History Main / LocalReference

* Author Patrick O'Brian's Irish ancestry and his move to a Catalan town in his youth show up in the character of Stephen Maturin, as part of the ''Literature/Aubrey-Maturin'' series.

* ''Film/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen''. [[ExecutiveMeddling At the request of studio executives]], the League included an American (Secret Service Agent [[TomSawyer Sawyer]]) so American audiences would have someone to identify with.

* Creator/KevinSmith, a Jersey native, regularly makes nods to his home state, from mentioning local landmarks (e.g.: Monmouth College--now Monmouth University--is mentioned a couple of times ''{{Clerks}}'' and ''Film/{{Mallrats}}'', and most obviously the Quick Stop and RST Video stores in which the former mostly takes place) to towns that nobody outside the state could reasonably be expected to have heard of (Leonardo, both the setting and filming location of ''Clerks'', the suburb of Toms River being turned into [[IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom the Temple of Doom]] in ''WesternAnimation/ClerksTheAnimatedSeries'').
* Creator/AlfonsoCuaron included a few nods to his native Mexico in the third ''Film/HarryPotter'' film. For example, the courtyard fountain has [[http://outnow.ch/Media/Movies/Bilder/2004/HarryPotter3/movie.ws/03.jpg four statues of an eagle eating a snake]], a reference to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Mexico Mexican coat of arms]].

* The later ''VideoGame/SakuraWars'' games, which are set in France (3, 4) and New York (''VideoGame/SakuraWarsSoLongMyLove'', ''Kimi Aru ga Tame''), always include one Japanese party member (besides the PC, who is always Japanese; the player is supposed to identify with him, after all).

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'': When Rita and Runt go to Iraq, Rita sings that it doesn't look like Burbank, more like Van Nuys. (Both are suburbs of UsefulNotes/LosAngeles. You can guess which one has higher property values.)

* The later ''SakuraWars'' games, which are set in France (3, 4) and New York (V, ''Kimi Aru ga Tame''), always include one Japanese party member (besides the PC, who is always Japanese; the player is supposed to identify with him, after all).

* The first ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'' anime had one single offhand reference to an [[UsefulNotes/{{Japan}} "eastern island"]] from which {{Shogi}} was imported.

* ''RenAndStimpy'' character "George Liquor", (who only showed up in a handful of episodes, and whose actual name was never completely said to the audience due to some ExecutiveMeddling by Nickelodeon censors) has a very strange name. The origin of the name, however, was the creator, Creator/JohnKricfalusi, having seen the street sign for a local liquor store in Van Nuys, California (Where Kricfalusi lived at the time while pre-developing the series) that read "GEORGE LIQUOR". John K was astounded, and immensely amused by the liquor store owner not even bothering to have so much as a contraction in the title to declare ownership of the liquor store as "George's Liquor" and the name stuck.

* Creator/KevinSmith, a Jersey native, regularly makes nods to his home state, from mentioning local landmarks (e.g.: Monmouth College--now Monmouth University--is mentioned a couple of times ''{{Clerks}}'' and ''Film/{{Mallrats}}'', and most obviously the Quick Stop and RST Video stores in which the former mostly takes place) to towns that nobody outside the state could reasonably be expected to have heard of (Leonardo, both the setting and filming location of ''Clerks'', the suburb of Toms River being turned into [[IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom the Temple of Doom]] in ''ClerksTheAnimatedSeries'').

* Creator/KevinSmith, a Jersey native, regularly makes nods to his home state, from mentioning local landmarks (e.g.: Monmouth College--now Monmouth University--is mentioned a couple of times ''{{Clerks}}'' and ''{{Mallrats}}'', and most obviously the Quick Stop and RST Video stores in which the former mostly takes place) to towns that nobody outside the state could reasonably be expected to have heard of (Leonardo, both the setting and filming location of ''Clerks'', the suburb of Toms River being turned into [[IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom the Temple of Doom]] in ''ClerksTheAnimatedSeries'').

* in ''Film/BadSanta'', [[VillainProtagonist Willie]] is asked by a kid what the North Pole is like. As the movie takes place in Arizona, Willie replies: "[[PlaceWorseThanDeath Apache Junction]]."
** [[DontExplainTheJoke For those not from Arizona]], Apache Junction is commonly associated with rednecks and trailer parks.

* The ''HoratioHornblower'' series of books and movies largely went out of their way to avoid referencing conflict between the United States of America and the British Empire, due to CS Forester's biggest market being the United States. It was also important for a variety of political reasons, given that the books were published during WorldWarII and the early parts of the ColdWar. The end result is that we largely never see the Americans, save for a number of [[TheCameo cameos]] in various books, the most important such cameo being the [[HistoricalDomainCharacter USS]] ''[[HistoricalDomainCharacter Constitution]]'' in ''Hornblower And The Hotspur'' (changed to [[MeaningfulName USS]] ''[[MeaningfulName Liberty]]'' in the televised adaptation, ''Hornblower: Duty''.)

Basically, this is about stories that take place in other countries and focus on characters from other countries, but still mention the author or audience's home country in a non plot essential way. Basically a ShoutOut to the home country.

* KevinSmith, a Jersey native, regularly makes nods to his home state, from mentioning local landmarks (e.g.: Monmouth College--now Monmouth University--is mentioned a couple of times ''{{Clerks}}'' and ''{{Mallrats}}'', and most obviously the Quick Stop and RST Video stores in which the former mostly takes place) to towns that nobody outside the state could reasonably be expected to have heard of (Leonardo, both the setting and filming location of ''Clerks'', the suburb of Toms River being turned into [[IndianaJonesAndTheTempleOfDoom the Temple of Doom]] in ''ClerksTheAnimatedSeries'').

