...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!
Fantasy Counterpart Culture
- 465 statements
- 84 feature instances
- 930 referencing feature instances
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Creating a completely new culture from scratch can be a daunting task. Think about everything the word culture encompasses—music, food, clothing, etiquette, dance, religion, and combative traditions, to name a few, and even if one manages to pull it off, one runs the risk of ruining audience's Suspension of Disbelief by having one's creation seem too strange. To lighten the burden of creating a believable fictional culture creators often base one or more of their creations off of real human cultures from various times or places. The countries may have significant names resembling the place they are based on. This is especially common in Constructed World or Fictional Earth settings, but by no means exclusive to it. It's also often found in satire, as a means of indirectly poking fun at the culture in question. There are also sound literary reasons for using this trope. Making the Shire an idealized England transplanted to Middle-earth makes it easier for readers to identify with the point of view characters, since they probably have much more in common with Bilbo than with Thorin. Guy Gavriel Kay's The Lions of Al-Rassan is a thinly disguised historical novel, but changing the names of the countries and religions means the readers don't know how the story will end, helping to maintain dramatic tension. It's also more easily justified in works containing humans: the Real Life counterparts of the fictional cultures have all actually come into existence and are the results of real groups of people coming together to build something over time. Basing a new society on one that's already had a turn at some point in human history can both help the audience relate and provide a creative framework to twist and turn said society into an interesting variant of its former self. However this approach still has its risks — if the Fantasy Counterpart Culture is based on a too simplistic view of a particular region of the world, it ends up lacking both in depth and originality. It could also lead to examples of Unfortunate Implications or Ethnic Scrappy cropping up as well, especially if the shallowly-written region in question is based off of, or eerily similar to, stereotypes or outright bigoted notions around said real-life culture. Compare with Istanbul (Not Constantinople), when a real place is referred to with a more archaic or obscure name (e.g. "Columbia" instead of "USA"). Compare also with Days of Future Past, where a futuristic society duplicates (often explicitly and intentionally) the culture and styles of a historical period. Compare with No Communities Were Harmed, which is this applied to a locality, Fantasy Counterpart Religion for when is applied to a religious group and Fantasy Counterpart Myth for when it's about a mythological hero or deity specifically. Compare Fantastic Fauna Counterpart for a similar concept applied to animals, i.e. an animal species being used as a substitute for another. See also Culture Chop Suey, Space Romans (and the more offensive version, Space Jews). A Nazi by Any Other Name, Medieval European Fantasy, Ruritania, Ãœberwald, and Wutai are frequently-occurring specific types of fantasy counterpart culture. |
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| Fantasy Counterpart Culture / int_12cd90f3 | type |
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In Beyond the Western Deep, each of the Funny Animal nations have at least identifiable cultural analogues in the real world, if not particularly evident due to the species based trappings: Sungrove is obviously regular medieval Europe (with Tamian mythology have Native American-esque aspects, and the Lutren having Polynesian traits), the Felis are by creator admission based on both the Roman Empire and medieval China, the Canids resemble both the Roman Empire and medieval northern Europe, the Ermehn resemble Germanic peoples (and bear a passing aesthetic similarity to Scotsmen), the Vulpin are clearly Arabic and the Polcan look like stereotypical pirates, but overall can be more easily compared to Sea Peoples. | |
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When Timon feels the need to express his feelings on parenthood and Simba growing up, his first instinct is to sing "Sunrise, Sunset," from Fiddler on the Roof, a musical about Jewish family and tradition. | |
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Daughter of the Lilies: The city elves are based on monarchic to Napoleonic France, with the associated fashions and snootiness and a capital named St. Trivium sur Bourge. The orcs speak with Russian accents, and Orrig tends to insert Russian phrases into his speech such as "nyet" for "no" and the occasional swear. There was also a notable historic incident where the Napoleonic-styled elves tried to invade them and failed miserably. |
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Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics)'s planet Mobius has long had stand-in cultures for Asia and Australia... but this was finally justified by the revelation that Mobius is actually Earth of the far, far future. | |
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Boneville in Bone is clearly a cartoon version of the United States of America. | |
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Most of the design of the Telmarine on Prince Caspian are admitted to be based on Medieval Spain. Bringing some criticism and implications... Which kinda makes sense, seeing as Prince Caspian was apparently an allegory for the Protestant Reformation and subsequent conflicts. One illustrator for the books gave Miraz a shield with the Holy Roman Empire's two-headed eagle. And the Telmarines are descended from old naval era brigands. But remember, the good Narnian humans of the subsequent books are Telmarines, not to mention Caspian himself. Only this one movie would feature Telmarine antagonists, and apparently, the common people backed Caspian over Miraz given the parade at the end. |
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Following Crisis on Infinite Earths the amazon tribes depicted in Wonder Woman have been split into three examples. Themyscira is primarily based on ancient Athens, during the post crisis continuity it even abolishes its monarchy, with elements of Roman Asia(Turkey), modern Greece and ancient Persia(most apparentin DC Rebirth, where the monarchy is back). The Bana Migh-dall are primarily based on ancient Sparta, they even have two queens at once in DC Rebirth, but also have some elements of ancient Kemet(Egypt), modern Egypt, modern Turkey and Somalia. The Esquecida are primarily based on The Ticuna of Amazonas but also have some Inca, Tupi and Cariri elements. Their relationship plays out much like the rivalry between Athens and Sparta, with little nods to Egypt's struggles with Persia, but inverts historical events with the American arrivals being the Outside-Context Problem to the old world tribes. | |
