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Patriotic Fervor

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"By ‘patriotism’ I mean devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be the best in the world but has no wish to force on other people. Patriotism is of its nature defensive, both militarily and culturally. Nationalism, on the other hand, is inseparable from the desire for power. The abiding purpose of every nationalist is to secure more power and more prestige, not for himself but for the nation or other unit in which he has chosen to sink his own individuality."

Patriotism is an emotional attachment to one's perceived people(s) and homeland(s), though people have used the word differently over time and in various contexts. In the twentieth century it was also understood as devotion to one's nation(-state). How patriotism is portrayed in fiction oscillates between two poles, both of which stand on opposite sides of Individualism vs. Collectivism.

Patriotism is Good

A patriot cares for their people over their people's nation: they treasure their people, but would never do evil in their name if it could be helped. Individual people have personalities and worth of their own; nations don't. Nations are just groupings of peoples, communities, and cultures, like paintings on a wall. Nations aren't worthy of love or devotion without the context of the people and communities that compose them.

Their 'patriotism' comes from a love of their people and way of life, as well as a deep concern for their welfare. They want their people to be prosperous and happy, and if push comes to shove, they will gladly sacrifice their nation's prestige to ensure that they are. They hate war and are otherwise reluctant to fight because they care about their people's wellbeing and want to minimize the harm done to them, even if that means waging war.

This tends to be mostly seen as a Forgotten Trope in modern media, though it fluctuates depending on the time period and place. It still pops up occasionally (often subverting nationalist ideas of what makes someone patriotic, à la A Few Good Men, or the other attributes associated with patriotism, à la Forrest Gump). My Country, Right or Wrong usually tends to fall under here.

Patriotism is Bad

A patriot cares for their nation over their nation's people: they prize their loyalty to their nation above all else, and would do absolutely anything for it (however reluctantly or gladly). Nations have characteristics and worth of their own; individual people don't. Individual people, communities, and cultures are just disposable, unremarkable components of the nation, like the cells of a body. They aren't worthy of love and devotion like the nation is.

Their "patriotism" comes from a devotion to their nation and its power, and a deep concern for its prestige at the expense of their own countrymen. They want their nation to be powerful and respected, and if push comes to shove, they will gladly sacrifice their nation's people to ensure that it has them. They love war because they care about their nation's power and image and want to enhance them by any means, especially if that means waging war.

This is a common trope in modern media thanks to the apotheosis of nationalism in the twentieth century and the enduring strength of nationalism to this day. It is usually played straight and embodied by such characters as the Sociopathic Soldier, Colonel Kilgore, or General Ripper. They are often a Tautological Templar who believes that the actions of their country are justified by virtue of being their country.

Patriotism is Good and Bad

Every now and then you get a mix, where the blowhard is genuinely loyal and commendable, despite his enthusiasm for wars with other peoples — though genocidal warmongers don't tend to feature in this category. On the other hand, the various strains of nationalism tend to lead writers to portray patriotism towards a certain state (i.e. their own) as good while patriotism towards all others is bad.

When done right, it can be respectful of other patriotisms and nationalism while providing a more nuanced take of the concept. Done poorly, however, this can also be a source of Misplaced Nationalism and Flame Bait.

This basically becomes the Sliding Scale of Patriotism vs Jingoism.

These poles can and often do reflect the personal political philosophy of the writer (and, contrary to what the stereotypes would have one believe, being right-wing does not necessarily make one more jingoistic, nor does being left-wing necessarily make one less patriotic). We can observe, though, that there are sometimes direct relationships between the popularity of a war and the number of noble or oafish patriots portrayed, which leads to the idea that the trope is cyclic. The writer may just be putting up a character in response to the mood of the public. Of course, films like Lions for Lambs, which lambaste the war they portray and yet were massive flops at the box office, provide a big counterpoint to that theory.

Regardless of the motives, the Super Patriot is often a General Ripper or the Hero of Another Story.

Captain Geographic often is like this.

It should be pointed out that this is far from being mainly an American idea, however, different cultures have different attitudes toward it. For example in British television, or in fact most other British media published after 1918, Patriotic Fervor is pretty much always an unsympathetic trait, usually played for laughs. (British media produced before 1918, on the other hand, do exactly the opposite.) Where the line is drawn between regular patriotism and fervor is also very different; what most Americans would consider normal patriotism would be seen as jingoism among most Germans, for example.

See Misplaced Nationalism for the internet equivalent. See My Country, Right or Wrong for when someone allows Patriotic Fervor to convince themselves that aiding an evil leader is their "duty". See My Country Tis of Thee That I Sting for artists who criticize their own country. Expect a Flag Drop if a character with this makes a speech. See also Propaganda Piece.


Examples:

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Patriotism is Good

    Advertising 
  • Half of the commercial spots for the Mexican beer Corona (Especially during any of the soccer tournaments that the Mexican soccer team plays) that are aired on national television. The other half consists of Scenery Porn with a dash of Patriotic Fervor.
  • Australian Cricket anthem "C'mon, Aussie, C'mon" is all about getting people to cheer for Australia, although several versions also highlight the team's opponents.

    Animation 
  • Squirrel and Hedgehog is a cartoon from North Korea which shows the North Korean stand-ins as resourceful and noble... And every other nation as villains trying to destroy their way of life.

