Line #56 Main/NationsAsPeople


1	[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/ScandinaviaAndTheWorld https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/here-we-stand_4873.jpg]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Clockwise from top left: [[FriendtoAllLivingThings Norway,]] [[WalkingTechfix Sweden]] and [[TheHedonist Denmark]]]]
3
4	->''"Occasionally I idle time away by wondering what cities would be like, were they people. [[UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity Manhattan]] is, in my head, fast-talking, untrusting, well-dressed but unshaven. UsefulNotes/{{London}} is huge and confused. UsefulNotes/{{Paris}} is elegant and attractive, older than she looks. UsefulNotes/SanFrancisco is crazy, but harmless, and very friendly. It's a foolish game: cities aren't people."''
5	-->-- '''Creator/NeilGaiman''', [[https://www.neilgaiman.com/Cool_Stuff/Essays/Essays_By_Neil/SIMCITY?key=Cool_Stuff/Essays/Essays_By_Neil/SIMCITY "SIMCITY"]]
6
7	This is a [[SubTrope particular type]] of AnthropomorphicPersonification that depicts a country (or some other sociopolitical or geographical unit) as one person, using that person's actions and foibles to make a comment on the country's politics and history. Sometimes this "person" is an [[NationalAnimalStereotypes animal]] or landmark (like the Art/StatueOfLiberty). This sort of metaphor can be very descriptive of the feelings a writer has about a place, be they great affection or sentimentality, or something else.
8
9	While it is OlderThanDirt with precedents going as far back as TheMiddleAges if not UsefulNotes/AncientGreece (the myth of Europa and Asia), this technique has been closely associated with newspaper political cartoons for the past few hundred years, and nowadays can be found in webcomics as well. As such, it may be considered a genre of comic, though it's been known to appear in other media (such as the anime of ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'') once in a blue moon.
10	-----
11
12	[[folder:Classic Characters of this Type]]
13	* Adelita - Mexico
14	* Britannia - Britain
15	* John Bull - Britain (or occasionally [[UsefulNotes/BritainVersusTheUK England]], with his sister Lil or Peg representing Scotland and his brother or cousin Jonathan representing the USA)
16	* Johnny Canuck - Canada
17	* Rodina or Rodina Mat' or Mother Russia - Russia
18	* {{Uncle Sam\|Wants You}} - USA (representing the American ''government''), Columbia used to be one, but [[Art/StatueOfLiberty Lady Liberty]] seems to have overtaken her in popular consciousness.
19	* Brother Jonathan, the earlier representation of the USA, until Uncle Sam replaced him. Sometimes considered to be an earlier version of Uncle Sam.
20	* [[https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Columbia_%28name%29 Columbia]]- USA (representing the American ''state and nation'')
21	* Marianne - France (Which eventually replaced the Gallic rooster as the symbolic embodiment of the country)
22	* Michel - Germany (see UsefulNotes/GermanPeculiarities)
23	* Germania - Germany (counterpart to Britannia, not seen a lot nowadays due to the taboo on nationalism since UsefulNotes/WorldWarII)
24	** There are also many female personifications of German states and cities, e. g. Bavaria, Berolina (UsefulNotes/{{Berlin}}), Borussia (Prussia), Hammonia (UsefulNotes/{{Hamburg}}), and Saxonia. The city-state of Bremen is traditionally represented by the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bremen_Roland Bremer Roland,]]'' a 15th century statue of one of Charlemagne's paladins.
25	* Bharat Mata ("Mother India") - India (this one's politicized even within India, so handle with care)
26	* Helvetia - Switzerland
27	* Hunnia - Hungary
28	* [[UsefulNotes/{{Cossacks}} Cossack Mamay]] - UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}}
29	* Srulik - State of Israel
30	* Mother Svea - Sweden
31	* Holger Danske - Denmark (another paladin of Charlemagne)
32	* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mermaid_of_Warsaw Mermaid of Warsaw]] - Warsaw
33	* Fjallkonan - Iceland
34	[[/folder]]
35
36	!!Works That Use This Trope:
37
38	[[foldercontrol]]
39
40	[[folder:Advertising]]
41	* In order to advertise the 2020 UsefulNotes/{{Olympic Games}} in Tokyo, UsefulNotes/{{Japan}}'s Olympic committee launched [[https://world-flags.org/ world-flags.org]], which personified the participating nations as handsome young men with ornate, culture-inspired accessories, armor and weapons.