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The kingdom in Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus is the Netherlands, as some of the outfits look Dutch and the protagonist's name (Annika) is Dutch. | |
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TaleSpin had the Thembrians, warthog residents of a bureaucratic republic clearly intended to be analogous to Soviet Russia. Then there was Panda-La, a nation full of panda bears who were such blatant Asian stereotypes that the episode in which they appeared was eventually pulled from the lineup by Disney. | |
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Leif & Thorn: Sønheim is closely based on Sweden and Norway, with elements based on the US, while neighboring Ceannis is more of a Culture Chop Suey. Thorn, his family, Hazel, and Burns and Allen expies Grassie and Hedgie are ethnically Iuilic, which is more or less fantasy!Jewish. | |
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Star Wars: Visions often does this with the home cultures of the animation studios, which for the first season mostly means Space Japan. In the second season, the planet of Screecher's Reach is Ireland, B-Bel is Occupied France, and Golak is India (with the Empire serving as the Raj rather than the Nazis). | |
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Disney Animated Canon: Earlier Disney Princess movies didn't identify the settings by name, but most of them derived part of their aesthetic from real-world cultures. Cinderella has a vaguely French setting, the world of Sleeping Beauty was an English Chivalric Romance but appears to also be set somewhere in France in the 14th Century (that is made explicit in the movie), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs appears to be set in Germany in the 15th Century. Beauty and the Beast specificially states that it takes place in France ("Marie! The Bagettes!"), but some people claim that it has elements of a Bavaria-like principality. Despite Aladdin taking place in an Arabian counterpart, its major design inspiration was a neighbor of the Middle East, Iran — homeland of the script supervisor, who brought pictures of his city, and of Persian miniatures. Shades of the curved Arabic calligraphy are still seen, specially in how words (and credits) are written. note The early versions of the 1001 Nights originated from India and Persia before entering the Arabic-speaking world, so this is not all that odd. The world of Kumandra from Raya and the Last Dragon is a Culture Chop Suey of various Southeast Asian cultures, with each major tribe borrowing particular traits from a different group, i.e. Fang is the Khmer Empire, Talon is Singapore, etc. Fang is based on the Khmer Empire, which was located in today's Cambodia. Architecture also strongly draws from Thailand. Heart is based primarily of Vietnam and Malaysia, with interior architecture being mostly Thai and Indonesian. Allegedly the Heart Temple is based on Angkor Wat from Cambodia. Tail is based on the White Sand Dunes of Vietnam. Talon is based on the Majapahit, which was located in today's Indonesia and Brunei, as well as on the floating markets of Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam. They also use Philippine lantern designs. Spine is apparently based off Indonesian and Myanmar mountain cultures with Laos and Indonesia-based architecture, but they more heavily draw from non-Southeast Asian Asian cultures like Mongolia and China. |
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The Hobbit: The Dale appears to be modeled on Russia or Hungary, though with predominantly Northern accents. In The Battle of the Five Armies, the Ironfoot dwarves have a Roman theme going for them. Their leader wears a helmet with a centurion-style crest and they fight in the turtle formation. |
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The world of Kumandra from Raya and the Last Dragon is a Culture Chop Suey of various Southeast Asian cultures, with each major tribe borrowing particular traits from a different group, i.e. Fang is the Khmer Empire, Talon is Singapore, etc. Fang is based on the Khmer Empire, which was located in today's Cambodia. Architecture also strongly draws from Thailand. Heart is based primarily of Vietnam and Malaysia, with interior architecture being mostly Thai and Indonesian. Allegedly the Heart Temple is based on Angkor Wat from Cambodia. Tail is based on the White Sand Dunes of Vietnam. Talon is based on the Majapahit, which was located in today's Indonesia and Brunei, as well as on the floating markets of Thailand, Indonesia and Vietnam. They also use Philippine lantern designs. Spine is apparently based off Indonesian and Myanmar mountain cultures with Laos and Indonesia-based architecture, but they more heavily draw from non-Southeast Asian Asian cultures like Mongolia and China. |
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Even In Arcadia: Niyam and the Fae are counterparts to 19th century China. Seen further when it becomes apparent that the Gaians are trading with them in drugs much like the British did before the Opium Wars. | |
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Dominic Deegan has a several fantasy cultures that are strongly flavored by real-world counterparts: the Callanians are medieval western Europeans (knights, castles, feudalism, etc.), Semashi are renaissance Italian (high culture and homeland of numerous renowned composers with names like Ciarenni and Montefiore; being as they're dark-skinned humans, it also suggests Caribbean influence), the werewolves are Russians (living in northern latitudes and drinking lots of vodka), the Nagasta are Japanese (island-dwellers who are renowned for their seafood and traditional martial arts), and the orcs are Magical Native Americans. | |
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Crystal Heart has some: Bogovia seems like a stand-in for eastern/ slawic Europe, especially Transsilvania, with titles like the official mad woman of the village being called "Baba", and being the side for both a werewolf- and a vampire-adventure. Maseia seems to be quite similar to the great american plains, with frontier towns, and Muna's clan living like stereotypical Native Americans. |
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Appleoosa is a 19th century American wild-west settlement, similar to those seen in Westerns. | |
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Barbie: Mariposa and the Fairy Princess: Shimmervale appears to be based on Malta. | |
