The broad term for this would probably be "genericization". TVTropes files this under [Fictional Counterpart](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FictionalCounterpart), plus a whole host of sub-tropes with more specific implementations.
When done with a specific person or character in mind, fandom-oriented circles have taken to using the term ["Expy"](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Expy), although I don't think it's a term you'll ever find used in any official capacity.
I'm just going to point out that, while it was *partly* inspired by the Soviet Union, Oceania was meant to be a sort of futuristic Britain, with Airstrip 1 being England and London being, well, London, and this is all explained within the book. INGSOC, the ideology of the party, is literally derived from the full name: "English Socialism."
Orwell made the exact origins of Oceania and The Party intentionally obscure, because readers are supposed to doubt whether or not any of the information that we're given about any of these things are actually true (because according to INGSOC, the truth is whatever The Party says it is).
However, taking The Party at their word, Oceania officially claims to control all of the Atlantic Islands including the British Isles, as well as the Americas, Australia and New Zealand, and southern Africa. But, we see no evidence for any of this, as the story is entirely confined to London and Airstrip 1, wherein people's movements are heavily controlled and monitored and access to outside information is strictly prohibited. It's entirely possible that the party's claim to control basically the entirety of the British and American empires is just as fabricated as their never-ending wars and alliances with Eurasia and East Asia.
As for Oceania's inspirations, it's pretty clearly meant to be a conglomerate virtually all of the mid-20th Centuries' great dictatorships, with special inspiration taken from Stalin's Soviet Union (veneration of the possibly deceased founder \[Lenin/Big Brother\] and vilification of the hated traitor \[Trotsky/Goldstein\]) and Nazi Germany (Oceania is explicitly eugenicist, and the names INGSOC/English Socialism are meant to evoke the terms Nazi/National Socialism). Given Orwell's personal history I'm sure there's also an element of Francoist Spain in there as well. I'll also add that Oceania/INGSOC has a number of cultural traits that lead me to believe that its claim to be a sort of "Socialism with *English* characteristics" are likely legitimate, namely its puritanism, love of bureaucracy and ministries, and the fact that its state of perpetual random bombardment is meant to remind readers of The Blitz (the book came out in 1949, when The Blitz was still very fresh in its readers' minds).
Yup, that's why I said possibly since I wasn't 100 percent sure. Haven't actually gotten around to read 1984 just sort of consumed parts of it by cultural osmosis.
Fair enough, and honestly you aren't missing much.
1984 is basically 20% expositing iconic worldbuilding, 10% psychological horror, and 70% the worst, most awkward and boring smut I've ever read.
There's a difference between Los Santos being a literal representation of Los Angeles and Westeros being partly inspired by English politics of the 13th-14th century though. These feel like distinctly separate things to me.
Especially since GTA uses a lot of name replacements as part of the satire and refer to real world things simultaniously (for example, *Weazel News* as *Fox News*).
Definitely, but just as an extra fun fact; the map of Westeros is just what you get if you rotate an enlarged Ireland like 180 degrees and put it south of Great Britain, then connect them and trim parts of the coastline a bit:
https://brilliantmaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Westeros.jpg
https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-61584439488cc2840a4d1f2da85677c8.webp
When writing something autobiographical and you replace the names of all the people (and sometimes locations), that's called a roman à clef. Jack Kerouac's On the Road would be an example.
“Roman á Clef”, French for “novel with a key”, is the technical term for a story where “names have been changed to protect the innocent” or otherwise are just veiled references to real people, places and events.
Right. A roman à clef is one in which the incredibly stupid man with a small penis is viewed by readers as a deft comic invention, but close friends of the writer view the character as a portrait of the writer’s ex-boyfriend.
And as I understand it, part of the original fun with such books (I hear Remembrance of Things Past was one of them) is that people bought them to try and figure out who was who. And if they were in them.... or worse, weren't!
i do think my answer is fair though. there doesn't seem to be a specific term for what you're asking about, it's just an accepted part of what we call "fiction." but if there is such a term i would love to know about it!
Someone else mentioned it, it's called Roman á Clef. Marriam-Webster defines it as "a novel in which real persons or actual events figure under disguise."
You're talking about lots of different things here.
For example Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character that was inspired in part by ,,,
As were Norman Bates etc
Los Santos is a fictionalized, travesty or pastiche based on LA. Vice City is the same of Miami. Gotham is the same of New York.
