History Main / CulturalCringe

The flip side of (and often combined with) ForeignCultureFetish. Compare InternalizedCategorism, in which the character starts hating themselves for being a part of a culture perceived by others as "bad," rather than merely seeing their culture as inferior to other cultures. See also BoomerangBigot, where the character might feel anything from their own ethnicity to their species is inferior, rather than feeling their country and its culture ''specifically'' is inferior, in comparison with another country and its culture. See also CulturalRebel, who may or may not suffer from this trope. Compare CargoCult and MyCountryTisOfTheeThatISting. Also compare StopBeingStereotypical and CulturalPersonalityMakeover, as something unique to a specific culture can often end up being dismissed as a negative stereotype by members of that culture. NeverAcceptedInHisHometown may also contain elements of this. Contrast CulturalPosturing.

* Philosophers such as Roger Scruton and Benedict Beckeld have referred to this phenomenon as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oikophobia "oikophobia"]], postulating that it is a natural consequence of civilizations becoming more peaceful and prosperous. [[https://quillette.com/2019/10/07/oikophobia-our-western-self-hatred/ Long story short]], when a society is either at war or simply 'young' in terms of socio-economic development, the citizens will elevate their sense of national pride in order to "rise above" their neighbouring countries. Once said civilization becomes peaceful and prosperous (meaning that international conflicts have ceased and everyone's existential needs have been satisfied) however, the conflict suddenly turns inward and the individual citizens will attempt to "stand out" from each other by either implicitly or explicitly denouncing their own nation and culture. Oikophobia thus becomes a means by which individuals seek to appraise themselves as being more "enlightened" than the rest of their fellow citizens, indicating that the phenomenon is primarily the result of pride and/or vanity.

!!Changes in the Cringe

[[http://i833.photobucket.com/albums/zz253/NoNumbersPlz/survey-of-national-pride.jpg?t=1271027985 This survey]] conducted by the [[http://www.reputationinstitute.com/ Reputation Institute]] shows how CulturalCringe among nations has changed in recent years; it appears now that Canadians and Australians lead the pack for those who have the most PatrioticFervor for their country, while Americans (who are traditionally mocked for having "a flag on every building") are actually in the middle of the pack, near Russia in terms of national pride. Japan, it seems, is the country that now suffers most from the Cringe. Further details on the study can be [[http://www.reputationinstitute.com/advisory-services/country-rep found here.]]

It's important to note that none of the countries in that study put themselves below 50, suggesting that even with the cringe, on average most people everywhere have a respect for their country... or possibly that they are grading on a FourPointScale.

* As weirdly as it might seem given the national stereotype, in the early phases of UsefulNotes/MeijiRestoration, Japan entered a period of complete and absolute inferiority complex toward Western world and culture, trying to discard its own in the same time. Precious works of art and handcraft were sold for cheap or simply cast away, with very strong emphasis on Japan becoming as Western as only feasible being made on every step and field. Not just in terms of economy or culture, but up to the point of discussing eugenics and similar silliness to make Japanese people more "Western". This rebound heavily in the opposite direction of inflated national ego after about a decade, when Japanese government and high society realised nobody in the "West" takes them as anything else as inferior, based on race alone and being treated like children due to the recent ascent of the country into the civilised (in European meaning) world. Ironically, this particular cultural cringe and resulting massive export of Japanese artworks and handcrafts caused increased and (overly romanticised) interest in everything Japanese by late 19th century, further bolstering the feeling of national pride in Japan and factored into the more familiar emphasis of own uniqueness done by Japanese people.

*** [[NeighbourhoodFriendlyGangsters Neighbourhood-Friendly Gangster]] Sera is an elf who hates and distances herself from other EnslavedElves. Part of it is due to [[InternalizedCategorism internalized racism]] due to [[FantasticRacism elves being looked down on by humans]] and Sera being raised by humans. Part of it is that she's a SatisfiedStreetRat who prefers playing pranks and robbing nobles to trying to revive the elves' dying culture, which she finds "backwards and boring." Her vitriol is so strong that she constantly badmouths elven culture whenever it's brought up in conversation, vocally prefers human "commoner" culture, and if the PlayerCharacter is an Elf then Sera will berate them whenever they act "too elfy" for her liking, and even [[spoiler:dump them as a [[RelationshipValues friend]]/[[RomanceSidequest lover]] if they claim they believe what they saw at an ancient elven temple.]]

* [[https://youtu.be/VMqcLUqYqrs This clip]] from ''Series/TheNewsroom'' in which an American gives America a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech (combined, in the end, with a large dose of NostalgiaFilter about how it used to be better)

[[http://i833.photobucket.com/albums/zz253/NoNumbersPlz/survey-of-national-pride.jpg?t=1271027985 This survey]] conducted by the [[http://www.reputationinstitute.com/ Reputation Institute]] shows how CulturalCringe among nations has changed in recent years; it appears now that Canadians and Australians lead the pack for those who have the most PatrioticFervor for their country, while Americans (who are traditionally mocked for having "a flag on every building") are actually in the middle of the pack, near Russia in terms of national pride. Japan, it seems, is the country that now suffers most from the Cringe. Further details on the study can be found [[http://www.reputationinstitute.com/advisory-services/country-rep here]].