    Anime & Manga 
  • Akki from Katri, Girl of the Meadows supports the Finnish independence movement, and was arrested by the police for his activism. In another episode, it's shown that he's friends with Vladimir Lenin.
  • Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors (1945), the first feature-length anime ever made, is a rah-rah wartime propaganda piece in which cuddly animals become paratroopers in the Imperial Japanese Navy. It was a sequel to short film Momotaro's Sea Eagles, in which cuddly animal IJN pilots blow the hell out of Pearl Harbor.
  • Daitetsu Kunikida from Blue Seed reeeeeaaaaally loves Japan.
  • Mobile Fighter G Gundam, being powered by the Captain Ethnic trope, has a few of these.
    • Chibodee Crockett is a one-man Eagle Land who sees himself as a personification of the American Dream. He wants to win the Gundam Fight to prove to all the downtrodden Americans stuck on Earth that they can make it too, and seeing Americans use cheap underhanded tactics is a Berserk Button for him.
    • George de Sand is a French knight in SPACE. His motivation for fighting (apart from the fight itself) is to bring honor and glory to France, he's dedicated himself to Princess Marie-Louise, and his family takes pride in still living on French soil rather than Neo-France's space colony.
  • Ein from Fist of the North Star wears a pair of pauldrons emblazoned with American flags. It's not exactly clear whether he's an American or not, but his bravery amazes even Kenshiro, who wears one of the two pauldrons after Ein's untimely death.
  • Sidooh: The manga is set during the Bakumatsu Era of the late 1800s, and main characters are members of the shishi, who seek to purge Japan of the foreign (American) invaders, who have brought disease, crime, and social unrest.
  • Togo from Yuki Yuna is a Hero is very patriotic about Japan, to the point where she carries a small flag around according to the visual novel. It's portrayed as a cute, admirable trait of hers.

    Comic Books 

    Fan Works 
  • The Boys: Real Justice
    • The Justice League invoked this by adding "America" to their title to appease the government bigwigs. Nowadays, Superman finds the addition to be a bit ridiculous since the Justice League is a global organization.
    • As his popularity implodes and the Justice League's popularity rises, Homelander invokes this to a ridiculous degree, claiming the Justice League doesn't serve America's interests just because they come from another universe.

    Films — Animation 
  • Downplayed in Turning Red. While Mei doesn't explicitly mention her love for Canada, she wears a maple-leaf shirt to bed, wears a tuque with a maple-leaf design to school (and in the Novelization notes that "tuques were very Canadian"), has a Canadian flag pin button on her bag and has a Canadian flag sticker on her flute case. Also, in the novelization, in order to remain calm, she tries to channel Canada's monarch at the time, Queen Elizabeth II, minus the accent.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Air Force One: This is a movie about the President of the United States played by Harrison Ford fighting off Russian hijackers on Air Force One and saving hostages.
  • Crime Doctor: Wheeler is attempting to break out of prison so he can reenlist in the army. Ordway helps him to understand why this is never going to happen and explains what he can do to aid the cause from inside.
  • Independence Day: The president is a handsome young fighter pilot who helps save the world and gives a Rousing Speech about July 4 being Independence Day for the entire world, after America Saved the Day.
  • Marvel Cinematic Universe, Captain America: The First Avenger: Puts less emphasis on Steve being a super-patriot and more on him being The Cape. He just wants to help people, and the costume and Hitler-punching persona is cooked up by a Propaganda Machine he'd be a lot happier without. The signs pointing to Steve's patriotism are mostly subtle, the most obvious one being his willingness to serve his country by any means, including the aforementioned propaganda. On the other hand, it's also mentioned that the Captain America persona did eventually grow on him. He also buys very heavily into the fixation with being the underdog that shows up a lot in American patriotism, so it's debatable.
  • Once Upon a Time in Mexico: The end plays this straight, with the Mariachi and his crew saving the Mexican president, and the entire city fighting a military group attempting a coup.
  • Revolution: This is going through the protesters, because one sign says "U.K. 51st State Of U.S.", and the U.K. would never willingly become a U.S.A. state.
  • Tiger Cruise: This Disney movie has lots of American patriotism, being a film about a US Navy Military Brat work experience event aboard an aircraft carrier. Incidentally, it also happens to be about 9/11.
  • When told to kneel before Queen Admira in The Hugga Bunch, Bridget retorts she's an American citizen and won't kneel to anybody, sheepishly remarking that it's in the Constitution.

    Literature 
  • In The BFG, Sophie has a moment of this, just after she has been taken away by the BFG. Even though she is terrified that she is about to be eaten, she has a moment of patriotic anger when she learns that the Bonecrunching Giant will only gobble Turks.
    Sophie: Why Turks? What's wrong with the English?
  • A combination of Patriotic Fervor and Daniel Webster's eloquence wins over the Jury of the Damned in The Devil and Daniel Webster.
  • "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori."note Horace
    • The phrase was later used as the title of a poem by the WWI soldier and poet Wilfred Owen, deconstructing this sentiment.
  • The poetry of Jessie Pope, most famously Who's For The Game? Her career never really recovered after the First World War.
  • The Flaw In All Magic: The crime lord Bastian, of all people, is a very proud supporter of the Lady Protector, and bends over backward to help when Tane drops her name.

    Live-Action TV 
  • One Hundred Greatest Britons: A TV show by the BBC to elect the most admirable Briton of all time was patriotic in nature.
  • Most of the main characters from Babylon 5, although they are largely a group of ambassadors. While these are the more subtle and serious form, Clarke's supporters in the Earth civil war plot are very much the loud kind.
  • The Colbert Report: Stephen Colbert is as American as it gets. Artist Todd Lockwood described the page image (the art for a tragically rejected World of Warcraft TCG card) as "I am Captain America, and so can you!"
  • Reality show Counting Cars is firmly in this camp; show star and shop owner Danny "The Count" Koker is the son of a Green Beret and is a huge supporter of the troops. He enjoys doing jobs for military causes and will go all out on said projects.
  • Danger 5: Jackson, as fitting due to being an American.
    Jackson: There's no way in hell I'm running around France when Lady Liberty herself is in danger!

