Falling Blossom Harmony Explains: Media Stereotypes

ZOCU

ZOCU is a big feature of the media these days. We seem to have replaced the Magnates as the enemy from space in Core media (I wonder why :)) and obviously ZOCU the organisation features in a lot of our own media. Even the League talks about us pretty often.

In Core media ZOCU, especially ZCM tend to be generic badguys in cool uniform, with a some colour provided by the more foreign (to the Core) members. ZOCU military forces tend to be high quality in gear and pilots, but susceptible to Core trickery and good core gear, except for their posthuman super weapons, which act as end bosses.

ZOCU people are always transgenes (except for oppressed masses) even on worlds where there's large numbers of prosperous baselines. These Transgenes are physically strong, but not actually better fighters. They're fast, but like a robot. They can think like computers, but lack wit and cunning. They're beautiful, but not charismatic.

In ZOCU media, ZOCU organisations are on the side of good if sometimes a bit misguided. ZCM are the elite and you don't mess with them. There seems to be a trope in political drama that you have to solve The Crisis before the rest of ZOCU steps in. I'm not sure where this comes from, probably Heaven's Shore.

Most ZOCU media tends to play up the similarities between different ZOCU states, and present them as good in as much as they fit in with one another's system, even if they're a bit weird. For instance Harawayan media tends to regard Kanon as great except for its funny aristocracy. This can get very contradictory and sometimes actively offensive, especially when ZOCU writers attempt to represent one another's social issues (Londenium Writers I'm looking at you about the caste system) or aristocracies (For some reason all aristocrats in Harawayan media are funny incompetents unless they're hot princess love interests.)

Atlantis

Nobody really talks about Atlantis. It's more of a setting than anything, a place of friendly people where ZOCU spacers rest, or Core spies go to have amazing adventurers in casino with scantily clad Kanonian princesses.

For some reason in ZOCU media Atlantians have been pigeonholed as the comic relief sidekick.

Choson

Choson varies. In US and Corregidor Media Chosonese tend to be slant eyed pop up targets, capable of stopping good guy mooks but unable to hold for even a minute against any heroes that may turn up.

Interestingly, in Korean Media, Chosonese forces are all insane ubermenchan who train all day, murder prisoners as part of this training and spend the rest of their time wrestling drones while naked, and capable of gunning down dozens of SWAT troopers in running battles through the core cities they're almost always terrorising.

The ZOCU portrayal is pretty close to the Korean one, Chosonese are all ridiculously badasses who are unable to show an emotion and (depending on the genre) eventually learn to respect their other ZOCU buddy, eventually end up in bed with their other ZOCU buddy, or die heroically resisting impossible odds.

Hampshire

There's an underlying resentment about Hampshire in ZOCU media. They tend to be a bit similar to European stereotypes of people from the United States. Loud, rich, brash and sometimes witless, if ultimately perhaps well meaning. Rich Hampshirite tourists are a common Trope. Often the Hampshirite will act like a jerk, though perhaps a useful one that can acquire all manner of stuff, then have them come through for the team in the end, or sometimes not as in ESA.

In the Core, betrayal dominates the themes around Hampshire. The USA especially simply does not get why Hampshire wanted to be independent. Hampshirites tend to be portrayed as dupes of their own transhuman elite and the rest of ZOCU, sometimes honourable, and often shot dead by the Harawayan or Chosonese political officer after realising the error of their ways.

Haraway

Core Media tends to portray Harawayans as crazy and evil. PACT seems to be more into the whole "Seduce a Harawayan (usually a poor oppressed red) into the wonders of mansex (or occasionally bisexuality)" than the EU. Indeed there's actually a pretty solid distinction between EU and PACT Media about Haraway. In PACT Harawayans tend to be exotic eye candy on ZOCU teams, often acting as henchwoman to a Kanonian princess or duchess if they have speaking parts, and elite mooks if they don't. Meantime European media tends to portray Harawayans as facelessly, silently evil, usually only appearing in the climax of a movie that isn't set on Haraway, almost invisible when they want to be and utterly immune to loss. This high morale of course means lots of almost suicidal attacks and human waves. In general there's something of an insect motif in EU portrayals of the World. They do terrible things to prisoners but you rarely see them doing it, just the remains of the unfortunates who got captured, usually impaled on something phallic.

ZOCU Media is more positive, especially New Mercian Media, where Harawayans tend to be slightly weird but competent and well meaning, as well as being overpaid and skirt chasing. Londenium media tends to frown a lot about Harawayan castes, and portray us as rather aggressive and possibly unhinged but incredibly brave. The rest of ZOCU tends to follow along, though Kanon seems to have a real problem with our political system.

Heaven's Shore

In Core media Heaven's Shore is a post-apocalyptic wasteland filled with starving masses kept in conditions that would have been thought shocking in the 20th century, ruled by a corrupt and oppressive transgenic elite who's evil varies between Crime Boss and Magnate super villain. The poor oppressed are falling over themselves to help any Core infiltrators they might run across. Priests, clerics and young widows or widowers to the regimes horrible oppression are the most likely to help. Robot patrols and military police with faceless sinister helmets are everywhere.

Meantime in ZOCU media Heaven's Shore is happy if rather poor, with any excesses of its regime being passed off, as the Londeners say, as high spirits. Heavenites tend to be scrappy, can do and without the chip on their shoulder they tend to have in real life, while servants of the government are stern but ultimately fair and wanting what's best for the people, with only a few bad apples who the main character can route out.

Ithaca

In the Core, Ithacians are basically Magnates except aristocratic. There's not really much more to be said than that.

