History Main / HomegrownHero

!!Examples of this trope:

* [[DoubleSubversion Double-subverted]] in ''Literature/{{Gate}}'', where - when an inter-dimensional portal leading to a [[StandardFantasySetting fantasy world]] appears in Ginza - the Japanese state goes out of their way to keep the world's other nations (including allies such as the US) out.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

[[TheStinger ...And even though TVTropes is allegedly an international site,]] [[RunningGag this trope just happens to be American.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Siren}}: Blood Curse'' does this as a ShoutOut towards this tendency in American remakes of Japanese horror films; most of the new cast consists of American {{composite|Character}}s of the original all-Japanese cast.

* Taken to a new extreme in ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' in which, despite taking place in post-apocalyptic Bulgaria where any semblance of nationstates has been destroyed, 99% of the surviving humans still seem to be American (including Gordon Freeman himself, naturally). Though given how the Combine constantly relocates people across the world, it's not improbable for some Americans, including Gordon's old colleagues, to have found themselves in Eastern Europe, and WordOfGod has stated that if not for tech limitations there would have been more ethnic diversity implied by way of Citizens who spoke in languages besides English (or whichever localization the player used).

* Subverted in the ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' trilogy. Despite CommonKnowledge about the trilogy being a jingoistic AmericaSavesTheDay power fantasy, only a few of several playable characters are American, and one of them is responsible for the incident that helped trigger World War III, and another's missions revolve entirely around defending American soil during said war. The two most recurring playable characters, meanwhile, are British SAS agents.

# Is there a British BasedOnATrueStory [[DuringTheWar war drama]] about an obscure Asian civil war? At best, you can expect at least one British freelance reporter to mournfully narrate it all from the sidelines - at worst, the ''entire'' story will focus on [[ForeignCorrespondent an aid worker from Essex]] getting tangled up in the struggle.

* ''VideoGame/SleepingDogs'' is a Hong Kong crime drama... and the protagonist is an undercover San Francisco PD Sino-American.

* The author of ''Fanfic/TheFinalSword'' is reportedly from Denmark, and the OC heroine who is touted as the only true savior of the Citadel and consistently outshines canon swords has very heavy European fantasy influences to her, even though the story is set in Japan and the fic's canon is exclusively about Japanese swords and Japanese history.

* This is a staple of most ''Creator/StevenSeagal'' films, being the result of almost all recent Seagal movies getting shot on location in Eastern Europe (like UsefulNotes/{{Romania}} and the UsefulNotes/CzechRepublic) and all over the developing world (ie UsefulNotes/SouthAfrica) for [[UsefulNotes/HollywoodAccounting tax]] (and political) reasons, as well as Seagal's own auto-{{Typecasting}} as a hard-boiled American {{Badass}}.

* In ''Anime/{{Monster}}'', the main character Dr Tenma is a Japanese neurosurgeon living and working in [[UsefulNotes/TheSixteenLandsOfDeutschland Düsseldorf, North-Rhine Westphalia]]. This is mildly {{Justified}} by the fact that Japan's medical science is very much influenced by Germany in RealLife (as well as the fact that Japan is a noticeably big exporter of neurosurgeons).

* This trope is a staple of the ''Franchise/FarCry'' series, as the vast majority of the protagonists are American citizens abroad. Some games have handled this differently, though: ''VideoGame/FarCry2'' allows a wide selection of protagonists, only one or two of which are Americans and the rest come from all over the world. ''VideoGame/FarCry4''[='=]s protagonist was actually born in the country it takes place in, moving away to America when very young and only coming back on his mother's dying wish. ''VideoGame/FarCryPrimal'' takes place long before there even ''was'' a United States, while ''VideoGame/FarCry5'' takes place entirely ''in'' America. The [[Film/FarCry film adaptation of the first game]] also does this, as protagonist Jack Carver is RaceLift[=ed=] from American to German, as per the nationality of its director and the actor playing Carver.

* Taken to a new extreme in ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' in which, despite taking place in post-apocalyptic Bulgaria where any semblance of nationstates has been destroyed, 99% of the surviving humans still seem to be American (including Gordon Freeman himself, naturally).
* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne3'' is about everyone's favourite [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCityCops New York cop]] moving his 'practices' to Sao Paolo, Brazil.