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In RWBY, each of the Four Kingdoms on Remnant has certain elements borrowed a real-world culture: The setting for the first three Volumes, the Kingdom of Vale (found in the eastern half of the central continent of Sanus) is an isolationist country that takes advantage of its natural borders to shun outside wars, with peace as its primary objective... at least on the surface, as its crafty leaders have long since realized that they cannot stay completely isolated, so they take quieter measures to get a head start on potential threats (i.e., Ozpin sending Huntsmen on stealth missions to investigate potential threats to Vale in neighboring kingdoms). In other words, they're loosely similar to the United States prior to both World Wars, with the western sea and eastern mountains for Vale replacing the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans as natural barriers, and a crafty leader like the aforementioned Ozpin subtly influencing foreign affairs serving as an analogue to first Woodrow Wilson and later FDR sending aid to the Western Allies through legal loopholes long before the Americans officially joined the related conflicts. The Kingdom of Mistral on the eastern continent of Anima has a culture very reminiscent of Japan; houses with sloping rooftops, kitsune masks, Ninjas, poor resources, and close ties to the sea. However, it also unfortunately has a lot in common with 19th Century Singapore, as seen with both the aforementioned close ties to the sea and widespread criminal elements. And it also has some parallels to the Western Roman Empire during its decline, as both Mistral and Western Rome were massive empires whose borders were too large to be properly governed or protected despite the people therein all being unified under a common culture. invoked Word of God has explicitly stated that the Kingdom of Atlas from the northernmost continent of Solitas is intended to be an equivalent to the United States of America after the Second World War and resulting military-industrial complex. It started out as a frontier kingdom that enjoyed a technological boom as a result of mining, and post-war innovations have made it the world's leader in technology. It also boasts the largest military out of all the kingdoms, with bases established throughout the world in the name of peace-keeping. And as a part of a criticism of the obvious racial and class inequalities found in the modern United States, the Kingdom of Atlas is plagued with inequality and Fantastic Racism, with the high-tech city of Atlas literally floating above the industrial slums of Mantle: The military and wealthy humans live in luxury in the "city of dreams" of Atlas, while the working class and Faunus live below in the crumbling, polluted Cyberpunk city of Mantle. It also has several noticeable parallels to the British Empire during its height. Just like Atlas on Remnant, Great Britain was at the heart of the industrial revolution on Earth, and one of the reasons for Britain's dominance was because of the sheer amount of goods Britain churned out (which is paralleled in Atlas' economic dominance). The notoriously massive and powerful British navy is comparable to Atlas having a massive and highly advanced fleet of airships ready to unleash Death from Above on anyone foolish enough to oppose them. Similar to Atlas' military and government often being derided for brainwashing its own citizens, Britain had the common colonial tactic of creating schools in conquered territories so as to indoctrinate the local students into supporting British rule. And finally, the Schnee Dust Corporation's sheer economic power and influence along with being notoriously militarized and intertwined with Atlas' government (to the point where it's debatable who is really controlling whom) can be seen as a reflection of the power wielded by the British East India Company during the empire's height. The Kingdom of Vacuo (found in the western reaches of the central continent of Sanus) was a once-prosperous area that is now isolated to the point where the inhabitants don't have as advanced technology as the outside world has, but still feature massive reserves of valuable natural resources (in this case, Dust) that are being taken advantage of by foreign invaders and corporations. Due to this foreign intervention, it's almost entirely a lawless wasteland, with multiple factions vying for control. While there may still be a significant central power in the area (Shade Academy), in practice there is no significantly powerful central government. In other words, Vacuo is the Remnant equivalent of both the African Congo and Middle East (Syria in particular) after the end of Western imperialism. Finally, the "free" continent of Menagerie is clearly based off of Australia. Its founders were forced to settle there (though Australia's non-native settlers were British prisoners, while Menagerie was settled to serve as a continent-wide Fantastic Ghetto for the Faunus), it's located at the bottom right of the map, it's two-thirds desert, and its wildlife is noted to be far more dangerous than what is found on than the rest of the planet. |
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Beauty and the Beast specificially states that it takes place in France ("Marie! The Bagettes!"), but some people claim that it has elements of a Bavaria-like principality. | |
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This trope is discussed (and mocked) in the following tweet from the Twitter blog Worst Muse: "If your alien culture isn’t a thinly veiled allegory for contemporary politics, what’s the point?" | |
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Fantasy Counterpart Culture | |
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Open Blue has the Axifloan Coalition, a loose alliance of colonial powers consisting of everything from a 17th Century Nazi Germany (Sirene), to Imperial Spain (Avelia), to the Dutch colonial powers (Remillia), to the Russian Empire (Yaman)... to Switzerland (Axiflos). | |
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In Kulipari: An Army of Frogs the soundtrack, art, character names and mythology are clearly based off Aboriginal Australians, and there's even a few sneaks in worldbuilding like largely non-hierarchical societies (as far as frogs are concerned anyways). The scorpions introduce some Mongolian and Roman evil empire shit, while the turtles are modelled after Native Papuans and Torres Islanders. | |
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Vakretta, Chatho, Zaria, Kongsberg, Blavenia, Seven Islands, Riverland, and Eldora appear in the A Frozen Heart and Anna & Elsa books but, like Weselton from Frozen, aren't specified as counterparts to anything specific. It's unclear if they're standard Fictional Countries or not. Eldora has a mix of Arabic and Spanish aspects, but it's still too vague to pin it as being a counterpart to any specific country. | |
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Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper is set in 1800s England. | |
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The Challenges of Zona: The Erogenians are somewhat idealized Celts while Kivallia seems to be Plantagenet era England. | |
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The Last Unicorn takes place in ancient Ireland. | |
