5 ms·

I'd be interested in similar examples of works that took root far from their originating culture.

pergadad 7y ago
This is a big cultural thing that happens once in a while. See: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff?from=Main.BigInJapan https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GermansLoveDavid... Another example is 'dinner for one', an ancient British theater play/sketch that is on Germany a new years tradition.
fredley 7y ago
Dinner for One: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinner_for_One https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinner_for_One
Guillaume86 7y ago
Sugar Man is a good one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Searching_for_Sugar_Man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Searching_for_Sugar_Man
- chrisweekly 7y ago
  "Searching for Sugar Man" is a fantastic film. I first watched it on a flight, w no idea what it was about -- which made it all the more impactful. Highly recommend same to anyone who wants to see a great film about music, just skip any trailers or reviews and just watch it.
mar77i 7y ago
Heidi, the classic tale of the Swiss girl living in the mountains. The story is very popular in Asia and there was a kids' cartoon adaptation in 1974 by a Japanese animation studio. I thought the 2015 3d series also involved Japanese animators, though it turns out that one was produced in and for European TV. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070968/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070968/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4346362/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4346362/
- smacktoward 7y ago
  Heidi also became infamous here in the US in 1968, when a TV broadcast version of it pre-empted the end of a close football game, which went down in history as "the Heidi game." The furor that resulted led to changes in the way the TV networks managed their operations. The full story is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi_Game https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi_Game.
  - saghm 7y ago
    My favorite part about this story is that they would have actually let the football game keep running if so many people hadn't been calling in about it: > NBC executives had originally ordered that Heidi begin at 7:00 p.m. EST, but then decided to allow the game to air to its conclusion. However, communicating this revised plan to the technicians running NBC's master control proved impossible – as 7 p.m. approached, NBC's switchboards were jammed by viewers phoning to inquire about the night's schedule, preventing the planned change from being communicated.
- folli 7y ago
  Heidi is however very well known in Switzerland, too. In contrast to the Dog of Flanders, who is much less widely known in Flanders.
- Synaesthesia 7y ago
  Heidi! Yeah I watched that anime as a kid dubbed in Afrikaans too, good times. Well they were often tragic! Lots of tears etc.
- ageofwant 7y ago
  Heidi was a fixture on South African TV in the 1980/1990's. Dubbed in Afrikaans. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S9NQ4NGiGY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S9NQ4NGiGY Same for Niels Holgerson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Atq032t1wAQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Atq032t1wAQ
- Vomzor 7y ago
  Owned and produced by a company from Flanders in fact. https://www.studio100.tv/activities/animation/index.html https://www.studio100.tv/activities/animation/index.html
yvdriess 7y ago
To give an Asian->West example: plenty of Manga and Anime are more popular in the west than in Japan.
Wiles_7 7y ago
Anne of Green Gables is huge in Japan.
CM30 7y ago
In the world of video games, both Metroid and the Legend of Zelda are more popular in Western countries than in Japan. Actually, the whole 'Metroidvania' genre is more popular in the West than Japan in general, with Castlevania being in much the same situation as Metroid.
somecallitblues 7y ago
An interesting one to me was always this Italian comic that was extremely popular in Yugoslavia but hardly anywhere else. It’s called Alan Ford https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Ford_(comics) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Ford_(comics). I wish I could get some copies now. I loved that dark humour as a kid.
- rospaya 7y ago
  It's still in print in Yugoslavia, you can get old copies at basically any newsstand.
legulere 7y ago
The tv series Vickie Viking is super famous in Germany and it’s based on a series of Swedish books. Both the books and the TV series are really unknown in Sweden the tv series doesn’t even have a Swedish article on Wikipedia.
- aysterberi 7y ago
  I am Swedish and I remember watching that show when I was a kid, probably 20 or more years ago. Interesting that it is still a thing somewhere else.
GCA10 7y ago
Jack London's rather pulpy novels of Alaskan adventure found a huge following in the Soviet Union. Here's a citation saying that more than 10 million copies of his words circulated in the USSR between the 1920s and the 1940s. https://dalspace.library.dal.ca/bitstream/handle/10222/58636/dalrev_vol35_iss1_pp56_67.pdf?sequence=1 https://dalspace.library.dal.ca/bitstream/handle/10222/58636... From a Soviet perspective, London's admiration for socialist principles made him an ideologically fine choice. And his subject material made Russian struggles with winter, prospecting culture, etc. seem universal. London has been read to some degree in the U.S. ever since his death in 1916, but his awkward (or perhaps horrifying) racial attitudes, plus his gruff, beat-the-drum writing style have diminished his appeal in his native country as tastes change.
Bayart 7y ago
Disney comics, especially Scrooge McDuck, have been way more popular in Europe than in the US.
emmelaich 7y ago
Not exactly the same, Enid Blyton (for instance) has a strong presence in some former British colonies. Whereas in England she's a bit of an embarrassment to be forgotten.
emmelaich 7y ago
Many early heavy metal bands became famous in the Soviet / Eastern bloc. For instance Uriah Heep, while moderately successful in the UK, they were and still huge in Balkans, Germany, Japan, elsewhere. In December 1987 they became the first ever Western rock band to play in the Soviet Union. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uriah_Heep_(band) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uriah_Heep_(band)
yesenadam 7y ago
Australia here. The wacky Japanese TV serial Monkey, based on a Chinese story from the 1500s, was a hit here in the 80s. ABBA was massive here too. I was a huge Blake's 7 fan as a kid. I watched it again lately, and a Bulgarian friend said as children she and her friends played Blakes 7 in the street in Bulgaria! Also, Edgar Allan Poe was huge (first) in France.
vkreso 7y ago
An aria from a Croatian opera, "U boj, u boj", is sung by Japanese choirs since WW1. It was first thought to be Czech though because Czech sailors played it while repairing their ship ashore in Kobe after the great war. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_boj,_u_boj https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_boj,_u_boj It is sung in Croatian! https://youtu.be/uqQf_92dgHM https://youtu.be/uqQf_92dgHM