* ''Series/TheKidsInTheHall'': [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMHdGBz2AqI This sketch]]. Scott Thompson transfers this trope to Canada (where KITH is produced) saying that Canadians burn their flags all the time--to keep warm. He then proceeds to pull a tiny Canadian flag out of his pocket and blow his nose into it.

** The English [[Creator/{{John Oliver}} Oliver]] says in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YkLPxQp_y0 this video]] that Prime Minister David Cameron, a posh Southern Tory, "embodies all the things I hate about England and I'm English."

* ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'': The game's title is written in Japanese (Genshin) rather than Chinese (Yuan-Shen) even though the game was made in China. [[https://youtu.be/vKUOOg9CICY?t=511 According to Accented Cinema]], this is because even the [[Creator/MiHoYo Chinese developers]] are aware of China's reputation for {{Shoddy Knockoff Product}}s.

* [[http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/09/foolish-and-backward-nation-a-self-effacing-chinese-satire-of-america/261946/#.UE-JOlxQ0JI.facebook This essay]], which went viral on Sina Weibo (the Chinese Website/{{Twitter}}), satirizes Chinese culture by comparing it to American culture.
* ''Website/TheOnion'': [[http://www.theonion.com/articles/captain-actual-america-overweight-hopelessly-in-de,28785/ 'Captain Actual America' Overweight, Hopelessly In Debt]].
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPekmA9tcvg Captain America Statistics]].

*** FriendlyNeighborhoodGangster Sera is an elf who hates and distances herself from other EnslavedElves. Part of it is due to [[InternalizedCategorism internalized racism]] due to [[FantasticRacism elves being looked down on by humans]] and Sera being raised by humans. Part of it is that she's a SatisfiedStreetRat who prefers playing pranks and robbing nobles to trying to revive the elves' dying culture, which she finds "backwards and boring." Her vitriol is so strong that she constantly badmouths elven culture whenever it's brought up in conversation, vocally prefers human "commoner" culture, and if the PlayerCharacter is an Elf then Sera will berate them whenever they act "too elfy" for her liking, and even [[spoiler:dump them as a [[RelationshipValues friend]]/[[RomanceSidequest lover]] if they claim they believe what they saw at an ancient elven temple.]]

It's important to note that none of the countries in that study put themselves below 50, suggesting that even with the cringe, on average most people everywhere have a respect for their country.

The flip side of (and often combined with) ForeignCultureFetish. Compare InternalizedCategorism, in which the character starts hating themselves for being a part of a culture perceived by others as "bad," rather than merely seeing their culture as inferior to other cultures. See also BoomerangBigot, where the character might feel anything from their ethnicity to their species is inferior, rather than feeling their country and its culture ''specifically'' is inferior, in comparison to another country and its culture. See also CulturalRebel, who may or may not suffer from this trope. Compare also CargoCult, and MyCountryTisOfTheeThatISting. Compare StopBeingStereotypical and CulturalPersonalityMakeover, as something unique to a specific culture can end up being dismissed as a negative stereotype by members of that culture. NeverAcceptedInHisHometown may also contain elements of this. Contrast CulturalPosturing.

The Cultural Cringe is an internalized inferiority complex that causes people in a country to dismiss their own culture as inferior to that of other countries. Such people will thus tend to discount a lot of their own culture and embrace another country's 'better' culture instead. In fact, it's common for people suffering from Cultural Cringe to disavow that their own country has a legitimate national culture ''at all''. There are many possible reasons for this, but one is due to it being true what they say: familiarity breeds contempt. Other cultures seem so much more exotic and interesting when you don't know much about them, and don't have to actually live with their more negative aspects day in and day out.

Australian literary critic and social commentator A. A. Phillips [[TropeNamer named]] and [[TropeCodifier codified]] the trope with his 1950 ''Meanjin'' essay "The Cultural Cringe", in which he observed this behavior -- specifically Australian feelings of inferiority towards Britain -- in rampant abundance among his contemporary fellow Australians. (This is also why it's a part of Australia's UsefulNotes, along with TallPoppySyndrome.) This trope is at least OlderThanRadio, though, enough so that among the people Creator/GilbertAndSullivan felt "[[Theatre/TheMikado would not be missed]]" was:

The flip side of (and often combined with) a ForeignCultureFetish. Compare InternalizedCategorism, where the character starts hating themselves for being a part of a culture perceived by others as "bad," rather than merely seeing their culture as inferior to other cultures. See also BoomerangBigot, where the character might feel anything from their ethnicity to their species is inferior, rather than feeling their country and its culture ''specifically'' is inferior, in comparison to another country and its culture. See also CulturalRebel, who may or may not suffer from this trope. Compare also CargoCult, and MyCountryTisOfTheeThatISting. Compare StopBeingStereotypical and CulturalPersonalityMakeover, as something unique to a specific culture can end up being viewed as a stereotype by members of that culture. Contrast CulturalPosturing.

* ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}: Quigley has no love for any government, but he despises the one of his homeland he once worked for and which killed his wife the most;