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The holy city of Jedha serving as an important site for believers in the Force, introduced in Rogue One is clearly meant to evoke a Middle Eastern site of religious pilgrimage like Jerusalem or Mecca, while the name sounds similar to the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah. | |
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Taerel Setting: The Xerea Empire to Rome. They even have Legions such as the VIII and X Legions. | |
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In The Mandalorian, the Mandalorian tribes and clans come across like modern Judaism, with a diaspora of different sects with various levels of orthodoxy. | |
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Shin Angyo Onshi takes place in a recently fallen empire very similar to early modern Korea; several characters are foreigners from what seems to be Europe. | |
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Sarilho: The Lusitanians. They call the Meditas Spaniards often, to the point of considering kicking them back into Spain. | |
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The Transformers (the original '80s cartoon) had the "Socialist Democratic Federated Republic" of Carbombya, whose leader was "Supreme Military Commander, President for Life, and King-of-Kings" Abdul Fakkadi, whose capital city's population was "4000 people and 10000 camels", and which was so stereotypically Arab and stereotypically evil that it prompted the departure of Casey Kasem—voice of Cliffjumper, Bluestreak, and the Teletraan-1 computer and of Lebanese descent—from the show. Bulkhead of Transformers: Animated is a "mudflap" from an "energon farm" — that is, basically a robot redneck. He gets a lot of flack for it when he first shows up at boot camp, but it's mostly due to his naivete rather than any inherent stupidity. In fact, he's actually an accomplished artist and the most skilled space bridge technician ever. |
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Vulpines in the Darwin's Soldiers universe are analogues of modern-day Native Americans. | |
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Homestuck: Parodied by Gamzee Makara, who comes from a sort of fantastical, Interfaith Smoothie religion that worships the Insane Clown Posse. Except due to shenanigans, his religion actually inspired Insane Clown Posse, not the other way around. Gamzee's religion was actually inspired by an Eldritch Abomination. Later on we learn trolls had a counterpart of Christianity, complete with a Jesus analogue, although it never moved past the "underground cult oppressed by an empire" stage (I guess that makes the Troll Empire Romans?). It's hinted that it was more successful in an Alternate Universe. The trolls in general share many cultural practices with the Spartans, but it's uncertain if this was intentional. We later find out that Damara, the pre-scratch version of The Handmaid, is from "Alternasia", which is this to Japan. |
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The Southern Isles is revealed in "Frozen Fever" to take the place of Denmark. | |
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The Order of the Stick: Azure City is one of mostly Japan and a little of the rest of East Asia also. We haven't seen much of the rest of the world, but it seems from the Pantheons the North will be equivalent to the Vikings, the West will be Mesopotamian, and the East would be Greek if the Eastern gods still existed to make this version of the world. A single panel glimpse of the other Southern Lands suggests they're Southeast Asian, Chinese, Himalayan, and Indian. The Western Continent turns out to be mostly warring Evil Empires and various Lizard Folk, although they do worship the Mesopotamian gods. Indirectly lampshaded and toyed with in strip 209: | |
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The Realms in Cradle Of Gods all Expy various historical cultures: Arcada is medieval Europe, Elysium is Ancient Greece, Gishedel is China mixed with Tibet, Hawaiki is a Polynesian afterlife, Kshathra is Arabia with a smattering of Egypt, Lemuria is Africa, Onogoro is several Asian countries, most notably Japan, Panthalassa is the Atlantic Ocean, Shiravanti is India, Tengra is Mongolia, and Yuthzopla is Mesoamerica. | |
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The Back o' Beyond begins in Sairith, a country very similar to 1700s Britain. | |
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Sofia the First takes place in the Ever Realm, another realm connected to the "real world". The Ever Realm is home to many kingdoms and is relatively peaceful (at least in the present; whatever violent history they may have if any is never addressed, with Word of God also stating that colonization never happened here). Enchancia was widely theorized to be the equivalent of Britain, although Word of God would later joss this, stating that it's not based on any place specifically. Freezenburg is one for various Scandinavian countries. From what little we see of it, it's usually snowy. Wei-Ling is based on China, with Mulan also being summoned in the same episode Sofia visits the kingdom to further seal the similarities. Much like Agrabah in Aladdin, Tangu is a composite of Arabic, Indian, Turkish, Persian and North African cultures. Outside the Tri-Kingdom Area, Hakalo is based on Hawaii, and based on its architecture and climate, Prince Hugo's kingdom might be based on Russia. |
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Avatar: The Last Airbender: The series is influenced by a variety of different cultures from Asia and even parts of the Americas and Oceania, although Chinese cultural influences are the most dominant. The Air Nomads are primarily based on Shaolin and Tibetan Buddhism, mixed in with a fair bit of The Shangri-La and Western conceptions of Buddhist pacifism. In particular, their near-extinction at the hands of the Fire Nation can be paralleled with that of the invasion and sinicization of Tibet by the Chinese Communist Party. Additionally, their nomadic lifestyle and loose (but vaguely theocratic) social structure resembles the early schools of Buddhism practiced in Mongolia. The Water Tribes are primarily based on circumpolar indigenous cultures such as the Inuit. The Southern Water Tribe also borrows from various Polynesian and Native American cultures, while the architecture of the Northern Water Tribe capital adds a mix of Chinese, Venetian, and even Indian influence. The Fire Nation is based on a combination of Imperial China and post-Meiji Imperial Japan. Like Imperial Japan, the Fire Nation is an authoritarian volcanic archipelago state technologically superior to its neighbors, with a coal-based military-industrial complex that justifies its conquests with the premise of "sharing prosperity" and uses methods like emperor worship and schoolbook propaganda to control its people (additionally, this blog post draws several parallels with the Tokugawa Shogunate). Firebenders are more powerful when the sun is up, and the rising sun happening to be the main symbol of