: you don't have to be good, just better than them! }}

* ''[[Flushed Away]]'' features a stereotypical American tourist (a [[Everything Is Big in Texas|Texan]], to be exact) who teases the Royal Guards and complains how "these Brits don't know the first thing about football" while watching [[The World Cup]].

* A ''[[Pucca]]'' episode has an obnoxious rich American couple visiting Sooga to open a fast food restaurant. The food is addictive and highly fattening, causing everyone who eats it to become really fat and out of shape. The wife is also a materialistic shopaholic who goes on a rampage of branding things she wants to buy with a freaking branding iron! Including flammable things!

** 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 ===

* John Oliver and Andy Zaltzman's podcast ''The Bugle'' has "the American" (played by Rory Albanese, whom Oliver works with on ''[[The Daily Show]]''), whose entire character is Flavor 2 of this trope. For instance, when told that the American dollar is neither the strongest currency in the world nor accepted in other countries: "I don't believe you."

* Type 2 is parodied in an article of ''The Onion'' [http://www.theonion.com/articles/report-china-to-overtake-us-as-worlds-biggest-assh,17277/ "China To Overtake US As World's Biggest Asshole by 2020"] suggesting that China's growing economic and military strength will make it the future equivalent to Type 2 America.

* There is a hilarious chapter in David Sedaris's book ''Me Talk Pretty One Day'' where Sedaris describes something that happened to him on the subway in Paris. He was standing near an American couple who played Flavor 2 straight as an arrow. They mistook Sedaris, an American, as a Frenchman and, not realizing that he is fluent in English, kept on referring to him as a "frog" who would likely try to pickpocket them if he had the chance. They were not aware of metro etiquette and were taking up way too much space, guarding the support bar they were using (intended for use by many people at once) as if it was their personal property. Sedaris described their dress as something like denim shorts tee-shirts and remarked (paraphrasing from memory), "That's great -- show up in a foreign country dressed like you're ready to mow their lawn."

* Latin America, or at least some parts of it, is actually the place where the USA is disliked—if not hated—the most, due mainly to its alleged involvement (which is by now [[Popcultural Osmosis]] whether it's true or not and [[Rule of Cautious Editing Judgment|let's not argue about that]]) during the Cold War in political movements against leftist popular governments. Specially the Cuban Revolution and the Presidential Crisis with Salvador Allende in Chile, which a lot of intelectuals blame the CIA for manipulating everything. Most books based on this events will portray Americans as hypocrites claiming words of peace while murdering hundreds and stealing the country's resources, and it's important to remember Fidel Castro and El Che are admired or idolized on a lot of parts of the continent, so the USA fear of communism and specially the Monroe Doctrine are not seen as good things. This is far from universal, tough, but it still is staggering for several Americans how hated they are in countries such as Chile and Guatemala and certain parts of others like Brazil or Mexico.

* On May 5, 1986, ''The New Republic'' called the phrase "Worthwhile Canadian Initiative" [https://newrepublic.com/article/127231/worthwhile-canadian-initiative "possibly the most boring headline ever written"]. Way to recognize the benefits of your largest trading partner of the time, guys.

 

* 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 ===

* As shows ''An American'', [[Rudyard Kipling]] saw it as mixed, presenting flavours as best and worst sides of the same trait, which can be defined as "childishness". Specific American characters in his books may or may not exhibit it (e.g. Laughton O. Zigler in ''The Captive'' sees he had it coming and is quite calm about his misfortune).

** On the other hand, Kipling married an American woman and lived in the United States for a while. He probably saw both good and bad while he lived here.

* The Bronze Age characters in S.M. Stirling's [[Island in The Sea of Time|Nantucket]] series refer to the time-displaced Americans as "The Eagle People." Type 1 is represented by the Republic, Type 2 by Walker's slave-based empire.

* [[Ephraim Kishon]] wrote on America, among other things, that Americans believe:

** 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 ==