History Main / ForeignCultureFetish

* KingLudwigII of Bavaria had a thing for pre-Revolution era France, Voltaire believed in a "benevolent despot" system after visiting Russia and Prussia, and in more recent times, there was this one black guy in post WWII US who firmly believed everything was better in the USSR, including the treatment of minorities. When Stalin died and the corruption of the system revealed, he never recovered from the shock.

* [[BadBoss Georg]] from [[{{Ptitleya4ke1rx}} Næturvaktin]] admires anything to do with Sweden and Swedish culture. A new employee from Sweden is one of the few people in the entire series he treats pleasantly or respectfully.

* Europhilia is often very strong among certain segments of the American population. Said Americans tend to feel ''extreme'' CulturalCringe towards their fellow Americans and the USA in general (often expressing complete disgust towards their countrymen), while overly-idealizing certain aspects of European culture (usually either French or British culture, to be specific) and often fantasize about moving to Europe one day, firmly believing that Europe is some sort of utopia on earth.

* There is a small, but obsessive, fanbase for Monaco, and its lavish culture. This can largely be attributed either to the reputation of the casinos of Monte Carlo or the fact that the country's most famous princess was GraceKelly.

* Ludwig II of Bavaria had a thing for pre-Revolution era France, Voltaire believed in a "benevolent despot" system after visiting Russia and Prussia, and in more recent times, there was this one black guy in post WWII US who firmly believed everything was better in the USSR, including the treatment of minorities. When Stalin died and the corruption of the system revealed, he never recovered from the shock.

** These people often believe their obsessions will find them acceptance in Japan. They're attracted to ESL teaching programs, since it's often the easiest way to find employment in Japan. As a result, the program has gotten a bad reputation, since many teachers don't focus on teaching, instead treating the job as a glorious opportunity to live out their dreams of residing in Japan.

* Also applies to martial arts.

This can lead at times to HypeBacklash against, well, an entire country. Also often leads to PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy on the part of the fan. Common targets include Japan (mostly on the internet), France (among the intellectuals) and America (in many countries). If they're only enamored of a given art from from a culture, that's TrueArtIsForeign. See also GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff for individual examples. In real life this phenomenon is called xenophily or xenophilia, which is [[InterspeciesRomance a whole other trope]] in fiction, usually.

** And their modern and highly publicized human rights violations, lack of environmental regulation, and [[ArsonMurderandJaywalking no discernible traffic laws.]]
** But it's not like Japan is lacking a shameful past. Additionally, Taiwan is ethnically Chinese (its official name is The Republic of China), yet it is liberal democracy on par with Japan.
** The gap between China and Japan has more to do with culture than government or anything else. Japan has a widely exported and internationally embraced culture of games, movies, anime, and so on; China, broadly speaking and for the time being, doesn't.

** Nowadays [[ChinaTakesOverTheWorld China is the superior world power]], but Westerners aren't as quick to fetishize their culture, due to sixty years of being told that they were the EvilEmpire that was going to steal their toys.
*** And their modern and highly publicized human rights violations, no environmental regulation, [[ArsonMurderandJaywalking no discernible traffic laws... ]] (Besides, the EvilEmpire was always Russia. China was just considered a patsy.)
**** But it's not like Japan is lacking a shameful past. Additionally, Taiwan is ethnically Chinese (its official name is The Republic of China), yet it is liberal democracy on par with Japan
**** The gap between China and Japan has more to do with culture than government or anything else. Japan has a widely exported and internationally embraced culture of games, movies, anime, and so on; China, broadly speaking and for the time being, doesn't.

* Quite alot of Japanese also have this for America and Britain, you will find gratituos English of varying coherence on many things, sometimes to the point where its used with no knowledge of meaning, makes one wonder why people bash 'weeaboos' when many in Japan are just the same with English.

* Quite a few Estonians liked German culture in the late 19th century and tried to imitate it. They were called juniper Germans and has a reception of your typical Wapanese.

* ''MadMen'''s Bert Cooper is very much the Orientalist. That is, the old-school version of the Japanese culture fetish.

