History Main / TheBigEasy

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]

[[folder: Webcomics]]

[[folder: Web Videos]]

** Parodied in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E24TheSimpsonsSpinOffShowcase The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase]]", where Chief Wiggum moves to New Orleans and is visited by the Simpsons. "Chief Wiggum, I can't wait to hear about all the exciting, sexy adventures you're sure to have against this colorful backdrop," Lisa {{lampshade|Hanging}}s. Also, so-called "New Orleans Native" Skinner doesn't even know it's Mardi Gras until somebody opens up a window and there's a massive float passing by.
** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E2AStreetcarNamedMarge A Streetcar Named Marge]]" has "Oh, Streetcar!", a musical version of ''Theatre/AStreetcarNamedDesire'' that Marge stars in, with its song so catchy, offensive, and ''accurate'' that it could easily serve as the page quote.

* In the ''Literature/DaveRobicheaux'' novels of Creator/JamesLeeBurke'', Robicheaux is a former homicide detective in the New Orleans Police Department, who now lives in New Iberia, Louisiana, and works as a detective for the Iberia Parish Sheriff's Office, although his cases often take him back New Orleans.

* ''Literature/AConfederacyOfDunces'': The protagonist considers New Orleans the center of the world and is horrified of the thought of moving as far as Baton Rouge.
* Creator/DeanKoontz's ''Frankenstein'' trilogy is set here. For some reason, the final book was delayed for years after Katrina, leading readers to expect monsters to attack amidst a [[DistancedFromCurrentEvents city-wrecking hurricane]]. It didn't happen.
* Andrew Fox, also a New Orleans native, wrote two vampire books set in New Orleans: ''Fat White Vampire Blues'' and ''Bride of the Fat White Vampire''. Although he averts most of the stereotypes and gives a fairly accurate depiction of the city, it's still about vampires and how the city is secretly controlled by them. Of course, it's also a parody. In fact, in the first novel, The Big Bad and his crew have their HQ [[spoiler: beneath Harrah's Casino in downtown New Orleans]]. The series has also been called a cross between ''Film/InterviewWithTheVampire'' and ''A Confederacy of Dunces''. Although, Jules Duchon is far more likable than [[Literature/AConfederacyOfDunces Ignatious J. Riley]].
* In ''Literature/WildCards'', when the committee goes to New Orleans to help evacuate and strengthen the dikes before a hurricane, they come across a local ace whose power is to animate zombies.
* Mark Kelly, from the first part of ''[[Literature/SpecialCircumstances Princess of Wands]]'', works in the New Orleans Police Department, with a few scenes in the city, and much of the rest of the segment out in the swamp areas in the vicinity.
* Creator/ArthurHailey's ''Hotel'' is set in New Orleans.
* The setting for Percy Walker's ''Literature/TheMoviegoer''. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools Not that he likes it very much]].
* Most of the ''Literature/{{Illuminated}}'' series takes place in New Orleans. While the city tends to attract demons, mages, and other varieties of the supernatural, the setting itself is faithful to the present, and the series averts almost every trope usually associated with the city.
* Barbara Hambly's [[Literature/BenjaminJanuary Benjamin January series]] is set in New Orleans, right after the transfer to American control of the city. Averts the lack of black residents part of the trope, as the protagonist is mixed-race and the first book especially, "A Free Man of Color", goes deep into the complexities of racial relations and politics of the time.

* There was a '90s detective series titled ''The Big Easy''.

* There was a '60s detective series called ''Bourbon Street Beat''.

* The '80s dramedy ''Frank's Place'' was set in New Orleans.

* The short-lived FOX cop drama ''K-Ville'' dealt with two police officers trying to keep the peace in post-Katrina New Orleans, when a good chunk of the police force had left with the rest of the refugees. The show quickly became notorious for its inaccuracies, especially a mention of "gumbo parties" in the first episode. This was referenced in ''Series/{{Treme}}'', where a tourist asks about gumbo parties during Mardi Gras and is told "We don't call them that."