    Magazine 
  • Analog: The July 1942 issue, which came out during the American Independence Day and World War II, has an American flag over the cover, with the New York City skyline underneath it and an advertisement for buying war bonds. This was coordinated with many other magazines to feature the same cover. The "Buy war bonds for victory" stamp would show up on several later covers that year, too.

    Music 
  • The song "A Song of Patriotic Prejudice" by Flanders and Swann, in which they fervently sing that the English are best, lamenting England's lack of a national song.
  • Call The Names is a Concept Album by Heather Dale celebrating the history of and about her Society for Creative Anachronism kingdom of Ealdormere. A Downplayed Trope as Ealdormere is not legally a country.
  • "Red White and Blue" by Judas Priest plays with the trope: Aside from the band saying the content is tongue in cheek, the lyrics are kept deliberately vague, and the only thing identifying what country it's supposed to be supporting is repeated mentions of a red, white and blue flag: Listeners from the band's native England would be thinking of the Union Jack, but many other countries have red, white and blue flags, including the United States, Puerto Rico and Cuba, even France. the best at The ending of the song is an instrumental quote of "God Save The Queen", the national anthem of the United Kingdom, but even that might be deliberately ambiguous - the American patriotic song "America (My Country, 'Tis of Thee)" uses the same melody.

    Myths & Religion 
  • The mythical Battle of Clavijo has been a source of Spanish nationalism for centuries. Supposedly, when Spain was conquered by Muslims, the Apostle Saint James himself came down from heaven to defend the kingdom of Asturias. Saint James single-handedly turned the tide of battle and pushed back the Muslims. From that point on Spanish soldiers have invoked the name of Saint James ("Santiago" in Spanish).

    Pinballs 
  • Gottlieb's Spirit of 76 is completely marinated in this trope. Justified as the pinball was released to celebrate the United States Bicentennial.
  • Similarly, Gottlieb's Rocky pinball is heavily decorated with the stars and stripes of the American flag, while the bumpers and targets are all red, white, or blue.
  • Evel Knievel, like the stuntman himself, is awash in patriotic red, white, and blue stars and stripes.
  • Bally's The Six Million Dollar Man is predominately red and blue, accented with a bevy of white stars and an assortment of jet fighters.
  • Harlem Globetrotters On Tour is awash in red, white, and blue stars and stripes.
  • There's a subdued version in Bally's Harley Davidson, which features a cross-country road trip with eagles and a U-S-A Spelling Bonus.
    • The third edition of the Stern Pinball Harley game has American flags in the playfield backgrounds.

    Pro Wrestling 
  • The deeply patriotic American is a borderline Stock Character. Hulk Hogan in his prime, though, exemplified this trope. When the Hulkster left WWE in 1993, Lex Luger rather awkwardly took over his role as the All-American Face.
  • The Iron Sheik and Nikolai Volkoff, whom he was Vitriolic Best Buds with, showed that this trope wasn't limited to American patriotism. (Volkoff eventually became quite fond of the U.S. as a result of his Heel–Face Turn, and ironically found himself opposed to all-American Badass Sgt. Slaughter after Slaughter experienced a Face–Heel Turn and became an Iraqi sympathizer.)
  • Dennis Rivera of La Rabia in the World Wrestling League, a member of the Puerto Rico Nationalist Party whose very presence usually questions why Puerto Rican's don't rebel. He's one of the promotion's top faces and a third of their first tercias titleholders(a trios champion, basically). Subverted when Carlito Caribbean Cool was in the promotion though, as the commentators only half-heartedly supported him for being Boricua while otherwise favoring many of his foreign opponents such as La Parka Jr.
  • Ever since returning to Japan and becoming "The Rainmaker" of CHAOS, Kazuchika Okada's been known for hyperbolic speeches about his nation's greatness.

    Theatre 
  • Being about the Revolutionary War, nearly every character in the musical 1776 is an ardent patriot. An honorable mention, however, goes to Caeser Rodney, who came back to Philadelphia to vote while dying of cancer and shouted down everyone who disagreed with the war.
    • Richard Henry Lee's song 'The Lees of Old Virginia' is a tribute both to his family and to the state of Virginia, at a time when states were more like small countries.

    Toys 
  • "America Cares Bear" is a Care Bears character introduced in 2003 as a reaction to 9/11. She is renamed "America Bear" in many places outside of the USA. She's a white bear with an American-themed rainbow on her stomach.

    Video Games 
  • Freedom Force: Minuteman and Liberty Lad are American-themed superheroes.
  • This trope is the backstory for the Korean characters of the Soul Series. Hwang and Yun-Seong are soldiers in the Imperial Navy seeking Soul Edge in order to fight Japan and prove their national superiority. Seong Mi Na is trying to prove that females can be as capable soldiers as male recruits.
  • Masakado for Shin Megami Tensei. He once was a samurai warlord who tried to overthrow the Emperor, and after his death, his spirit and devotion to the people proved so strong, he became a benevolent protector deity for the Tokyo area. The National Defense Divinities, a handful of Shinto gods, were likewise devoted enough to volunteer themselves into the local Kaiju Defense Force against invading demons.
  • In Time Crisis 4, Captain William Rush is the very patriotic sidekick of the two VSSE agents assigned to the mission. He is quite upset to find out that the terrorists are a rebellious U.S. military unit, and when he confronts one of their major figures, he lets his wrestling skills loose while he and his terrorist opponent exchange some pretty heated banter.
    Rush: "You...you're a disgrace to your country! You took an oath of loyalty to your country!"
    Mathers: "That oath meant nuthin'!"
  • A more positive example of American patriotism in the Fallout games lies in the Minutemen of Fallout 4, who style themselves after the historical Minutemen from the American Revolutionary War. This includes dressing up in longcoats and brimmed hats, using powerful homemade Laser Muskets, and using old marching tunes in their radio station, Radio Freedom. The Minutemen General's outfit looks like Captain America's costume as a Badass Longcoat.