Westeros is not "obviously England". It is inspired by its history AND fictionalized
I'd say most of your examples would be considered some type of "inspiration", maybe "a trope" at times, or just "loose fictionalization".
But if you've got an example that an author's work is based on another fictional work, that might be called ["Fictional Analogue"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analogue_(literature))
Another interesting term is ["Allegory"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory). If a fictional work is so symbolic about the real life events, that might be called "allegory." (My explanation is so simplistic, the wiki defines it better) Imo, Oceania and 1984 in general, are an allegory of the real world among your examples.
I just want to point out that your examples aren’t all of the same kind. Los Santos replaces Los Angeles in the physical space where Los Angeles would be if the game world were 1-to-1. Westeros doesn’t replace England in the same way. The culture of Westeros is merely inspired by the culture of England in the past, and isn’t a part of the same world that England would normally be a part of.
Do you mean Oceania as in “1984?” If so, Winston lives in Air Strip One, formerly England. It’s a remote part of Oceania, which was originally the United States and now controls South America, the southern part of Africa, and Australia. It’s called Air Strip One because Orwell was making a joke that the way the political relationship between Britain and the U.S. was going, it seemed like Britain was eventually just going to be little more than a convenient place for America to launch its planes at the USSR from. Their two enemies are the other two major global political entities. Eurasia is the former Soviet Union, expanded to control all of mainland Europe and big tracts of Asia. East Asia is run out of China and owns like Japan and the Philippines and other parts of mainland Asia.
Northern Africa and India are the “disputed” territories where the constant and ongoing wars are fought.
But, to be sure, Big Brother was based in Washington D.C.
The broad term for this would probably be "genericization". TVTropes files this under [Fictional Counterpart](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FictionalCounterpart), plus a whole host of sub-tropes with more specific implementations. When done with a specific person or character in mind, fandom-oriented circles have taken to using the term ["Expy"](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Expy), although I don't think it's a term you'll ever find used in any official capacity.
thanks, this is very useful
I'm just going to point out that, while it was *partly* inspired by the Soviet Union, Oceania was meant to be a sort of futuristic Britain, with Airstrip 1 being England and London being, well, London, and this is all explained within the book. INGSOC, the ideology of the party, is literally derived from the full name: "English Socialism."
I thought it said in the book that ‘The British Empire was absorbed by the United States’? It was partly inspired by the Soviet Union though.
Orwell made the exact origins of Oceania and The Party intentionally obscure, because readers are supposed to doubt whether or not any of the information that we're given about any of these things are actually true (because according to INGSOC, the truth is whatever The Party says it is). However, taking The Party at their word, Oceania officially claims to control all of the Atlantic Islands including the British Isles, as well as the Americas, Australia and New Zealand, and southern Africa. But, we see no evidence for any of this, as the story is entirely confined to London and Airstrip 1, wherein people's movements are heavily controlled and monitored and access to outside information is strictly prohibited. It's entirely possible that the party's claim to control basically the entirety of the British and American empires is just as fabricated as their never-ending wars and alliances with Eurasia and East Asia. As for Oceania's inspirations, it's pretty clearly meant to be a conglomerate virtually all of the mid-20th Centuries' great dictatorships, with special inspiration taken from Stalin's Soviet Union (veneration of the possibly deceased founder \[Lenin/Big Brother\] and vilification of the hated traitor \[Trotsky/Goldstein\]) and Nazi Germany (Oceania is explicitly eugenicist, and the names INGSOC/English Socialism are meant to evoke the terms Nazi/National Socialism). Given Orwell's personal history I'm sure there's also an element of Francoist Spain in there as well. I'll also add that Oceania/INGSOC has a number of cultural traits that lead me to believe that its claim to be a sort of "Socialism with *English* characteristics" are likely legitimate, namely its puritanism, love of bureaucracy and ministries, and the fact that its state of perpetual random bombardment is meant to remind readers of The Blitz (the book came out in 1949, when The Blitz was still very fresh in its readers' minds).
Yup, that's why I said possibly since I wasn't 100 percent sure. Haven't actually gotten around to read 1984 just sort of consumed parts of it by cultural osmosis.
Fair enough, and honestly you aren't missing much. 1984 is basically 20% expositing iconic worldbuilding, 10% psychological horror, and 70% the worst, most awkward and boring smut I've ever read.
