History NationalStereotypes / WesternEurope

* Occasionally gets lumped in with their big eastern neighbor, a la epiphets like "Swamp Germans". The names used for both countries' residents can also cause some confusion for Anglophones because "Dutch" is a bastardization of "''Deutschen''", which is what the Germans call themselves; the Dutch just call themselves "''Nederlanders''", aka "Netherlanders". Both countries were once part of the Holy Roman Empire and along with France and Belgium can trace their origins to UsefulNotes/{{Charlemagne}}, but diverged heavily in the Middle Ages in terms of language and culture. Relations between the two have varied between animosity and reserved friendliness[[note]]As stated, they have ties going back centuries, including dynastic ones; a ''lot'' of Dutch kings/queens and [[HereditaryRepublic stadholders]] married German nobles, but the Dutch have always been quite wary of overt German influence. This reached a fever pitch during and after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII when the occupation of the Netherlands and the crimes of the Nazi regime, including the Holocaust and a famine in 1944, boiled over into popular hatred of [[AllGermansAreNazis the Germans as a whole]]. Since then, relations have mellowed out considerably and both countries tend to vote in lock-step within the European Union.[[/note]], but being each other's most enduring trading partners, [[SeriousBusiness disputes get settled with Football]].

* Occasionally gets lumped in with their big eastern neighbor, a la epiphets like "Swamp Germans". The names used for both countries' residents can also cause some confusion for Anglophones because "Dutch" is a bastardization of "''Deutsche''", which is what the Germans call themselves; the Dutch just call themselves "''Nederlanders''", aka "Netherlanders". Both countries were once part of the Holy Roman Empire and along with France and Belgium can trace their origins to UsefulNotes/{{Charlemagne}}, but diverged heavily in the Middle Ages in terms of language and culture. Relations between the two have varied between animosity and reserved friendliness[[note]]As stated, they have ties going back centuries, including dynastic ones; a ''lot'' of Dutch kings/queens and [[HereditaryRepublic stadholders]] married German nobles, but the Dutch have always been quite wary of overt German influence. This reached a fever pitch during and after UsefulNotes/WorldWarII when the occupation of the Netherlands and the crimes of the Nazi regime, including the Holocaust and a famine in 1944, boiled over into popular hatred of [[AllGermansAreNazis the Germans as a whole]]. Since then, relations have mellowed out considerably and both countries tend to vote in lock-step within the European Union.[[/note]], but being each other's most enduring trading partners, [[SeriousBusiness disputes get settled with Football]].

* Occasionally gets lumped in with their big eastern neighbor, a la epiphets like "Swamp Germans". The names used for both countries' residents can also cause some confusion for Anglophones because "Dutch" is a bastardization of "''Deutsche''", which is what the Germans call themselves; the Dutch just call themselves "''Nederlanders''", aka "Netherlanders". Both countries were once part of the Holy Roman Empire and along with France and Belgium can trace their origins to UsefulNotes/{{Charlemagne}}, but diverged heavily in the Middle Ages in terms of language and culture. Relations between the two have varied between animosity and reserved friendliness, but being each other's most enduring trading partners, [[SeriousBusiness disputes get settled with Football]].

* Occasionally gets lumped in with their big eastern neighbor, a la epiphets like "Swamp Germans". Both countries were once part of the Holy Roman Empire and trace their origins to UsefulNotes/{{Charlemagne}}, but diverged heavily in the Middle Ages in terms of language and culture. Relations between the two have varied between animosity and reserved friendliness, but being each other's most enduring trading partners, [[SeriousBusiness disputes get settled with Football]].

* The Netherlands is often referred to as ''"Holland"'', while this is actually only two of the country's twelve provinces. Note that even some Dutch people will refer to it this way in English, mostly because it's easier to say and more recognizable, similar to the conflation between England and the United Kingdom.

* The Netherlands is often referred to as ''"Holland"'', while this is actually only two of the country's twelve provinces. Note that even some Dutch people will refer to it this way in English, mostly because it's easier to say and more recognizable.

** "The British spirit is an indomitable spirit!" -- Dudley, ''VideoGame/StreetFighter''.

** English ''male'' video game characters however come in one of ''two'' distinct flavours. There's the classically sophisticated QuintessentialBritishGentleman type, as seen with both Dudley and Eagle of ''VideoGame/StreetFighter'' fame, who sport a bowtie and cravat respectively, braces and formal trousers -- and of course, both prioritize good manners and taking time to enjoy a [[BritsLoveTea cup of tea.]] The other type is the UK's exact cultural opposite and derived from the nation's Punk counter-culture, as seen with various [[UsefulNotes/TheBritishInvasion rock and roll]], BritishRockStar-inspired examples, including Axl from ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'', Matlock from ''VideoGame/FightersHistory'', Birdie from ''Street Fighter'', Steve Fox from ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}}'', and Billy Kane of ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'' fame.

* Finland is also home to Rovio Entertainment that brought us ''VideoGame/AngryBirds'' and its family of games, as well as ''WesternAnimation/TheAngryBirdsMovie'', ''WesternAnimation/AngryBirdsToons'' and ''WesternAnimation/PiggyTales''.

