History Main / PopCultureIsolation

** The first three series that make up the "classic" era (''Series/TheKidsOfDegrassiStreet'', ''Series/DegrassiJuniorHigh'', and ''Series/DegrassiHigh'') were among the most respected, well-loved and top-rated programs in their homeland. Stateside, they aired to relative obscurity on PBS, and American audiences were largely unfamiliar with the show's storied legacy by the time ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration'' took off on Creator/TheN. Because of the [[GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff runaway success of ''Next Generation'' in the US]], it [[NewbieBoom attracted legions of new American fans who were not aware of anything that came before]], and the result of this has had a permanent impact on the general public's perception of the show, with the fandom greatly populated by American fans whose first exposure to the series was ''The Next Generation''. A lot has been said about why the reboot overshadowed its roots so severely, and while some fans bring up the generational difference and SequelDisplacement as the likely factors, this trope might be a better explanation.

** The first three series that make up the "classic" era (''Series/TheKidsOfDegrassiStreet'', ''Series/DegrassiJuniorHigh'', and ''Series/DegrassiHigh'') were among the most respected, well-loved and top-rated programs in their homeland. Stateside, they aired to relative obscurity on PBS, and American audiences were largely unfamiliar with the show's storied legacy by the time ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration'' took off on Creator/TheN. Because of the runaway success of ''Next Generation'' in the US, it [[NewbieBoom attracted legions of new fans who were not aware of anything that came before]], and the effects of this are still felt in the ''Degrassi'' fandom today. A lot has been said about why ''Degrassi: The Next Generation'' overshadowed its roots so severely, and while some fans bring up SequelDisplacement as the most likely scenario, this trope is likely a large part of it.

** The first three series that make up the "classic" era (''Series/TheKidsOfDegrassiStreet'', ''Series/DegrassiJuniorHigh'', and ''Series/DegrassiHigh'') were among the most respected, well-loved and top-rated programs in their homeland. Stateside, they aired to relative obscurity on PBS, and American audiences were largely unfamiliar with ''Degrassi'''s storied legacy by the time ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration'' took off on Creator/TheN. Because of ''The Next Generation'''s runaway success in the US, it [[NewbieBoom attracted legions of new fans who were not aware of anything that came before]], and the effects of this are still felt in the ''Degrassi'' fandom today. A lot has been said about why ''Degrassi: The Next Generation'' overshadowed its roots so severely, and while some fans bring up SequelDisplacement as the most likely scenario, this trope is likely a large part of it.

* Franchise/{{Degrassi}}:
** ''Series/DegrassiJuniorHigh'' and its sequel ''Series/DegrassiHigh'' were a big deal in Canada during the 80s and 90s; they aired on primetime network television, drew Beatlemania-level adulation of its cast, and critics showered it with rave reviews, calling it a superior alternative to the moralistic and heavy-handed [[VerySpecialEpisode very special episodes]] of American sitcoms. The Toronto International Film Festival named it a historically significant work to Canadian culture in 2017. Outside of North America (and to an extent, a certain portion of Gen X) however, either people barely remember it, or have never even heard of it, whereas they are more likely to have heard of its long-running 2000s reboot, ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration'', which had quite a few commercial and promotional advantages over its predecessors, such as airing on Nickelodeon's ''The N'' in the States (compared to the original series airing on low-rated PBS stations: a result of WGBH co-producing those shows).
** ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration'' in of ''itself'' is mostly known to younger and non-Canadian audiences as the show that Aubrey Graham was on before he became Music/{{Drake}}. Finding someone in that demographic who actually saw the show is a lot harder.

* When ''FineScaleModeler'' did an article on [=GunPla=]] -- the hobby of building Franchise/{{Gundam}} plastic model kits -- it was an unusual and controversial step. This despite the fact that the [=GunPla=] market ''dwarfs'' FSM's target market, American modelers of realistic vehicles. This is not unknown in the plastic modelling community; in Great Britain, the "orthodox" historically-based hobby tends to look down on sci-fi and fantasy modelers. The respective readerships of ''Military Modelling'' and ''Magazine/WhiteDwarf'' do not overlap, and Warhammer topics almost never make it into the "mainstream" modelling press - MilMod got complaints from readers when it tested this particular water.

