History Main / LocalReference

* The signs with street names in ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' are based on those in Warsaw, Poland, where CD Projekt is headquartered. The two differences are that signs in Night City also include the name of the major district in addition to sub-district and are color-coded, with Watson retaining Warsaw's color scheme, dark blue with red accent.

** No one's quite sure what's up with [[AlmightyJanitor Ahti]] in ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'', but he peppers his speech with Finnish and [[BluntMetaphorsTrauma directly-translated Finnish idioms]] and he's named after a god in Finnish folklore (and given his InexplicablyAwesome abilities, he might even be the actual god himself).

* ''VideoGame/NoUmbrellasAllowed'' takes place in the fictional country of Mindlesia, but many of its signs are in Korean and most of its people have Korean names because Hoochoo Game Studios, the creator of this game, is based in South Korea. Additionally, of the items you can sell at Darcy's is the '88 Seoul Olympics Post Stamp, [[ShownTheirWork complete with the actual logo]].

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* ''Manga/DeliciousInDungeon'' takes place on an island that seems like your average MedievalEuropeanFantasy, except there are also characters who come from the "East". Which is basically medieval Japan, giving the creator an excuse to use some characters from her own country. [[spoiler: One even joins the party later on so we have four Western-type fantasy characters and one Japanese CatGirl ninja.]]
* ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003'' had one single offhand reference to an [[UsefulNotes/{{Japan}} "eastern island"]] from which TabletopGame/{{Shogi}} was imported.
* In ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', Hirohiko Araki always includes references to Japan or Japanese characters in every story arc from Episode 3 on, whether the story is set in Japan or not. Some can be pretty sneaky references only people with knowledge of Japanese culture might get (Example: Guido Mista's belief in FourIsDeath).

[[folder: Film ]]

* in ''Film/BadSanta'', [[VillainProtagonist Willie]] is asked by a kid what the North Pole is like. As the movie takes place in Arizona, Willie replies: "[[PlaceWorseThanDeath Apache Junction]]," which is commonly associated with rednecks and trailer parks.

* In ''Film/TheMatrix'' Creator/TheWachowskis (who hail from UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}}) make reference to "the Loop" and various other downtown Chicago place names including Balbo Drive - Chicago is the only major city in the world with a street named Balbo. (Named after Mussolini's heir apparent during the 1933 "Century of Progress" Worlds Fair, on the occasion of his transatlantic flight from Rome to Chicago.)
* In ''Film/SherlockHolmes2009'', the villain mentions during his EvilGloating that he has plans to take over America as well as Britain. [[JustifiedTrope Justified as he was attempting to anger an American ambassador in that scene to further his plan.]]
* Creator/KevinSmith, a Jersey native, regularly makes nods to his home state, from mentioning local landmarks (e.g.: Monmouth College--now Monmouth University--is mentioned a couple of times ''Film/{{Clerks}}'' and ''Film/{{Mallrats}}'', and most obviously the Quick Stop and RST Video stores in which the former mostly takes place) to towns that nobody outside the state could reasonably be expected to have heard of (Leonardo, both the setting and filming location of ''Clerks'', the suburb of Toms River being turned into [[Film/IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom the Temple of Doom]] in ''WesternAnimation/ClerksTheAnimatedSeries'').
* Creator/AlfonsoCuaron included a few nods to his native Mexico in ''Film/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban''. For example, the courtyard fountain has [[http://outnow.ch/Media/Movies/Bilder/2004/HarryPotter3/movie.ws/03.jpg four statues of an eagle eating a snake,]] a reference to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Mexico Mexican coat of arms.]]

-->'''Mr. Dawes Jr''': In 1773, an official of this bank unwisely loaned a large sum of money to finance a shipment of tea to the American colonies. Do you know what happened?\\
'''Mr. Banks''': Yes, sir. Yes, I think I do. As the ship lay in Boston harbor, a party of the colonists dressed as Red Indians, uh, boarded the vessel, behaved very rudely, and threw all the tea overboard. This made the tea unsuitable for drinking, even for Americans.\\
'''Mr. Dawes Jr''': Precisely. The loan was defaulted. Panic ensued within these walls. There was a run on the bank!\\
'''Mr. Dawes Sr''': From that time to this, sir, there has not been a run on this bank. Until today!