* Especially in the U.S.A and England, French people are often ridiculed for being [[CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys cowards who surrender immediately when confronted with danger]]. This idea is based on their rather quick capitulation during the Nazi invasion of France during World War II and has led to the term CheeseEatingSurrenderMonkeys. An image that only became commonly expressed in the United States after French and American clashes over foreign policy during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, and then again after France refused to get involved in the [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror Iraq War]]. In reality the French surrendered in order to prevent the destruction of Paris. This stereotype of cowardice also completely ignores the work of [[LaResistance the French resistance]], who assassinated Nazi officers, attacked their supply lines, and helped smuggle out [=POWs=]. The French have also fought bravely against many invaders throughout history and even helped the Americans during the US War of Independence in 1776. And how did the Americans repay them? By not going into battle during World War II until Pearl Harbor was attacked in 1941, literally two years after the war broke out. [[note]] Of course, before 1948 the isolationist [[UsefulNotes/JamesMonroe Monroe doctrine]] was still in effect. Thus the USA had a policy of not interfering with other countries' politics. [[/note]]
** A lot of the negative stereotypes in English-speaking countries about France are still heavily coloured by the old enmity between England and France which basically lasted from UsefulNotes/WilliamTheConqueror to UsefulNotes/QueenVictoria, notable incidents including UsefulNotes/TheHundredYearsWar, which began over the English King claiming the French throne, and the French scrabbling to prevent this. It lasted for ''116 years'' and very nearly led to England conquering France, and UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars and can e. g. be seen in the works of Creator/WilliamShakespeare (attitudes in Scotland, which had 'the Auld Alliance' with France, and Ireland, most of which hates England on principle and still curses UsefulNotes/OliverCromwell, tend to be more relaxed for obvious reasons). Ironically, in some respects Englishmen and Frenchmen had a way of accusing each other of the same things, e. g. sexual immorality and rudeness: a "French letter" is called a "capote Anglaise" in French, "taking French leave" corresponds to "filer à l'Anglaise".
*** Since the late 1890s this has evolved into something of a love-hate relationship. The English sport rugby became very popular in France during the TheEdwardianEra, while the English enjoyed French cuisine and wine. Both people enjoy visiting each others' countries and during both World Wars they formed an alliance to fight the German army. Their co-operation has continued throughout the Cold War and beyond. In 1994 they the centuries old dream of uniting both countries through a tunnel became a reality when the 'Chunnel' opened for business. Anglo-American culture is positively devoured by the French, to the point where radio stations have enforced minimum quotas on the amount of French music played, Shakespeare references are common and many French people, especially in the South, at least understand English, to the point where they'll kindly switch to English if an English person is stumbling too painfully through a conversation/request, appreciating the effort. However, if the person doesn't even bother to make that effort, they will, more often than not, pretend that they don't understand a word. Only when France and the U.K. play a sports match against one another or bicker about which one of them should dictate the agenda during European and economical matters due the old animosity between the "frogs" and "rosbifs" come into play again.
** Thanks to UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution of 1789 and all the revolutions and uprisings that followed ever since (from the 1830 Revolution to the May 1968 student demonstrations), the French also have a reputation for being revolutionaries, active in LaResistance, spilling their blood on the barricades. Of course, in fiction they will still put everyone on the guillotine, even though in reality this was abolished by law in 1981.

* Much like the British the French have two contradictive stereotypes attached to them:
** On one hand they are often caricatured as filthy, unshaven, rude, foul-mouthed, arrogant, lazy and lewd, in short a FrenchJerk. Many foreigners see Frenchmen as impolite assholes who swear openly, especially when driving. They won't care to help tourists and look down upon them. Parisians in particular are considered to be [[{{Jerkass}} very rude]] to tourists and foreigners (although not as much the latter as the former). It is not uncommon for travel guides to tell tourists not to look at people in the Metro in the eye, since they will think you have a problem with them. It should be noted, though, that most of France hates Paris, much like the way most of Britain hates London.

*** The [[FrenchJerk "arrogant Frenchman"]] stereotype was also fed by UsefulNotes/CharlesDeGaulle, who both during World War II and later as President (1958-1969) expressed a very independent view on world politics. His refusal to be as subservient as they wanted him to be during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII led to frictions and in 1942 Roosevelt and Churchill attempted to oust him as head of the Free French and replace him with a more pliable Vichy commander. De Gaulle also was unhappy with the Allies' plans to free France, not least because they planned to put France under Anglo-American military administration rather than re-establishing French authority in the liberated territories. He, unlike all the other leaders, in his public speech right after D-Day stated that this invasion was the real invasion, which his detractors claim had the potential to ruin the Allied deception that Normandy was just a feint, with Calais the real invasion point.[[note]] This theory seems to hinge on the assumption that the Germans would not believe Overlord was a feint unless they were told that it was one.[[/note]] The Americans and British thus found [[WithFriendsLikeThese the Free French difficult allies]] because they pursued French national interests and not British or American ones. De Gaulle later did not endear himself to post-war British and American governments by establishing France as the fourth nuclear power and trying to play a more independent part in world politics, and by becoming one of the fathers of the close relationship between France and (West) Germany that played such an important part the European Community from then on.
** On the other hand Frenchmen are ironically also seen as ''"très chic"'' and sophisticated. Whoever speaks French must be cultivated, so GratuitousFrench is often spoken by aristocratic, posh, snobbish, or very dignified people. This stems from the Middle Ages when most European nobles and royals (even in England) spoke French. Later, during the Versailles era of UsefulNotes/LouisXIV and later UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte, a lot of French sophistication clichés began to blossom, including haute couture, parfum, eau de cologne, a monocle, corsettes, small handkerchiefs, a pince-nez, and a lorgnette. Countless French words are used as elegant loanwords in other languages to describe people ("enfant terrible", "bourgeoisie", "monsieur", "madame", "mademoiselle"), objects ("toilette", "peignoir", "boudoir") or concepts ( "À la carte", "entr'acte", "cause célèbre").