42
43	[[/folder]]
44
45	[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
46	* ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'', as stated above, uses anthropomorphic personifications of various nations across the world as the main characters, using typical stereotypes to create the exaggerated personalities. It's considered by many to be the TropeCodifier.
47	** And by extension, the fanworks the Webcomic/StateTanProject and WebVideo/IAmMatthewian, which expand on APH with personifications for the US states and Canadian provices, respectively.
48	** The cat personifications of the countries in ''Hetalia Axis Powers'' are called Nekotalia.
49	* ''Webcomic/AfganisuTan'' tells the history of Afghanistan through [[MoeAnthropomorphism moe]] personifications. Reversed in the case of Al-Qaeda, as the group is now a gang of violent street cats.
50	[[/folder]]
51
52	[[folder:Art]]
53	* The Art/StatueOfLiberty represents the democracy of America, which offers the torch of enlightenment to all the "poor and huddled masses" of the world. Meanwhile, Uncle Sam represents the [[SignificantMonogram US]] government (hence the trope of him [[UncleSamWantsYou wanting you to do something for him]]), and it used to be customary for the United State as a whole to be depicted as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Columbia_(name) Columbia.]]
54	* Marianne leads the French people on Eugène Delacroix' painting "Art/LibertyLeadingThePeople".
55	* Germany and Italy nuzzle together in Friedrich Overbeck's "Italia and Germania".
56	* An 18.5 metres tall [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bavaria_statue bronze statue of Bavaria]] overlooks the ''Theresienwiese'' in Munich, where the {{Oktoberfest}} is held.
57	* The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niederwalddenkmal Niederwalddenkmal]] near Rüdesheim was erected to commemorate the German unification of 1871. It is topped by a 10.5 metres tall bronze Germania.
58	* Volgograd has ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Motherland_Calls The Motherland Calls]]'' atop Mamayev Kurgan. This personification of the nation is the world's tallest statue of a woman (91 metres without the pedestal).
59	* Art/MarieDeMediciCycle: The womanly personification of France is more or less a supporting character; she approves of Henry's marriage to Marie and gives Marie the tools of government after Henry dies. A personification of Spain joins in in ''The Exchange of the Princesses at the Spanish Border'', approving of the marriage of the French princess to the Spanish king.
60	[[/folder]]
61
62	[[folder:Comic Books]]
63	* Uncle Sam is an actual comic book superhero from the 40's (currently owned by Creator/DCComics, and best known for being the leader of the ComicBook/{{Freedom Fighters\|DCComics}} superteam.) He is the [[AnthropomorphicPersonification literal embodiment]] of the Spirit of America, created by the Founding Fathers using a magical talisman. He originally took the form of a Minuteman, before becoming Brother Jonathan, then split into Billy Yank and Johnny Reb, before finally taking his current form (apart from a very brief AudienceAlienatingEra where he became some kind of star-spangled spaceman called the Patriot).
64	[[/folder]]
65
66	[[folder:Fanfic]]
67	* ''Fanfic/ParisBurning'' is set in a world where cities have anthropomorphic personifications.
68	* "[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/585743 The World is Flat]]" is set in an ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' version of the Literature/{{Discworld}}, and features the personifications of Ankh-Morpork, Lancre, the Agatean Empire and Uberwald.
69	[[/folder]]
70
71	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
72	* One of the scariest and most disturbing uses of this trope can be found in the 1991 SovietRussian film ''Film/HouseUnderTheStarrySkies''. Valentin Komposterov, the antagonist, is heavily implied to be the anthropomorphic representation of the accumulated 70 years of Soviet history and ideology. Unsurprisingly, he shrugs off rifle rounds and procures fantastic weaponry out of HammerSpace, all while alternating between gloating in front of his victims and spewing communist ideology.