Japan. Additionally, the comics depict the early inhabitants of the Fire Islands from the time before it became the Fire Nation as resembling the Ainu, the indigenous people of Japan. However, the Fire Nation's material culture is primarily Chinese, particularly that of the Han and Tang Dynasties (perhaps not coincidentally, the Chinese influence on Japanese culture was at its strongest during the Tang Dynasty); this is to create a contrast between the two superpowers of the Avatar universe, with the Fire Nation based on the periods of history where China was at its most powerful while the Earth Kingdom based on China during its period of "decline" (the late Qing Dynasty). The Fire Nation also utilizes elements of Thai architecture, most noticeably in the roofing. The geology of the Fire Nation capital was based on Iceland, which may seem a little weird until you remember that Iceland is one of the most tectonically active places on the planet. The ancient city of the Sun Warriors (the precursor culture to the Fire Nation) is based off a combination of Mesoamerican and Southeast Asian architecture, while their clothing seems to be primarily derived from Southeast Asian tribal cultures, particular the headdresses which resemble Iban warrior headdresses. The Earth Kingdom is based on various periods of Imperial China. While its political situation parallels that of the Qing Dynasty's last days, being an ailing empire struggling to keep control over its territories while getting brutally mauled by foriegn invasions (the Earth King even bears a close resemblence to the last Qing emperor), its culture draws from every Chinese dynasty; Toph's family wears Tang-era clothing, Aunt Wu's usage of oracle bones for divination comes from the Shang Dynasty, etc. It also has areas influenced by Vietnamese tribal cultures (the Foggy Swamp Tribe, despite their Mississippi Delta accent), Japan (Kyoshi Island), the Gobi Desert (the Shi Wong desert), and Korea (as seen with the hanbok worn by Song in the episode "Cave of Two Lovers"), each paralleling a real-life tributary held by Imperial China. Guru Pathik is pretty obviously supposed to be Indian, but nobody else of his ethnicity appears. Also, despite being a "spiritual brother" to the Air Nomads, he is explicitly not one himself. His title, philosophy, and spiritual practices give him a distinctly Hindu flavor, but like everything else in the series, it is a mish-mash of distinct schools and traditions (particularly tantric yoga and Advaita Vedanta). Sequel Series The Legend of Korra adds a few more examples: Republic City is a new state made up of peoples from all four nations, which grew out of the liberated colonies of a powerful empire, and is quickly becoming the world's cultural and industrial centre. It is explicitly based on Nationalist-era Shanghai and America in The Roaring '20s, but also resembles cosmopolitan Asian city-states like Hong Kong and Singapore. The giant statue of Aang in the harbour is a clear parallel to the Statue of Liberty in New York. The Korra-era Earth Kingdom is still mostly based on the Qing Dynasty's final years; the realm is rife with poverty, the people are increasingly turning against their anachronistic and out-of-touch monarchy, and the Earth Queen herself is a dead ringer for Empress Dowager Cixi. However, it also has some Wild West influences: an urban and wealthy east and poor and rural west, the Kingdom being composed of semi-independent states ruled by Governors, an abundance of isolated farmsteads and small towns, large areas of relative lawlessness policed by sheriffs, and many of the settlements visited by the heroes have a distinctly Settling the Frontier feel to them. Which makes some sense considering that the war and the devastation wrought by Ozai during the comet would have set the outskirts of the Earth Kingdom back decades. After Zaheer kills the Earth Queen, the Earth Kingdom becomes more akin to early post-Qing China, with warlords and bandits running rampant until a revolutionary nationalist despot is finally able to reunite the country. The Earth Kingdom's successor state, the Earth Empire, is reminiscent of many 20th-century dictatorships; Kuvira's revolutionary rhetoric is reminiscent of both Mao Zedong and Chiang Kai-Shek, as are her hardline views on reunification, while the Earth Empire as a whole smacks strongly of Putting on the Reichnote or Showa-era Japanese imperialism for a more precise analogue, particularly the heavy use of internment camps for what's basically a more family-friendly ethnic cleansing, plus the superweapon obsession. Given how the Fire Nation played the role of Imperial Japan in the original show, it's perhaps appropriate that the reformed Fire Nation of Korra has a far less militaristic approach to foreign relations, to the point where its leader (Zuko's daughter) refuses to launch a preemptive strike on the Earth Empire precisely because she doesn't want to repeat the mistakes of her predecessors. |
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Barbie in the Nutcracker and Barbie of Swan Lake take place in Russia. | |
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The hosts of Analog Control have proposed that the various dinosaurs in Star Fox Adventures are stand-ins for world religions. Most of these propositions are intentionally superfluous at best, though it does make them conclude the Always Chaotic Evil Sharpclaw are perhaps not as malevolent as they seem. | |
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Neopets: Shenkuu is supposed to represent the Far East, Altador is Ancient Grome, Lost Desert and Qasala are Ancient Egypt, and Meridell and Brightvale are Medieval Europe. Mystery Island is based on Polynesia and other island cultures in the South Sea. | |
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The Blizzarians in Storm Hawks are basically a species of Canadian furries (who live on the same planet as the human characters), complete with sometimes adding "Eh?" to the ends of their sentences. The series itself was made in Canada. | |
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Barbie: The kingdoms in Barbie as Rapunzel and Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses are in Germany. The kingdom in Barbie and the Magic of Pegasus is the Netherlands, as some of the outfits look Dutch and the protagonist's name (Annika) is Dutch. Barbie Fairytopia seems to take place in Portugal, considering Flutterfield from Barbie: Mariposa is in Spain. Barbie as the Island Princess is in renaissance Italy based on the buildings, weather, tans, and names. Barbie in the Nutcracker and Barbie of Swan Lake take place in Russia. Barbie: Mariposa and the Fairy Princess: Shimmervale appears to be based on Malta. Barbie as the Princess and the Pauper is set in 1800s England. |