This is a big cultural thing that happens once in a while. See: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff?from=Main.BigInJapan https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GermansLoveDavid... Another example is 'dinner for one', an ancient British theater play/sketch that is on Germany a new years tradition.

fredley 7y ago

Dinner for One: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinner_for_One https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinner_for_One

Guillaume86 7y ago

Sugar Man is a good one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Searching_for_Sugar_Man https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Searching_for_Sugar_Man

chrisweekly 7y ago
"Searching for Sugar Man" is a fantastic film. I first watched it on a flight, w no idea what it was about -- which made it all the more impactful. Highly recommend same to anyone who wants to see a great film about music, just skip any trailers or reviews and just watch it.

mar77i 7y ago

Heidi, the classic tale of the Swiss girl living in the mountains. The story is very popular in Asia and there was a kids' cartoon adaptation in 1974 by a Japanese animation studio. I thought the 2015 3d series also involved Japanese animators, though it turns out that one was produced in and for European TV. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070968/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0070968/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4346362/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4346362/

smacktoward 7y ago
Heidi also became infamous here in the US in 1968, when a TV broadcast version of it pre-empted the end of a close football game, which went down in history as "the Heidi game." The furor that resulted led to changes in the way the TV networks managed their operations. The full story is at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi_Game https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heidi_Game.
- saghm 7y ago
  My favorite part about this story is that they would have actually let the football game keep running if so many people hadn't been calling in about it: > NBC executives had originally ordered that Heidi begin at 7:00 p.m. EST, but then decided to allow the game to air to its conclusion. However, communicating this revised plan to the technicians running NBC's master control proved impossible – as 7 p.m. approached, NBC's switchboards were jammed by viewers phoning to inquire about the night's schedule, preventing the planned change from being communicated.
folli 7y ago
Heidi is however very well known in Switzerland, too. In contrast to the Dog of Flanders, who is much less widely known in Flanders.
Synaesthesia 7y ago
Heidi! Yeah I watched that anime as a kid dubbed in Afrikaans too, good times. Well they were often tragic! Lots of tears etc.
ageofwant 7y ago
Heidi was a fixture on South African TV in the 1980/1990's. Dubbed in Afrikaans. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S9NQ4NGiGY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9S9NQ4NGiGY Same for Niels Holgerson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Atq032t1wAQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Atq032t1wAQ
Vomzor 7y ago
Owned and produced by a company from Flanders in fact. https://www.studio100.tv/activities/animation/index.html https://www.studio100.tv/activities/animation/index.html