* ''Manga/{{Gon}}'' is already an obscure manga character in Japan, but few people in America know him for anything more than being in ''VideoGame/{{Tekken}} 3''.

* ''Series/AlmostLive'' was a {{Long Runner|s}} in UsefulNotes/{{Seattle}} and a television icon. ''Series/{{MADtv}}'' was not even going to be ''shown'' in Seattle because the local Creator/{{FOX}} affiliate didn't think the show could stand against it. Even now, you could probably get half of the city to give up coffee for a month to get a box set [[note]]And considering this is a town with [[MustHaveCaffeine 2-3 espresso carts per block]], that's saying plenty[[/note]]. When Creator/ComedyCentral picked it up during the Nineties, during the world's grunge-induced fascination for all things Seattle, it crashed and burned hard because much of the humor was based on local-area customs and stereotypes. It was still a great springboard for ''Series/BillNyeTheScienceGuy'', however.

%%* As surprising as it may seem on the Internet, there are other TV shows beside ''Series/BreakingBad'', ''Series/GameOfThrones'', ''Series/TheWalkingDead'', ''Series/DoctorWho'', ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' and ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''. There are still lots of people who don't subscribe to premium cable channels or subscribe to cable at all. And who presumably do not [[NewMediaAreEvil illegally download]] them.

* ''VideoGame/BattleGaregga'' is easily one of the most infamous {{shmup}}s within the shmup community, thanks mainly due to its [[DynamicDifficulty rank]] system that cranks up the game difficulty as the player collects items, fires their weapons, and simply survives, and if not managed ''deliberately'' (through [[ViolationOfCommonSense abstaining from picking up power-up items and intentionally dying]]), the rank can spike to a point where the game goes from NintendoHard to nigh-UnwinnableByDesign. The RealIsBrown aesthetic that was unique at its time, the more iconic boss designs like that of [[ClimaxBoss Black Heart]], and the game being Creator/ManabuNamiki's debut as a game music composer also further establish ''Battle Garegga'' as one of the most iconic shmups, and nearly everyone in the shmup community has a strong opinion on it (whether good or bad). Outside of said community, however, almost nobody has even heard of it. While this can be attributed to the game being largely inaccessible to the Western world due to its arcade release being limited outside of Japan and its only port for almost 20 years being a UsefulNotes/SegaSaturn port that, in addition to being on a system that sold poorly, was released in Japan only, even after the UsefulNotes/PlayStation4 and UsefulNotes/XboxOne ports made it to the West it's still not something that is going to catch the average gamer's eye, not helped by its high price for a shmup at 34.99 USD. Likely, by the time the game got a home port in the West, the lack of pre-existing brand name recognition (like for ''VideoGame/{{Gradius}}'' and ''VideoGame/{{Raiden}}''), middling bullet counts (as opposed to the [[BulletHell "dodge THIS" factor]] of games like ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' and Creator/{{CAVE}} games) and lack of colorful visuals made it [[SeinfeldIsUnfunny seem like just another arcade shmup from the 90s]].

%%* Franchise/{{Superman}}, Franchise/{{Batman}}, ComicBook/{{Robin}}, Franchise/WonderWoman, Franchise/GreenLantern, Franchise/SpiderMan, the ComicBook/FantasticFour, ComicBook/XMen (at least ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} and possibly Comicbook/{{Cyclops}} and ComicBook/{{Storm}}), ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}, Franchise/TheFlash, ComicBook/IronMan, ComicBook/CaptainAmerica, ComicBook/TheMightyThor, and ComicBook/IncredibleHulk are the only superhero exceptions to this trope. Even then, the only of their supporting cast to be generally known by people are ComicBook/TheJoker, ComicBook/LoisLane, and possibly ComicBook/LexLuthor and ComicBook/{{Catwoman}}. J. Jonah Jameson may have crossed the threshold as well, helped by Creator/JKSimmons' performance in the ''Film/SpiderManTrilogy''.

