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The story of Africa in the modern age is one of war, disease, corruption, repression and poverty. On the upside, there are tons of monkeys and you never need a jacket.
— America: The Book
A great favorite of stories involving the Colonial period of the 19th and early 20th centuries, Africa has lent itself well to many stories. Its breadth of landscape includes the immense sandy wasteland, the grassy veldts and savannahs, and thick, treacherous jungle. The history includes the ancient sophistication of the Egyptians, rich ancient kingdoms like Kush and Mali, and mysterious tribal groups — not to mention the more recent European colonies and military juntas. And always, there is the wildlife, some of which may be misplaced.
When Africa is not being used as a Lost World, it's the next best thing: mysterious and dangerous, but populated with outcroppings and ties to the modern world. This balance of civilization just within reach and terra incognita a mere wrong turn away gives the "Dark Continent" a unique position. "Adventure in your own back yard" takes on a new meaning if one's back yard hosts the occasional elephant stampede.
It may be noted that in many modern stories, quite a bit of finagling or handwaving is required to get the "traditional" level of isolation, bringing it into Discredited Trope territory. On the other hand, the old stories resonate strongly, and traditional ways of life still hold sway, enough that subversions are frequently effective; the hero can still be surprised when the chief of the village lets him use the (generator-powered) satellite phone.
In older stories, the Mighty Whitey abounds, along with Misplaced Wildlife.
See also Ancient Africa and Useful Notes: Africa.
Examples:
Anime and Manga
- 008's home country looks like this the first time we see it in Cyborg 009, but in subsequent stories, Shotaro Ishimori tried to portray a slightly more realistic version of modern Africa, with cities & cars & things like that. Actually lampshades this trope, with 009 saying that Africa's nothing like what he read about in books when he visits.
Comic Books
- Marvel Universe: Wakanda, the kingdom ruled by T'Challa ("Black Panther") has laws that maintain "tribal customs" despite being extraordinarily wealthy - a convienent way to maintain its LostWorld flavor.
- The home and main headquarters of The Phantom is in the fictional country of Bangalla.
- Bangalla has been represented as a slightly more realistic African nation though, and the President is a good friend of the Phantom.
- Well, Lamanda Luaga, the first president, was a member of the Llongo tribe and a friend of the Phantom. The second president, Kigali Lubanga, not so much...
- The early Tintin adventure Tintin in the Congo, infamous for its condescending depiction of African natives and senseless slaughter of wildlife. It's never been available in English.
- Well, the latter is a blatant lie. Current print runs are aimed largely at older fans and put out in an almost embarrassed fashion, but English versions of both the black & white and redrawn colour versions have been published frequently.
Film
- The Gods Must Be Crazy has been criticized for its portrayal of the Bushmen as entirely ignorant Noble Savages.
- George Of The Jungle, as a parody of Tarzan, by necessity is set here. In the movie it actually shows he is in walking distance of a developing village where he even bought a pair of running shoes.
- I think he brought the shoes with him from the States, the village is just where he sent himself.
- Jumanji, in which the board game draws out dangerous elements of a distilled "Darkest Africa"-type jungle located within itself. The jungle is not seen in the film, or even seen by any of its characters save for the main protagonist who is trapped there for years.
Literature
- Tarzan, in most incarnations, relies on the African dichotomy for its stories.
- H. Rider Haggard's She and King Solomon's Mines, both with English explorers.
- The book and movie Congo has the (fictional) ruined city of Zinj populated by evil gorillas.
- Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness. The protagonist, Marlow, subverts the trope by telling his audience that "this also...has been one of the dark places of the earth" - the ancient Romans, he says, regarded Britain as a "savage" land where colonists had to be "men enough to face the darkness".
- Subversion: pretty much everything Chinua Achebe has ever written. He is very keen on dispelling this particular trope.
Live Action TV
- Spoofed in episode 29 of Monty Pythons Flying Circus.
- The Magical Bushman arc from Season 3 of Heroes provides a slight example of this trope. The character himself is something of an aversion: despite making his home in the brush, he has a Walkman and keeps abreast of current events. However, places in the series are usually addressed as "Odessa, Texas," or "Tokyo, Japan." Whenever the action cuts to that plot? "Somewhere In Africa." Yeah...
Multi-media
- Many an adventure or treasure hunt involves a search for something "lost in the African jungle".
Poetry
- As Vachel Lindsay so well put it,
''Then I saw the Congo, creeping through the black,
Cutting through the jungle with a golden track''
Then along that riverbank, a thousand miles
Tatooed cannibals danced in files...
Radio
- Many episodes of The Goon Show took place here to spoof the old stories, and there's no such thing as Mighty Whitey, just "noble" British fighters and explorers who are complete, often greedy idiots (i.e., Major Bloodnok).
Tabletop Games
- The Vampire: The Masquerade sourcebook Kindred of the Ebony Kingdom deals with African vampires. Sadly, the clans of the Laibon, as they're collectively known, aren't nearly as original as the Kuei Jin. Whereas the Kindred of the East are something completely unique and different (even a little alien) from the western Kindred, the Laibon are just the regular clans with a darker epidermis.
- The pulp themed Spirit Of The Century, set in the 1920s, actually refers to Africa as Darkest Africa, and talks about Gorilla Khan's exploits in the unexplored wilderness there.
- The new Empire of the Apes faction in Monsterpocalypse called this home. No doubt the elders are wishing Kondo had kept to their advice and not decided to take a peek outside into the humans' proper dominion.
Theater
- Eugene O'Neill's play The Emperor Jones actually takes place on an island in the West Indies, but it might as well be a transplanted piece of Africa.
Video Games
- Resident Evil 5 wanders over here for two chapters, but spends the rest in more developed areas.
- Far Cry 2 takes place in a fictional African country called Leboa-Seko, which is populated almost exclusively by people who want you dead.
Web Animation
- Parodied in The Cheese Family, where at the zoo the cheese family see "...the funny grapes from Darkest France".
Western Animation
- Wackyland, from the Looney Tunes short Porky In Wackyland, is located here. Porky Pig has to fly over Dark and Darker Africa to get there.
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