** The cultivated reputation of France is also cemented by its centuries old contributions to the world of art. Paris in particular is still seen as a cultural capital of the world: a place where, over the centuries, many artists flocked together to create their masterpieces. Even from other countries! An enduring idea about France is that artists [[NeverAcceptedInHisHometown who are misunderstood, ignored or disliked in their own country]] will go to Paris in hope of receiving the proper serious attention, apprecation and respect. There are several historic examples of this trope too: the American dancer Creator/JosephineBaker, the Spaniard Creator/PabloPicasso, the American comedians Creator/JerryLewis and Creator/WoodyAllen... all got celebrated first and foremost in Paris.
*** France has a particularly strong association with painters. This started as early as the Stone Age with the cave paintings in Lascaux. During the Middle Ages Roman architecture blossomed in France, with the Cathedral of Reims and the Notre Dame of Paris as two iconic highlights. The Baroque brought painters like Antoine Watteau, François Boucher and Jean-Honoré Fragonard. Romanticism produced Creator/JacquesLouisDavid, Creator/GustaveDore, Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres and Eugène Delacroix, while Realism gave us Théodore Géricault, Jean-François Millet, Edgar Degas, Camille Corot and Gustave Courbet. But it's the Impressionists who made the most lasting impact in popular culture. If French art is referenced it will always be the works of Pierre-August Renoir, Claude Monet, Édouard Manet, Paul Cézanne, Creator/HenriDeToulouseLautrec, [[Art/ASundayAfternoonOnTheIslandOfLaGrandeJatte Georges Seurat]], Paul Signac, Camille Pissarro and Paul Gauguin. 20th century French artists like Georges Braque, Marcel Duchamp, Erté, Theodore Rousseau and Henri Matisse kept France's reputation for high art in check. So it comes to no surprise that whenever a French city is shown there is always an artist with a baret making a painting on an easle.
*** French literature and poetry are also renowned. Jean De La Fontaine, Creator/CharlesPerrault, Creator/AlexandreDumas, Creator/VictorHugo, Creator/HonoreDeBalzac, Creator/PaulVerlaine, Creator/ArthurRimbaud, Creator/EmileZola, Creator/CharlesBaudelaire, Creator/GuillaumeApollinaire, Creator/JeanCocteau, Creator/JulesVerne, Creator/JeanGenet, Creator/AntoineDeSaintExupery ... are the most frequently name-dropped.
*** FrancoBelgianComics: France is an important comic book country, but internationally they are only known for ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}''.
*** A very unique French art form is pantomime. In popular culture there will always be mimes dressed in white in French streets, pretending to be stuck in a box. They will without exception be based on Marcel Marceau or be dressed like Pierrot.
*** French music is either 1) a melancholic LonelyPianoPiece like the works of Music/ErikSatie, Camille St. Saëns, Music/ClaudeDebussy, Music/HectorBerlioz, Music/YannTiersen 2) exuberant {{Chanson}}, with Music/EdithPiaf, Charles Trenet ("La Mer", "Boum") and Music/MauriceChevalier as the most frequent examples or 3) a ''valse musette'' accordion piece. If a Frenchman sings, it's always "Alouette" (which is actually a Canadian song), "Frère Jacques", or "La Marseillaise".
*** Seeing that film was invented in France by the [[Film/LumiereFilms Brothers Lumière]] the French also made a huge contribution to cinema. To foreigners it seems that all French movies are by definition arthouse pictures, a stereotype fed by the UsefulNotes/FrenchNewWave and cinematic innovators like Creator/GeorgesMelies, Creator/JeanCocteau, Creator/FrancoisTruffaut, Creator/JeanLucGodard, Creator/JeanRenoir, Creator/ReneClair, Creator/AlainResnais, Creator/LouisMalle... and the annual Palme d'Or film festival in Cannes, where usually only artistically interesting films from all around the world are selected to be screened and awarded. This association is so strong that all arthouse or independent movies in popular culture often will be French: see LeFilmArtistique.
*** France also gave the world several internationally popular actors like Creator/MauriceChevalier, Creator/GerardDepardieu, Creator/BrigitteBardot, Creator/JeanGabin, Creator/JeanneMoreau, Creator/SimoneSignoret, Creator/CharlesBoyer, Creator/CatherineDeneuve, Creator/AudreyTautou, Creator/JeanReno, Creator/MarionCotillard... and comedians, such as Creator/{{Fernandel}}, Raimu, Creator/{{Bourvil}}, Coluche, Creator/LouisDeFunes and Creator/JacquesTati. In the USA France also has a strong association with bawdy sex comedies, like ''Film/LaCageAuxFolles''.
*** Further tying in with France's fame for intellectualism are their philosophers. Historically famous examples like Creator/ReneDescartes, Creator/JeanJacquesRousseau, Creator/{{Voltaire}}, Creator/SimoneDeBeauvoir and Creator/JeanPaulSartre are usually the ones namedropped. Sartre in particular is the {{Expy}} for every stereotype of a French intellectual.