    Webcomics 
  • Shortpacked!'s Ronald Reagan has the ability to break the legs of shoplifters through patriotic fervor, which also makes him immune to bullets.

    Websites 
  • JibJab studios released a video portraying President Barack Obama as a Superman-esque super-hero, and as such, filled it to the brim with Patriotic Fervor. The ending of the video in particular will make you want to salute the flag: Check it out here.

    Web Videos 
  • Matt of Two Best Friends Play loves to shout "America!" whenever he sees something patriotic. Or does something awesome. Or when he does something really stupid but thinks it's awesome. This is despite the fact that he's actually a Canadian.

    Western Animation 

Patriotism is Bad

    Anime & Manga 
  • Played darkly in the Alabasta Arc of One Piece, in which Big Bad Crocodile uses this to turn the people of the country of Alabasta against each other. He arranges events so that half of the population becomes convinced that the King is self-serving and out to ruin the country for his own benefit, so they start a rebellion and go to war against the other half who remain loyal to the King. Crocodile's description of his plan?
  • Attack on Titan explores the dangers of when love for your country is used to justify atrocities and violent nationalism. After the Time Skip, Eren has become the central figure of a nationalistic movement that seeks to re-establish the ancient Eldian Empire. Members of this movement begin to conspire against their own government, leaking partial information to the public to turn them against the military and even assassinating Commander Darius Zackley. The group includes more than one Sociopathic Soldier, who believe the past conflicts with the Warriors justifies them trying to burn down the Liberio ghetto. The main cast is horrified to watch Eren and his followers sliding deeper and deeper into fanaticism.

    Comedy 
  • Discussed by Chris Rock in Never Scared. He discusses how after 9/11 and at the start of the Iraq War, Americans were extremely patriotic, and there was "accepted racism" towards French and Arabs.
    Chris: Then they went to, "I'm American, I'm American, fuck all these illegal aliens!" Then I started listening, 'cause I know niggas and Jews is next!

    Comic Books 
  • The difference in US and UK perceptions of apparent Patriotic Fervor is the reason why Captain Britain is pretty much unheard of in his 'home' country, considered equal parts sad and hilarious when people know he exists. Though this is likely due to the fact that his design (a strapping great big muscular guy emblazoned with the Union Flag) caters far more to the American tastes of what constitutes a hero. Brits far prefer their heroes a little more Byronic, cynical and witty — which is why home-grown James Bond and Sherlock Holmes have always been so well received and are the UK's counterpart of patriotic characters.
  • Parodied with "American Eagle" and "USA Patriot Act", two of the metaprodigies at PS238 school. As candidates to replace Freedom Fighter (the Captain America Expy of the PS238-verse) they constantly try to outdo each other in Patriotic Fervor, to the bemusement and annoyance of their teachers and classmates:
    American Eagle: Good citizens, can you lend a fellow American assistance? I'm in search of Mr. Alloy's classroom. I wish to further my education in science so that I might contribute to the innovation that makes our country a leader in the quest for knowledge!
  • Heroes Reborn (2021): Every member of the Squadron Supreme, even technical foreigners like Power Princess, have a xenophobic, jingoist pride in America. Doctor Spectrum has a near-genocidal hatred of all alien life, applying Manifest Destiny to space exploration by subjugating every other race and exterminating any that won't fall in line. Hyperion and Power Princess similarly committed a near-genocide of all the mutants.

    Comic Strips 
  • A FoxTrot strip had Paige claiming to be doing her Freedom homework (instead of "French homework"), to her mother's irritation.

    Films — Live-Action 

    Literature 
  • In the Brazilian classic Triste Fim de Policarpo Quaresma ("The Sad End of Policarpo Quaresma") by Lima Barreto, the titular Policarpo Quaresma is a good-hearted federal worker from the end of the 19th century, in the start of the First Brazilian Republic, who is a fervorous patriot for Brazil, to the point that he believes Tupi should be the national language and ended up being labeled as insane and kept in an asylum for six months. However, Policarpo has a great shock by the end of the novel, in which he tries to help the newly proclaimed republic by fighting for the harsh president Floriano Peixoto against the Naval Revolts and gets accused of being a traitor by Peixoto when Quaresma protests against the treatment of prisoners. Arrested for a treason he never commited and sentenced to death, a disillusioned Policarpo laments his patriotism in prison, believing the country he so much believed in was only a myth created by himself in his office. The novel was highly critic of the Romanticism movement, the social injustices in Brazil and the authoritarianism of the First Republic.
  • In The War Prayer by Mark Twain the people are so caught up in patriotic feelings the implication of the prayers for victory (i.e. wishing death and suffering on the enemy) simply doesn't occur to him.