By the way, did you know there are people and places out there who discuss and list the tools of storytelling but have almost no knowledge of wiki editing or Wiki/TVTropes? It's very true. Do you know about them? Probably not.

%%* Virtually ''any'' webcomic, no matter how popular, will go almost entirely ignored by the mainstream media. This can be observed by their Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} articles -- many webcomic articles have been deleted, while the few holdouts are widely padded with self-reference, and at best one or two third-party sources. NewspaperComics and superhero comics still reign supreme in mass-media-land, but a few webcomics have ascended to mainstream notability:

* The Chilean [[Website/YouTube youtuber]] [[WebVideo/HolaSoyGerman Germán Garmendia]] is very popular in Latin American countries (to the point where he has over 40 million subscribers, and at one point, he was the second most subscribed person on Website/YouTube[[note]]after LetsPlay/PewDiePie[[/note]]), but is almost completely unknown outside of them. He didn't even have an article on [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]] until May 2014, and still doesn't have one on this Wiki.

* There are two giants in the Japanese VirtualYouTuber scene: WebAnimation/{{Nijisanji}} and WebAnimation/{{hololive}}. However, international fans heavily gravitated towards hololive, leaving Nijisanji as a non-entity outside of its home country; this was cemented by hololive being the first to introduce a branch of Vtubers aimed at English-speaking fans that quickly exploded in popularity. For perspective, hololive's EN "Vsinger" [=IRyS=], with no content except a single tweet and the promise of a debut five days later, accrued more Twitter and [=YouTube=] followers in a single day than Nijisanji EN's fastest-growing talent at the time (Elira Pendora) accrued in a full month of streaming.

* Website/FourChan, while a cornerstone of Internet culture, is rather obscure outside it. When brought up at all it's mostly known for "The Fappening" and Anonymous, the latter of which is often [[CowboyBebopAtHisComputer/WebMedia deemed to be some sort of evil ring of hacker-terrorists]], rather than a collective nickname for the various anonymous users of the site (which was inadvertently invented by the press).

* ''VideoGame/{{BEMANI}}'' is Konami's series of rhythm games, still being top-grossers in arcades in Japan and with several games in the series still being actively maintained, such as ''VideoGame/{{beatmania}} IIDX'', ''[=DanceDanceRevolution=]'', ''VideoGame/SoundVoltex'', and ''VideoGame/{{GITADORA}}''. In just about any rhythm game community you can expect to find many people who are familiar with at least one of their games. ''BEMANI'' is notable for being one of the least-affected Konami video game properties in the wake of the scandals that rocked Konami in the mid-2010s[[note]]although that is likely due to ''BEMANI'' being produced by Konami Amusement (the branch that produces arcade and parlor games) rather than Konami Digital Entertainment (the branch that handles consumer-software games), which ''did'' get adversely affected by these scandals[[/note]]. However, outside of the rhythm game fanbase, and due to arcades and arcade games being not all that big anymore outside of the Asia Pacific region anymore, nobody seems to be aware of the ''BEMANI'' series except maybe for old versions of ''DDR'', i.e. "Konami doesn't make games anymore."

* ''VideoGame/{{BEMANI}}'' is Konami's series of rhythm games, still being top-grossers in arcades in Japan and with several games in the series still being actively maintained, such as ''VideoGame/{{beatmania}} IIDX'', ''[=DanceDanceRevolution=]'', ''VideoGame/SoundVoltex'', and ''VideoGame/{{GITADORA}}''. In just about any rhythm game community you can expect to find many people who are familiar with at least one of their games. ''BEMANI'' is notable for being one of the least-affected Konami video game properties in the wake of the scandals that rocked Konami in the mid-2010s[[note]]although that is likely due to ''BEMANI'' being produced by Konami Amusement (the branch that produces arcade and parlor games) rather than Konami Digital Entertainment (the branch that handles consumer-software games), which ''did'' get adversely affected by these scandals[[/note]]. However, outside of the rhythm game fanbase, nobody seems to be aware of the ''BEMANI'' series except maybe for old versions of ''DDR'', i.e. "Konami doesn't make games anymore."