-->-- ''VideoGame/MaxPayne3'', [[LampshadeHanging lampshading]] this trope in Brazil.

# Is there a US [[TheCaper Crime Caper]] about outfoxing an ex-Yugoslavian human trafficking ring and saving the poor local townsfolk from their corrupt grip? Expect the ActionGenreHeroGuy making it happen to be [[StrangeCopInAStrangeLand an ex-FBI agent from Los Angeles]], caught up in the conflict by chance and resolving to [[AmericaSavesTheDay enforce some freedom and hot dogs]].

# Is there a South African mystery novel set amid the Cyprus dispute... ''and'' the detective is actually Cypriot? Well, guess who just fell in love with a tourist from Cape Town...

The reason for this trope is so that there'll be someone that the author - or the intended TargetAudience - can [[AudienceSurrogate quickly relate to and navigate by]]. Or, more cynically, the producers think the audience won't care about a cast full of foreigners. Alternately, this could be an effect of budget restraints - finding ''decent actor'' foreigners of a specific ethnicity can be long and expensive in some countries' entertainment industries.

This trope very often intersects with others of the same bent, such as the WhiteMaleLead, the TokenWhite, the WhiteAngloSaxonProtestant, the VanillaProtagonist, the StandardizedLeader, LeadYouCanRelateTo, AmericaWonWorldWarII and AmericaSavesTheDay, and ButNotTooForeign.

It should be noted that this often not only applies to the work's country of origin, but that of the primary expected audience, either because they ''are'' from that country/culture, or because it just happens [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff to be very popular with them]].

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Resistance}}'' series, Russia, continental Europe and the British Isles are attacked by a deadly mutant virus - and you play, of course, as a soldier of an American intervention force, even ''before'' it reaches North America.

* ''VideoGame/{{Siren}}: Blood Curse'' does this as a ShoutOut towards this tendency in American remakes of Japanese horror films; most of the new cast consists of American {{composite|Character}}s of the original all-Japanese cast.
* ''VideoGame/DualBlades'' and ''Slashers: The Power Battle'': In these Turkish made {{Fighting game}}s that can be described as an AlternateCompanyEquivalent of ''VideoGame/SamuraiShodown'' [[TransatlanticEquivalent set in]] [[CulturalTranslation Europe and the Middle-east]], the character on the roster who gets top billing of sorts is the Ottoman warrior Efe.
* Subverted in the ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' trilogy. Despite CommonKnowledge about the trilogy being a jingoistic AmericaSavesTheDay power fantasy, only a few of several playable characters are American, and one of them is responsible for the incident that helped trigger World War III, and another's missions revolve entirely around defending American soil during said war. The two most recurring playable characters, meanwhile, are British SAS agents.

[[TheStinger ...And even though TvTropes is allegedly an international site,]] [[RunningGag this trope just happens to be American.]]

->'''Alvaro Neves:''' You are a proper American hero.\\
'''Max Payne:''' Well at least I fucking tried!\\
'''Alvaro Neves:''' ''[SarcasticClapping]'' Well done with your effort. The whole city is grateful, the Great American Saviour of the Poor.\\
'''Max Payne:''' That's right!

Be it an action movie from North America, a graphic novel from Asia or a video game from Europe - not all stories from all countries are going to be set in the same places; some will be set in their [[CreatorProvincialism creator's native home]], but many others can just as well be set in {{Bulungi}}, or {{Uberwald}}, or [[TropesInSpace SPACE]].

