Fake Nationality and Fantasy Counterpart Cultures

Extending from an Ask The Tropers query [2], should Fake Nationality and its subtropes (Fake Brit in this case) be applicable to very similar Fantasy Counterpart Cultures?

I don’t think so, if only because connecting them seems like a stretch - if someone’s playing an alien who's a parody of, eh, the French or something, why should it matter if they aren’t French? Do you have a specific example in mind?

I'd also say no. Partially because people have a tendency to see Fantasy Counterpart Culture where it's not. "Oh, this guy has a french name. They are based on the french! (proceeds to ignore all the other characters with names that don't sound french or ignore all the other stuff picked from other cultures).

Also like, by definition you won't get someone that's from a fantasy culture coz they don't exist.

The original query wasn't mine, but I did wonder because of Reign of the Seven Spellblades: The country where it's set, Yelgland, is based on England to the point of using the kanji for "British Wizarding Kingdom". I likewise assumed the anime wouldn't count because it's a Fantasy Counterpart Culture of England rather than the genuine article, but technically the description doesn't say anything one way or the other on the topic.

I see Race Lift as applied to Fantasy Counterpart Culture as already pushing things, Fake Nationality would be straight misuse (excepting, maybe, if the fictional culture is meant to be a direct offshoot of a real one In-Universe).

Edited by EmeraldSource on Apr 29th 2024 at 11:53:35 AM

On the Trivia.Aladdin 2019 page, a Fake Nationality entry was removed around the time of the film's release. A Fake American entry was added sometime later.

Since Agrabah (the setting for Disney's adaptations of Aladdin, the 2019 film included) has a Fantasy Counterpart Culture which takes inspiration from all corners of the Middle East and South Asia per Word of God, I wonder if the Fake American trope applies here.

Edited by gjjones on Apr 30th 2024 at 9:48:45 AM

That would be misuse regardless of the thread topic because there aren't any American characters in Aladdin; they're all Middle Eastern or Asian.

Edited by StarSword on Apr 30th 2024 at 12:17:49 PM

Fake American is specifically about someone putting on an American accent which isnt their native accent for a role. Not about pretending to be American or Fantasy!American. It's strictly about the accent used.

So in this case the example is valid. It's not like Fake Nationality which is specifically about pretending to be a different nationality.

Edited by Ghilz on Apr 30th 2024 at 11:14:47 AM

No, Fake American is a subtrope of Fake Nationality. It's no different than Fake Brit where somebody who isn't British puts on a British accent to play a British character.

Naomi Scott in the live-action Aladdin isn't using an American accent to portray an American character, she's using it to sound like Linda Larkin from the original animated film, whose characters all went with Not Even Bothering with the Accent.

And this isn't the topic of the thread anyway.

And I beg you to quit derailing the thread. You want to argue about the definition of Fake American, start another one.

Edited by StarSword on Apr 30th 2024 at 12:28:20 PM

I beg you to read the description on Fake American.

The entire page is repeatedly about accents.