What was your favorite depiction of USA or any of its region, or their fantastic parallels/counterparts by non-US creators?

[henrymidfields]

Love it or hate it, non-Americans would have some idea of what the US is, thanks to how much cultural influence USA has through politics, brands, pop culture etc. And not only through stuff like Hollywood, DC/Marvel, but also through non-American media in their glimpse of what they saw from the US.

What was your favorite portrayal of America/USA or any of their regions, by non-American creators, studios, fiction authors etc? This includes any fantasy or ambiguous cases where the setting is heavily modelled from the actual places. But we are talking about media that isn't (predominantly) made by Americans, so no, this cannot include stuff like Marvel, DC, or Disney. We expect them to depict New York or San Francisco well because, well, they're American.

EDIT: It doesn't have to be the most accurate or socially aware or Pulitzer prize material, just something that you like.

---

I really loved how the US-equivalent Eagleland from the SNES game Earthbound (and Earthbound Beginnings) was a whimsical, yet still recognizable take on 50s-90s USA through a child's eyes. Everything from the small Everytown-feel of Onett to the New York lookalike of Fourside really seem to depict what I imagine American towns and cities generally look like, although with some exaggerations here and there.

The Netflix anime Carole and Tuesday directed by Shinichiro Watanabe (of Cowboy Bebop fame) also seemed to have shown a detailed and plausible depiction of what a future New York City lookalike could be, including the diversity of the people, the various architecture ranging from the oldtime brick walk-ups in look-alike Brooklyn to the more futuristic skyscrapers of look-alike Manhattan, the signage and the food and drinks, and even a Trump lookalike (except the kids are more heroic)! I also enjoyed how the anime series seem to have relied on popular music and their artists from mostly outside Japan (presumably from North America?).

Edited May 6, 2022 by henrymidfields

[Etrurian emperor]

Ace Attorney because ''America'' so obviously being Japan is completely hilarious.

I also think that Metal Gear has a more interesting take on the US. Aside from the bizarro villains like an insane president with swords called ''Democrat and Republican'', or the insanely wacker senator Armstrong you also have the interesting perspective that the US isn't an outright villain, but almost always a big factor in whatever the problem the world is facing. And in a world where the US is the most culturally important power that's actually kinda interesting. The cold war era metal gear show the US as intensely shady and opportunistic at best, and in the modern ones its the most prominent tool of the villains. 

Despite the game being very shaky I think the French Made Assassin Creed 3 deserves some props with how they handle the American revolution. The game does pay prominent lip service to the deification of the founding father and the Revolution....probably to appeal to American customers, but they also try to subvert this deification at times. In many cases the Americans are painted as more malicious than the British when it comes to tormenting the Natives. And while the game can't go too hard on Washington for marketing reasons, they do occasionally pause to insist that he is not a god walking among men. He's depicted as somewhat slimy and the main villain's frequent rants about how awful Washington is usually end up being correct both historically and about Washington's role in the games. The villain cast shade on Washington's rather awful military record and his warnings that he's taking advantage of the main character are proven very, very right when Washington's own role in Connor's past gets revealed. 

On one hand I enjoy this more nuanced take on the Revolution, but on the other hand I think Ubisoft tried to rather cynically limit their portrayal of the revolution to appeal to the American market. The specter of compromise hangs over the Patriots. Its clear that they were always going to be the good guys, and the faction that the protagonist joins, because this is what the American audience demands. An Assassin's Creed game where the main character is hostile to the Patriots and supportive of the British was never going to happen. But you can really tell that Connor has no real reason to oppose the British other than that the American audience demanded that he would. In fact Connor has all the reason in the world not to embrace the Revolution.

[Original Alear]

Metal Wolf Chaos!

I also liked the mood of the third door in The House of Fata Morgana. Although there are things I don't like about that story, I really loved the music that played, and Jacopo is a pretty interesting character.

 

[Zapp Branniglenn]

By "best" do we mean most accurate or most funny? Most sanctified or most irreverent? The responses thus far have run the entire gamut. Possibly in the OP as well, but I have no idea what this anime is to comment on it. Earthbound is reaching for the same 1950s Americana aesthetic as the Fallout series, but from the very first cutscene of Fallout 1, you can see the difference in viewpoints regarding each game's take on American exceptionalism. Oddly enough, despite the cries amongst the internet about media becoming too "woke", I think the Fallout games have become less critical as the series went on. Meanwhile, Mother 3 has a lot to say about the evils of humanity and rampant capitalism, but makes no effort to tie these concepts to the setting of Earthbound, or America specifically because all the bad things are done by a single person that seems to lack autonomy himself. If you want to see Porky Minch done right, look no further than Fallout's Mr. House. 

Regardless of what is Best, I think my favorite has got to be Dead Rising 2 - made by a Canadian studio to follow up the original produced at Capcom Japan. Not only does the sequel move out from the singular reference of George Romero's Dawn of the Dead, it's caricatures of American society are way more on point. It's also a game that realizes the very premise of Dead Rising is kind of funny, so let's lean into that. Dead Rising 1 has no moments of intended levity and is always deathly serious as a horror game in its cutscenes. But the gameplay was nothing like that. Dead Rising 2's Joe Everyman protagonist with 80s action hero quips fits in much better as the gameplay gets that much more ludicrous. 

