History Main / ForeignCultureFetish

* AncientEgypt is still heavily revered today by some groups. Hoteps, a black supremacist subculture, believe that Ancient Egypt was 100% black, and that they're descended from the kings and pharaohs of that age. They also believe that modern Egyptians are not native and come from the invaders. On the flip side, some white supremacist groups also like to claim Ancient Egypt for their own and believe that Ancient Egyptians were all white and had zero relation to the rest of Africa. Actual Egyptians living in Egypt get very annoyed by all of this, and like to point out that (1) the ancient Egyptians' paintings and (painted) sculptures pretty clearly depict themselves as brown, with pains taken to distinguish themselves from both darker-skinned Nubians and other sub-Saharan Africans on one hand and from lighter-skinned peoples like the Greeks and Semites on the other; (2) modern Egyptians are mostly pretty similar-looking to those paintings and especially those statutes both in skin color and physiognomy;[[note]]The Old Kingdom (specifically 4th-Dynasty, c. 2500 BCE) sculptures of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:%C3%84gyptisches_Museum_Kairo_2016-03-29_Rahotep_Nofret_01.jpg the royal official Rahotep and his wife Nofret]] and of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaaper#/media/File:%C3%84gyptisches_Museum_Kairo_2016-03-29_Ka-aper_01.jpg the priest Kaaper]] depict individuals who would look completely unremarkabe on the streets of modern Cairo but for their clothing.[[/note]] and (3) both ancient and modern Egypt were/are moderately diverse in terms of "race", with individuals being recorded across a wide range of shades from quite dark-skinned to quite fair. As to point (3) in particular, two of the greatest and most famous kings of the New Kingdom provide good examples: Amenhotep III is commonly portrayed with some African features, which tracks with strong suggestions that his mother, Mutnofret, was of Nubian origin, while UsefulNotes/RamsesII is known from his mummy to have been a relatively fair-skinned redhead, which tracks with strong suggestions that his family, which originated in the eastern part of the Nile Delta, had some roots among foreigners from Southwest Asia or perhaps even Europe.

* AncientEgypt is still heavily revered today by some groups. Hoteps, a black supremacist subculture, believe that Ancient Egypt was 100% black, and that they're descended from the kings and pharaohs of that age. They also believe that modern Egyptians are not native and come from the invaders. On the flip side, some white supremacist groups also like to claim Ancient Egypt for their own and believe that Ancient Egyptians were all white and had zero relation to the rest of Africa. Actual Egyptians living in Egypt get very annoyed by all of this, and like to point out that (1) the ancient Egyptians' paintings and (painted) sculptures pretty clearly depict themselves as brown, with pains taken to distinguish themselves from both darker-skinned Nubians and other sub-Saharan Africans on one hand and from lighter-skinned peoples like the Greeks and Semites on the other; (2) modern Egyptians are mostly pretty similar-looking to those paintings both in skin color and physiognomy; and (3) both ancient and modern Egypt were/are moderately diverse in terms of "race", with individuals being recorded across a wide range of shades from quite dark-skinned to quite fair. As to point (3) in particular, two of the greatest and most famous kings of the New Kingdom provide good examples: Amenhotep III is commonly portrayed with some African features, which tracks with strong suggestions that his mother, Mutnofret, was of Nubian origin, while UsefulNotes/RamsesII is known from his mummy to have been a relatively fair-skinned redhead, which tracks with strong suggestions that his family, which originated in the eastern part of the Nile Delta, had some roots among foreigners from Southwest Asia or perhaps even Europe.

* AncientEgypt is still heavily revered today by some groups. Hoteps, a black supremacist subculture, believe that Ancient Egypt was 100% black, and that they're descended from the kings and pharaohs of that age. They also believe that modern Egyptians are not native and come from the invaders. On the flip side, some white supremacist groups also like to claim Ancient Egypt for their own and believe that Ancient Egyptians were all white and had zero relation to the rest of Africa. Actual Egyptians living in Egypt get very annoyed by all of this, and like to point out that (1) the ancient Egyptians' paintings and (painted) sculptures pretty clearly depict themselves as brown, with pains taken to distinguish themselves from both darker-skinned Nubians and other sub-Saharan Africans on one hand and from lighter-skinned peoples like the Greeks and Semites on the other; (2) modern Egyptians are mostly pretty similar-looking to those paintings both in skin color and physiognomy; and (3) both ancient and modern Egypt were/are moderately diverse in terms of "race", with individuals being recorded across a wide range of shades from quite dark-skinned to quite fair. As to point (3) in particular, two of the greatest and most famous kings of the New Kingdom provide good examples: Amenhotep III is commonly portrayed with some African features, which tracks with strong suggestions that his mother, Mutnofret, was of Nubian origin, while UsefulNotes/RamsesII is known from his mummy to have been ginger, which tracks with strong suggestions that his family, which originated in the eastern part of the Nile Delta, had some roots among foreigners from Southwest Asia or perhaps even Europe.