    Live-Action TV 
  • House: When overseas job relocation comes up in a conversation between House, Adams, and Parker in season 8, House dismisses patriotism with his usual cynicism:
    "Patriotism is nothing but loyalty to real estate. Real estate that's been conquered 800 times by 800 different regimes with 800 different cultures. But each time it's just the best."
  • My World… and Welcome to It: Negatively played with in "Rally Round the Flag." John has no clue what sort of gift a girl Lydia's age would like for Christmas (his wife normally does the shopping), so he settles on buying a large American flag. Lydia is surprised and disappointed when she opens the present, but decides not to make a fuss about it. She makes the best of things by conspicuously flying the huge flag outside her window, which gets their neighbors in an uproar. The Monroes become the source of intense gossip from townsfolk thinking John and his family have something to hide. Several of John's neighbors cancel their subscriptions to The Manhattanite over this issue. John also gets visited by a group of Revolutionary War battle descendants who pressure him to take the flag down because he's neither a war veteran nor a member of their organization — that he's in fact the only person with a flag up, doing so during a time of year they see as inappropriate. Or as the battle descendants puts it, "Our view is unity in the community, everybody pulling together as a team," and "You're making the rest of us look unpatriotic," and "You're out of line, Monroe — you ought to get in step with the rest of us," and "This is a fine neighborhood, Monroe — love it or leave it." By the end of the episode, the rest of the neighbors have come around to John's way of thinking and are flying flags of their own.
  • The 3rd Rock from the Sun episode "Red, White, & Dick" centered on the aliens discovering patriotism. In an effort to be as American as possible, Sally, Tommy, and Harry looked over the Declaration of Independence. They latched onto the phrase "all men are created equal" and ended up creating a Does This Remind You of Anything? version of Commie Land. Meanwhile, Dick discovered that he was Canadian in his phony Earth identity and took the citizenship test (which is weird, since he was able to register to vote in the earlier episode "Dick the Vote").

    Music 
  • "Waiting For The Worms" from Pink Floyd's The Wall has our protagonist use phrases like "would you like to see Britannia rule again, my friend? All you have to do is follow the worms!" to try to bring people over to his side. Keep in mind that, at this point, he's essentially a neo-Nazi skinhead.

    Pro Wrestling 
  • Exaggerated with the Jerkass heel Kurt Angle, who was so patriotic that he wore a starred and striped singlet and insulted Canadian people; and darkly subverted with John "Bradshaw" Layfield, who merely exploited patriotism as a vehicle to seize power.
  • Rene Dupree showed French Patriotic Fervor during 2003-2004 (which, if you'll remember the current events going on at the time, was when there was a huge backlash against France due to their actively trying to undermine the invasion of Iraq). He was then joined by Rob Conway, an American turncoat "French sympathizer", forming the tag team La Resistance, and getting Heel heat not only from the fans but particularly Jim Ross and Jerry Lawler (despite Lawler being a heel, or at least a Jerk with a Heart of Gold).
    • A couple of years later, Sylvan Grenier - the third La Resistance member - became the self-appointed Ambassador of Quebec, a heel who kept telling people that Quebec was the best place in the world. This culminated in a Smackdown from Montreal, where he got massive cheers.
    • Both Dupree and Grenier are actually Canadian, and after a while (perhaps to mitigate hostility among fans in France) they were billed as French-Canadian jingoists. (For context, French-Canadians are often viewed by Anglo-Canadians with even more disdain than Mexican-Americans are viewed in the U.S.) Humorously, Rob Conway was also billed as a Canadian despite being from New Jersey.
  • Ashley America, a straw man reactionary wrestling pundit who denounces Valkyrie Women's Pro for violating American traditions like not hiring "natives" such as the "job stealing" Nyla Rose and Hania.
  • Salina de la Renta is known for scouting and aiding Latin Americans of all kinds, so long as their official nationality is USA. If you're a foreigner she at best sees you as a tool to be used and discarded. At worst you are a diseased nut who needs to be deported.

    Tabletop Games 
  • The computer, some of the rebellions, and a lot of the players in Paranoia act on a twisted form of this trope.

    Video Games 

    Webcomics 
  • Unsounded: The horrors people will carry out in the name of nationalism come up again and again in the conflict between Cresce and Alderode. Even plenty of otherwise decent people from both countries display the bigotry and hatred caused by nationalism.

    Websites 

    Web Videos 
  • Bandit Keith in Yu-Gi-Oh! The Abridged Series is a bizarre version of this, who "apparently likes to remind everyone that he's from America". Every other line that he speaks ends with him saying "in America!" or making references to being American. In a bizarre twist, he's Canadian.

    Western Animation 
  • On one episode of Family Guy, Peter is swept up in a wave of pro-Americanism that ultimately leads to a crusade against immigrants, of which he, naturally, turns out to be one. At one point, Brian points out that there is a difference between patriotism and post-9/11 paranoia.
    Peter: [Wearing a suit made of an American flag] This is how a patriot dresses.
    Stewie: You look like the Statue of Liberty's pimp.
  • Major Glory the Superhero from Dexter's Laboratory who is a parody of Captain America and Superman.

Mixed or Unclassifiable

    Advertising 
  • Parodied in this ad for the Carl's Jr. Most American Thickburger which is seen being eaten by an all-American model wearing a Flag Bikini, lounging in a hot tub in the back of a flag-painted pickup driven by a bull-rider...on an aircraft carrier, by Lady Liberty... all while "America the Beautiful" plays in the background.

    Anime & Manga 
  • Code Geass switches it up depending on the character and which nation they're loyal to. Brittanians, by and large, are composed almost entirely of jingoistic imperialists whereas the Japanese are mostly portrayed as freedom fighters. However, they do occasionally mix and match each group's ideals. For example, Brittania seems to not have much of an issue with racism (the clearly Indian-descended Villetta is staunchly proud of her Brittanian nationality), and there are several examples of the pro-Japanese movement being highly exclusionary even to Japanese-sympathetic Brittanian forces.
  • America of Hetalia: Axis Powers is filled with Patriotic Fervor and a passion for freedom and justice. But while it often makes him Innocently Insensitive and arrogant, it's also made clear that America acts this way because he genuinely believes his nation is good, and doesn't mean any harm by it.
    • Of course, all the Nation-tans of Hetalia feel this way about their countries, since they are their countries; America is just the most open about it.
  • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Steel Ball Run has the Big Bad President Funny Valentine, who is at least a competent enough politician to keep most of his citizens happy. However, he's willing to resort to Dirty Business to obtain Jesus's corpse and turn his country into a utopia while dooming the rest of the planet to extreme misfortune. The reason he goes so far is because he wants to live up to his father, who died while resisting all kinds of torture for his country.