73	* The Film/JamesBond films have featured Britannia at least twice in {{Title Sequence}}s -- in ''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService'' (one of the {{Sexy Silhouette}}s wears a helmet and wields a trident) and in ''Film/NoTimeToDie'' (a statue, which then gets frozen and crumbles into the sand, accompanied by a shield with the Union Jack).
74	[[/folder]]
75
76	[[folder:Literature]]
77	* A few of these round out the cast of [[AnthropomorphicPersonification personified geographical elements]] in ''Literature/TheMagicMap'', and [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2023_07_19.png quite]] [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2023_07_19_1.png a]] [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2023_07_19_2.png few]] [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2023_07_19_3.png more]] [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2023_07_19_4.png show up]] in ''Magic Journeys''.
78	* ''Literature/MonstrousRegiment'' has an in-universe political cartoon of Borogravia kicking Zlobenia [[GroinAttack in the crotch]], while Morporkia (the personification of the city state [[WretchedHive Ankh-Morpork]], who resembles Britannia) sarcastically looks on. This a nod to the ''Magazine/{{Punch}}''.
79	* Creator/CarlSandburg's poem "Chicago" describes the city as a brawny workingman taking care of business for the nation:
80	-->Hog Butcher for the World,\
81	Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat,\
82	Player with Railroads and the Nation’s Freight Handler;\
83	Stormy, husky, brawling,\
84	City of the Big Shoulders
85	* Creator/RudyardKipling's "Song of the Cities" personifies a variety of cities around the old British Empire, giving each a verse where they "speak" in the first person. Such as the verse for Bombay:
86	-->Royal and Dower-royal, I the Queen\
87	Fronting thy richest sea with richer hands --\
88	A thousand mills roar through me where I glean\
89	All races from all lands.
90	* Irish poetry has a genre known as [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aisling aisling]] (Irish for "dream" or "vision") poetry, which features Ireland appearing before the poet in the form of a woman. She often laments the current state of the Irish people, but predicts that soon things will improve for them.
91	* The album [[https://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51ZND6FTMHL._SX195_.jpg "C'était la guerre mondiale]] ("It was world war") by Emile Bravo. It metaphorically transpose UsefulNotes/WorldWarII in the context of a school brawl. Local [[TheBully bully]] and BookDumb [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany Germain]] decides to take over adults, while his schoolmates take the decision to either [[https://www.canalbd.net/img/couvpage/55/9782749502557_pg.jpg support, or rebel against him]]. The kids wear clothes [[ColourCodedForYourConvenience of colors reminding of the national flags.]] They also have [[MeaningfulName meaningful names]]: François (France), Bertrand (Britain), Aymeric (America), Jason (Japan), Ursule (USSR), and so on.
92	[[/folder]]
93
94	[[folder:Live Action TV ]]
95
96	* Spoofed in ''Series/ElChapulinColorado'', whilst Chapulin seems to be the personification of Mexico (or sometimes Latin America as he's called the "hero of Latin America"), his bitter rival is Super Sam (mix of Uncle Sam and Franchise/{{Superman}}) whose main weapon is a bag of money.
97
98	[[/folder]]
99
100	[[folder:Magazines ]]
101
102	* ''Magazine/{{Punch}}'''s political cartoons helped popularise some of the classic personifications.
103	%% * ''Magazine/PrivateEye'' sometimes uses them.
104
105	[[/folder]]
106
107	[[folder:Music]]
108	* In Music/{{Rammstein}}'s music video for "Deutschland", Germania is presented as a black woman, played by German actress Ruby Commey.
109	* Music/TheDoors' "L.A. Woman" actually describes Los Angeles as a woman:
110	-->I see your hair is burning\
111	Hills are filled with fire\
112	If they say I never loved you\
113	You know they are a liar\
114	Driving down your freeway\
115	Midnight alleys roam\
116	Cops in cars, and topless bars\
117	Never saw a woman so alone
118	* The Music/RedHotChiliPeppers' "Under the Bridge" also personifies Los Angeles, this time as a comforting friend in loneliness:
119	-->Sometimes I feel that my only friend\
120	Is the city I live in, the City of Angels\
121	Lonely as I am, together we cry
122	* “Homecoming” by Music/KanyeWest represents Chicago as a woman named Windy.