* AncientEgypt is still heavily revered today by some groups. Hoteps, a black supremacist subculture, believe that Ancient Egypt was 100% black, and that they're descended from the kings and pharaohs of that age. They also believe that modern Egyptians are not native and come from the invaders. On the flip side, some white supremacist groups also like to claim Ancient Egypt for their own and believe that Ancient Egyptians were all white and had zero relation to the rest of Africa.

** In ''Literature/{{Thud}}'', the dwarfs and trolls at Mr Shine's Thud Society tend to become this for each other's cultures, due to the way the board game encourages you to see both sides. So you see dwarfs carrying clubs, and trolls with battle bread and iron helmets. One troll player hopes to learn from the greatest dwarfish Thudmeisters, who Mr Shine says will "teach him how to play like a troll". Since the more usual interaction between dwards and trolls is all-out war, this is presented as unambigiously a good thing.

* Lord Hong, BigBad and [[EvilChancellor grand vizier]] of the [[{{Wutai}} Agatean Empire]] in ''Literature/InterestingTimes'', is fascinated with Ankh-Morpork, as he sees its culture as more dynamic and adaptable than his own country's. He plans to take it over, and to this end, has an authentic Ankh-Morpork nobleman's costume made, which he likes to try on and admire in the mirror when no one's around. He thinks it would help show the locals who their natural leader is. It doesn't occur to him that the Morporkian masses would look at someone dressed like that and see an insufferable toff they'd like to heave half a brick at, just like it doesn't occur to him to understand the mindset of Agatean peasants.

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 Rome (historically). In real life this phenomenon is called xenophilia, which is [[BoldlyComing a whole]] [[InterspeciesRomance other trope]] in fiction, usually. Often accompanied by CulturalCringe.

** There's an old czarist tradition whereby Moscow is claimed as "the third Rome". The idea is that the center of the Christian church began in Rome and (if you're an Eastern Orthodox believer) moved to Constantinople ("the second Rome"). Then, after Constantinople fell to the Muslim Turks, the Eastern Orthodox Church moved its headquarters to Moscow ("the third Rome"). Thus, Russia claims itself as the spiritual successor to the Roman Empire by way of the UsefulNotes/ByzantineEmpire, which was semi-justified as their imperial family has ties to the Byzantine ones. (Never mind that literally every other royal family of Europe can ''also'' trace ancestry to Byzantine emperors...)[[note]]There are several lines of descent, but the most prominent is through Irene Angelina, daughter of Emperor Isaac II Angelos and great-granddaughter of the great Alexios I Komnenos. Irene Angelina married the German prince Philip of Swabia, whose descendants married into every royal house in Christendom; all of today's European monarchs are descendants of Philip and Irene. Yes, that means that [[UsefulNotes/HMTheQueen Elizabeth II]] and [[UsefulNotes/TheBritishRoyalFamily her children]] are descendants of Irene and ultimately of Alexios.[[/note]] Obviously, this idea was out of favor under the atheistic Soviet Union, but it's seen a resurgence in Putin's Russia and has become a big part of Russian nationalist rhetoric.

* Furinkan High School's Principal Kunō of ''Manga/RanmaOneHalf'' has gone native after a three-year vacation in Hawaii. Since then, he's since always wearing gaudy {{Hawaiian Shirt|edTourist}}s, playing the [[QuirkyUkulele Ukulele]], sporting a miniature palm tree atop his hair, and peppering his Japanese speech with English and Hawaiian terms. He also decorates his office with all sorts of Hawaiian knick-knack and even recreates a fake Hawaiian beach somewhere under the school. He's a weirdo all-around, although this Hawaiian fetish is hardly the worst thing about him -- the coconuts and pineapples he throws around ''are explosives'', for starters.

* ''LightNovel/CatPlanetCuties'': The series as a whole is massively pro-American, both in pop culture references and story structure, on account of the author being a giant [[https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=westaboo westaboo.]] Nearly every episode's ColdOpen is a parody of a famous western series, and all the main characters' restaurant of choice is A&W "All American Food[[TradeSnark ©]]". To put this into perspective, when was the last time any of you American readers even ''saw'' an A&W?
* Rias Gremory of ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD'' is very fascinated by Japanese culture, to the point that she has several Japanese artifacts in her bedroom. Having a Japanese boyfriend might count too.

* Nadeshiko "Naddy" Yamato from ''Manga/The100GirlfriendsWhoReallyReallyReallyReallyReallyLoveYou'' claims to be from America when first introduced, but it's quickly revealed that she's actually Japanese. Her strict and traditional parents raised her to be a YamatoNadeshiko, but she absolutely hated it. When she found an American movie and saw how much freedom American children were allowed in it, she became obsessed with American culture and started defining her entire identity around it.

* After the Renaissance reached France during the reign of Francis I, he became enamored with all things Italy. He spent huge sums bringing Italian art and artists to Paris, including the master Creator/LeonardoDaVinci, who spent his final years there. While he didn't paint much, he brought many of his paintings with him, including Art/TheMonaLisa.

** It's very common for Western powers to start viewing themselves as modern-day Roman Empires. UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte saw his empire as a recreation of the Roman Empire and copied its symbols (such as the Eagle standard) for his armies. UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler got the Nazi salute from UsefulNotes/BenitoMussolini, who got it from the Roman salute. Plus, in Hitler's view of history, the "First Reich" was the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire, which unsurprisingly claimed itself as a new version of the regular Roman Empire.

