History Main / CyclicNationalFascination

* In TheEighties, the US obsessed with {{Awesome Aussie}}s, as illustrated by the UsefulNotes/AustralianNewWave. It was prompted by the resurgence of Australian cinema and it captured the world's attention, not only the US's. Prime examples are the huge success of ''Film/CrocodileDundee'' and Creator/SteveIrwin's popularity.

* When UsefulNotes/LatinAmerica started importing Asian soap operas (mainly [[KoreanDrama Korean]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Bollywood}} Indian]], and, several years later, [[TurkishDrama Turkish]]) around the mid-[[TheNewTens 2010s]] up to [[TheNewTwenties 2020s]], its population became very fixated on said Asian cultures. Kind of a huge, real-life AddictiveForeignSoapOpera fever. It was coupled with the rise of popularity of {{Anime}} and [[KoreanPopMusic K-pop]] in the region. This phenomenon expanded to much of the rest of the world with the explosion of interest in K-Pop and smash-success K-dramas like ''Series/SquidGame'', doing for Korea's soft power what {{Anime}} had done for Japan's in the 80s and 90s.

Cycles are frequently triggered by some innocuous entry into the meme pool, like a popular song or book. They tend to produce at least one FadSuper.

A type of CyclicTrope. Might overlap with ForeignCultureFetish. See also FollowTheLeader (a successful or groundbreaking work kick-starts a series of other similar works), TheRedStapler (a work of fiction affects demand for a real product, hobby, or occupation), and PopularityPolynomial (something once considered a fad is now popular once more).

A type of CyclicTrope. Might overlap with ForeignCultureFetish. See also FollowTheLeader, TheRedStapler, PopularityPolynomial.

* Even before the [=USA=] grew to become the world's cultural magnet, many European countries developed a fascination with the romance and scope of TheWildWest. This aspect of North American socioculture took root in the European imagination, possibly beginning with "Buffalo Bill's Wild West Shows" in Britain from 1887 onwards. The touring cowboy shows - which were heavy on spectacle and light on actual historical accuracy - heralded a wave of pulp fiction about the American Frontier in countries like Germany, France, Italy and Belgium. Creator/KarlMay was the market leader in Germany, but other European nations were not slow to follow. Western-set pulp fiction surged in popularity in the interwar years, possibly as an escapist route from the dire realities all around, and were permitted reading in Nazi Germany. [[note]]It helped that UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler was a fan of May[[/note]]. Interest surged again after 1945, but, despite the best efforts of authors like Creator/JTEdson, was moribund again by the end of the century. The light is kept alive by Belgian ''band dessinée'' cartoons such as ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'' and others.

* In UsefulNotes/{{Peru}}, the Indigenista movement started a cycle of fascination-rejection toward the country's many indigenous cultures. To be more specific, whatever remains of Incan and Aymaran cultures after Spain's invasion and assimilation. The main proposers sought to create appreciation toward that heritage in an attempt to tone down the blatant, problematic Eurocentrism that had dominated Peruvian society up until then. As a result, works exploring the struggles and traditions of the Indigenous people's descendants were created. This caused heavy rejection, further highlighting Peru's deep-seated racism issues, until it cycled back to appreciating it during leftist administrations (and during TheEighties terrorist period), where there was a noticeable push for indigenous cultures to not only be part of school curricula but also for it to be presented in a favorable light. Peruvian soap operas and films tend to reflect this trend. Examples of this are ''Film/TheMilkOfSorrow'', ''Film/{{Juliana}}'', ''Series/{{El gran reto}}'', and ''[[Film/{{Winapacha}} Wiñaypacha]]''. In terms of music, Music/MilenaWarthon and Music/RenataFlores have adopted traditional indigenous music influences and instruments; with the latter singing some verses in Quechua.

* Another cultural fixation of the United States are its indigenous cultures, with Native American tribes and famous figures being used as mascots for businesses and sports teams, and many an American proudly (and often inaccurately) claiming to be part Cherokee. Despite the fascination with Native Americans, the average (colonist-descended) American has never had a reasonable understanding of the cultures and peoples that used to live on their land, and most depictions of them tend to be grossly stereotypical and just plain wrong. This fixation actually began in Europe, with many well-meaning but patronizing European scholars and theologians expressing the plight of the Native Americans. In the United States itself, the fascination was coupled with tension, as colonists often admired the Native Americans but had a persistently violent relationship with them. This grew into the archetype of the NobleSavage in the fairest of depictions, and TheSavageIndian in the bleakest. The prominence of TheWestern in the 1920s to well into the 1960s would cement these depictions of Native Americans in the minds of the general public. Many hippies of the 1960s -usually grappling with white guilt and a sort of gullibility to foreign cultures- found themselves engrossed in Native American mysticism, although most of this mysticism was inauthentic to say the least. The fascination petered out in the early 90s as discussions about the cultural insensitivity of portrayals of natives made people a little less interested in the stereotypes, but to this day many American brands and sports teams prominently display Native Americans as their mascots, although not without controversy.

* {{Grunge}} started out as an underground, indie style in Seattle and Australia, with groups doing noisy, loud, DIY recordings that incorporated elements of punk and heavy metal. When recording executives decided Grunge would be the next big thing, they signed up almost anyone with a flannel shirt and a guitar, distortion pedal,and a few angsty songs about alienation and addiction. Grunge bands soared up the charts and toured widely. Of course, a musical style that was developed by outsiders could not flourish under the thumb of industry managers, so there was a pushback against this commercialization and commodification. This pushback, along with the surge of copycat acts and the saturation of the market with derivative songs, and the impact of addiction issues led to Grunge's demise.
* From the late 1980s through to the late 1990s, the 1930s-era swing {{Jazz}} styles went through a revival. Bands played swing tunes, often mixing in rockabilly, boogie-woogie, and using jump blues-style horn sections. Some rock, punk rock, and ska bands mixed in swing elements. Bands also took up vintage zoot suits and retro hairstyles. Along with the swing music revival was a surge in interest in 1930s-style swing dancing. Swing revival bands and artists included Royal Crown Revue, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, The Cherry Poppin' Daddies, Squirrel Nut Zippers, and Brian Setzer.

* When UsefulNotes/LatinAmerica started importing Asian soap operas (mainly [[KoreanDrama Korean]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Bollywood}} Indian]], and, several years later, [[TurkishDrama Turkish]]) around the mid-[[TheNewTens 2010s]] up to [[TheNewTwenties 2020s]], its population became very fixated on said Asian cultures. Kind of a huge, real-life AddictiveForeignSoapOpera fever. It was coupled with the rise of popularity of {{Anime}} and [[KoreanPopMusic K-pop]] in the region. This phenomenon expanded to much of the rest of the world with the explosion of interest in K-Pop and smash-success K-dramas like Series/SquidGame, doing for Korea's soft power what {{Anime}} had done for Japan's in the 80s and 90s.