* Quite alot of Japanese also have this for America and Britian, you will find gratituos English of varying coherence on many things, sometimes to the point where its used with no knowledge of meaning, makes one wonder why people bash 'weeaboos' when many in Japan are just the same with English.

* There is a small, but obsessive, fanbase for Monaco, and its lavish culture.

** This fetish also makes many of them as rabid as the most extreme right-wing Israelis (with the added bonus of being thousands of miles away from the practical results of their proposed policies) and blithely indifferent to what happens to the Palestinians. The real life complexities of the situation don't really interest them at all; whoever gets in the way of the Holy Land being under complete Israeli control is the enemy of God, to be crushed or swept aside without mercy.
*** As a result, [[StrangeBedfellows said rabid right-wing Israelis consider them very valuable allies]].
**** Real allies or just valuable UsefulIdiots?

ira vs spetsnaz

Some folks have an uncritical admiration for all aspects (not just one medium) of a foreign culture. Often they're only enamored of TheThemeParkVersion of the given culture, purposefully ignoring all negative points.

This can lead at times to HypeBacklash against, well, an entire country. Also often leads to PrettyFlyForAWhiteGuy on the part of the fan. Common targets include Japan (mostly on the internet), France (among the intellectuals) and America (in many countries). If they're only enamored of a given art from from a culture, that's TrueArtIsForeign. See also GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff for individual examples. In real life this phenomenon is called xenophily or xenophilia, which is [[InterspeciesRomance a whole other trope]] in fiction, usually.

NO specific person examples please! Let's keep it general (genres or countries) or specific to works of fiction.
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!!Fictional Examples:
* ''[[GilbertAndSullivan The Mikado]]'': "There's the idiot who praises, with enthusiastic tone/All centuries but this and ev'ry countrie but his own"
* ''[[GilbertAndSullivan Patience]]'': "I do not long for all one sees/That's Japanese."
* The CyberPunk genre has a Japanophile tendency, partially as a function of key writer WilliamGibson's affinity and fandom and partially as a response to the impressive technological and economic progresses of Japan during the genre's peak. [[JapanTakesOverTheWorld The future was going to occur there.]]
** Nowadays [[ChinaTakesOverTheWorld China is the superior world power]], but Westerners aren't as quick to fetishize their culture, due to sixty years of being told that they were the EvilEmpire that was going to steal their toys.
*** And their modern and highly publicized human rights violations, no environmental regulation, [[ArsonMurderandJaywalking no discernible traffic laws... ]] (Besides, the EvilEmpire was always Russia. China was just considered a patsy.)
**** But it's not like Japan is lacking a shameful past. Additionally, Taiwan is ethnically Chinese (its official name is The Republic of China), yet it is liberal democracy on par with Japan
**** The gap between China and Japan has more to do with culture than government or anything else. Japan has a widely exported and internationally embraced culture of games, movies, anime, and so on; China, broadly speaking and for the time being, doesn't.
* In ''{{Lucifer}}'', the demons developed a vogue for 18th-19th century England (can't remember the period exactly) and were extremely pleased to have a soul from that era teach them how to best immerse themselves in it.
** It's implied that this obsessing over other cultures is pretty much all that the high ranking demons do anymore.
*** Presumably the artistic community in Hell is profoundly lacking. [[TrueArtIsAngsty Which is ironic.]]
* The ''[[HomestarRunner Teen Girl Squad]]'' spinoff "4 Gregs" has Japanese Culture Greg.
* Mentioned at one point in ''SomethingPositive'' (other than the whole "smite the catgirls" thing) by one of the characters after she scared off some guy with a CallingYourAttacks moment: she says adding "Ancient Secret Chinese technique" will scare opponents off much more effectively, adding "White people are so much fun" or words to that effect.
** Likewise, there's a strip where [=PeeJee=] and Audrey (both Asian) mock Gwen Stefani's pop adoption of Japanese memetics, complete with having four "Harajuku girls" who follow her around and aren't ever referred to by their real names. [=PeeJee=] suggests the girls are likely "tutoring" Stefani in Japanese -- "Seeing a withered little pop star trying to order sushi in Japanese and instead telling the waiter about her intense venereal disease would be better than any Christmas bonus I've ever received."
* ''MadMen'''s Bert Cooper is very much the Orientalist. That is, the old-school version of the Japanese culture fetish.
* In the historical novel ''A Gathering of Days'', the main character doesn't want to call her stepmother Ann "Mother", so she settles on "Mamann". The stepmother approves, saying something like "we can say it is after the French, and therefore the height of fashion".
* In the novel ''YouOnlyLiveTwice'', Tiger Tanaka puts down Westerners who live in Japan and emulate and study ([[MeLoveYouLongTime and often marry]]) the Japanese. [[JamesBond Bond]] calls him out on this and Tiger admits that many of these scholars are sincere but Tiger is still rather old fashioned and racist toward any non-Japanese.
* Leroy Green in the film ''TheLastDragon'' is an African-American man who displays a whole lot more interest in Asian culture than just learning Kung Fu.