    Comic Books 
  • Discussed in the Astro City story "The Dark Age"; the disillusionment many Americans felt in The '70s — that the United States was no longer a flawless leader of the world — is reflected in the public's growing skepticism about superheroes. Meanwhile, a group called the Sterling Foundation pushes for a renewed sense of nationalism, urging Americans to "stand up" against opposition and criticism.
  • While good ol' Captain America was originally conceived as essentially propaganda, over the years he's been developed and deconstructed in enough ways to remain sympathetic to foreigners and internationalists. Many of his contemporary counterparts like the U.S. Agent tend to represent the more extreme side of this trope.
  • Parodied in PS238: The universe's local Captain Patriotic is getting up in the years, and both the Democratic and Republican Party want his successor to adhere to their party line. Thus, they push their own candidates, both of whom constantly try to out-patriotic the other on-screen. Did we mention both of said candidates are in primary school and none of their classmates understand anything of what they're doing?
  • Played with in Power & Glory: A-Pex is an all-American Flying Brick hero with blonde hair, boyish good looks, and is an Ideal Hero — but it's all a manufactured persona by the US government as a product of nationalist fantasy.
  • A depressing variant occurs in When the Wind Blows, a story about an elderly couple struggling to survive World War III after the Cold War turned hot. Both were children during World War II and remember it with rose-tinted glasses as a result, with the husband Jim thinking War Is Glorious and having the utmost faith that the British government would save the day again. Even after the nuke finally drops, they fail to realize Everybody's Dead, Dave and never give up hope that the government would come save them, not realizing it no longer exists. The story doesn't criticize patriotism as a whole, only blind faith in authority.

    Films — Animation 
  • Lampshaded in The Book of Life, with lighthearted jokes and references to Mexico as the center of the universe. Even the country itself has a moustache.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • The second film in the Rambo series is this trope.
    • The third film. Only then it's Afghani patriotism rather than American.
    • Considering that Rambo pretty much disowns America at the end of the second film because he's disgusted by the government's attempt to cover up Vietnam still holding American POWs, this trope may not apply to the Rambo films.
  • Some of Chariots of Fire is about the difference between healthy patriotism and unhealthy. One of the best scenes shows athletes saluting each other's flags and giving respect to each other's patriotism in a spirit of comradeship-in-competition between idealistic youthful athletes. It gives the idea that for a short time the world was a fellowship of nations.

    Literature 
  • Discworld:
    • In Jingo the nobles of Ankh-Morpork have an army consisting of officers with no experience leading troops with no training, yet they expect it to take no more than a day to defeat an army several times larger with years of experience. There's also little old ladies who try to shame the city's police officers for not abandoning their posts to join the army. The set-up is more than slightly reminiscent of the popular image of World War I. The book takes its name from the rhyme (quoted in the book itself) that gave us the word "jingoism".
    • Reg Shoe. In fact, when he actually GETS involved in a Revolution (in which nobody pays any attention to him), in the final battle that is the climax of Night Watch Discworld, Reg Shoe is killed by several crossbow bolts. His revolutionary fervor is so great that this doesn't stop him, and he only gets more enthusiastic as a zombie.
  • Skippy's List has examples:
    26. Never tell a German soldier that "We kicked your ass in World War 2!"
  • Spy School: In the seventh book, when Alexander and Catherine Hale get into an argument about having never told each other they were spies.
    Catherine: When were you ever honest with me?
    Alexander: That was different! When I lied to you, it was for the good of the United States.
    Catherine: Well, when I lied to you, it was for the sake of England.
    Alexander: That's not as important as lying for the United States. America is more important than England.
    Catherine: Do not make this argument about which country is better. If you do, I will crush you.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Doctor Who:
    • Yvonne Hartman from "Army of Ghosts"/"Doomsday" is a patriotic servant of the British Empire ("There isn't a British Empire!" "Not yet."), and as a result she runs the rather shady Torchwood Institute, which kills and robs aliens coming to Earth in order to get their technology, even accidentally allowing two separate alien invasions. At the same time, her patriotic fervour allows her to retain her own identity after being Cyberconverted, with her eventually making a Heroic Sacrifice.
    • "The Vampires of Venice": Isabella and her father Guido both attempt to intimidate the enemy with patriotic proclamations of being Venetian.
  • Frasier's upstairs neighbor and Sitcom Arch-Nemesis Cam Winston exploits this by hanging a giant American flag off his terrace which completely obscures the view from Frasier's apartment. When Frasier tries to go to the tenants board to have it taken down the board refuses and accuses him of being un-American for it. Cam prompts the board into singing the national anthem, and then quietly cuts a deal with Frasier to take the flag down in exchange for switching parking spaces.
  • Major Frank Burns on M*A*S*H was the quintessence of this trope. He had religious arrogance in the movie as well.
    • Colonel Flagg (U.S. Army Counter-Intelligence Division), embodies a jingoistic, paranoid, "Americans are God" straw patriotism that is both funny and deeply disturbing at the same time.
      • During The '50s it would not have been entirely unrealistic or entirely Straw to find Flagg-like individuals in such a role. And in several other decades as well. And in Real Life they're even more disturbing.
    • In contrast, Colonel Potter's patriotism is unquestionable, serious, and very downplayed. It's also proven by the fact he's on his third war, and still faithfully serving despite being old enough to have retired.
  • In Ted Lasso, Dani Rojas is a cheerful, friendly all-around Nice Guy. Unless he's playing for the Mexican national team, where he becomes deadly serious and aggressive.