* There is a ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' scenario "Dead Man Stomp" set in a horror version of New Orleans, in which a young trumpet player gets a trumpet cursed with voodoo that can raise the dead.

* ''VideoGame/TonyHawksUnderground 2'' featured a New Orleans stage that takes place during a voodoo invasion at Mardi Gras.

* ''VideoGame/ShadowMan: 2econd Coming'' features a New Orleans that consists of about four square blocks of the French Quarter surrounded by eerie swamplands.

* ''VideoGame/EpicMickey'' has the sub level Bog Easy, referring to the Haunted Mansion's location in New Orleans Square in Disneyland.

* ''[[VideoGame/InFamous2 inFamous 2]]'''s intro takes place in a counterpart to New York City called Empire City (the main setting of the [[VideoGame/InFamous first game]]), but the main bulk of the game takes place in New Marais, which is [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial clearly not]] in any way New Orleans!
* ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIIILiberation'' primarily takes place in New Orleans (aside from a few sequences set in Mexico). An unusual example of this trope since it focuses on the colonial history of the Big Easy when it was still a predominantly French-speaking city under the control of the Spanish after [[UsefulNotes/SevenYearsWar the Seven Years War]]. Like most depictions of New Orleans, there is a Bayou that exists outside of its boundaries which protagonist Aveline de Grandpré frequently visits to meet up with escaped slaves or work with smugglers Elise and Roussillon. Voodoo even plays a role in the story though much less frequent than other examples.
* ''VideoGame/LauraBow'' has the first game in the series, ''The Colonel's Bequest'', take place in an old New Orleans mansion out in the swamps. It's portrayed as hard to reach, needing a swamp boat to get to, but it also includes a voodoo woman named Celie.
* ''VideoGame/MafiaIII'' is set in New Bordeaux, a fictionalized version of New Orleans, amidst the political and cultural turbulence of [[TheSixties 1968]] as the protagonist Lincoln Clay tries to overthrow TheMafia and replace it with his own multiethnic criminal organization. Given the time period, many people are still trying to act as though [[UsefulNotes/CivilRightsMovement segregation hadn't yet ended]], with the Southern Union (a thinly veiled {{Expy}} of TheKlan) active in the city, [[PompousPoliticalPundit talk show hosts]] railing against black people, and the rise of Clay's gang inflaming racial tensions between the city's white and black communities. Mardi Gras is only seen in the prologue, though the French Ward (the game's version of the French Quarter) is still portrayed as a tourist hotspot.

* The fourth district of ''VideoGame/CriminalCasePacificBay'', Jazz Town, is heavily based on New Orleans, with its architecture resembling the one seen in the French Quartet, jazz musicians being everywhere, and the final case being set during the annual Jazz town Mardi Gras.
* The Mosquito Marsh world in ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot4ItsAboutTime'' is very indulgent in its New Orleans influences across all three levels.
** The first level in the world, "Off Beat", takes place during a huge Mardi Gras parade with ghosts serving as most of the enemies, platforms wearing Mardi Gras masks, and big band music.
** "Home Cookin'" is a firefly-littered swamp at night with bats making up the majority of the enemies. It is also, quite fittingly, the first level the player can use Dingodile in.
** "Run It Bayou" and its timeline counterpart "No Dillo Dallying" combines elements of the above, with both city- and swamp-based sections featuring posters with "Off Beat"'s ghosts and the same enemies as "Home Cookin'".

* ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooOnZombieIsland'' has the gang from Mysteries, Inc. going to New Orleans, and running into, you guessed it, zombies. They go back later on in an episode of the [[WesternAnimation/WhatsNewScoobyDoo 2002 series]], this time running into ''ghosts'' (of two soldiers from the Civil War).
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''
** Parodied in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E24TheSimpsonsSpinOffShowcase The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase]]", where Chief Wiggum moves to New Orleans and is visited by the Simpsons. "Chief Wiggum, I can't wait to hear about all the exciting, sexy adventures you're sure to have against this colorful backdrop," Lisa {{lampshade|Hanging}}s. Also, so-called "New Orleans Native" Skinner doesn't even know it's Mardi Gras until somebody opens up a window and there's a massive float passing by.
** "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS4E2AStreetcarNamedMarge A Streetcar Named Marge]]" has "Oh, Streetcar!", a musical version of ''Theatre/AStreetcarNamedDesire'' that Marge stars in, with its song so catchy, offensive, and ''accurate'' that it could easily serve as the page quote.
* [[TheMillstone Bill Dauterive]] in ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' turns out to be related to a very wealthy cajun family of semi-aristocrats living in a decaying mansion in the middle of a Louisiana swamp. Happily, the scenes actually in New Orleans are completely free of this trope.
** Although Dale is happy to reference the trope.
--->'''Dale:''' I've always wanted to eat fried dough in the most corrupt city on Earth!
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'' took place in New Orleans and featured voodoo priestesses, debauchery on Bourbon Street and bayou people living in the swamp (which is interestingly a stone's throw away from the French Quarter).

* ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'': Harley, Ivy, and Nora's New Orleans itinerary involves getting passed-out drunk, getting some magical "assistance" from John Constantine, visiting the nearby swamp, and getting beignets. They come home the next episode draped in Mardi Gras beads.

[[folder: Anime]]

[[folder: AudioPlay]]

[[folder:ComicBooks]]
* For some, ComicBook/{{Gambit}} of the ComicBook/XMen is nothing more than a collection of various stereotypes about thieves and Cajuns all rolled into one that has only recently been given any major CharacterDevelopment. He was raised by your run-of-the-mill Cajun thieves' guild after being kidnapped at birth, and their leader was advised by a black Catholic [[HollywoodVoodoo voodoo priestess]] type! He has a Cajun accent so hardcore that even the writers of the X-Men books can't help but parody it now and then! Every time Gambit has a few issues in New Orleans, he WILL have scenes in either the swamps and/or the French Quarter and some mention of gumbo or jambalaya WILL be made, I gerr-on-tee it. One time he took the X-Men with him where they were seen enjoying Mardi Gras. His first appearance was set during Mardi Gras, too.

* Alley-Kat-Abra of Comicbook/CaptainCarrotAndHisAmazingZooCrew hails from its Earth-C counterpart, "Mew Orleans." While [[ItsAlwaysMardiGrasInNewOrleans Its Always Mardi Gras In Mew Orleans]] shows up (the visiting Zoo Crew, looking for Alley, run into Mew Orleans' Mardi Gras parade), the other tropes are largely unused (aside from Alley's interest in the occult).
* Creator/ValiantComics ''Shadowman'' features a hero from New Orleans, and shades of voodoo as well.
* ''Comicbook/SwampThing'' is based on the Louisiana swamps and [[Film/SwampThing the films]] are based on there too.
* The 2008 [[AntiAntiChrist Daimon Hellstrom]] miniseries is based in New Orleans and occasionally talks about the city's post-Katrina efforts, but the series makes almost no use of the setting's usual relationship with the supernatural (the villains were the Egyptian gods, of all things).
* The fourth ''Comicbook/{{Blacksad}}'' album is set here.
* Marvel's resident voodoo expert, Jericho Drumm (formerly Brother Voodoo, now Doctor Voodoo), has always been based in New Orleans.