However, there is one thing you can almost ''always'' count on happening:
# Is there a US [[TheCaper Crime Caper]] about outfoxing an ex-Yugoslavian human trafficking ring and saving the poor local townsfolk from their corrupt grip? Expect the gun-wielding MagnificentBastard making it happen to be [[StrangeCopInAStrangeLand a tough-as-nails ex-FBI agent straight out of Los Angeles]], looking for a new start in the old world.
# Is there a Japanese SpaceOpera show about some Earthlings from all over town on an adventurous romp through space and time? You can bet that TheLeader of the crew is going to be some futuristic Osaka youth, along with TheLancer and TheSmartGuy, with maybe a few [[TokenMinority token non-Japanese thrown in for some spice]].
# Is there a British [[BasedOnATrueStory based-on-a-true-story]] [[DuringTheWar war drama]] about an obscure Asian civil conflict? At best, you can expect at least one British freelance reporter to mournfully narrate it all from the sidelines - at worst, you can expect the ''entire'' story to focus on [[ForeignCorrespondent an aid worker from Essex]] and him getting tangled up in the struggle.
# Is there a humorous Russian film about a FishOutOfTemporalWater [[TimeTravel travelling back in time]] and encountering [[UsefulNotes/DynastiesFromShangToQing Ming Dynasty China]]? Almost certainly the time traveler's going to be a lazy modern-day St Petersburg slacker schoolkid who ends up 'bettering' the highly advanced civilisation with his marginal knowledge [[ALittleSomethingWeCallRockAndRoll of recent Russian pop culture]] and a quick aesop in some modern Russian values, usually to either [[ButterflyEffect great positive]] or [[BurnTheWitch very negative]] effect.
# Is there an inspiring South African [[SportsStories Sports Story]] about a RagtagBunchOfMisfits somehow qualifying for, say, [[ArtisticLicenseSports the Cheese Rolling discipline at the Olympics]], even though not a single South African has ever rolled any kind of dairy product down a slope in the history of the world before? Well, since UnderdogsNeverLose, not only will they roll that cheese down that hill faster, more efficiently, and more artfully than the OpposingSportsTeam - a bunch of JerkAss three-decades-in-a-row [[Series/MockTheWeek gold medalists from Ireland]] - they will somehow set up a new record in the process through [[PowerOfLove their sheer patriotic energy alone]]. After [[InstantExpert one or two days of hardcore practice montages]]. Also, expect the story to be BasedOnAGreatBigLie.

These kinds of works are always going to feature some important character who represents the work's domestic country or culture, even if there is no particular in-story reason for them to ''be'' there. Whether said character is a [[FishOutOfWater fish-out-of-water]] VanillaProtagonist following the CallToAdventure or just a [[MauveShirt mauve-shirted]] RightManInTheWrongPlace - the principle is identical.

The reason any foreign setting will feature a familiar spirit is so that there'll be ''someone'' that the author - or, more commonly, the intended TargetAudience - will be able [[AudienceSurrogate to hold on to and navigate by]] (either that or because the producers wouldn't trust them to care for the story if there were no fellow countrymen involved). Alternately, this could be a mere effect of budget restraints - not everyone can afford to include (''decent'') foreign parts, particularly not for leading characters.

Needless to say, this very often intersects with various other tropes of the same bent, such as the WhiteMaleLead, the TokenWhite, the WhiteAngloSaxonProtestant, the VanillaProtagonist, the StandardizedLeader, LeadYouCanRelateTo, AmericaWonWorldWarII and AmericaSavesTheDay, and ButNotTooForeign.

It should be noted that this often not only applies to the work's country of origin, but that of the audience that's primarily expected to be exposed to it, either because they ''are'' from that country/culture, or because it just happens [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff to be very popular with them]].

Often crops up in both [[SequelGoesForeign Sequels Going Foreign]] and [[ForeignRemake Foreign Remakes]], which more often than not recycle the plot in more exotic locations and give the story a '[[CulturalTranslation translated]]' tinge respectively.

Contrast TokenMinority, which does the exact opposite.

* In ''Film/TheGreatEscape'', a good portion of the leads are American, whereas in RealLife, there weren't even any American [=POWs=] in the camp at the time of the escape. It makes the whole July 4th celebration scene a lot more cringeworthy to watch.

* In ''Film/EdgeOfTomorrow'', time-traveling aliens invade and occupy central Europe. As an international coalition readies to beat them back, a US Army PR officer leading an American mecha platoon and a British ActionGirl more or less single-handedly beats them at their own game.

* Subverted in the ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' trilogy. Despite CommonKnowledge about the trilogy being a jingoistic AmericaSavesTheDay power fantasy, only a few of several playable characters are American, and one of them is responsible for the "No Russian" incident that helped trigger World War III, and another's missions revolve entirely around defending American soil during said war. The two most recurring playable characters, meanwhile, are British SAS agents.