 

[henrymidfields]

2 hours ago, Zapp Branniglenn said:

By "best" do we mean most accurate or most funny? Most sanctified or most irreverent? The responses thus far have run the entire gamut.

Anything you enjoyed the most - ie your favorite. It can be for whatever reason. I've amended the title to reflect this.

Edited May 6, 2022 by henrymidfields

[AnonymousSpeed]

Spoiler

American cinema has no greater than Clint Eastwood, so it's fitting that there is no better cinematic representation of the country than his films. I'd like to bring special attention to his recent directorial work.

Richard Jewell is an incredibly poignant depiction of well-meaning, even pitiable everyday Americans being bullied by a mainstream media and intelligence community who seem impervious to consequences. "American exceptionalism bad" is baby hour, the petty tyranny of the Cathedral is real social criticism.

Gran Torino is a great one too, delving into the rapidly changing cultural landscape of the United States. It shows the decline of virtue that has lead many young people to stumble into delinquency or impotence, the creation of men without chests.

This all might sound a bit negative but the films themselves have a lot of personal hope in them, which I think is the most American thing of all.

Now then. There are some films I like but which do a poor job depicting their setting. Spider-Man 3's New York City is filled with supervillains but it still less grimy, crowded, and dangerous than the real thing. People ain't sleepin' on the fire escape anymore, as shown in the time capsule of New York City in Hitchcock's Rear Window, an otherwise okay film.

Whoops the title says "non-US creators", I am not read good.

The answer is none, people who write about places they don't live in usually don't do very well.

Edited May 7, 2022 by AnonymousSpeed

[henrymidfields]

23 hours ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

  Reveal hidden contents

American cinema has no greater than Clint Eastwood, so it's fitting that there is no better cinematic representation of the country than his films. I'd like to bring special attention to his recent directorial work.

Richard Jewell is an incredibly poignant depiction of well-meaning, even pitiable everyday Americans being bullied by a mainstream media and intelligence community who seem impervious to consequences. "American exceptionalism bad" is baby hour, the petty tyranny of the Cathedral is real social criticism.

Gran Torino is a great one too, delving into the rapidly changing cultural landscape of the United States. It shows the decline of virtue that has lead many young people to stumble into delinquency or impotence, the creation of men without chests.

This all might sound a bit negative but the films themselves have a lot of personal hope in them, which I think is the most American thing of all.

Now then. There are some films I like but which do a poor job depicting their setting. Spider-Man 3's New York City is filled with supervillains but it still less grimy, crowded, and dangerous than the real thing. People ain't sleepin' on the fire escape anymore, as shown in the time capsule of New York City in Hitchcock's Rear Window, an otherwise okay film.

Whoops the title says "non-US creators", I am not read good.

The answer is none, people who write about places they don't live in usually don't do very well.

Not even Metal Wolf Chaos, the most insanely patriotic game...made by a Japanese studio?

[AnonymousSpeed]

1 hour ago, henrymidfields said:

Not even Metal Wolf Chaos, the most insanely patriotic game...made by a Japanese studio?

It's a loving homage to the American spirit, but unfortunately there are no giant robots in the United States yet.

[henrymidfields]

10 hours ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

It's a loving homage to the American spirit, but unfortunately there are no giant robots in the United States yet.

Who knows, though? Drones are now a thing. I say it's only a matter of time.

[AnonymousSpeed]

On 5/9/2022 at 12:26 AM, henrymidfields said:

Who knows, though? Drones are now a thing. I say it's only a matter of time.

They'd have to be better at killing civilians than drones first.

[henrymidfields]

Actually, this thread reminds me recently of one example I...really didn't like. I warn you, it's a pretty hot take:

It's Unova from Pokemon BW.

Unova from BW1+2, is frankly, a mess in worldbuilding. If there was a region that introduced separate countries, it really should have been Gen 5. Unova should have been a more American/NYC-looking region, like how Earthbound did with Eagleland. This felt like there were too many reside Japanese references (though, okay, later Gens still had them to a lesser degree), like the Clerk NPCs when I could have seen lookalikes of the Wolf from Wall Street or Donald Trump, or that aspiring investor Eddie Murphy starred in Trading Places, or God forbid the Kami Trio when I could have seen the Bird Trio (which at least is implied to migrate, looks generic, and has zero plot relevance to Kanto other than them happening to be there) visiting the regions in different seasons. Or stuff looking too generic like the buildings in many cities in general and Castelia/Opelucid in particular when the former could have been the historical brick walkups with Neo-Renaissance (stuff similar to what McKim Mead and White built) or Art Deco highrises like Fourside in Earthbound, and the latter could either be Old Town Philly vs Silicon Valley, and other towns resembling closer to Onett, Twoson, or many other places that resemble the Everytown, USA setting.

Edited October 7, 2022 by henrymidfields