yvdriess 7y ago

To give an Asian->West example: plenty of Manga and Anime are more popular in the west than in Japan.

Wiles_7 7y ago

Anne of Green Gables is huge in Japan.

CM30 7y ago

In the world of video games, both Metroid and the Legend of Zelda are more popular in Western countries than in Japan. Actually, the whole 'Metroidvania' genre is more popular in the West than Japan in general, with Castlevania being in much the same situation as Metroid.

somecallitblues 7y ago

An interesting one to me was always this Italian comic that was extremely popular in Yugoslavia but hardly anywhere else. It’s called Alan Ford https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Ford_(comics) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Ford_(comics). I wish I could get some copies now. I loved that dark humour as a kid.

rospaya 7y ago
It's still in print in Yugoslavia, you can get old copies at basically any newsstand.

legulere 7y ago

The tv series Vickie Viking is super famous in Germany and it’s based on a series of Swedish books. Both the books and the TV series are really unknown in Sweden the tv series doesn’t even have a Swedish article on Wikipedia.

aysterberi 7y ago
I am Swedish and I remember watching that show when I was a kid, probably 20 or more years ago. Interesting that it is still a thing somewhere else.

GCA10 7y ago

Jack London's rather pulpy novels of Alaskan adventure found a huge following in the Soviet Union. Here's a citation saying that more than 10 million copies of his words circulated in the USSR between the 1920s and the 1940s. https://dalspace.library.dal.ca/bitstream/handle/10222/58636/dalrev_vol35_iss1_pp56_67.pdf?sequence=1 https://dalspace.library.dal.ca/bitstream/handle/10222/58636... From a Soviet perspective, London's admiration for socialist principles made him an ideologically fine choice. And his subject material made Russian struggles with winter, prospecting culture, etc. seem universal. London has been read to some degree in the U.S. ever since his death in 1916, but his awkward (or perhaps horrifying) racial attitudes, plus his gruff, beat-the-drum writing style have diminished his appeal in his native country as tastes change.

Bayart 7y ago

Disney comics, especially Scrooge McDuck, have been way more popular in Europe than in the US.

emmelaich 7y ago

Not exactly the same, Enid Blyton (for instance) has a strong presence in some former British colonies. Whereas in England she's a bit of an embarrassment to be forgotten.

emmelaich 7y ago

Many early heavy metal bands became famous in the Soviet / Eastern bloc. For instance Uriah Heep, while moderately successful in the UK, they were and still huge in Balkans, Germany, Japan, elsewhere. In December 1987 they became the first ever Western rock band to play in the Soviet Union. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uriah_Heep_(band) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uriah_Heep_(band)

yesenadam 7y ago

Australia here. The wacky Japanese TV serial Monkey, based on a Chinese story from the 1500s, was a hit here in the 80s. ABBA was massive here too. I was a huge Blake's 7 fan as a kid. I watched it again lately, and a Bulgarian friend said as children she and her friends played Blakes 7 in the street in Bulgaria! Also, Edgar Allan Poe was huge (first) in France.

vkreso 7y ago

An aria from a Croatian opera, "U boj, u boj", is sung by Japanese choirs since WW1. It was first thought to be Czech though because Czech sailors played it while repairing their ship ashore in Kobe after the great war. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_boj,_u_boj https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/U_boj,_u_boj It is sung in Croatian! https://youtu.be/uqQf_92dgHM https://youtu.be/uqQf_92dgHM