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Earlier Disney Princess movies didn't identify the settings by name, but most of them derived part of their aesthetic from real-world cultures. Cinderella has a vaguely French setting, the world of Sleeping Beauty was an English Chivalric Romance but appears to also be set somewhere in France in the 14th Century (that is made explicit in the movie), Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs appears to be set in Germany in the 15th Century. Beauty and the Beast specificially states that it takes place in France ("Marie! The Bagettes!"), but some people claim that it has elements of a Bavaria-like principality. |
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Every culture in The Solstice War is one. Fitting since everything's a historical reference. | |
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A Loonatic's Tale has an assortment; Nigota for Britain, and both Mercia and Mysteel for America (the trick is that they're versions of America from different time periods, and different attitudes; Mercia is the more peaceable colonial America, while Mysteel is a caricaturized version of modern America and our tendency towards ultra-patriotism, gun-nuttery, and warmongerdom). | |
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The kingdoms in Barbie as Rapunzel and Barbie in the 12 Dancing Princesses are in Germany. | |
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In The Battle of the Five Armies, the Ironfoot dwarves have a Roman theme going for them. Their leader wears a helmet with a centurion-style crest and they fight in the turtle formation. | |
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Star Wars Episode I: Racer introduces two planets based on pre-existing cultures on Earth: Ando Prime, an icy mountainous world inhabited by wise, peaceful monks and is the Galaxy's counterpart to Tibet; and Baroonda, a world of jungles and coastlines whose people refer to themselves as Majan, the Head Priestess wears a white cloak and sun-like headdress, and the races take place near the city of Majaneetza, together paralleling the Mayan Empire. | |
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Frozen is one of the few Disney series that explicitly features numerous fictional counterpart countries in one universe: There is confusion over whether Arendelle is a city-state or a country as there are implications of both. "Frozen Fever" depicts it as a Norway substitute. However, in response to backlash over putting Arendelle into Epcot's Norway pavilion, "Olaf's Frozen Adventure" has veered more into city-state territory and stressing that Arendelle exists within (or at least within the same world as an) actual Norway (as we see a baker with a gingerbread cookie shaped like Norwaynote shape of Arendelle in the novelization). Nevertheless, Arendelle is a fantasy counterpart to Norway. The Southern Isles is revealed in "Frozen Fever" to take the place of Denmark. According to The Cameo of Rapunzel and Eugene, Corona from Tangled exists in the same universe as Frozen. That means Corona takes the place of one of the German states pre-German Unification. In the comic "Feels Like Home", royalty from the country of Yuwabe arrive in Arendelle. Yuwabe is clearly an African country, with the queen's name (Mahereb) and their enjoyment of cassava implying it's a counterpart to a West African country. Vakretta, Chatho, Zaria, Kongsberg, Blavenia, Seven Islands, Riverland, and Eldora appear in the A Frozen Heart and Anna & Elsa books but, like Weselton from Frozen, aren't specified as counterparts to anything specific. It's unclear if they're standard Fictional Countries or not. Eldora has a mix of Arabic and Spanish aspects, but it's still too vague to pin it as being a counterpart to any specific country. In Frozen II, the Northuldra tribe are the Frozen counterpart to the real-life Sámi people. They live in the forests north of Arendelle (the fantasy counterpart of Norway), herd reindeer, are nomadic, and have suffered historical discrimination from one of Arendelle's previous leaders. |
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The world of Aecast draws from a variety of civilizations. Human society seems to be primarily based on India and the Middle East, with a little bit of Byzantine Empire. | |
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Twice Blessed has Ustav, which is obviously Russia, Lajuria, which is obviously Spain, and others. | |
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The Wolf at Weston Court takes place in a country that's this to Regency England. | |
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The country of Dystopia in Requiem Vampire Knight is a demonic version of England inhabited by lizard people whose queen resembles Elizabeth I (it's heavily implied that it might as well be her) and their capital city is named Donlon. Their greatest heroes are also twisted, hellish versions of the Knights of the Round Table with King Arthur and Lancelot being dragon knights and Merlin being a talking egg. | |
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Wei-Ling is based on China, with Mulan also being summoned in the same episode Sofia visits the kingdom to further seal the similarities. | |
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Angor (a.k.a. Earth 8) from The DCU is very similar to the real world but with a few superficial differences. Doubles as an obvious pastiche of Marvel Universe, as it's populated with analogues of the Avengers/Ultimates and villains like Dr. Doom. | |
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Futurama: Done purposefully in a planet modeled on Ancient Egypt. It also hilariously inverts the usual Ancient Astronauts shtick: turns out the aliens modeled their culture after the Egyptians, who taught them the secrets of space flight. Also, the One World Order that governs Earth is a presidential federal republic with a constitution, two-party political system, Supreme Court, capital in Washington, D.C., citizens referred to as "Earthicans," and the American flag with the stars replaced with a picture of Earth. The Olympics included The Republic of French Stereotypes (No one likes them!). Especially hilarious when you consider that an early episode established that the French language no longer exists. And Space Jews! And the Native Ameri—... Martians from Amy's home planet. In a sillier example, there's the Globetrotter Homeworld, and entire world and culture based on... the Harlem Globetrotters. |
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Nocte Yin lives in Xon, Erisire’s equivalent of the Far East. In the fifth book, we get an actual comparison of which place on Erisire approximates which on Earth. | |
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Exterminatus Now has Taika — basically Japan according to near-future sci-fi anime, complete with Humongous Mecha and secluded daemon-hunting orders — and Rodina, which we haven't actually seen but is apparently the EN equivalent of Glorious Mother Russia. | |
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Vattu: The Sahtan come off as Rome by another name. | |
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Super Friends did this a lot with alien worlds. There was Camelon the medieval planet, Texacana the cowboy planet, Zaghdad the Arabian Nights planet, etc. | |