* Radio/JohnPeel was one of the most influential trend-setters in the British music industry, and famed for his willingness to play just about ''anything'' if he liked the sound of it, [[TheLastDJ regardless of what the higher-ups might think of it]]. A number of artists who would go on to be big names in the punk, metal and alternative scenes got their big break by mailing a demo-tape to his PO box at the BBC. Outside the UK, however, he's almost unknown, outside of a few people who might have heard his show on the BBC World Service, and various ''Peel Sessions'' albums by artists who appeared on his show being released.

** As of 2021, with Olivia Rodrigo now being a world-famous pop star, people now acknowledge it as the show that Olivia was on before she made it big.

* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'''s radio stations are a great example of this. Some of the [=DJs=] even take shots at the other stations.

* ''Series/DegrassiTheNextGeneration'' is mostly known to younger and non-Canadian audiences as the show that Aubrey Graham was on before he became Music/{{Drake}}. Finding someone in that demographic who actually saw the show is a lot harder.

* To the average board game player who tends to play the classics like Monopoly, Sorry, Trouble, etc, specifically ewith kids because those games are functionally designed for families, they may be surprised to find that companies like Fantasy Flights or others like Cool Mini or Not have a catalogue of dozens of games with decent rulebooks that are designed for adults. The market on these games is not particularly large (which is why major retailers don't tend to carry them), but is big enough that they are met with large numbers of preorders.

* ''VideoGame/{{BEMANI}}'' is Konami's series of rhythm games, still being top-grossers in arcades and with several games in the series still being actively maintained, such as ''VideoGame/{{beatmania}} IIDX'', ''[=DanceDanceRevolution=]'', ''VideoGame/SoundVoltex'', and ''VideoGame/{{GITADORA}}''. In just about any rhythm game community you can expect to find many people who are familiar with at least one of their games. ''BEMANI'' is notable for being one of the least-affected Konami video game properties in the wake of the scandals that rocked Konami in the mid-2010s[[note]]although that is likely due to ''BEMANI'' being produced by Konami Amusement (the branch that produces arcade and parlor games) rather than Konami Digital Entertainment (the branch that handles consumer-software games), which ''did'' get adversely affected by these scandals[[/note]]. However, outside of the rhythm game fanbase, nobody seems to be aware of the ''BEMANI'' series except maybe for old versions of ''DDR'', i.e. "Konami doesn't make games anymore."

* ''VideoGame/{{BEMANI}}'' is Konami's series of rhythm games, still being top-grossers in arcades and with several games in the series still being actively maintained, such as ''VideoGame/{{beatmania}} IIDX'', ''[=DanceDanceRevolution=]'', ''VideoGame/SoundVoltex'', and ''VideoGame/{{GITADORA}}''. In just about any rhythm game community you can expect to find many people who are familiar with at least one of their games. ''BEMANI'' is notable for being one of the least-affected Konami video game properties in the wake of the scandals that rocked Konami in the mid-2010s[[note]]although that is likely due to ''BEMANI'' being produced by Konami Amusement rather than Konami Digital Entertainment, which ''did'' get adversely affected by these scandals[[/note]]. However, outside of the rhythm game fanbase, nobody seems to be aware of the ''BEMANI'' series except maybe for old versions of ''DDR'', i.e. "Konami doesn't make games anymore."

* ''VideoGame/{{BEMANI}}'' is Konami's series of rhythm games, still being top-grossers in arcades and with several games in the series still being actively maintained, such as ''VideoGame/{{beatmania}} IIDX'', ''[=DanceDanceRevolution=]'', ''VideoGame/SoundVoltex'', and ''VideoGame/{{GITADORA}}''. In just about any rhythm game community you can expect to find many people who are familiar with at least one of their games. ''BEMANI'' is notable for being one of the least-affected properties in the wake of the scandals that rocked Konami in the mid-2010s[[note]]although that is likely due to ''BEMANI'' being produced by Konami Amusement rather than Konami Digital Entertainment, which ''did'' get adversely affected by these scandals[[/note]]. However, outside of the rhythm game fanbase, nobody seems to be aware of the ''BEMANI'' series except maybe for old versions of ''DDR'', i.e. "Konami doesn't make games anymore."