123	-->And when I grew up she showed me how to go downtown\
124	In the nighttime her face lit up, so astounding\
125	I told her in my heart is where she'll always be\
126	She never messed with entertainers 'cause they always leave
127	[[/folder]]
128
129	[[folder:Mythology, National Legend]]
130	* The personification of [[UsefulNotes/UnitedKingdom Great Britain]] as Britannia, a stately robed woman in Greek helmet and carrying a trident, symbolic of Britain's association with the sea. She only recently ceased to appear on the currency, something that caused angst to nationalists. Britannia goes back over two thousand years; a kingdom of northern England was called ''Brigantia'', and was corrupted to "Britannia" by the Romans. Its patron Goddess was conflated with Juna, in the way of Roman religion. And persisted.
131	* Marianne, the national symbol of UsefulNotes/{{France}}, often depicted as a woman with [[MsFanService disarrayed robes]] and Phrygian cap, storming the Bastille during the revolution. She used to appear on French currency in pre-Euro days but is still on the stamps. Every town hall has a bust of her, and periodically the image is refreshed by selecting an actress who is held to embody French beauty. Post-holders have included Creator/BrigitteBardot and Creator/CatherineDeneuve.
132	* UsefulNotes/{{Germany}}, especially in the UsefulNotes/{{Imperial German\|y}} era, is often depicted as Germania, a young, winged angelic maiden holding a pike with an iron cross on it, and a winged helmet. Notable depictions include the Brandenburg Gate and the Victory Pillar in UsefulNotes/{{Berlin}}. Prior to the fall of Imperial Germany in [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarI 1918]], she was also often depicted as a LadyOfWar carrying a shield and a sword with a [[DeathGlare defiant stare]] (aimed at France).
133	* {{Mother Russia\|Makes You Strong}}. Exemplified at Volgograd (formerly Stalingrad) with a huge statue of her raising her sword to lead her children to war. A few other cities of the [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn Soviet Union]] / former Soviet Union have similar giant statues in various poses, such as Kyiv.
134	* UsefulNotes/{{Scot\|land}}ia: wears green tartan, likes mountains and rain and horses and singing.
135	* UsefulNotes/{{Bulgaria}} in its modern history is referred to as "Mother" or depicted as a young woman in a dress holding a sword in one hand and a banner in the other. After the initial project for its restoration was scrapped in 1878''[[labelnote:*]]with the ensuing Treaty of Berlin leaving the Bulgarian-populated sections of Thrace and Macedonia as an autonomous region within the Ottoman Empire ("Eastern Rumelia") and fully under the Empire's control, respectively[[/labelnote]]'', Thrace and Macedonia, left out of its borders, were typically depicted as "sisters" of Bulgaria proper, weaponless and dejected. Notably, a painting commemorating the 1885 union of Bulgaria with Thrace as the two sisters standing side by side, with Bulgaria wrapping her cloak around Thrace's shoulders.
136	[[/folder]]
137
138	[[folder:Sketch Comedy]]
139	* Not quite nations, but in the Australian sketch comedy show ''NewsFreeZone'', the "88 Australia Street" segment was about a share house occupied by anthropomorphic embodiments of the Australian states.
140	* ''Series/StudioC'' has two sketches featuring this, "International Relations" and "National Relations: Republicans vs. Democrats".
141	[[/folder]]
142
143	[[folder:Web Comics]]
144	* ''Webcomic/AfganisuTan'' personifies nations as well, though more in a ''Moe'' style with a focus on Central-Asia.
145	* ''Webcomic/ScandinaviaAndTheWorld'', which was created by a Danish artist who felt that some of the stereotypes of the Nordic countries in ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' didn't match the ones that she was familiar with. Also provides the page image.
146	* They aren't really that anthropomorphized, but the living countries from angusmcleod's [[http://angusmcleod.deviantart.com/art/World-War-One-Simple-Version-128505446 "World War One: Simple Version"]], [[http://angusmcleod.deviantart.com/art/World-War-Two-Simple-Version-73625561 "World War Two: Simple Version"]] and [[http://angusmcleod.deviantart.com/art/Cold-War-Simple-Version-189698383 "Cold War: Simple Version"]] probably count too.
