Someone from "country A" goes to "country B", but only has significant interactions with other expatriates from "country A." Sometimes in fiction, the setting of a story has a significant impact on the shape and themes of the story. Other times, it's just background scenery. The exotic location and colorful local people in non-speaking roles are just there to give a feeling of foreignness, and all the focus characters are from the target audience's culture or others not native to the setting.
For example, a story set in India, but all the important characters are British residents with native Indian people only being seen as servants and other bit parts. Or a story about a Japanese tourist group sightseeing in the United States, and their interactions with each other, with Americans just filling out street scenes.
Often the isolation from the locals is a plot point; the main characters would have never noticed or actively avoided each other back home, but here they're the only people who speak each other's language.
One of the key elements is that the story could be set in any other foreign country or exotic culture without doing violence to the script. The Japanese tourists could be sightseeing in Canada or Mexico instead, and all the writer needs to do is change the place names—it doesn't affect their romances and family struggles one bit.
Often involves Scenery Porn and Fish out of Water.
Contrast Foreign Correspondent, when someone from "our country" goes to "their country" and interacts with the local people, getting involved in their issues and struggles.
Examples
- Lost in Translation: Fits the spirit of the trope, if not the letter; while the main characters frequently interact with local Japanese people, none of the natives are major characters, and much of the storyline could be transplanted to any other exotic culture with only which exotic customs are being observed by our protagonist changing.
- The Jackie Chan film The Medallion is set in Dublin but everyone Chan meets are English or Chinese - there are no Irish characters at all beyond extras or bit parts.
- Many of the James Bond movies have at least some of this—Bond goes to some exotic location, we see the pretty scenery and maybe a little of the local customs, but all the important people are other foreigners and members of the intelligence community. Live and Let Die is a notable exception, in which the Theme Park Version of New Orleans culture was a large part of the story and relevant to the portrayal of several characters.
- As it's in the tradition of James Bond, the Bollywood film Ek Tha Tiger has sections set in Iran, Ireland, Turkey and Cuba, but all the plot-relevant characters are Indian or Pakistani.
- In Inception, the English-speaking protagonists (all of whom are English, American, Japanese or Egyptian) meet in Mombasa. We don't see a single named Kenyan person.
- Casablanca's main and supporting characters are from out of town, and the main setting is an American-style nightclub. Native Moroccans are seen only as extras on the outdoor scenes.
- Half of the film Haywire is set in Dublin but the heroine is American, her companion is British and their contact is apparently French with no substantial Irish characters in sight. In fact the film then subverts things: the 'British agent' turns out to be an Irish hitman.
- The Road to Singapore is a tale of lust and adultery among British expats in colonial India. All the major characters are English and the setting is only relevant in that the eternal Heat Wave makes lonely, frustrated housewives more horny and pushes them into cheating on their husbands.
- Dorothy Parker's short story "The Cradle of Civilization" is about two New Yorkers in France, being served drinks by a French waiter and talking about all the American parties they've been to, there.
- Agatha Christie's Death on the Nile is about a murder that takes place in Egypt, but all the murder suspects and other major characters are non-Egyptians (and mostly British at that), and the murder is committed for personal reasons that have nothing to do with the setting. The murder could have just as easily taken place on a ship near Britain, and nothing would have changed but a few exotic details of the setting.
- The foreign episodes of Inspector Morse. Partly justified in that Morse and Lewis can only question British nationals or people who've committed crimes in the UK.
- Paul McCartney and Wings recorded Band on the Run in Nigeria, just because EMI owned a studio there and McCartney thought it would be an exotic place to record in. The locals actually protested because they thought McCartney wanted to be a Mighty Whitey stealing their native music for his own profit, but he explained to them that he didn't want to use any of their traditional songs.
- To some extent true of many albums of the "Live at Budoukan" type; the set list isn't changed to reflect the audience, it's just a way of showing your band toured another country.
- Each episode of Total Drama World Tour takes place in a different location across the globe (China, Egypt, Australia, etc.) However locals are rarely seen or heard, and even more rarely have an effect on the plot.
- Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race tried to mitigate this somewhat: in each episode the teams have a challenge judged by a local. That said, said locals usually don't even have lines, but just make faces or give thumbs up/down to the contestants' actions.