* ''VideoGame/{{CHUNITHM}}'' is one of the highest-grossing {{rhythm game}}s in Japan and one of the most sought-after in the non-Japanese rhythm game community, thanks to its refinements to vertical-scrolling lane-based rhythm games, with many people who play it regarding it as one of ''the'' best rhythm games since ''VideoGame/{{beatmania}} IIDX''; particularly rich rhythm game players will gladly pay thousands of US dollars just to have reverese-engineered cabs with the CopyProtection disabled shipped to their homes. Perhaps because of this, SEGA would later release an international version of the game in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania. Likely due to being an UsefulNotes/ArcadeGame with NoPortForYou, it is virtually unknown outside of the non-Japanese rhythm game community, with many Westerners in particular still believing that ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution'' is Japan's premier rhythm game by a wide margin.

* ''VideoGame/{{CHUNITHM}}'' is one of the highest-grossing {{rhythm game}}s in Japan and one of the most sought-after in the non-Japanese rhythm game community, thanks to its refinements to vertical-scrolling lane-based rhythm games, with many people who play it regarding it as one of ''the'' best rhythm games since ''VideoGame/{{beatmania}} IIDX''; particularly rich rhythm game players will gladly pay thousands of US dollars just to have cabs shipped to their homes. Perhaps because of this, SEGA would later release an international version of the game in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania. Likely due to being an UsefulNotes/ArcadeGame with NoPortForYou, it is virtually unknown outside of the non-Japanese rhythm game community, with many Westerners in particular still believing that ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution'' is Japan's premier rhythm game by a wide margin.

* ''VideoGame/{{CHUNITHM}}'' is one of the highest-grossing {{rhythm game}}s in Japan and one of the most sought-after in the non-Japanese rhythm game community, thanks to its refinements to vertical-scrolling lane-based rhythm games, with many people who play it regarding it as one of ''the'' best rhythm games since ''VideoGame/{{beatmania}} IIDX''. Perhaps because of this, SEGA would later release an international version of the game in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania. Likely due to being an UsefulNotes/ArcadeGame with NoPortForYou, it is virtually unknown outside of the non-Japanese rhythm game community, with many Westerners in particular still believing that ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution'' is Japan's premier rhythm game by a wide margin.

* ''VideoGame/{{CHUNITHM}}'' is one of the highest-grossing {{rhythm game}}s in Japan and one of the most sought-after in the non-Japanese rhythm game community, thanks to its refinements to vertical-scrolling lane-based rhythm games, with many people who play it regarding it as one of ''the'' best rhythm games since ''VideoGame/{{beatmania}} IIDX''. Perhaps because of this, SEGA would later release an international version of the game in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania. Likely due to being an UsefulNotes/ArcadeGame with NoPortForYou, it is virtually unknown outside of the non-Japanese rhythm game community, with many Westerners in particular still believing that ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution'' is Japan's national sport.

* ''VideoGame/{{CHUNITHM}}'' is one of the highest-grossing {{rhythm game}}s in Japan and one of the most sought-after in the non-Japanese rhythm game community, thanks to its refinements to vertical-scrolling lane-based rhythm games, with many people who play it regarding it as one of ''the'' best rhythm games since ''VideoGame/{{beatmania}} IIDX''. Perhaps because of this, SEGA would later release an international version of the game in East Asia, Southeast Asia, and Oceania. Likely due to being an ArcadeGame with NoPortForYou, it is virtually unknown outside of the non-Japanese rhythm game community, with many Westerners in particular still believing that ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution'' is Japan's national sport.