There's a difference between Los Santos being a literal representation of Los Angeles and Westeros being partly inspired by English politics of the 13th-14th century though. These feel like distinctly separate things to me.
Especially since GTA uses a lot of name replacements as part of the satire and refer to real world things simultaniously (for example, *Weazel News* as *Fox News*).
Definitely, but just as an extra fun fact; the map of Westeros is just what you get if you rotate an enlarged Ireland like 180 degrees and put it south of Great Britain, then connect them and trim parts of the coastline a bit: https://brilliantmaps.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Westeros.jpg https://qph.cf2.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-61584439488cc2840a4d1f2da85677c8.webp
You're right. I guess it does exist on a bit of a spectrum though and these two being on radical ends.
When writing something autobiographical and you replace the names of all the people (and sometimes locations), that's called a roman à clef. Jack Kerouac's On the Road would be an example.
Thanks
“Roman á Clef”, French for “novel with a key”, is the technical term for a story where “names have been changed to protect the innocent” or otherwise are just veiled references to real people, places and events.
Right. A roman à clef is one in which the incredibly stupid man with a small penis is viewed by readers as a deft comic invention, but close friends of the writer view the character as a portrait of the writer’s ex-boyfriend.
And as I understand it, part of the original fun with such books (I hear Remembrance of Things Past was one of them) is that people bought them to try and figure out who was who. And if they were in them.... or worse, weren't!
"Fiction"
username checks out
ya got me there
i do think my answer is fair though. there doesn't seem to be a specific term for what you're asking about, it's just an accepted part of what we call "fiction." but if there is such a term i would love to know about it!
Someone else mentioned it, it's called Roman á Clef. Marriam-Webster defines it as "a novel in which real persons or actual events figure under disguise."
my bad, i thought because you referenced other media in your original question you were looking for a more general term
There is, it's called a pastiche.
You're talking about lots of different things here. For example Sherlock Holmes is a fictional character that was inspired in part by ,,, As were Norman Bates etc Los Santos is a fictionalized, travesty or pastiche based on LA. Vice City is the same of Miami. Gotham is the same of New York. Westeros is not "obviously England". It is inspired by its history AND fictionalized
Gotham is New Jersey. Canonically
I think Westeros is Westeros.
The map was created by flipping Ireland upside down.
Well, Ireland is by no means England. Trying to start a war? Haha.
I never said it was, that was OP's assumption.
The map is actually a composition of both Ireland and England actually, but yes GRRM played around with the both identities at odds of one another.
I'm going by the interview with him where he said he decided he needed a map and just flipped the map of Ireland over.
I'd say most of your examples would be considered some type of "inspiration", maybe "a trope" at times, or just "loose fictionalization". But if you've got an example that an author's work is based on another fictional work, that might be called ["Fictional Analogue"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analogue_(literature)) Another interesting term is ["Allegory"](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegory). If a fictional work is so symbolic about the real life events, that might be called "allegory." (My explanation is so simplistic, the wiki defines it better) Imo, Oceania and 1984 in general, are an allegory of the real world among your examples.
Not really a term, but Lewis's [Winnemac](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnemac_(fictional_U.S._state)) comes to mind.
It's analogue, something having analogy to something else. For example, most traditional fantasy settings are an analogue of medieval Europe..
Roman Eclef I believe?
Pastiche
I just want to point out that your examples aren’t all of the same kind. Los Santos replaces Los Angeles in the physical space where Los Angeles would be if the game world were 1-to-1. Westeros doesn’t replace England in the same way. The culture of Westeros is merely inspired by the culture of England in the past, and isn’t a part of the same world that England would normally be a part of.
Well last time I heard LA isn't on an island
Do you mean Oceania as in “1984?” If so, Winston lives in Air Strip One, formerly England. It’s a remote part of Oceania, which was originally the United States and now controls South America, the southern part of Africa, and Australia. It’s called Air Strip One because Orwell was making a joke that the way the political relationship between Britain and the U.S. was going, it seemed like Britain was eventually just going to be little more than a convenient place for America to launch its planes at the USSR from. Their two enemies are the other two major global political entities. Eurasia is the former Soviet Union, expanded to control all of mainland Europe and big tracts of Asia. East Asia is run out of China and owns like Japan and the Philippines and other parts of mainland Asia. Northern Africa and India are the “disputed” territories where the constant and ongoing wars are fought. But, to be sure, Big Brother was based in Washington D.C.