Line #35 Main/DevelopingNationsLackCities


1	[[quoteright:350:[[ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/51a7d229_71bd_43bd_822d_64e4487d9903.jpeg]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:One example of why outsourcing your work to poorer countries is not always a good idea.]]
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4	A city is a large permanent and densely populated human settlement with extensive systems for housing, transportation, sanitation, production of goods, and communication. The city's ability to bring together people and resources in a close-knit setting is vital for any sophisticated state. Yet, media from developed countries tend to portray third world/developing nations as backwards agrarian societies with no cities, which is far from the truth as even the poorest (sovereign and recognized) country in the world will have a cosmopolitan capital city with modern technologies.
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6	This may be out of ignorance from the creator(s) or because the creator's city background makes them find the rural setting more exotic or because they believe that poor rural settings are better indicators of being in a third world nation or [[RealityIsUnrealistic because they think audiences will not believe that nations like]] UsefulNotes/ElSalvador, UsefulNotes/{{Uganda}}, UsefulNotes/{{Liberia}}, and UsefulNotes/{{Kazakhstan}} have shopping malls.
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8	Africa, Latin America, and Southeast Asia tend to be the most misrepresented due to many people's misconceptions formed because of their military and civil conflicts, slow economic development, exotic landscapes and their lack of "Global" cities which makes them perfect for poor rural settings in the minds of creators.
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10	This is done in many WideOpenSandbox video games set in underdeveloped or fictional nations to avoid overtaxing the console or engine as a city would need hundreds of [=NPC=]s and vehicles moving and thus creators either remove cities or [[SpaceCompression downsize]] them to just a few skyscrapers and a dozen buildings.
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12	The downplayed version of this trope would be a developing nation with a city that's either cosmopolitan, a WretchedHive, or [[CrapsaccharineWorld both]], while the rest of the country is rural and underdeveloped.
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14	This trope is often linked to SavageSouth, AfricaIsACountry, DarkestAfrica, EgyptIsStillAncient, LatinLand, {{Spexico}}, {{Ruritania}} and {{Qurac}}. Tropical countries portrayed this way can have a WarmPlaceWarmLighting. Compare LandOfOneCity.
15	----
16	!!Examples:
17	[[foldercontrol]]
18
19	[[folder:Comic Books]]
20	* ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'': [[ComicBook/BlackPanther Wakanda]] is an inversion, being an [[{{Afrofuturism}} Afrofuturistic]] city-state that is more advanced than virtually every other country on the planet. On the other hand, the rest of Africa is more often than not depicted as being only villages, jungles and deserts, with cities very rarely being shown.
21	[[/folder]]
22
23	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
24	* ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}'' once traveled to Elbonia on assignment. The whole country is hip-deep in mud, and most of its structures are huts. For a country that does much of the technology grunt-work under subcontract, the Elbonians seem to rarely use it.
25	[[/folder]]
26
27	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
28	* ''Film/{{Borat}}'': The film [[ExaggeratedTrope exaggerates]] this trope for [[PlayedForLaughs humor]] in the most [[CrossesTheLineTwice hilariously vulgar]] ways imaginable. The country of Kazakhstan is portrayed as consisting of a single village that combines all the worst aspects of {{Ruritania}} with TheDungAges: the inhabitants are all inbred and treat BlackComedyRape and BrotherSisterIncest casually, cattle are kept inside people's houses, glass windows are considered an expensive luxury, people barely live past 43, the village blacksmith doubles as the abortion-provider, the villagers shun Jews with superstitious horror and even hold an annual "Running of The Jew", and where (according to the national anthem) a fairly average modern swimming pool is considered a "marvel to behold". That said, the country is credited as the world's number one exporter of potassium...
29	* ''Film/JurassicPark1993'': All that is seen of San José, the capital of UsefulNotes/CostaRica and a bustling inland metropolis, is a single cantina [[ArtisticLicenseGeography by the sea]].
30	* ''Film/MrAndMrsSmith2005'': The film begins in Bogotá, UsefulNotes/{{Colombia}}, which is portrayed as a river town rather than the cosmopolitan city it is.
31	[[/folder]]
32
33	[[folder:Literature]]
34	* ''Literature/TheMouseThatRoared'': The Duchy of Grand Fenwick is a micronation in Europe, somewhere between France and Switzerland. It's too small to have a city; its largest settlement is the palace of the ruling monarch, Duchess Gloriana. Fenwick is so poor and backward that their tiny military still uses longbows and arrows.
35	[[/folder]]
36
37	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
38	* ''{{Series/MASH}}'': In the show's version of South Korea, there are no cities except Seoul. Everything else is either farmland, farmland which has become war-torn battlefields, or army encampments.
39	* ''Series/{{Homeland}}'': The show has been [[https://imagininglebanon.com/2012/10/16/homelands-war-on-beirut criticized for portraying Beirut,]] the capital city of Lebanon, as a rundown, war-torn village[[note]]The footage is actually from a tiny Palestinian village.[[/note]] rather than the thriving, colorful city it is in real life.
40	* ''Series/PerfectStrangers'': The fictional island nation of Mypos is Balki's home country. The few times it is shown, we never see any cities, just small villages with carts and wagons for transportation rather than cars. It is also mentioned that the country has only one working telephone and only the royal family has indoor plumbing.
41	[[/folder]]
42
43	[[folder:Video Games]]
44	* ''VideoGame/CommandAndConquer'':
45	** The pre-3D games portay all war-torn nations as rural societies. Later games avert this.
46	** ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerTiberianDawn Tiberian Dawn]]'' (set all over Africa and Europe) and ''[[VideoGame/CommandAndConquerRedAlert Red Alert]]'' (Europe) only have small buildings and huts that can at best look like a small village and don't really show the player invading large cities (although the pre-rendered cutscenes do show more urban environments). Averted in later games where the graphics and game engine had improved enough to represent more realistic cities.
47	* ''Franchise/FarCry'': With the exception of the first game, the fictional settings are portrayed as only rural towns and villages with no major cities. ''VideoGame/FarCry6'' is the first game to have a big city and UrbanWarfare.
48	* ''VideoGame/GhostReconWildlands'': The game is set in a version of UsefulNotes/{{Bolivia}} with no cities, only towns and villages.
49	* ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'': The game's depiction of Mexico is not only completely fictional but also has no cities despite being a border region.
50	[[/folder]]
51
52	[[folder:Western Animation]]
53	* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'':
54	** In "[[Recap/SouthParkS1E8StarvinMarvin Starvin' Marvin]]", Ethiopia is shown as just a dry, barren desert with no buildings or even huts in sight. That is, until Cartman discovers Creator/SallyStruthers hoarding all the food.
55	** Downplayed in "[[Recap/SouthParkS3E1RainforestSchmainforest Rainforest Schmainforest]]". Costa Rica's capital San Jose has crappy buildings that are falling apart, but the capital building is still in decent shape (apart from a few gunshot holes on the walls). Plus the city isn't the main focus of the episode, the rainforest is.
56	** In "[[Recap/SouthParkS4E4Quintuplets2000 Quintuplets 2000]]", Romania is shown as a village with cheap, dilapidated buildings. Kenny's mom even lampshades how poor it is, just like themselves.
57	[[/folder]]

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