http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SoCalization



The sun may rise in the east, at least it's settled in a final location

It's understood that Hollywood sells Californication Red Hot Chili Peppers, " , " Californication It's the edge of the world and all of Western civilizationThe sun may rise in the east, at least it's settled in a final locationIt's understood that Hollywood sells Californication

The United States is a large country of stunning diversity, but the film and television industries are largely confined to one little corner of it: the southern region California, where Hollywood is. Writers tend to write what they know, and since they know Southern California, the rest of the country will often be inaccurately portrayed as being just like L.A. (And it'll look just like L.A., too.) Often, this happens just because it's cheaper to film in nearby locations than to spend money relocating staff to other parts of the country. Because of this, minute details about other locations tend to get written in media as being just like California, even when it's very different. This trope has been especially prominent in American culture since the 1980s, when Los Angeles began to supplant New York City as the "hip" place to be.

Advertisement:

This is arguably the reason why It's Always Spring. Also known as Californication, which is the trope namer for a TV show and an album (and its titular song) by Red Hot Chili Peppers. Especially as a Take That! by residents of the Pacific Northwest. Nonetheless, it can be inverted by having shows that actually are set in Southern California... but filmed in Vancouver.

See also Big Applesauce. Subtrope of We All Live in America, which happens when American media assumes that life and culture in other parts of the world is the same as in the United States. Britain is Only London, Free State Amsterdam, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo and the Eiffel Tower Effect occur when a country is deliberately reduced by the writer to its most iconic city or just one landmark. New York Is Only Manhattan is when one city, New York City, is reduced to one iconic area within it. Contrast Canada Does Not Exist, a weird Canadian inversion of this trope, and Eagleland Osmosis, where the omnipresence of American media leads non-Americans to believe that their country works just like America (or L.A., for that matter).

Advertisement:

Not to be confused with California Doubling, which is about using specific parts of California as filming locations to represent specific settings.

Examples:

Film

Devil: Bowden, a detective in Philadelphia, refers to a possible murder as a "187".

Knight and Day: Boston-based June says "the I-93."

Logan Lucky: In Mellie's first scene, she gives an extended description of her commute in which she repeatedly refers to highways as "the [highway number]", something peculiar to Southern California and not West Virginia. The actress is from Southern California.

Transformers: Age of Extinction: A notable aversion of the age of consent version.

Literature

Spock's World: An hilariously odd variant. In a description of Vulcan- "Jim tended to think of it as southern California, but with less rain." note For those who have no idea why this is so funny, Capt. James T. Kirk hails from Iowa. Starfleet HQ is in California, but Northern California, not at all the same thing... Southern California averages about 35 rainy days per year near the coast in the winter and spring (less in the inland desert areas), with summer and autumn typically being rain-free or nearly so.

Advertisement:

Live-Action TV

American Chopper: Soundly averted by the company which underlines the "New York" after "Orange County" to emphasize that they are not Californians. Paul Sr. even got a tattoo on one of his biceps to help differentiate the two when in public.

Arrested Development: Inverted in at least one instance. For a series that makes so many specific references to the Orange County area, it's surprising to hear Michael say that he's traveling on "Highway Five" instead of "the Five," as all native Southern Californians would do.

Castle: In "The Third Man", in Alexis' jealousy over her father's attention, she mentions that her classmate wants him. She then says that she's seventeen, "but she'll be legal in three months!" The age of consent in New York is seventeen.

Criminal Minds: In "Exit Wounds", the BAU travels to a remote Alaskan town to help the local Sheriff department catch a spree killer. In real life there is not a single sheriff department in Alaska: their duties are covered by the Alaska State Troopers, who are never mentioned in the episode.

Detroit187: In the title itself: 187 is the police code for murder...in California, not Michigan.

Eastwick: Investigations are done by the local Sheriff. In Rhode Island, as well as most New England counties, Sheriffs are ceremonial positions.

House: The daughter of a clinic patient tells House that he only has to wait six months until her 18th birthday to have sex with her. In reality, House could have had sex with her a year and a half earlier, as the age of consent in New Jersey is 16.

How I Met Your Mother: Pops up from time to time. For example, characters frequently claim the age of consent to be 18, while it's actually 17 in New York.

Married... with Children: In the very first episode they refer to a local radio station as "K-Rock." That'd be for stations West of the Mississippi. All local radio and TV stations in Chicago (the location of the series) have call signs beginning with a W. note There's a possibility that "K-Rock" is a station nickname (for example: WXRK in New York went by the name "K-Rock" during the 80s and 90s).

Patriot: A womanizing Luxembourgian detective tells a little girl that he has nothing to say to her until she turns 18. He's obviously intending to say that she has no value until he can have sex with her, but the age of consent in Luxembourg is 16, not 18, as it is in California.

Point Pleasant: It was a big deal in New Jersey that this show was set on the Shore. Then we found out that Hollywood's idea of the Jersey Shore was basically "Southern California, but with lighthouses and boardwalks instead of palm trees."

Supernatural: The man Dean tackles is stated to be the District Attorney. The closest thing that Tipton, Indiana (where the episode takes place) has is a Prosecuting Attorney.

The Nanny: The show is set in New York, but in one episode Fran is holding a cup from In'n'Out Burger, a restaurant chain that exists only in the southwest U.S.

Veep: In "Oslo," Selina wants her daughter to get married in Europe in order to avoid U.S. community property laws. Divorce is governed by the state of residency, not the jurisdiction where the ceremony is performed. Catherine and Marjorie appear to be New York residents. Unlike California, New York is not a community property state. So this also counts as Hollywood Law.

Music

Californication: "Californication", which includes the line "Little girls from Sweden dream of silver-screen quotations".

Video Game

Webcomic

Web Original

Cracked: Anything about Teen-sex seems to rely on SoCalization, making British (and others) wonder what the pre-occupation with 17 year olds is.

Journal Roleplay: LJ's servers were originally in California; when the Journal Roleplay community was on that site, this was the stated reason that sex games and some horror games had a lower age limit of 18.

Other

The Magic Poker Equation: In the past, the game in question will usually be "Five Card Draw." This probably has to do with the fact that it was the only legal form of poker in California for many years. It was supplanted by stud and community card variants in most other places before the end of the 19th century. The explosion in popularity of televised poker tournaments seems to have changed the preference to Texas Hold-Em.

Western Animation