* In ''Anime/{{Monster}}'', the main character Dr Tenma is a Japanese neurosurgeon living and working in [[UsefulNotes/SixteenLandsOfDeutschland Düsseldorf, North-Rhine Westphalia]]. This is mildly {{Justified}} by the fact that Japan's medical science is very much influenced by Germany in RealLife (as well as the fact that Japan is a noticeably big exporter of neurosurgeons).

* In ''Anime/{{Monster}}'', the main character Dr Tenma is a Japanese neurosurgeon living and working in [[UsefulNotes/SixteenLandOfDeutschland Düsseldorf, North-Rhine Westphalia]]. This is mildly {{Justified}} by the fact that Japan's medical science is very much influenced by Germany in RealLife (as well as the fact that Japan is a noticeably big exporter of neurosurgeons).

* In ''Anime/{{Monster}}'', the main character Dr Tenma is a Japanese neurosurgeon living and working in Düsseldorf, Germany. This is mildly {{Justified}} by the fact that Japan's medical science is very much influenced by Germany in RealLife (as well as the fact that Japan is a noticeably big exporter of neurosurgeons).

* In Anime/{{Monster}}, the main character Dr Tenma is a Japanese neurosurgeon living and working in Düsseldorf, Germany. This is mildly {{Justified}} by the fact that Japan's medical science is very much influenced by Germany in RealLife (as well as the fact that Japan is a noticeably big exporter of neurosurgeons).

* In Anime/{{Monster}}, the main character Dr Tenma is a Japanese neurosurgeon living and working in Düsseldorf, Germany. This is mildly {{Justified}} by the fact that Japan's medical science is very much influenced by Germany in RealLife (as well as the fact that Japan is a noticeably big exporter of neurosurgeons).

* This is a staple of most ''Creator/StevenSeagal'' films, being the result of almost all recent Seagal movies getting shot on location in Eastern Europe (like UsefulNotes/{{Romania}} and the UsefulNotes/CzechRepublic) and all over the developing world (ie UsefulNoted/SouthAfrica) for [[UsefulNotes/HollywoodAccounting tax]] (and political) reasons, as well as Seagal's own auto-{{Typecasting}} as a hard-boiled American {{Badass}}.

* In Anime/{{Monster}}, the main character Dr Tenma is a Japanese neurosurgeon living and working in Düsseldorf, Germany. This is mildly {{Justified}} by the fact that Japan's medical science is very much influenced by Germany in RealLife (as well as the fact that Japan is a noticeably big exporter of neurosurgeons).

* This is a staple of most ''Creator/StevenSeagal'' films, being the result of almost all recent Seagal movies getting shot on location in Eastern Europe (like UsefulNotes/{{Romania}} and the UsefulNotes{{CzechRepublic}}) and all over the developing world (ie UsefulNoted/SouthAfrica) for [[UsefulNotes/HollywoodAccounting tax]] (and political) reasons, as well as Seagal's own auto-{{Typecasting}} as a hard-boiled American {{Badass}}.

* ''Film/TheLastSamurai'' is another prime example, where said last samurai happens to be joined by a disgraced US military man.

** ''Film/TheManWithTheGoldenGun'' gives it a double whammy by including an American ComicRelief from the previous film, Sheriff JW Pepper, as a tourist in Thailand.

# Is there an inspiring South African [[SportsStories Sports Story]] about a RagtagBunchOfMisfits somehow qualifying for, say, [[ArtisticLicenseSports the Cheese Rolling discipline at the Olympics]], even though not a single South African has ever ever rolled any kind of dairy product down a slope in the history of the world before? Well, since UnderdogsNeverLose, not only will they roll that cheese down that hill faster, more efficiently and more artfully than the OpposingSportsTeam - a bunch of JerkAss three-decades-in-a-row [[Series/MockTheWeek gold medalists from Ireland]] - they will somehow set up a new record in the process through [[PowerOfLove their sheer patriotic energy alone]]. After [[InstantExpert one or two days of hardcore practice montages]]. Also, expect the story to be BasedOnAGreatBigLie.