147	* ''Nation Being Thing'' is a webcomic series focusing on personified countries interacting with each other and jokes revolving around stereotypes and real-life events.
148	* Not as people but, the ''Webcomic/{{Polandball}}'' comics follow this trope to a T with the countries being, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin balls]].
149	** Except for German Empire, which is a rectangle [[labelnote:note]] The German Empire is called the Reichtangle, which is a {{Portmanteau}} of [[TheEmpire "Reich"]] and Rectangle[[/labelnote]]. Also Israel is a hypercube because of [[GeniusBonus Jewish Physics]]. And Nepal is a monster, due to its non-standard flag design.[[labelnote:*]] And there are even more nations that aren't balls due to various reasons, such as Kazakhstan, Singapore, Bermuda, the Maratha Confederacy and Omsk.[[/labelnote]]
150	** Also has a U.S. centric spinoff in ''Webcomic/{{Stateball}}''.
151	* [[http://andreshanti.deviantart.com/gallery/25342202 The South American Way]], which mainly follows the 2010 World Cup, although strips focusing on other topics like American colonization exist. Notable for its crossovers with ''Webcomic/ScandinaviaAndTheWorld'', which the author cites as the strip's inspiration.
152	* ''Webcomic/{{Flagland}}'', as you'd expect from the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin title]]. Inspired by ''Webcomic/ScandinaviaAndTheWorld'' and ''Webcomic/{{Polandball}}'' and drawn with a combination of their styles.
153	* [[https://www.doodledan.squarespace.com/overview Doodle Dan]]'s States as People, wherein Dan [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin draws personifications of all]] UsefulNotes/TheSeveralStates. Mini-comics and a HighSchoolAU come with the package.
154	[[/folder]]
155
156	[[folder:Web Original]]
157	* ''Website/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-1761 SCP-1761]] seems to be the personification of a country that doesn't exist. Or he may be a former human who somehow became a country. Or perhaps he is just a delusional RealityWarper who thinks he is a country.
158	[[/folder]]
159
160	[[folder:Web Video]]
161	* ''WebVideo/UnitedQueendom'' represents the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum using the gay couple Scott (Scotland) and Adrian (England), and, in one episode, '[[OnlyKnownByTheirNickname the Scandinavian Model]]' (Scandinavia).
162	* WebVideo/CGPGrey videos depict countries (as well as other political entities like states or territories and [=NGOs=] like the International Olympic Committee) as female stick figures starting from "How Many Countries Are There?" -- the main exception is the Vatican, as their citizens are overwhelmingly male. Their skirts contain the patterns of their country's flags to identify them, and some countries get other features drawn on as well: the US [[AmericansAreCowboys carries a gun holster]], monarchies like the UK wear crowns, Russia or the Soviet Union sometimes wears an ushanka, etc.
163	* WebAnimation/AlternateHistoryHub uses colored human figures with their flags on their stomach, with some other differences (USA is blue, has Sunglasses and the flag is in the shape of a star, the Soviet Union is red and wears a ushanka, etc.)
164	* In [[https://youtu.be/tXI_VI_KD_k this]] episode of ''Drawfee'', the hosts personify their home states.
165	* ''WebVideo/WelcomeToTheTable'' by comedian Ben Brainard depicts each [[UsefulNotes/TheSeveralStates US state]] as a personification based on its biggest stereotypes, particularly their response to the UsefulNotes/CoronavirusPandemic. The bulk of the videos consist of arguments between the federal government as TheStraightMan and Florida as, well, [[OnlyInFlorida Florida]]. Among other shorts, California is a BourgeoisBohemian who hates everyone else, Texas is a GoodOldBoy who enjoys teasing Cali, and New York is an [[BrooklynRage irasciable jerk.]]
166	[[/folder]]
167
168	[[folder:Other]]
169	* This [[http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2009/11/27/national-moe/ art book]] (link is NSFW due to advertisements and thumbnails in the sidebar) depicts 74 countries as teenage girls, including UsefulNotes/NorthKorea.
170	[[/folder]]

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