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The Lion King 1 ½: The meerkats are pretty Ambiguously Jewish. The meerkats' colony evokes a kibbutz or a ghetto, everybody seeming to work for the well-being of the community. Timon mentions how the meerkats are low in the food chain (confirmed by Uncle Max), which is reminiscent of the Jewish diaspora's past condition in many European and Middle Eastern countries. On a darker note, the attacks on meerkats by the hyenas, apparently gratuitous since they are chasing them more for fun than for food, also reminisces greatly the "occasional" pogroms against Jews, who were led as much out of antisemitism as in the goal to rob their possessions. The colony seems to be surrounded by constant exterior threats, to the point that sentinels are driven mad by paranoia after too much time at this position. This tells it all from an israeli point of view. The meerkats, save Timon's mom, shun Timon for letting the hyenas get the drop on them. Shunning is a known practice (although not a religiously exclusive one) regarding pariahs in the Orthodox Jewish community.note It's also something actual meerkats do, albeit much more aggressively, and almost exclusively to pregnant females. When Timon feels the need to express his feelings on parenthood and Simba growing up, his first instinct is to sing "Sunrise, Sunset," from Fiddler on the Roof, a musical about Jewish family and tradition. The ending of the movie even involves Timon leading his people to the "Promised Land." Timon's mom calls him a meshuggeneh, meaning "lunatic" or "troublemaker" in Yiddish (she also bears a bit of the possessive personality of the Jewish Mother). Additionnally, a detail from the animated series says Timon's last name is Berkowitz— an Ashkenazi Jewish name. With the exception of Timon himself, every member of Timon's family is played by a Jewish comedian. |
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In The Force Awakens, the First Order drops a lot of the Roman aesthetic in favour of a stark, harsh SS look — they were explicitly compared by JJ Abrams to Nazis who fled to Argentina following the end of World War II. However, supplementary materials explain that the Empire proper had a lot of limitations on what kind of weapons it could build after the original trilogy's Galactic Civil War. The Galactic Empire thus started building up a new army in secret, which is essentially what happened to Germany after World War I. Furthermore, given the fact that the Galaxy Far Far Away is now split between two ostensibly peaceful powers — the New Republic and the First Order — it is basically in a state of Cold War, with the mysterious and sinister First Order taking the place of the Soviet Union. Note that while the Empire got its Stormtroopers from willing recruits, the First Order takes children from their families and molds them into ideal soldiers, echoing Cold War 'Communist brainwashing' fantasies. On the flip side, the Resistance is a rebel group funded illegally by the New Republic, not unlike the Viet Cong or the Contras. | |
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Harkovast: Almost all the races are fantasy counterparts to real world ancient cultures, such as the medieval European Darsai or the feudal Japanese Tsung-Dao. | |
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Which kinda makes sense, seeing as Prince Caspian was apparently an allegory for the Protestant Reformation and subsequent conflicts. One illustrator for the books gave Miraz a shield with the Holy Roman Empire's two-headed eagle. | |
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Campaign 2 of Critical Role has Caleb, who speaks with a thick Zemnian accent. It just happens to sound exactly like a German one. | |
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Bulkhead of Transformers: Animated is a "mudflap" from an "energon farm" — that is, basically a robot redneck. He gets a lot of flack for it when he first shows up at boot camp, but it's mostly due to his naivete rather than any inherent stupidity. In fact, he's actually an accomplished artist and the most skilled space bridge technician ever. | |
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Barbie Fairytopia seems to take place in Portugal, considering Flutterfield from Barbie: Mariposa is in Spain. | |
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My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Zecora the zebra in is obviously supposed to be from an African counterpart culture, given her accent and the fact that that her hut is decorated with stylized African masks. She was even meant to speak Swahili in her few foreign language lines, but the staff couldn't find a translator in time and resorted to writing invented words that mimic the general sound of Swahili. The canon explanation is that Zecora "speaks Zebra." The buffalo tribe in "Over a Barrel" were obviously supposed to be the Plains Indians in the "Cowboys vs. Indians" setup of the episode. Pinkie Pie apparently grew up on what is supposed to be a fantasy counterpart Amish rock farm — a literal one where her family grows actual rocks, somehow — complete with the conservative fashion, hat-and-sideburns-wearing father and parents sleeping in separate beds. Pegasus ponies in general seem to take some influence from Classic Greek culture (which makes sense, considering pegasi are creatures from Classical Mythology). Their architecture and fashion seem decidedly Hellenistic, and they were portrayed as a Sparta-like martial culture in a "flashback" to old times. Meanwhile, the other two types of ponies both represent Western Europe, but apparently evolved socially at different rates: In the aforementioned "flashback," the unicorns are stuck in The High Middle Ages with a feudal monarchy, while the earth ponies dress like continental Europeans (from France, the Netherlands, and Germany in particular) during The Renaissance and have elected a chancellor. The setting of the Daring Do book series is quite plainly a pulp fiction-style depiction of South America, complete with Aztec/Mayan stone ruins and a villain, Ahuizotl, taken from Aztec Mythology. Season 3 introduces the Crystal Empire, which blends late-Victorian architecture, Crystal Spires and Togas fashion sense, and medieval/Renaissance sporting events. "Magic Duel" features visiting delegates from Saddle Arabia. An interesting note is that its male delegate carries a crescent moon coat-of-arms, and Saudi Arabia does not have this as its crest, although many of its neighboring countries do. Season 5 introduces the Kingdom of Griffonstone, whose culture seems to be caught somewhere between the Urals and the Caucasian mountains (primarily Georgian, Armenian and Kazakh cultures) with a dash of Tibet and Mongolia to round out the society's remote mountainous flair. Whereas Griffonstone mostly scratches Mongolian culture, Yakyakistan all but embraces it, combining Mongolian