* When Marvel started its own WizardingSchool with 2020's ComicBook/StrangeAcademy, the school was placed in New Orleans. Partly because Dr. Voodoo (see above) was running it and partly because the pan-dimensional student body wouldn't arouse much alarm (or even get noticed) on the streets of the Crescent City.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]
* ''Film/LiveAndLetDie'': Most of the action in the movie is split between New Orleans and the fictional Caribbean island of San Monique, with a smaller part in UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity.
* ''Film/AngelHeart'' manages to work in Mardi Gras, Voodoo, a hardboiled detective AND [[spoiler:the ''Devil.'']] a regular spicy gumbo!
* ''Film/UndercoverBlues'' has a married pair of spies on vacation in a version of New Orleans that fits this trope to a T. Of course, their vacation doesn't last long, leading to all the exciting action and chase scene possibilities that Hollywood New Orleans offers.
* The eponymous locale of ''The Big Easy'' is depicted as sex, dangerous, atmospheric, and populated mainly by wiseguys (Mafiosi) and Cajuns -- even though the Cajuns are traditionally farming people of rural South Louisiana. New Orleans' native Creoles are a different ethnic group entirely.
* Largely averted when Comicbook/{{Wolverine}} heads here in ''Film/XMenOriginsWolverine'' to find Gambit who, surprisingly, is toned down a lot from his comic persona.

* ''Hotel'', the 1967 film based on Creator/ArthurHailey's novel of the same name, is set in New Orleans.
* ''Film/SonOfDracula'' is set around here. Main villain even hides in the swamps.
* The beginning and end of ''Film/LastHoliday'' starring Music/QueenLatifah both take place in a pre-Katrina New Orleans. The movie mostly subverts this trope as it shows New Orleans as it really looks on any given day, even with the street car shots. The one stereotype used is that Georgia, the main character, is a great cook who has aspirations of owning a restaurant. [[WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog Disney]] must have been inspired.
* The 1939 version of ''Theatre/TheCatAndTheCanary'' moves the West mansion into Louisiana bayou.
* ''The Cincinnati Kid'' is set in '30s New Orleans.

* The Creator/ClintEastwood neo-noir movie ''Tightrope'' is set in New Orleans, though it's mainly for aesthetic reasons. [[WhatCouldHaveBeen The film was going to be set in California]], but Eastwood didn't want it to be confused with a ''Film/DirtyHarry'' movie, and wanted a different location.
* ''Film/InvisibleAvenger'' is set in, and was shot on location in, New Orleans.
* The second half of ''Film/JackReacherNeverGoBack'' is set in New Orleans.
* ''Film/HeavensPrisoners'' is about organized crime in and around New Orleans.
* ''Film/HauntedMansion2023'': Much like its [[Franchise/TheHauntedMansion source material]], the film is set in New Orleans, with a shot of Bourbon Street at the end of the main trailer.

* The book ''Zombie Queen'' by Donald Whittington takes place in the haunted, zombie version of New Orleans.
* Genua, a small city-state in Literature/{{Discworld}} is based upon New Orleans, again featuring a mix of Mardi Gras and zombies.

* Sherilyn Kenyon's ''Literature/TheDarkHunters'' series of romance novels is set almost entirely in New Orleans and environs, and fills the city with vampires, vampire hunters, gods, shapeshifters, demons, and other supernatural beings that manage somehow to remain an urban myth despite seemingly outnumbering the human population two to one. And dating a few of the wackier human natives to boot.
* Poppy Z. Brite, a New Orleans native, also sets most (but not all) of the action of his novels there. In ''Lost Souls'' there's no less than seven vampires (albeit several are fairly minor characters) and a creepy voodoo shop ran by a guy obsessed with his dead brother.

Useful Note: Locals don't call it "The Big Easy"; they just call it New Orleans. Which may or may not sound like "N'awlins" depending on who you're speaking to. Native New Orleanian pronunciation guide: Orleans has three syllables and no "R." Elsewhere in the south it varies. Important: New Orleans doesn't rhyme with "[[Film/BackToTheFuture ever]][[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnny_B_Goode greens]]." Another nickname is "The Crescent City" [[note]]Not to be confused with Crescent City, California[[/note]].

* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
** ''Series/CloakAndDagger'' is set in the Big Easy as opposed to New York in the comics.