* This can happen to fanfic authors too. Creator/AAPessimal realised, after a character only ever intended to be a one-off UpToEleven [[FantasyCounterpartCulture take]] on [[AmoralAfrikaner white South Africans]] took off and took on a life of her own, that he'd better stop winging it, and do some bloody research about UsefulNotes/SouthAfrica so as to get it halfway right. WordOfGod is that the author now finds the place and its history and culture to be so bloody fascinating and attractive that he even started formally learning Afrikaans. And in more recent tales, a Literature/{{Discworld}} take on UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}, based on bare bones in canon, is emerging. The author points out that at least ''this'' time he actually studied a bit of Russian in school. And he is finding Russian culture and language every bit as absorbing as he does Southern African.

* Daniel [=LaRusso=] in ''Series/CobraKai'' has a strong affection for Japanese culture, owing to the influence of his Okinawan sensei and surrogate father, Mr. Miyagi. He gives away a free bonsai tree with each sale of a vehicle at his business, and meticulously makes ''sashimi'' for special occasions. It even gets in a TakeThat, as Daniel gets criticized online for cultural appropriation.
* David Rose on ''Series/SchittsCreek'' is a Japanophile. He's talked about his visits to Japan, wears clothes by Japanese high fashion house Commes des Garcons and once purchased a Japanese cologne that was meant to smell like a car crashing into a cedar tree. Also, his father gives him a bag of yen for Christmas, and his best friend Stevie invites him to see the cherry blossoms at the Elm Valley Botanical Gardens. [[spoiler: He's very disappointed when he doesn't get to go on the tour, but he consoles himself with drunk karaoke.]]
* On ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'', one of Catalina's uncles adopted the ways of American {{Delinquent}}s after seeing them on television. (However, he comes across as TotallyRadical, because his TV broke back in TheEighties. [[FridgeLogic Curiously]], Earl recognizes this, even though he himself comes from Camden, which is a bit of a RetroUniverse, itself stuck in that same decade.)
* Dwight Schrute from ''Series/TheOfficeUS'' seems to have a special liking for the culture of India. He can reel off facts about Diwali with fanboy enthusiasm and defends the {{Bollywood nerd}}s that Kelly is chagrined about her parents wanting her to date. As for Kelly herself, he might be a little attracted but this is outweighed by what he sees as her annoying traits.

** The English develop a fetish for Dalek culture in the audio story "Jubilee". Since Daleks are ANaziByAnyOtherName, this is extremely problematic in the eyes of some. The Dalek also aren't real however.

* It is almost a world-wide phenomenon that many cultures and races, including those with a very limited relationship with African-Americans, have an extreme interest and fetish with African-American culture. This can lead to those who are not African-American combining different regions of African-American culture into one persona. This occurrence is so pervasive that the major factors of African-American culture like Hip-Hip for example can pretty much be found with a different culture and race's spin on it in every corner of the world.

** Inn the Eastern Bloc in general, due to constant eonomic shortages and lower living standards, anything from the West (consumer goods, culture etc.) was seen as better, more durable and shinier.

* Inversely, during Japan's feudal times where European merchants occasionally came to visit the islands for trades, several Japanese warlords became fascinated with their culture that they started mingling with them too much and adapting their clothing style and sheltering their religious members. Two of the most famous names that are reputed to have such obsession include UsefulNotes/OdaNobunaga and UsefulNotes/DateMasamune. Naturally, this clashes horribly against the traditionalist Japanese people who were always wary against foreigners that they considered barbaric, they saw those two with suspicion: Masamune was not trusted, more treated as a WildCard, in addition of his wild attitude despite in the end proving to be a loyal ally to whoever he swore allegiance with; whereas Nobunaga added oil to the fire by being also pragmatically brutal and stomping those traditionalists that decried him, so much that [[UsefulNotes/AkechiMitsuhide one of his main ally who happened to be of a traditionalist mindset]] decided that he couldn't take it anymore and staged a betrayal that led to Nobunaga's demise at Honnoji.

* Scandinavia and the Nordic countries get a lot of this. If it's not a general fascination with Vikings and such things, it is most probably admiration of the Nordic welfare system and the [[AsceticAesthetic "hygge" aesthetic]]. In the 50s and 60s, Swedish movies, especially those of Creator/{{Ingmar Bergman}}, were highly popular and successful in America and Europe. Music is also important, with some foreign Metalheads in particular, who seem to believe that the famous Black Metal and Death Metal scenes of Norway and Sweden respectively, are totally mainstream and played on pop radio. It isn't so--Remember that although Sweden produced half the forerunners of melodic death metal, it also produced Music/{{ABBA}}. And after ABBA, Sweden has never ceased being insanely successful at (and obsessed with) the Series/EurovisionSongContest, which has earned them a lot of admiration and envy. Left-leaning Americans also admire the generous social safety nets of Nordic countries.

-->And now I love [[SpotOfTea high tea]], stories from Uni, and the West End\\