    Music 

    Pro Wrestling 
  • The National Wrestling Alliance has a member promotion from every continent except Antarctica at some point in its history, but it was the United State whose Olympic wrestling team got their official sponsorship. USA! (Individual members were free to sponsor whatever nation they wanted)
  • In 2005, Christian wanted to be drafted from Raw to Smackdown because Smackdown had Americans, Mexicans, Japanese, and Frenchmen but it had no Canadians.

    Puppet Shows 

    Tabletop Games 
  • Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000: On one hand, patriotism to an overzealous, stagnant, and gleefully genocidal Vestigial Empire has prevented the men of the Crapsack World they live in from ever getting better. On the other hand, all that overzealous patriotic willpower is the only reason they're still hanging on in a universe filled with demons and evil geniuses that should have killed them ten times over.

    Theatre 
  • American Patriotic Fervor was the theme of the musical Strike Up the Band, which had the U.S. starting a war with Switzerland over either cheese or chocolate.
  • George M. Cohan's name was once all but synonymous with American Patriotic Fervor.
  • In the number "A Healthy, Normal American Boy" from Bye Bye Birdie, Patriotic Fervor is one device employed to avoid having to answer questions about Conrad Birdie honestly. His fan clubs also pledge their allegiance "to Conrad Birdie and the United States of America, both indivisible with liberty and justice for all."
  • Jim, the 'gentleman caller' in The Glass Menagerie, expresses his love for the many wonders of life in America... During The Great Depression. He's portrayed as likable, but foolishly idealistic for his beliefs.
  • Spoofed in H.M.S. Pinafore in The Mel Brooks Number "He Is An Englishman." The music sounds like a stirring patriotic anthem in praise of the character's English nationality, until you notice the lyrics are mocking the entire concept of patriotism by explaining that it means he must have actively resisted the temptation to belong to any other nation.

    Video Games 
  • While travelling through Bohemia in Darklands, your party may encounter a group of Hussite rebels. When they identify your heroes as ethnic Germans, things may get very violent very soon, although, typically for the game, there are several options to avoid bloodshed if you can use certain skills or a saintly intervention.
  • Metal Wolf Chaos: President Wilson covers both poles: he's apparently convinced he can do anything because he's the American president, but uses this power to single-handedly defend his country's BURNING FREEDOM!!! which is universally badass. Apparently, the Japanese think Americans defeat their enemies through hotblooded Patriotism!
  • Street Fighter's Zangief is the poster boy for this trope. AND MOTHER RUSSIA!!
    • Guile is a subversion. He gives off this vibe, but only makes a couple of quotes about being a man and nothing about being an American. He has an American flag tattoo to mirror patches worn on soldier uniforms, and his backstory is all about finding a missing friend from the military, as opposed to Zangief who usually fights FOR RUSSIA.
  • Played with in the case of Ulysses of Fallout: New Vegas. In the Old World Blues DLC, you can hear him speak of how he still believes in America despite having been wiped out two centuries ago and his most distinctive physical trait is his jacket with the Fallout setting's version of the stars and stripes. In Lonesome Road however, it's shown that he has a disdain for all the major factions of the Mojave and plans to wipe them out using the nukes of The Divide. Nonetheless, it seems that while he is a devoted patriot, he has no "homeland" to devote himself to, having long since deserted Caesar's Legion and having his would-be home ending up destroyed by the unwitting hands of the Courier.
  • The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is centered around two of these, and which one is good and which one is bad depends on how you look at it. The most obvious one is the Stormcloak rebellion with the battle cry "Skyrim belongs to the Nords". It's good if you believe that the Third Empire they're a part of has let them down and they're just standing up for themselves, or bad if they're whining about nothing and being more than a little racist to match the pigheadedness. The Imperial Legion and their allies in Skyrim are less overt, but they're still on the side of the Third Empire. Either they're trying to look out for the best interests of every part of the Empire as best they can or they're pushovers forcing their ideas onto an unwilling part of the nation. Rugged patriots vs imperialist wimps or whiny racists vs practical diplomats? YOU MAKE THE CALL!
  • The Boss from Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, despite all that's happened to her in service of the US Government, remains loyal to America. Both out of genuine love of country and a desire to bring the divided world together.
  • Aleksandra "Zarya" Zaryanova of Overwatch. On one hand, she will gladly drop out of a world-class bodybuilding competition, forgoing the potential fame and riches to fight against rogue Omnics on the front lines for her country. On the other hand, much like her country as a whole, she is particularly racist towards Omnics in general- even cyborgs who have human elements like Genji, and Zenyatta who wants nothing more than peaceful human-Omnic relations.
    Zarya: [on Volskaya Industries] Katya [Volskaya] is a hero to my people. We must protect what she has built."
    Zarya: (on Eichenwaldenote ) "I will not let the fate that befell this place happen to my country!
  • Sunrider has Kryska Stares, a Solar Alliance liaison officer who will gladly extol the Alliance’s virtues and achievements to the Sunrider’s mostly Neutral Rim crew. Her fervor is Justified, as she grew up in poverty on a Neutral Rim planet with a corrupt government and her living situation was drastically improved when the Alliance liberated her world. While a good person, Kryska’s devotion to the Alliance’s principles blinds her to the fact that her superiors are willing to do some shady things in order to win the war with PACT, and when Kayto tells her that some Neutral Rim worlds (like his own) would prefer to keep their independence even if it would benefit them to join the Alliance, she can’t seem to wrap her head around his argument.
  • Dual Blades: Efe's strongly loyal to his country, the Ottoman Empire, and seeks the Dual Blades in the hopes of preventing his country's continued decline in the late eighteenth century. However, it is double subverted in that his ending. While he does not actively betray his country, he decides upon gaining enlightenment from the Dual Blades that reveals to him that "there is always a delicate balance, and that must come to an end in time," and thus decides to let the empire meet its fate.
  • In Final Fantasy X-2, Lenne's willingness to fight on the front lines for her hometown is heroic. Shuyin's attempt to use a Fantastic Nuke to slaughter everyone in the opposing city, even non-combatants, is why he's the Big Bad.
  • The infamous "Conglaturation!!!" ending for Ghostbusters (NES) claims that defeating Gozer means you have "prooved the justice of our culture"... except the game has no patriotic themes, so this statement makes no sense whatsoever.
  • Thracians in Fire Emblem: Genealogy of the Holy War are all fervently devoted to their country. Even when encountering Thracian commanders in the first half, where they are working as mercenaries, their last words are always dedicated to their homeland. Although their dracoknights are The Dreaded wherever they're hired, it's made clear that the Thracians are trying to help their impovrished, barren homeland by hiring themselves out. When the battlefield does move to Thracia, several characters lament that it's come to that because they sympathize with the Thracians' desperation and sense of duty to their homeland. Even Travant, The Unfettered king, is portrayed as doing the despicable things he does solely for the sake of his people rather than personal aggrandizement.