*** Despite the fact that France has a lot of famous sculptors the only one who became a pop culture icon is Auguste Rodin.
* French accents are also enormously popular in comedies, WesternAnimation, and even dramatic films and TV series, often to the point of overkill. French people will always speak with a MauriceChevalierAccent, usually complete with a ''“hon hon hon”'' laugh. All these French characters talk in the same way: ''"the"'' and ''"this"'' are pronounced ''"zee"'' and ''"zis"'', the words ''"mais oui", "sacrebleu", "au revoir", "zut alors", "mon ami"'', or ''"mon chéri"'' are used non-stop and the ''"w"'' is pronounced ''"ooweee"''. Famous examples are Inspector Clouseau in ''Franchise/ThePinkPanther'', Lumière in ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'', all the French characters in ''Series/AlloAllo'', and Pepe Le Pew. Sometimes, like in the movie ''WesternAnimation/{{Shrek}}'' (where the British character Myth/RobinHood inexplicably speaks English with a French accent), people are depicted as being French for no apparent reason other than evoking laughs while using the accent. In reality, as with any language, how heavy a native accent is while speaking a foreign language usually has more to do with 1) when in their lives they learned the foreign language, 2) how long they've been speaking it and to whom, and 3) how good they are at imitating accents. It's common for a French student of English living in France to talk this way, for example, but it would be very rare for a Frenchman who's lived for many years in, say, Midwestern America, to not say 'the' more or less like a Midwestern American.
** Non-French speakers also assume that you can just put ''"le"'' in front of every subject and it's grammatically correct French! The articles ''"la", "un", "une"'', or ''"l'"'' don't seem to exist.
* In (beat 'em up) videogames, French characters are often depicted as [[WarriorPoet elegant]], [[TheFatalist fatalistic]], and angsty, with a penchant for [[RoyalRapier fencing]]. Examples include [[JeanneDArchetype Charlotte]] from ''VideoGame/SamuraiShodown'', Ky Kiske from ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear'', Elisabeth Blanctorche (who uses a riding crop) from ''VideoGame/TheKingOfFighters'', and FrenchJerk Raphael and his ward [[ElegantGothicLolita Amy]] from the ''VideoGame/SoulSeries''. Other examples also filled with Gallic ennui include Remy from ''Franchise/StreetFighter'', who fits the cynical, NietzscheWannabe type perfectly and Abel, also from ''Street Fighter'', with his brooding, emo-ish personality (although he is atypical in that he exhibits none of the usual associated elegance, and is a hulking, rugby player type). All of the examples mentioned probably derive from the deep, sullen French philosopher archetype, inspired perhaps by the likes of Jean-Paul Sartre and Creator/JacquesDerrida.
* Frenchmen are often cast as cooks, onion sellers, proprietors of restaurants and/or cafés. This association stems from the globally excellent reputation of French cuisine. If you are a cook, there is no better way of showing off the quality of your food by using French terms on the menu card or wish your guests a “bon appétit”[[note]]pronounced "apehtee"[[/note]]. Frenchmen will enjoy eating baguettes, croissants, tarts, cheese, and drink wine. Sometimes they are also depicted as having an eccentric taste: eating snails (escargots) and frog legs. This is also why the French are often nicknamed ''"frogs"'' in the English language. See also FrenchCuisineIsHaughty. Examples of French cooks in fiction: Louis in ''WesternAnimation/TheLittleMermaid1989'' and the cooks in ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}''.
* GayParee: Paris equals France in popular culture, no other locations. On the same token the [[EiffelTowerEffect Eiffel Tower ''must'' be present in the background]], even if the action takes place in just a random French town. The monument will also be used for the big climax of the story. Another stock location in Paris is the Louvre, so that the characters can go and watch the Mona Lisa. You might get a reference to the Moulin Rouge, Sacré-Coeur, Montmartre, Champs Elysées, Arc de Triomphe, Pont Neuf, the Sorbonne, Place de la Concorde, Versailles, Place Vendôme, Père Lachaise, the Stade Roland Garros (for the tennis tournament), and the Notre Dame in there too. Paris in general is a popular choice for travel stories set in Europe (which usually equals Paris in American and English popular culture) and romantic tales. If not one of those the city will be used for a historical story about UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution, late-19th-century GayParee (expect cameos of impressionist painters and the Moulin Rouge here) and/or during the Nazi occupation in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
** The rest of France will usually be [[http://wikitravel.org/en/Provence the Provence]] or ''maybe'' the [[http://wikitravel.org/en/Languedoc-Roussillon Languedoc-Rousillon]], though Bretagne (to show some cliffs), Reims (for the cathedral), Bordeaux (for the wine), Normandy (Art/TheBayeuxTapestry, the Mont Saint Michel, Rouen (made famous by UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc and the 1944 battlefields), Arles (because of Creator/VincentVanGogh), Dijon (for the mustard), Cannes (for the Film Festival), Avignon (because of the song ''Sur Le Pont d' Avignon''), Lourdes (for the Marian shrine, said to be the largest one in the world), Carcassone (for the fortified city and the Cathars), Marseille and Nice could get a small reference if you're lucky.
* Another typical French location is a brasserie or a restaurant with a sidewalk cafe outside. There will always be a bottle of wine and a baguette on the table. At night it will be a candlelight dinner. The waiter always sports a curly moustache and is rude and arrogant.
* If the French play sport, it will be pétanque/jeux de boules. This sport is almost a philosophy for certain Frenchmen,though mostly asociated with the South. Another classic sport associated with France is fencing, typically done by two men with -- yet again -- curly moustaches. And since the biggest cycling event in the world is the Tour de France this sport is also commonly associated with the country.