!!Historical examples (roughly chronological):
* Ancient Romans adored Greek culture starting around the 3rd century BC, to the point of hijacking ClassicalMythology entirely.
** Not entirely true. Until the 1st century BC, any Roman publicly admitting to being interested in Greek culture was considered abnormal. Even Hadrian (2nd century AD) was made fun of for being a bit too Greek (his nickname was Graeculus, little Greek). The Romans did pretty much absorb the entire Greek mythology and philosophy, but they wouldn't ever admit such a thing.
* The Japanese adapted many of their cultural traits from the Chinese, most notably their writing systems (kanji literally means "Chinese characters") and Chinese Buddhism, which was fused together with the indigenous Shinto religion. Ironically later the two countries became enemies.
** Not necessarily so ironic. Japanese were usually the enemies of Japanese, and Chinese often the enemies of Chinese. Political vagaries often are separate from cultural ones.
** Love of Japanese culture is oft mocked on the internet as "Weeabooism", from a MemeticMutation borne of PerryBibleFellowship comics and an Imageboard word filter for "Japanophile."
*** This doesn't just mean [[FanDumb particularly obsessive anime fans]]. ('Western Otaku') Not even the ones who own a few too many [[KatanasAreJustBetter katanas]]. 'Weeaboo' means a special brand of obsessive, crazy idiot who believes everything Japanese is superior, and wants to move to Japan and become a video game programmer/anime producer/manga artist/ninja/other hilariously improbable career. Enough of them actually accomplish the moving to Japan part, where their dreams are invariably crushed, to the point where the Japanese themselves have developed a stereotype about them...
*** Of course, it doesn't prevent the word being thrown around as much as MarySue to the effect of becoming an almost [[HilariousInHindsight meaningless non-word like in the original]].
**** Further terminology has been developed to combat this, including 'Glorious Nippon'.
* During TheHighMiddleAges, and again during the ''Grand Siecle'' there was a French fashion, in which all true courtliness was done according to the manner of the French court, and, if possible, in the French language.
* In the 18th century, there was a Turkish fad (some of you may remember it from ''{{Amadeus}}'').
** [[IncrediblyLamePun Not that it was any of their business.]]
* The Renaissance went through a Greco-Roman fad, various facets of which repeated throughout the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. Notable instances include the Augustan fad of the 1730-1770 period, the Neoclassicism of the 1820s, and the Greek Revival of the 1880s. Romanticism began as a sort of HypeBacklash against the Augustan period.
* There was a Scottish fad in Victorian England for a while (c. 1870-1880).
* After Napoleon's Battle of the Nile, there was an Egyptian fad, which was repeated in the 1920's after the discovery of King Tut's tomb.
* Around late 1700s to the 1850s there was also a massive craze in Europe for Chinese-style (Chinoiserie) art and especially porcelain.
* Ludwig II of Bavaria had a thing for pre-Revolution era France, Voltaire believed in a "benevolent despot" system after visiting Russia and Prussia, and in more recent times, there was this one black guy in post WWII US who firmly believed everything was better in the USSR, including the treatment of minorities. When Stalin died and the corruption of the system revealed, he never recovered from the shock.
** Ludwig's grandfather, Ludwig I, had a thing for Ancient Greece, which is why the German spelling of "Bavaria" was changed from ''Baiern'' to ''[[XtremeKoolLetterz Bayern]]''.
* Quite a few Estonians liked German culture in the late 19th century and tried to imitate it. They were called juniper Germans and has a reception of your typical Wapanese.
* Australia had (has) a very strong Anglophile streak, lessening in the 1970's to be replaced by America, though that's more of a conflicted fandom.