    Visual Novels 
  • Invoked by Moe Mortelli at certain points in Daughter for Dessert, especially in his flashbacks, when he explained to his father that he would make a good police officer. On these occasions, Mortimer Mortelli Senior would remind his son that there was more to policing than "cracking the heads of hippies."

    Webcomics 
  • Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal presents a handy primer to distinguish between Flavors 1 and 2.
    Patriotism: I'm gonna work on my house because it's the best house.
    Nationalism: My house is the best house because it's my house!
  • Scandinavia and the World:
    • Inverted with modern-day Germany, who's afraid to wave his flag too much for fear of his people becoming too prideful (because bad things happen), and even freaked out when he realized his shirt was a flag.
    • This is played straight with the main Scandinavian trio, though, since they see the flags as a symbol of joy and happiness, and like waving them around for their birthdays. Or in this case Germany's.
    • Taken to extremes with America, who has been shown to distrust every single other country. Even his own hat.
  • Marionetta: Exaggerated with Julia at the beginning of the comic. As a sergeant's daughter, she lives and breathes for Kalgratt, until she is disillusioned after learning that Kalgratt uses magic to maintain the status-quo and hides it from the peasantry and that they basically enslave Ah'kon to do this.
    Julia: [imagines the flag of Kalgratt] Now we must be responsible adults! And fulfill our obligations to the great nation of Kalgratt.

    Web Animation 
  • Door from Hunter: The Parenting is obsessed with America despite living in Britain for a considerable time. He's not a bad person, but things like saying the captured vampires are cowards because they're British, insisting on keeping time by EST since it's "the only real time", and insisting his son sing the National Anthem (actually Iron Maiden's The Trooper) at the mere mention of the royal family are all Played for Laughs.
  • RWBY: Given her view of Atlas's superiority, Cordovin notes the latter is extending their hand and superior technology towards the other nations. Thus, she has a beef against anything she believes is un-Atlesian like Faunus, and views any negative traits as a mockery of her kingdom's military honour and prowess as shown when she dismisses Weiss's perception of Ironwood's "worry".

    Web Original 
  • Seinfeld - "The Twin Towers": Much like in real life, several of the characters have a surfeit of post-9/11 patriotism:
    • Larry, the manager of Monk's Cafe, has decked out the place with American flags and gets mad at Jerry for insinuating that there's some World Trade Center dust on his sandwich.
      "This whole city has dust on it. Our HEARTS are covered in dust. You’re gonna eat that sandwich or you’re not eating at all. [turns to waitresses] He doesn’t get ANYTHING until he eats that sandwich. Thinks he’s too good for dust. That dust is AMERICA."
    • When George's mother Estelle questions why George would've been at the World Trade Center for lunch at 8 AM, his father Frank goes into a rant about how it's his right as an American to eat lunch whenever he damn well pleases.

[[folder:Web Videos]]

  • French Baguette Intelligence: Several arguments are over whether Britain, France, the USA and/or any other country is better than another for one reason or another, no matter how insignificant the reason is. The Typical French vs English Debate videos feature Fuck Cares and Bowl trying to prove that their country is better than the other, by citing random facts about military history, alliances, linguistics and throwing around random insults.

    Western Animation 
  • The South Park episode "Osama Bin Laden Has Farty Pants" pokes fun at Osama bin Laden throughout most of the episode, but it also satirizes the paranoid atmosphere of the War of Terror and shows that the Afghans are mad at the USA because US air forces build their military bases on Muslim Holy Ground. Yet in the end, the children do salute a miniature American flag, noting that if you're not rooting for your home team, you might as well go home.
  • Played for Laughs with Stan Smith in the earlier seasons of American Dad! who was an exaggerated stereotype of hyper-patriotic Republicans, but this was downplayed in later seasons. The show also has Steve's Japanese friend Toshi, who only ever speaks Japanese out of national pride in spite of the fact that nobody outside of his family can understand him.
  • Played for Laughs with Robin on multiple occasions in Teen Titans Go!. In one episode, Robin bans tea from the tower by citing an obviously incorrect story about how American's independence was related to tea. Robin thinks that tea is Britain's attempt at trying to regain control of America. As it turns out, tea makes the Titans into anglophiles and they start acting British. Robin tries to make them remember they're Americans by singing about how America is awesome. As it turns out, the Queen of England is really trying to turn Americans English by using tea. Go also had a similar episode about Americans hating soccer.


...In America!

 
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Alternative Title(s): Patriotic Fervour, Refuge In Patriotism

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Chad Wagon

Chad Wagon is the very Fratbro esque owner of a 1950s American styled diner who acts like a character plucked right from The Fast and the Furious.

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