* The most French animal in the world is the poodle. In cartoons it will often talk with a French accent.
* Within France several stereotypes exist about the individual regions and cities, some famously spoofed in ''Recap/AsterixAndTheBanquet''.
** '''Alsace''': Has been conquered, lost and reconquered so often by Germans in the past that the population is often ridiculed for being Germans by default.

** '''Bretagne''': The Bretons are simple-minded peasants who eat a lot of salty butter[[note]]One of the most famous dish from Bretagne is the Kouign-amann, that can be best described as a mixture of melted butter and sugar barely held together by a little flour[[/note]] and crêpes. Comic book character ''ComicStrip/{{Becassine}}'' is the archetypical Breton and encompasses all these clichés. The region is nothing but cliffs, cows and some menhirs in Carnac. It always rains in Brittany.

** '''Normandy''': All Normandians are descendants of Vikings. They smother their food in creamy sauce and are unable to give a direct answer. In fact in French an indefinitive answer is even called a "Norman's answer". It always rains in Normandy, by the way.
** '''Paris''': The city is full of rude, arrogant people caught in traffic jams. They think that [[LandOfOneCity French civilisation stops at the "Périphérique"]] (circle road around Paris) and that the rest of France ("La Province") consists of their secondary residences and some barely educated monkeys.

* LazyBum: In the French speaking world Corsicans are stereotyped as lazy people, an image that, just like other South European isles, stems from the siestas people take because of the hot climate.

** The island is famous for chestnuts, very smelly cheese, unpenetrable ''maquis'' bushes and forests, wild pigs and old men sitting on benches. Everyone wears a black bandana or headscarf, in reference to their flag [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_and_coat_of_arms_of_Corsica]]
*** Apparently all Corsicans are proud, HotBlooded and anger will be the [[TheStoic only emotion they ever show]]. They will demand respect from everybody and put on a DeathGlare when they have the impression someone offended them. The men will pull out a knife anywhere, anytime and no particular reason at all. There is also some TruthInTelevision to this violent image. Just like other Mediterranean isles, Corsica has a centuries old bloody history of [[CycleOfRevenge countless vendettas and family feuds]]. In the 17th and 18th century the island was notorious for [[TheHighwayMan highwaymen and robbers attacking stage coaches]] who hid in the thick and unpenetrable Corsican forests and bushes ("maquis"). From the 20th century on Corsican separatists [[StuffBlowingUp bombing]] civilians and homes made sure the island's reputation for bloodshed wasn't going away soon. Many Corsicans still carry folding-blade knives, but these days they are more likely to use them for eating or whittling than fighting.
* Older Frenchmen also associate Corsica with singer Tino Rossi. [[note]] Also referenced in ''Asterix in Corsica'', something people from outside France who aren't attuned to the subtleties will miss. Mostly because the translations of this album have dropped these references.[[/note]]

* The Finnish are portrayed as drunken and aggressive (like the Scottish stereotype), and portray Swedes as gays (like the British stereotype).

** Foreigners who are aware of the Belgian bilingual troubles often assume the Flemings and Walloons live in a state of civil war. In reality these troubles have always remained on the level of a neighbourhood squabble, with hardly any fatalities. Belgians prefer complaining about it in a local café, rather than actually fight one another over it. Still, these conflicts have been serious enough to cause numerous political crises over the centuries, with governments even toppling over them and not being able to reach a consensus for years on end! In 2011 Belgium broke a world record when their new government took 541 days (!) to get organized. The surreal thing about it was that this had no major consequences for daily affairs. In fact, Belgians even took the time to sarcastically "celebrate" this record with beer and partying to mock their ineffective politicians! Despite all this -- or perhaps because of this endless debating -- Belgians are universally renowned for producing excellent diplomats, praised for their knowledge of many languages and ability to think up compromises.

* Two essential monuments that always need to be in frame whenever Belgium is shown in popular culture are the Atomium and the statue of Manneken Pis, both located in Brussels.