[[folder: Literature ]]

* Creator/JulesVerne was a French author who wrote in French. Many of his stories had minor (at least non-protagonist) French characters alongside protagonists of other nationalities. Examples are Michel Ardan in ''Literature/FromTheEarthToTheMoon'' and Jean Passepartout in ''Literature/AroundTheWorldInEightyDays''.
** Averted in another Verne work, ''The Voyages and Adventures of Captain Hatteras''. Verne's editor wanted him to include a French sailor in the crew, but Verne was determined to make it an entirely "English" story. (However, translator and editor William Butcher notes that Captain Hatteras himself displays traditionally "French" characteristics in his temperament, etc.)

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

[[folder: Music ]]

* Music/DaYoopers are fond of making references with strong ties to Yooper culture (i.e., the Upper Peninsula [UP] of Michigan). For example, "Rusty Chevrolet" references IGA grocery stores (which are numerous in the UP) and Shopko, a discount department store chain prominent in the Upper Midwest.

[[folder: Professional Wrestling ]]

* See: CheapHeat.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Theatre ]]

* In ''Theatre/TheMikado'', when Ko-Ko needs to give an alibi for Nanki-Poo's disappearance, he says that he's gone abroad and living in Knightsbridge, a district in London which at the time of ''The Mikado'''s premiere was the site of a "Japanese village" exhibit. Newer productions generally substitute some local neighborhood for the reference.

* The main character in David Mitchell's ''number9dream'' (set in Tokyo) lives above and works part-time at a video store that seems to specialize in foreign movies, allowing lots of references to Western pop culture.
* In ''Theatre/MyFairLady'', Professor Higgins sings that, "There even are places where English completely disappears / In America, they haven't used it for years!" The play is, of course, an American musical adaptation of ''{{Theatre/Pygmalion}}''.

[[folder: Video Games ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AroundTheWorldWithWillyFog'', a Spanish AnimatedAdaptation of ''Literature/AroundTheWorldInEightyDays'', adds a Spanish character, Tico, to the adventurers' party. At one point the heroes also encounter a Spanish balloonist, whom Tico enthusiastically greets as a compatriot.

* ''LightNovel/HeavyObject'' has only one identified Japanese character among its main cast and the country is only visited twice in twenty volumes, but the country itself is frequently mentioned. Not only did Japan create the first Objects, Frolaytia is obsessed with their culture, the country frequently produces unusual cutting-edge technology, and one volume even deals with Japan's attempt to conquer the world.

* The ''VideoGame/SakuraWars'' games set in France (''3'') and New York (''VideoGame/SakuraWarsSoLongMyLove'', ''Kimi Aru ga Tame'') always include one Japanese party member ''besides'' the always-Japanese PC (the player is supposed to identify with him, after all).

* The signs with street names in ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' are based on those in Warsaw, Poland, where CD Projekt is headquartered. The two differences are that signs in Night City also include the name of the major district in addition to sub-district and are color-coded, with Watson retaining Warsaw's color scheme, dark blue with red accent.

* The first ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' anime had one single offhand reference to an [[UsefulNotes/{{Japan}} "eastern island"]] from which TabletopGame/{{Shogi}} was imported.

* ''LightNovel/HeavyObject'' has only one identified Japanese character among its main cast and she is only a supporting role, but the country itself is frequently mentioned. Not only did Japan create the first Objects, Frolaytia is obsessed with their culture, the country frequently produces unusual cutting-edge technology, and one volume even deals with Japan's attempt to conquer the world.

Every once in awhile, someone manages to overcome CreatorProvincialism and make a show that takes place in a foreign country or other exotic locale and focuses on foreign characters. However, they often can't resist making some reference or connection to their home country. This can be as small as an offhand reference or as large as arbitrarily including a character from that area.

** The [[UsefulNotes/TheOtherRainforest Washington]] setting for ''VideoGame/AlanWake'' closely resembles Finland's mountains and forests (part of the reason it was set there), and Old Gods of Asgard is a FakeBand that loves Norse symbolism.
** No one's quite sure what's up with [[InexplicablyAwesome Ahti]] in ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'', but he peppers his speech with Finnish and [[BluntMetaphorsTrauma directly-translated Finnish idioms]] and he's named for a god in Finnish folklore.

* Creator/AlfonsoCuaron included a few nods to his native Mexico in ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheprisonerOfAzkaban''. For example, the courtyard fountain has [[http://outnow.ch/Media/Movies/Bilder/2004/HarryPotter3/movie.ws/03.jpg four statues of an eagle eating a snake,]] a reference to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Mexico Mexican coat of arms.]]