Needless to say, this very often intersects with various other tropes of the same bent, such as, the WhiteMaleLead, the TokenWhite, the WhiteAngloSaxonProtestant, the VanillaProtagonist, the StandardizedLeader, LeadYouCanRelateTo, AmericaWonWorldWarII and AmericaSavesTheDay, and ButNotTooForeign.
MightyWhitey, StrangeCopInAStrangeLand and ForeignCorrespondent cover aspects of this trope, but are ultimately subtropes to the Homegrown Hero. AudienceSurrogate and WriteWhatYouKnow, in return, are [[SuperTrope Supertropes]].

* ''Film/TeamAmericaWorldPolice'' plays this [[PlayedForLaughs for laughs]], with Americans doing their part to stop a North-Korean/Arabian conspiracy from Paris to Egypt.
* [[ZigZaggedTrope Zig-zagged]] in ''Film/TheThirdMan'' where the American protagonist being out of luck in post-war Vienna is very much a deconstruction of this trope. With the British deuteragonist however, not nearly so much.

* The later Showa-era ''Film/{{Gamera}}'' films had token American children shoehorned into stories set in Japan. Daiei did this specifically because their film distributor assured them the movies would be better-received in the US if there were Americans in the cast.

** Ivanova is Russian, but appears to have gone to school in the US.

* ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'' lampshades the trope: The US President's daughter is kidnapped to a Spanish speaking {{Ruritania}} and [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil2 Leon Kennedy]] (now a secret service agent) is sent to rescue her. The villains enjoy taunting him over how things won't turn out "like your American action movies".

* The ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreed'' series plays with this as, while the historical protagonists are Arab/Italian/British/Iroquois/French, the ''descendant'' characters of the FramingDevice are always American/North American.

[[folder:Films]]

* ''Film/{{Severance}}'': A group of maddened, blood-thirsty ex-mercenaries roam the woods of Hungary... and the first victims to cross their path are office drones from an Anglo-American PMC on a company outing.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Arma}}'' series regularly casts you as an American soldier in NATO intervention and/or peacekeeping operations in fictional countries. Sometimes it's actually closely based on RealLife (like in ''II'''s [[UsefulNotes/TheYugoslavWars Yugoslavia-esque]] [[{{Ruritania}} Chernarus]] and [[UsefulNotes/WarOnTerror Afghanistan-esque]] [[{{Qurac}} Takistan]]) and thus [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]], but other times (as with Sahrani in ''I'' or Altis and Stratis in ''III'') not so much. The creators themselves [[SubvertedTrope are Czech]] (and even made a DLC for the second game adding the Czech armed forces), but the intended target market audience was [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff obvious]].

* ''Film/TheLastSamurai'' is another prime example, where said last samurai happens to be a disgraced US military man.

# Is there a humorous Russian film about a FishOutOfTemporalWater [[TimeTravel travelling back in time]] and encountering [[UsefulNotes/DynastiesFromShangToQing Ming Dynasty China]]? Almost certainly the time traveler's going to be a lazy modern-day St Petersburg slacker schoolkid who ends up 'bettering' the highly advanced civilisation with his marginal knowledge [[ALittleSomethingWeCallRockAndRoll of recent Russian pop culture]] and [[SocietyMarchesOn a quick aesop in some modern Russian values]], usually to either [[ButterflyEffect great positive]] or [[BurnTheWitch very negative]] effect.

-->-- ''VideoGame/MaxPayne 3'', [[LampshadeHanging lampshading]] this trope in Brazil.

* This trope is a staple of the ''VideoGame/FarCry'' series, as the vast majority of the protagonists are American citizens abroad. Some games have handled this differently, though: ''VideoGame/FarCry2'' allows a wide selection of protagonists, only one or two of which are Americans and the rest come from all over the world. ''VideoGame/FarCry4''[='=]s protagonist was actually born in the country it takes place in, moving away to America when very young and only coming back on his mother's dying wish. ''VideoGame/FarCryPrimal'' takes place long before there even ''was'' a United States, while ''VideoGame/FarCry5'' takes place entirely ''in'' America. The [[Film/FarCry film adaptation of the first game]] also does this, as protagonist Jack Carver is RaceLift[=ed=] from American to German, as per the nationality of its director and the actor playing Carver.

* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne 3'' is about everyone's favourite [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCityCops New York cop]] moving his 'practices' to Sao Paolo, Brazil.

** Of the other four captains, only Jean-Luc Picard of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' wasn't American.