*** France has a particularly strong association with painters. This started as early as the Stone Age with the cave paintings in Lascaux. During the Middle Ages Roman architecture blossomed in France, with the Cathedral of Reims and the Notre Dame of Paris as two iconic highlights. The Baroque brought painters like Antoine Watteau, François Boucher and Jean-Honoré Fragonard. Romanticism produced Creator/JacquesLouisDavid, Creator/GustaveDore, Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres and Eugène Delacroix, while Realism gave us Théodore Géricault, Jean-François Millet, Edgar Degas, Camille Corot and Gustave Courbet. But it's the Impressionists who made the most lasting impact in popular culture. If French art is referenced it will always be the works of Pierre-August Renoir, Claude Monet, Édouard Manet, Paul Cézanne, Creator/HenriDeToulouseLautrec, Georges Seurat, Paul Signac, Camille Pissarro and Paul Gauguin. 20th century French artists like Georges Braque, Marcel Duchamp, Erté, Theodore Rousseau and Henri Matisse kept France's reputation for high art in check. So it comes to no surprise that whenever a French city is shown there is always an artist with a baret making a painting on an easle.

** The rest of France will usually be [[http://wikitravel.org/en/Provence the Provence]] or ''maybe'' the [[http://wikitravel.org/en/Languedoc-Roussillon Languedoc-Rousillon]], though Bretagne (to show some cliffs), Reims (for the cathedral), Bordeaux (for the wine), Normandy (the Bayeux tapestry, the Mont Saint Michel, Rouen (made famous by UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc and the 1944 battlefields), Arles (because of Creator/VincentVanGogh), Dijon (for the mustard), Cannes (for the Film Festival), Avignon (because of the song ''Sur Le Pont d' Avignon''), Lourdes (for the Marian shrine, said to be the largest one in the world), Carcassone (for the fortified city and the Cathars), Marseille and Nice could get a small reference if you're lucky.

** Belgium has produced many internationally famous painters, most notably in Flanders, like the Flemish Primitives (Creator/JanVanEyck, Hans Memling, Rogier Van Der Weyden...), Creator/PieterBruegelTheElder, Creator/PeterPaulRubens and James Ensor to name the most iconic. The most famous Walloon painter is Creator/ReneMagritte.

* EuropeansAreKinky: Especially continental Europe and Scandinavia have a reputation for being far more liberated and open-minded about sex and nudity, compared to the United States of America and Asia. Many erotic exotic foreigner stereotypes are from European descent such as Scandinavia (SexyScandinavian), the Netherlands (FreeStateAmsterdam, thanks to legalized prostitution), France (EveryoneLooksSexierIfFrench, EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench), Spain and Italy (LatinLover, beach topless, intense night life), and Eastern Europe, the Baltic Countries and Russia (SensualSlavs). There's some TruthInTelevision to this: a lot of works depicting sex and nudity causing excitement or controversy in other continents hardly bat an eye in Europe. But, of course, this doesn't mean all Europeans are like that. [[BritishStuffiness The United Kingdom]] and Ireland, two islands separate from Continental Europe, are far more prudish and, speaking of Ireland, many predominantly Catholic countries in Europe like Spain, Poland or Italy tend to be less easygoing on some aspects of the topic (although, ironically, they can also be it even more in other aspects - as we say, it is complicated). Also, even in other European countries you're liable to find people who are more reserved about the matter.

* In Japan and Korea Belgium is known for the classic children's novel Literature/ADogOfFlanders, which takes place in Antwerp. In fact, it's one of the main reasons why the city attracts so many Asian tourists. Yet the story was written by a British woman, Ouida, and is fairly obscure in Belgium. Only in the 1980s did the Belgian Board of Tourism finally erect a statue and a commemorative plaque to please East-Asian tourists, changed by a new monument in late 2016. Another unfortunate effect of the novel is that many East-Asian tourists have a stereotypical idea of Belgium based on the way it is portrayed in this 19th-century novel and the various anime adaptations since. Many are disappointed that Belgium is not one giant tullip field with people walking in clogs – like the stereotypical image of the Netherlands – and the only element of the novel which exists in real life is the Antwerp Cathedral where indeed Creator/PeterPaulRubens' painting "The Descent of the Cross" can be seen.

** Also, thanks to UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire, the English have a reputation for being racist and MightyWhitey EvilColonialist {{hypocrite}}s who talk of free trade while plundering the world. Anglophobia is common enough in the Middle East, Iran (the UK has sometimes been called "the Little Satan" to America's "Great Satan", and one adviser called the English "Worse than [[ArchEnemy America]]" - which a proper Empire nostalgist [[IllTakeThatAsACompliment might take as a compliment]]. This is probably because the British government was heavily involved in manipulating Iranian politics to its own benefit between the mid 19th and mid 20th century, manufacturing the 1953 coup), Asia, Africa and India, that the EvilBrit is still the common stereotype in these films. The likable Englishman here is a Colonel Blimp-esque self-deluding fool who, as in Chinua Achebe's ''Things Fall Apart'', see other lands with blinkered SmallReferencePools and never takes responsibility for the violence inflicted by imperialism, and refuse to fess up to the art theft of the Elgin Marbles, treasures in Beijing, Tipu's Tiger and the Koh-I-Noor diamond (while even the Indian government admitted that the Koh-I-Noor was legally acquired in 2016, it still stirs emotions - and as the Indians can reasonably point out, the British nicked practically everything else).