aesthetics with temper and attitude not unlike those of Vikings. In "Campfire Tales", Mistmane's homeland, from its architecture to its culture to its dress styles, is openly based on imperial China. The desert village southern Equestria seen in "Daring Done?" and in Somnabula's issue of Legends of Magic is heavily reminiscent of ancient Egypt. It is located close to ancient pyramids, its present citizens all seem to wear kohl and, in Somnabula's time, its residents all wore distinctly Egyptian clothing, the area was explicitly ruled by a Pharaoh and the beginning of the flashback segment recounting Somnabula's tale is in the form of animated hieroglyphics. In the present day, locations in Equestria are based on different cultures of different eras: Ponyville seems to be based on 17th to 19th century Europe, with their buildings' architecture mostly being timber-framed cottages, which were popular in places like England, France, Germany, Scandinavia, Scotland, and Switzerland from the Renaissance age to the 19th century. Cloudsdale is very Greco-Roman in appearance, with plenty of columned porticos and even an amphitheater for public events like the Best Young Fliers Competition. Manehattan is roughly based off 1940's New York City but with all the cars replaced with horse-drawn carriages. Some of which are painted like yellow checker cabs. Appleoosa is a 19th century American wild-west settlement, similar to those seen in Westerns. Canterlot seems to be inspired by France with a dash of Britain. The official map of Equestria reveals significant similarities to North America, albeit with as many horse puns as they can stuff in ("Manehattan", "Fillydelphia", "Baltimare", "Vanhoover"...) In Equestria Games, in addition to the Saddle Arabians (who are more horse-like than pony), there are pony-like delegates from other cultures: a mare with a half-sun-like headdress akin to the Incan or Mayan culture, and a stallion with a very Mesopotamian headdress, beard, and hair/mane style. We find next episode these two are representatives from Maretonia. In "The Hooffields and the McColts", the titular feuding clans are very clearly Appalachian hillbillies. Curiander Cumin and Saffron Masala, a father-and-daughter pair who appear in "Spice up your Life", are very Indian in their names, appearance, and in the style of the restaurant they keep. Cumin specifically mentions that they moved to Canterlot from a distant part of Equestria. |
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Elena of Avalor: Similar to the Avatar franchise, Avalor and its neighboring kingdoms are based on a mishmash of various Latin American countries. Cariza seems to be more based on the Caribbean islands judging by its Afro-Latino populace, Cordoba seems to be based on Argentina and Uruguay due to Cordoba's main colors being similar to those two countries as well as Prince Alonso's outfit appearing to be inspired by historical Argentinian/Uruguayan fashion. Galonia is a Latino Jewish kingdom, representing the Jewish population in Latin America. Satu is one for Japan, with its royals wearing kimonos, in addition to their names obviously being Japanese (Toshi, Shoji, Tomiko). King Raja hails from Napurna, which, judging by its name and the king's style of dress (such as his turban), appears to be a counterpart of India and/or South Asia in general. Norberg is based on colonial-era America, which is best shown with Naomi and Ambassador Nathaniel's clothes. Fans originally theorized it was based on the Netherlands or Scandinavian countries for the same reason, although there certainly was Dutch presence in colonial-era America and before that. |
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Sorcery 101 uses this with the England counterpart called Terra. It's more an Alternate History world where some placenames differ than a fantasy counterpart. | |
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Crystal Heroes takes place in the country of Ramecia, which, in its name, indicates it as being a fantasy version of the United States of America. | |
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Much like Agrabah in Aladdin, Tangu is a composite of Arabic, Indian, Turkish, Persian and North African cultures. | |
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Barbie as the Island Princess is in renaissance Italy based on the buildings, weather, tans, and names. | |
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Snow By Night takes place in a world that resembles the real one during Colonial Era, with Japethe corresponding to Europe, Everique corresponding to North America, Saronne corresponding to France, and Aradie corresponding to Quebec / Canada. | |
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Wolfskin: It's never mentioned what the name of Wolfskins race is, but he and they are fairly obviously Vikings. There's also the Noi who resemble Samurai in look, but whose knowledge of gunpowder puts them closer to the ancient Chinese. | |
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The Princess and the Goblin is set somewhere in Hungarian history. | |
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In The Lord of the Rings, the clothes, architecture, and cultures were clearly inspired by Real Life historical cultures just as in the books. Rohan is reminiscent of the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings. An invented scene features a song in the Old English language. Gondor is reminiscent of the Byzantine Roman Empire as well as Late Medieval Western Europe in general. The Shire is reminiscent of an idealized rural England, and also has a lot of Irish elements, particularly their dance and music. There is a lot of crossover between old English and Irish dance/music. Tolkien used familiar stereotypes of English yokels, but Hollywood comic peasants are always Scotirish, hence the mixture. And hence Pippin's Scottish accent although he is Frodo's cousin (and although most of the Shire, including Sam, and even Merry — another cousin — use the generic country accent known to English actors as "Mummerset.") |
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In Frozen II, the Northuldra tribe are the Frozen counterpart to the real-life Sámi people. They live in the forests north of Arendelle (the fantasy counterpart of Norway), herd reindeer, are nomadic, and have suffered historical discrimination from one of Arendelle's previous leaders. | |
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The people of Gemworld in Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld are a mix of medieval European cultures. It is revealed midway through the mini-series that the Gemworlders are actually refugees from Earth's ancient times, who fled to the Gemworld after a celestial event altered how magic works in Earth's dimension. | |
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| Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld (Comic Book) | hasFeature |
Fantasy Counterpart Culture / int_fbaae86c |
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