No, this isn't when Yakko Warner performs a musical number.
A form of montage that uses shots of various cultures from all around the planet, doing the same thing.
It's frequently used to show a global unity, that in the times of the greatest fight, the direst crisis, or the merriest celebration, we, humans, are not so different after all. Despite that, it might still mildly poke fun at National Stereotypes. Due to the Lowest Common Denominator, if a culture is meant to be recognized from a single shot, this picture will probably contain the single most famous landmark of that culture as well. Not to mention it might be the same time of day in all countries.
Distantly related to Travel Montage, which might use similar imagery. Often used with Gondor Calls for Aid when the called groups are also different cultures, and they are all shown answering the call. May be used to indicate The Whole World Is Watching. Sometimes combined with Do Not Adjust Your Set to confirm that the broadcaster has indeed taken over all screens in the world.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- This happens several times in the endings of Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02, showing massive crowds in the countries shown gathering to observe the Digital World shenanigans in the sky.
- Transformers: Cybertron had a montage of various major world cities being menaced by Starscream's ancient Decepticons.
Comic Books
- In The Death of Superman, nations all over the world are shown reacting to Superman's death. A Frenchman pulls the same expression as a famous photo of a Frenchman watching helplessly as Paris fell to the Nazis. In a Middle Eastern country, Supergirl is criticized for not wearing a veil.
- Most major comics sagas have it. An example is Marvel's Fear Itself, where the actions of the Worthy are shown all over the world: Giant-Man fighting Skirn (Titania) and Greithoth (Absorbing Man) in Dubai, Nul (Hulk) ravaging Brazil and then getting launched all the way to Dracula's doorstep in Romania, Mokk (Grey Gargoyle) turning almost all of the Parisian populace into stone, Nerkkod (Attuma) attacking the coast of Canada and so on and on.
Comic Strips
- The very first installment of Flash Gordon kicks off with shots of people all over the world panicking because of the impending collision with planet Mongo.
Films — Animation
- In Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, first we see various nations watching Sam's weather report about the warning of the coming food storm, and toward the end there's a montage of the mayhem it caused.
- Monsters vs. Aliens does it when Gallaxhar transmits his "I Come in Peace/All of you will die" message via Huge Holographic Head.
- South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut has a version of "Kyle's Mom's a Big Fat Bitch" which goes into this.
- Storks has a version near the end where babies are delivered to families of many different ethnicities, as well as a gay couple, a lesbian couple, and a single mom.
Films — Live-Action
- Airplane! has a scene showing newscasters around the world giving the latest news on the crisis aboard the title plane.
- Armageddon (1998) had everyone listening to the president's Rousing Speech. Apparently it was the same time of day all over the world, too.
- BASEketball features a montage with countries all over the world tuning in to the sport as it becomes more popular.
- In the 1966 Batman movie, the entire world waits to see whether Batman and Robin can rehydrate the members of the stand in for the United Nations Security Council, after their dehydrated piles of powder got mixed together. "Success, success! They've done it! They've done it!"
- Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey has people around the world watching the Battle of the Bands on TV.
- In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, after a young Willy Wonka runs away from home, he walks past the flags of several different countries... only for it to be revealed that he's walking through a museum exhibit of the world's flags.
- The Day of the Triffids has a scene showing the effects of everybody going blind around the world.
- At the beginning of The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) as the spaceship enters the earth's atmosphere, we see news reports from all over the world reporting on it. Later in the film when Klaatu causes the various machines of earth to shut down, we see it happening all over the earth as well.
- In the 1964 adaptation of The First Men in the Moon, a multinational crew lands on the Moon, followed by a montage of the worldwide reaction. As the celebrations include artillery being fired off, audiences might mistakenly assume that World War III has broken out over the issue.
- Godzilla: Final Wars have this montage when depicting various nations in the world being attacked by various brainwashed kaiju - Rodan in New York, Zilla in Sydney, Anguirus in Shanghai, King Caesar in Okinawa, Kamacuras in Paris, and Ebirah in Tokai, and the United Nations' subsequent efforts to contain the destruction.
- Hackers shows a worldwide hacker army working on their computers to hack the Gibson.
- The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005), there is a montage of the citizens in Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro, Hong Kong, and a herd of sheep in New Zealand reacting to the Vogon's announcements of destroying the Earth in order to clear space for their hyperspace runway.
- Independence Day has the nations of the world cheering at the destroyed spaceships. There's also a shorter scene of Gondor Calls for Aid early on with various militaries of the world answering the call.
- In The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, the shots of all of the free peoples of Middle-Earth showing up for the Council of Elrond might qualify.
- In The Martian, the entire world takes up the rally of "Bring him home." Several NASA officials say it throughout the film and once Watney's perilous rescue begins, millions and millions of people are shown holding signs, wearing T-shirts, and posting hashtags emblazoned with the pleading words.
- Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi special edition had a Worlds of the Galaxy Montage celebrating the victory of the rebels. As of the '04 DVD version, the worlds seen are Endor, Naboo, Tatooine, Bespin, and Coruscant.
- Towards the end of Ultraman X The Movie: Here Comes! Our Ultraman!, when the all-powerful kaiju Big Bad Zaigorg starts resurrecting the Demaarga army across the world, the movie then shifts to various Demaarga awakening from their hibernations in Shanghai, Lausanne, Cairo, Bueno Aires and Chicago, and going on a rampage across the cities. Later on as the XIO managed to summon the past Ultra warriors they've affiliated with, the film then climaxes with various Ultramen arriving in the cities - Ultraman Zero in Shanghai, Ultraman Max in Lausanne, Ultraman Nexus in Cairo, Ultraman Victory in Bueno Aires and Ultraman Ginga in Chicago - to battle and eventually destroy the Demaarga army.
- The War of the Worlds (1953) had a section with Stock Footage of various governments meeting and national armies fighting the Martians.
Governments tried to coordinate their defences with those of other nations. The government of India met in a railroad coach, while millions streamed for the imagined safety of the Himalayas. The Finnish, Turkish, Chinese and Bolivians worked and fought furiously. Every effort against their other-world antagonists ended in the same route.
- Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory has a montage of news reports from around the world all featuring the quest for the five elusive golden tickets.
- In X-Men: Apocalypse, En Sabah Nur's message to the world is read aloud in America, Egypt, the Soviet Union and a few other countries.
Live-Action TV
- The closest way this trope can be experienced in Real Life is when the news shows on January 1st do a report with a Montage of last night's New Years Eve celebrations and fireworks from all around the world.
- On the night 1999 became 2000, CNN took pains to show New Millennium celebrations happening all over the globe in real time. Even Antarctica and a plane in flight (representing Coordinated Universal Time) got in on the act.
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer, "Chosen". Near the end of the episode, we see newly chosen Slayers all around the world.
- Doctor Who: The New Series has done this several times, occasionally involving the Taj Mahal.
- "The Christmas Invasion" was likely the first time, with Paris and Rome seen during the montage of blood-controlled people lining up on rooftops.
- "Army of Ghosts" has one when the Doctor is flipping through TV channels as he checks out how the mysterious ghosts have been seen around the world.
- Ultraman Mebius have this in it's final arc, as the army of Imperializers start descending on various cities, including Tokyo, New York, Beijing, London, as a herald of the impending doomsday.
- The 2009 V showed all the nations of the world watching the Visitors' greeting message, each in their own language.
Music Videos
- A subversion appears in the Rammstein music video for Amerika. Various cultures all over the world are seen watching the "moon landing" and showing stereotypically American traits along with their own stereotypes.
- The music video for Phil Collins' "Take Me Home
" depicts him hobnobbing around famous city landmarks around the world - in particular, London, Paris, New York City, Tokyo, Stockholm, Moscow, Sydney, Memphis, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Texas, and St. Louis.
Radio
- Older Than Television: Crisis in Spain was an avant-garde radio broadcast in 1931 that took the form of a montage of (scripted) news broadcasts from around the world in multiple untranslated languages all reporting on the ongoing events that would later culminate in the Spanish Civil War. It's been described as a commentary on the ability of radio to shrink the world.
Video Games
- The final levels of Elite Beat Agents and both Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan games feature the nations of the world cheering against their corresponding worldwide threat, whether it be a giant meteor, an alien invasion, or the heat death of the sun.
- The Extended Cut of Mass Effect 3 has scenes from Earth, Palaven, Tuchanka, and Thessia as the war ends and the Reapers withdraw/are destroyed.
- Sonic Adventure 2, in a somewhat infamous example, features such a montage, complete with National Stereotypes and CGI humans, while Eggman unveils the ARK Space Station and destroys a part of the Moon.
Web Original
- Parodied with Obama's inauguration in this video from Doug Walker.
- Where The Hell Is Matt?
Western Animation
- Adventure Time: In "Jake The Brick", Jake attempts to achieve his dream of being a brick in a crumbling shack and eventually starts to make a commentary on the animal life on his surroundings out of boredom, which are broadcasted by Finn through a walkie-talkie and end up becoming a radio sensation across the land. When Jake's narration gets to its climax, all citizens of Ooo are shown reacting to the story in a montage, from members of the main cast to characters not seen since their debut episodes.
- An episode of Doug begins with Doug channel-surfing. The only thing on TV is the same romance movie with the characters wearing traditional costumes from different cultures.
- In the Futurama pilot episode, the nations of the world count down to New Year's Day 2000 with the usual suspects including the Eiffel Tower, Great Pyramids, and African tribes. It then happens again for New Year's Day 3000, which includes aliens on a distant planet.