* In ''Film/TheMatrix'' the Wachowski brothers (who hail from UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}}) make reference to "the Loop" and various other downtown Chicago place names including Balbo Drive - Chicago is the only major city in the world with a street named Balbo. (Named after Mussolini's heir apparant during the 1933 "Century of Progress" Worlds Fair, on the occasion of his transatlantic flight from Rome to Chicago.)

* In ''Theatre/FiddlerOnTheRoof'', Tevye has a brother-in-law in America, and several Anatevkans set off for there at the end. When Tevye hears from his daughter Tzeitel and Motel that they have pledged marriage to each other, he says, "Where do you think you are? America?"

* In ''Theatre/FiddlerOnTheRoof'', America was mentioned several times.
* In Creator/GilbertAndSullivan's ''Theatre/TheMikado'':
-->'''Ko-Ko''': The fact is, he's gone abroad.
-->'''The Mikado''': Gone abroad? His address!
-->'''Ko-Ko''': Knightsbridge!
** Knightsbridge is a district in London, which at the time of ''The Mikado'''s premiere was the site of a "Japanese village" exhibit. Newer productions generally substitute some local neighborhood for the reference.

* ''RenAndStimpy'' character "George Liquor", (who only showed up in a handful of episodes, and whose actual name was never completely said to the audience due to some ExecutiveMeddling by Nickelodeon censors) has a very strange name. The origin of the name, however, was the creator, JohnKricfalusi, having seen the street sign for a local liquor store in Van Nuys, California (Where Kricfalusi lived at the time while pre-developing the series) that read "GEORGE LIQUOR". John K was astounded, and immensely amused by the liquor store owner not even bothering to have so much as a contraction in the title to declare ownership of the liquor store as "George's Liquor" and the name stuck.

* In ''Film/TheMatrix'' the Wachowski brothers (who hail from [[TheWindyCity Chicago]]) make reference to "the Loop" and various other downtown Chicago place names including Balbo Drive - Chicago is the only major city in the world with a street named Balbo. (Named after Mussolini's heir apparant during the 1933 "Century of Progress" Worlds Fair, on the occasion of his transatlantic flight from Rome to Chicago.)

* In the 2009 ''Film/SherlockHolmes'' movie, the villain mentions during his EvilGloating that he has plans to take over America as well as Britain.

* ''Film/MaryPoppins'' references the [[TheAmericanRevolution Boston Tea Party]] as the last thing to have caused a run on Fidelity Fiduciary Bank:

* In ''FiddlerOnTheRoof'', America was mentioned several times.
* In GilbertAndSullivan's ''TheMikado'':

** Knightsbridge is a district in London, which at the time of ''TheMikado'''s premiere was the site of a "Japanese village" exhibit. Newer productions generally substitute some local neighborhood for the reference.
** Gilbert also has the daughters of the King in ''Utopia, Ltd.'' educated in England as an excuse for introducing English characters into the fictional South Sea island.
** In an ironic subversion, Julia Jellicoe, the English actress working in the [[{{Ruritania}} mythical Teutonic Grand Duchy]] of Pfennig-Halfpfennig in ''The Grand Duke'', was played by a German actress!
* Creator/WilliamShakespeare did this all the time. For example, in ''{{Hamlet}}'', the king decides to send Hamlet to England because he is insane. The rationale is that Hamlet can recover there, and if he doesn't, nobody will notice since Englishmen are all mad anyway.

* In ''MyFairLady'', Professor Higgins sings that, "There even are places where English completely disappears / In America, they haven't used it for years!" The play is, of course, an American musical adaptation of ''{{Theatre/Pygmalion}}''.

Related to ButNotTooForeign.

* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButtHead'' at one point, encounters a VERY obscure, head-scratching example of this that left many viewers completely baffled and unaware of the meaning behind a single line for years. During one of their Music Video commentary segments, Beavis and Butt-Head watch a scene with elderly people. Beavis quips the line "I've got the V-C-Arrrrrr!!!" (VCR) in an extremely sarcastic voice. Butt-Head responds more or less with "Uhh What the hell are you talking about?". Beavis insists that it came from those old people "from that commercial.". Butt-Head insists that Beavis is making things up and he has no idea what he's talking about, he's never heard it before, and to shut up. Most viewers for the longest time had no idea what he meant by "I've Got The VCR". Especially anybody outside of a specific county in Albuquerque, Texas where a certain mercilessly overplayed amateurish local electronics store commercial from the early 90's, originated from.

[[AC:ProWrestling]]

* Creator/JulesVerne was a French author who wrote in French. Many of his stories had minor (at least non-protagonist) French characters alongside protagonists of other nationalities. Examples are Michel Ardan in ''Literature/FromTheEarthToTheMoon'' and Jean Passepartout in ''AroundTheWorldInEightyDays''.

* Author Patrick O'Brian's Irish ancestry and his move to a Catalan town in his youth show up in the character of Stephen Maturin, as part of the {{Aubrey-Maturin}} series.

* ''Film/MaryPoppins'' references the [[TheAmericanRevolution Boston Tea Party]] as the last time there was a run on Fidelity Fiduciary Bank.