In ZOCU Media Ithacians have a complicated, noblesse oblige relationship with their bioroids where both sides treat one another with singular kindness and curtsey. Depending on the media the nobles maybe competent gentlewomen leaders fiercely loyal to their manufactured troops or chinless wonders, kept safe by the fact their bioroids (who wield the actual power) are significantly smarter than they are.

Kanon

Whether Core or ZOCU, nobody seems to be able to escape how damn sexy Kanonians are. The unattainable Kanonite noblewoman or nobleman seems to be universally popular as an image. In Core media this tends to have a dark side, with cruel, haughty but undeniably attractive Kanonian nobles with peculiar senses of honour but also a ridiculous amount of sadism being a staple of Core films, both action and even other genres (There seems to be a subgenre of romances developing Kanonian villains or villainous love interests in Japan).

ZOCU portrayal is more positive, though Haraway and Hampshire have an underlying dislike of aristocracy which shines through in their portrayals of Kanon. The Kanonian in ZOCU media is wise, though perhaps rather stern, even cruel, or the warmly heroic prince or princess of myth. Very little is said about the Kanonian lower class, even in the Core, and watching the media one can get the impression that Kanon is 100% made up of dukes and princesses.

Londenium

Like Kanon, everyone on Londenium has a title, except the lower orders, who wear flat caps. They spend their days tinkering with their childrens genes, and, if you believe most Core media, abusing British culture. European media generally doesn't know whether to play up Londenium as evil and aristocratic and representing the worst excesses of the 19th century or to laugh at it for it's terrible misuse of Europes grand traditional past, PACT Media has an easier time and needs only to do the former. Core media also seems to be in two minds about whether Londenium is the sane one in ZOCU or merely the cunning one. On the one hand they were the ones trying to bring an end to the Terrible War and on the other they're also a horrible aristocracy of the kind which the EU professes to despise (despite the fact that two of their colonies are just the same or worse).

In ZOCU Londeners are often the elder statesman, the voice of reason, sometimes the voice of caution, perhaps even over caution if you're watching a more hawkish show. New Mercian shows tend to underline their shared anglo-saxon values and also laugh (like the British) at their cultural pretensions.

New Mercia

ZOCU media, especially European ZOCU media tends to present New Mercians as the bravest of the brave. Tough 'little' New Mercia facing off against the entire might of the EU and with the help of the rest of ZOCU coming out more or less on top. New Mercians are usually portrayed as brave and rather grateful for the help of the rest of ZOCU. They're also often drunk, partly due to the climate, and very hardy folks, all the hardier because they're mostly mere baselines and can still survive against the might of the EU and their own frozen graveyard of a planet. Like Londeners they're British, very British, and all speak with the accent, far more so than the Tommys they're fighting.

Meantime in Core media portrays New Mercia as a land of crazed terrorists with WMD, who's people are manipulated and suppressed by their illegitimate monarchy and it's ZCM backers. New Mercians replace Hampshirites on European TV as most likely to try to defect and be killed by their political officer. Alternatively they might also be just as crazy as us Harawayans, blinded by their own bitterness to how oppressed they are.

Nidaros

Vikings. Nidaros are Vikings.

Core

PACT

Earth

ASEAN

Albanians. ASEAN are PACT's Albanians. Generally regarded in American, Japanese, and Brazillian media as thieves and parasites who use the power and prestige of the big three to protect themselves from being completely subsumed by China, while still happily taking in chinese investment(And in the case of more than one spy blockbuster, selling American and Brazillian trade secrets to the highest bidder). The exception to this is Indonesia, which has come to be portrayed as the fourth most important member of PACT, albeit with a wide gap between the rich and poor, and with the Pontianak Orbital Elevator. A common plot element is Magnate(Later Zodiac and other Separatist) terrorists attempting to attack the elevator.

Brazil

The third of the Big Three

Canada

Canadians are British.

Oceania

Core Media tends to go one of two ways in describing Oceania. The first portrayal they're proof that the Core can totally get with Transgenes and there's no prejudice at all, and look how much better we treat our transgenes than you treat your baselines! This stereotype is often pretty patronizing however, especially when looking at the direct democratic element of Oceania. Generally it's not portrayed as working, and Oceanians, despite being in the core are all apathetic, demotivated hippies who do nothing all day and are sassy comic relief. This is mostly American (especially Corregidor).

The second is more common in South American descended states, and it's even less flattering. Generally here the Oceanians are seen as no good cowards, possibly because they've messed around with their brains, who are generally oversexed, sinful, corrupt, apostates and ZOCU sympathisers. The only good ones are the ones who want to change their system to be more like the Core. This generally applies everywhere but romantic comedy, where, especially on Esperanca, Oceanian Icy/Career Orientated transgenic chicks are getting seduced by every men and ending up having a 'normal' life, which is a great fantasy if you're a baseline I guess.

In general both these portrayals suggest that Oceania needs to become more like the rest of the core, it's just Corregidor/The USA are much more optimistic it'll actually go that way.

In ZOCU, there's some embarrassment over Oceania. Hampshire and Haraway (though they don't feature all that much in the World's Media, cause they're way away) regard our inability to split them off from PACT as a huge diplomatic failure, so they tend to slot into the "noble opponent" slot, along side Corregidor for Hampshire. Meantime Kanon is busily using them as an advert for why democracy doesn't work, as clearly people don't know their own minds and clearly can't be trusted to decide their own destiny (certainly not democratically.)

They're also a bit of an ideological problem for Haraway, because they're direct democratic while still being in the core. This leads to quite a few conspiracy theories in our media around them, most of them pretty incredible.

I hear they feature a bit in Mink Media too, but I honestly still need to watch more of that to know about it.

Magnates

Still Evil. Still Nazis.