[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

* The ''HoratioHornblower'' series of books and movies largely went out of their way to avoid referencing conflict between the United States of America and the British Empire, due to CS Forester's biggest market being the United States. It was also important for a variety of political reasons, given that the books were published during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and the early parts of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. The end result is that we largely never see the Americans, save for a number of [[TheCameo cameos]] in various books, the most important such cameo being the [[HistoricalDomainCharacter USS]] ''[[HistoricalDomainCharacter Constitution]]'' in ''Hornblower And The Hotspur'' (changed to [[MeaningfulName USS]] ''[[MeaningfulName Liberty]]'' in the televised adaptation, ''Hornblower: Duty''.)

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]

[[AC:Music]]

[[AC:ProfessionalWrestling]]

[[AC:{{Theatre}}]]

[[AC:VideoGames]]

[[AC:WesternAnimation]]

* In the 2009 ''Film/SherlockHolmes'' movie, the villain mentions during his EvilGloating that he has plans to take over America as well as Britain. [[JustifiedTrope Justified as he was attempting to anger an American ambassador in that scene to further his plan.]]

* In ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', Hirohiko Araki always includes references to Japan or Japanese characters in every storyarc from Episode 3 on, whether the story is set in Japan or not. Some can be pretty sneaky references only people with knowledge of Japanese culture might get (Example: Guido Mista's belief in FourIsDeath).

* ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'' director Andrew Stanton is from Rockport, Massachussets, so he included several references to it, including lamp replicas of two lighthouses in nearby Thacher Island and a photograph of "Motif Number One", a local landmark, as well as lobsters with [[HahvahdYahdInMyCah thick "Bahston" accents]].

* In ''Film/TheMatrix'' Creator/TheWachowskis (who hail from UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}}) make reference to "the Loop" and various other downtown Chicago place names including Balbo Drive - Chicago is the only major city in the world with a street named Balbo. (Named after Mussolini's heir apparant during the 1933 "Century of Progress" Worlds Fair, on the occasion of his transatlantic flight from Rome to Chicago.)

* Creator/AlfonsoCuaron included a few nods to his native Mexico in ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheprisonerOfAzkaban''. For example, the courtyard fountain has [[http://outnow.ch/Media/Movies/Bilder/2004/HarryPotter3/movie.ws/03.jpg four statues of an eagle eating a snake]], a reference to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Mexico Mexican coat of arms]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'' character "George Liquor", (who only showed up in a handful of episodes, and whose actual name was never completely said to the audience due to some ExecutiveMeddling by Nickelodeon censors) has a very strange name. The origin of the name, however, was the creator, Creator/JohnKricfalusi, having seen the street sign for a local liquor store in Van Nuys, California (Where Kricfalusi lived at the time while pre-developing the series) that read "GEORGE LIQUOR". John K was astounded, and immensely amused by the liquor store owner not even bothering to have so much as a contraction in the title to declare ownership of the liquor store as "George's Liquor" and the name stuck.

* ''WesternAnimation/AroundTheWorldWithWillyFog'', a Spanish AnimatedAdaptation of ''AroundTheWorldInEightyDays'', adds a Spanish character, Tico, to the adventurers' party. At one point the heroes also encounter a Spanish balloonist, whom Tico enthusiastically greets as a compatriot.

* The ''HoratioHornblower'' series of books and movies largely went out of their way to avoid referencing conflict between the United States of America and the British Empire, due to CS Forester's biggest market being the United States. It was also important for a variety of political reasons, given that the books were published during WorldWarII and the early parts of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. The end result is that we largely never see the Americans, save for a number of [[TheCameo cameos]] in various books, the most important such cameo being the [[HistoricalDomainCharacter USS]] ''[[HistoricalDomainCharacter Constitution]]'' in ''Hornblower And The Hotspur'' (changed to [[MeaningfulName USS]] ''[[MeaningfulName Liberty]]'' in the televised adaptation, ''Hornblower: Duty''.)

* In ''Theatre/FiddlerOnTheRoof'', Tevye has a brother-in-law in America, and several Anatevkans set off for there at the end. When Tevye hears that his daughter Tzeitel and Motel have pledged marriage to each other, he tells them, "Where do you think you are? America?"