*** Ironically, a recent survey found that the British have by far the healthiest teeth in the OECD. The distinction probably lies in the fact that most Brits don't care for bleached and artificially straightened teeth, and mock them with varying degrees of affection. In the case of beloved football players like Brazilian forward Roberto Firmino, it's gentle mockery. In the case of Americans as a whole, it tends to be treated as a weird Hollywood export - and one that's increasingly popular in Britain itself.

*** The British are generally known for looking down on their fellow Europeans, dismissively referring to Europe as 'the Continent', Europeans as 'Continentals' and considering pretty much everyone south of The Channel to be a lazy, shiftless bastard. Or, if they're German, potentially a Nazi. The rest of Europe is generally irritated by the UK's constant efforts to remain somewhat independent from the European Union, and have the impression this is more because they want to be the ones to dictate the European political agenda. This impression became even more outspoken when a narrow majority voted to leave the E.U. in 2016. On the other hand, it also threw the Europhiles into sharper relief, in both their love of Europe and their deep, ''deep'' resentment of being dragged out of it by - in their view - ill-educated, inbred xenophobic bigots (who in turn resent the smug, stuck-up and usually urban cosmopolitan bastards), and it has comprehensively redrawn the political map of Britain.

* BritishStuffiness: A common stereotype about the British is that they are so stuffy, prissy, uptight and prudish that they are easily embarrassed by foul language, nudity or sexual innuendo. It has gotten to the point that foreigners assume Englishmen would rather [[NoSexAllowed avoid these topics]] and English women will just LieBackAndThinkOfEngland during sex to get it over with. This image goes back to the days of UsefulNotes/VictorianBritain, when many upper and middle class people expressed prudish behaviour. Since the British Empire was so huge many locals across the world witnessed this British prudishness and the stereotype stuck. Even as far back in the 1960s the Music/TheBeatles' song "I Am The Walrus" (1967) didn't receive airplay on the Creator/{{BBC}} merely because the word "knickers" was mentioned. Censor crazy activists like Mary Whitehouse have also fed this stereotype. Compared to some other countries some Britons today can still come across as being uncomfortable regarding nudity or sex, but a lot has changed since the 1960s. It must also be pointed out that many British comedians have poked fun at this stereotype too, with ''Film/CarryOn'', ''Series/TheBennyHillShow'', Captain Peacock in ''Series/AreYouBeingServed'', the saucy greeting cards of Donald [=McGill=], and the AwfulBritishSexComedy craze of the 1970s as prime examples. Alistair Foot and Anthony Marriott's farce play "No Sex Please, We're British" sums it up best. Many British sitcoms also have the StockCharacter of TheVicar, who always enters someone's home whenever people are nude or involved in NotWhatItLooksLike situations. While this is not quite a DeadHorseTrope, British comedy is much more gleefully rude and loose than it used to be, striking a contrast with the US - Americans, who laugh at this stereotype a lot, are often regarded as panicky about sex and nudity themselves by foreigners, especially Brits.
** Oddly enough, Europeans also have the impression that the English often are far more lewd in their private life. The French idiom "to spank", for instance, is literally called "Le Vice Anglais" (translation: "The English Vice"). Many Britons with a dignified, stuffy, chaste, conservative public image are often caught in surprisingly saucy sex scandals. Historical examples are John Profumo [[note]] a British Minister of Defence who was caught commiting adultery in 1963 with call girl Christine Keeler. If that weren't bad enough Keeler also had contacts with a well known London gangster and a member of the Soviet embassy. As a result Profumo had to resign. [[/note]], Stephen Milligan [[note]] a Conservative politician found dead in 1994, from having auto-erotic asphyxiation sex with his secretary [[/note]] and UsefulNotes/JohnMajor [[note]] A former British Prime Minister who, in 2002, turned out to have had an extramarital affair with politician Edwina Currie, though this happened way before he even became PM. The amusing thing about this was that ''Series/SpittingImage'' had spoofed the ludicrous idea that someone as stuffy as Major would have an extramarital affair in the past - much of the reaction from the press was sheer fascination that the man claimed to be "the only boy who ran away from the circus to become an accountant" could ever do something so interesting. [[/note]] Then along came the famously libidinous UsefulNotes/BorisJohnson, known for multiple marriages and a certain vagueness on exactly how many children he had. While British tabloids exploit these stories to death the foreign press is especially interested in them. Not because they are above this sort of thing, but "because it's those "stuffy Britons" we're talking about."

** It's VERY much TruthInTelevision that Brits are obsessed with [[TalkAboutTheWeather talking about the weather]], probably stemming from -- a) Having a [[UsefulNotes/BritishWeather highly erratic climate]] that goes from blazing sunshine to ''torrential'' downpours in the space of an afternoon, and b) a cultural need to fill in conversational silences and awkwardness with universally acceptable chit-chat - as anthropologists have observed, the English are socially very shy (when sober), and the weather is not only a universally acceptable but (thanks to the ever changing nature of the weather) uncontroversial icebreaker.
* If an animal is depicted as being British, it will be an English bulldog.

** They haven't forgotten that they used to rule pretty much all Britain south of the Scottish Highlands, either - something reflected by the fact that the Welsh name for England translates roughly as 'Lost Lands'. Wales, meanwhile, translates from Old Saxon as 'foreigners'. Make of this what you will.