* Oh, and way back in the 70s, everything American was sooo hip in Europe.
* [[{{Ruritania}} Hungary]] had a hard on for anything that's not Russian while the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_curtain Iron Curtain]] was up. Then, after 1989 the foreign stuff started pouring in, and throughout TheNineties people were going crazy for literally ''anything'' that came from west of the border. This eventually led to the development of an ultra-nationalistic cultural (and political) movement around the turn of the millennium.
* A very touchy example was the glorification of all things Africa by black Americans (mostly in the early- to mid-nineties), most of whom are ''not'' seen as "fellow Africans" by people currently living on that continent, but are rather viewed as simply Americans with darker skin color.
** This trope also tends to occur whenever white people dare to turn a popular aspect of black culture into something TotallyRadical. Note the amount of rock acts in the early Aughties that tried to marry their genre with rap, or cringe worthy commercials where a "hip grandma" or culturally sensitive college kid would says things like "that's da bomb" or "that's tight" with a straight face.
* "Eastern" Spirituality in so many of its glorious forms are really a "western" imagination of something deemed excitingly exotic, peaceful and, well, "spiritual", and most of all, full of opportunities to escape one's dull life.
** It doesn't help that the New Age movement has gotten so tangled up with what the west considers Eastern mysticism.
* Also applies to martial arts.
* The bizarre Israeli-fetish found in some strains of American Christian fundamentalism, and the appropriation of Jewish symbolism found in some Christian groups. It comes off as both philo-Semitic and antisemitic at the same time. Gets more than a little freaky when you find out a chunk of that fundamentalist population loves Israel because they think the unification of the Holy Land and the rebuilding of the Temple Mount are necessary for Christ to come again... and they don't really seem to care about what happens to the Jews after that.
** This fetish also makes many of them as rabid as the most extreme right-wing Israelis (with the added bonus of being thousands of miles away from the practical results of their proposed policies) and blithely indifferent to what happens to the Palestinians. The real life complexities of the situation don't really interest them at all; whoever gets in the way of the Holy Land being under complete Israeli control is the enemy of God, to be crushed or swept aside without mercy.
*** As a result, [[StrangeBedfellows said rabid right-wing Israelis consider them very valuable allies]].
* There is a small, but obsessive, fanbase for Monaco, and its lavish culture.

** Nowadays [[ChinaTakesOverTheWorld China is the superior world power]], but westerners aren't as quick to fetishize their culture, due to sixty years of being told that they were the EvilEmpire that was going to steal their toys.

**** But its not like Japan is lacking a shameful past. Additionally, Taiwan is ethnically Chinese (its official name is The Republic of China), yet it is liberal democracy on par with Japan

**** And of course we can't forget how [[ToDumbToLive many American Leftists]] slavishly worship Radical Islam, [[Wallbanger even though it officially and unapoligetically hates everything they proclaim themselves to stand for like Gay Rights, Feminism, and other trendy causes.]]
***** There aren't many at all. There are people in the American Left that believe that Radical Islam has some legitimate grievances with the West, but they don't have a fetish for their culture and aren't adopting aspects of it.

* The Japanese adapted many of their cultural traits from the Chinese (even merging their native religion, Shinto, with Chinese Buddhism). Ironically later the two countries became enemies.

* Ancient Romans adored Greek culture starting around the 3rd century BC.