* Icelanders all like fishing, eat shark routinely, and like to visit hot springs and volcanoes. They are friendly and all know each other because the island has such a small population - and famously, supposedly has an app to double-check you're not actually dating a cousin. They may actually still be Vikings, although the Viking age ended at least eight centuries ago.

** The dub wars on the comment section of any audiovisual content in general, and ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' of all things in particular, might appear as if Spaniards are all [[{{jerkass}} virulent immature racists]] who [[UsefulNotes/MisplacedNationalism can't get over losing their empire more than two hundred years ago]] and [[UpperClassTwit deeply resent their freedom faraway]] to the point of [[{{Troll}} doing nothing more during their day than hating on those innocent folks]], who just want to be left alone (from a Latin American POV) or innocent users who just want to enjoy their dubs, culture and sense of humour without [[{{Troll}} an illiterate dumb edgy poser of a teenager]] [[WackyAmericansHaveWackyNames who has a ridiculous (North) American sounding name]] and is still resenting and hateful towards Spain, a not-great-nor-horrible-but-rather-cozy' country, for all the (real or fictitious) [[UsefulNotes/MisplacedNationalism grievance commited against the natives and their lands]] despite probably not even having reached majority of age yet and being of [[BoomerangBigot mixed race]], [[{{Irony}} which would mean that ''their'' ancestors would have had way more to do with any misbehavior than those of anybody born in the peninsula]] (from a Spanish POV), the truth is relations between Spaniards and Latin Americans have sweetened a lot since the early waves of Latin American immigration, due to assimilation and, to a lesser degree, [[WeAreStrugglingTogether agreement about]] certain common enemies, depending on the sensibility. [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgement And this shouldn't really be expanded upon here]].

* A common Portuguese stereotype in Spain is that Portuguese women are ugly, unattractive and never shave, and often even sport ManlyFacialHair.

*** France has a particularly strong association with painters. This started as early as the Stone Age with the cave paintings in Lascaux. During the Middle Ages Roman architecture blossomed in France, with the Cathedral of Reims and the Notre Dame of Paris as two iconic highlights. The Baroque brought painters like Antoine Watteau, François Boucher and Jean-Honoré Fragonard. Romanticism produced Creator/JacquesLouisDavid, Creator/GustaveDore, Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres and Eugène Delacroix, while Realism gave us Théodore Géricault, Jean-François Millet, Edgar Degas, Camille Corot and Gustave Courbet. But it's the Impressionists who made the most lasting impact in popular culture. If French art is referenced it will always be the works of Pierre-August Renoir, Claude Monet, Edouard Manet, Paul Cézanne, Creator/HenriDeToulouseLautrec, Georges Seurat, Paul Signac, Camille Pissarro and Paul Gauguin. 20th century French artists like Georges Braque, Marcel Duchamp, Erté, Theodore Rousseau and Henri Matisse kept France's reputation for high art in check. So it comes to no surprise that whenever a French city is shown there is always an artist with a baret making a painting on an easle.

* A general stereotype associated with Norwegians is that they are very moody, inward-looking, and quiet. This may have something to do with the weather. It may come as no surprise that painter Creator/EdvardMunch, famous for ''"Art/{{The Scream|Munch}}"'', was born there.

* Early 20th century Austrian painters like Egon Schiele and Creator/GustavKlimt are also world renowned.

* Internationally, the Vatican is known for only two things: UsefulNotes/ThePope and the Sistine Chapel, where the ceiling was painted by Creator/MichelangeloBuonarroti.

* Spanish painting has also produced some iconic artists, like Diego Velazquez, Creator/FranciscoDeGoya, Creator/PabloPicasso, Joan Miró and Creator/SalvadorDali. Spanish architecture is well represented by Antonio Gaudí.

** Belgium has produced many internationally famous painters, most notably in Flanders, like the Flemish Primitives (Jan Van Eyck, Hans Memling, Rogier Van Der Weyden...), Creator/PieterBruegelTheElder, Creator/PeterPaulRubens and James Ensor to name the most iconic. The most famous Walloon painter is Creator/ReneMagritte.

* As a warm, sunny tax haven, it's frequently home to the CorruptCorporateExecutive, UpperClassTwit, and plenty of {{Rich Bitch}}es.]]

* As a warm, sunny tax haven, it's frequently home to the CorruptCorporateExecutive, RichIdiotWithNoDayJob, and plenty of [[RichBitch Rich Bitches.]]

* There are generally a few [[GoodShepherd truly noble priests]] who take their spiritual responsibilities seriously and work to fight the overall atmosphere of corruption. They can be lowly functionaries, or they can be as high up as the pope, but they are always in the minority. In the end they will usually be persecuted or poisoned. A hundred years after their death, they are named saints.

* Spain is also often stereotyped as being a Catholic nation, even although for most of the Middle Ages the Iberian Peninsula was mostly Muslim (See UsefulNotes/MoorishSpain) and currently most of its population has various levels of [[ReligionIsBad anti-religion sentiment]], going from mild in general to downright savage by American standards (Spaniards do love religious tradition, though, with Creator/AntonioBanderas being far from the only non-believer who still performs at Holy Week).

* Another negative stereotype are the terrorist attacks by the Basque separatist movement E.T.A.