Famous German, Canadian, and Italian Movie/TV/Book Spies or Detectives?

[zacloud.livejournal.com]

Yo. I'm working on a Hetalia fanfiction (possibly going to animate it... hope I can find the time!) which will have a lot of cultural references from, or famous for, each country. In one scene, each of the G8 members will be sneaking around trying to spy on a meeting between corrupt officials, without getting caught.

The current references I have so far will probably have the characters in the following styles:

America: Mission Impossible
Britain (England): James Bond OR Sherlock Holmes
Japan: a ninja (perhaps either Sarutobi Sasuke, or Ishikawa Goemon)
Russia: an oldskool KGB agent perhaps? Maybe a red-beret Spetsnaz?
France: Inspector Jacques Clouseau (from the Pink Panther)

Those can still use suggestions of course. But I'm drawing a blank on Italy, Germany, and Canada. Though maybe Canada can just sneak in with his perceived invisibility? Hehe. The suggestions can be serious or spoofs, or even real historical figures or units if there are no other options. But icons that can be easily recognized by many audiences would be best.

If I can squeeze China in too, that would be nice, though realistically he might have a hard time getting out of his home for such a thing due to his restrictive government (which takes a more heavy-handed role in this story).

Thanks to any who contribute ideas! :D

Comments

[thenakedcat.livejournal.com]

Aurelio Zen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurelio_Zen) is a famous fictional Italian detective. PBS adapted some of his stories for TV.

[hloke.livejournal.com]

Italy: how about Dylan Dog? Or Montalbano? He's pretty popular right now, in books and tv series...

[vampirenaomi.livejournal.com]

How about Nick Knatterton (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Knatterton) for Germany? I have no idea if he's at all known in the English-speaking world, though.

[greenskinus.livejournal.com]

For Russia it's gotta be Stierlitz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stierlitz), iconic Russian spy character, MC of the Seventeen Moments of Spring (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventeen_Moments_of_Spring) TV series, though his specialty is working undercover ^_^. He also can be used as a comic relief character (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russian_jokes) and there's bound to be some tension with Germany 8Db For Italy all I can think of is Martin Mystere (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_Mystère), famous comic book character. Hope that helps.

[vampirenaomi.livejournal.com]

Then again, Knatterton shares so many elements with Sherlock Holmes that it might get repetitive. German detective series tend to repeat some tropes to the point that there have been parodies made of them. Here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6gLpNz2eOec) is one with English subtitles that might help.

Edited to add: and while it doesn't actually happen that often, at least over here in Finland we have the idea that German detectives always go to brothels to interview prostitutes who have been involved with either the victim or the suspect.

[sirvalkyrie.livejournal.com]

What about Dudley Do-Right or Sgt. Preston of the Yukon for Canada?

[avocado-wish.livejournal.com]

Ha ha! Canada could be Bob or Doug McKenzie.

[cappuholic.livejournal.com]

There are tons of detective stories produced in Germany... but they are mostly not known abroad x_x
There is a good quote from NY Times that describes what all of the main characters have in common though:
They’re never Sherlock Holmes. They’re almost invariably glum, gloomy characters, mired in bad relationships or alone — in the end, ordinary people, which is how a country, democratic to a fault, tends to like its stars.
The most famous spy is Mata Hari (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mata_Hari). A Dutch exotic dancer who worked as a German agent during WWl.

[zacloud.livejournal.com]

Wow, so many great suggestions! :D

I won't be able to look into all of them until later, but thanks to one thing leading to another, I'm leaning toward putting Germany as Derrick (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derrick_%28TV_series%29), and maybe have Prussia tag along as his assistant Harry. :D It says this series is pretty famous in various countries, and even comes with a catchphrase that can seal the deal.

I'm currently watching a bit of the animated film based on the series. It's much sillier and exaggerated than the real thing, to my understanding, but I can see both of them in these roles easily (warning: has a gay bar, and some hilarious antics with bare breasts so far XD): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MHnX-9QgZxo

Also leaning toward perhaps having both Italy brothers there... maybe one can be Martin Mystere and the other Dylan Dog. Still going to look into more though. I gotta be able to figure out both the iconic appearances/outfits, and some key nuances to make the references stand out, without reading/watching the whole things. ^_^;;

[greenskinus.livejournal.com]

Oh, do you plan to include Austria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inspector_Rex)too? XD

[aurria.livejournal.com]

Joseph Rouletabille will be a better choice for France, being french and create by a french(the author of phantom of opéra) or maybe Arsène Lupin the gentleman thief, if you know him, he is like France. You surely choose Clouseau because you know only him^^. Is just suggestion, it's your story, make how you want.

[atiko.livejournal.com]

Germany - Schimanski (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horst_Schimanski), maybe. We don't really have many popular agents, like spies or anything. Just a metric ton of detectives who're usually normal people off the street wrestling with the world's darkness as well as their own. Nothing fancy I'm afraid. ;-)

Good luck with your vid, it sounds interesting!

[island-of-myst.livejournal.com]

Definitely Stierlitz for Russia.

What about Arsene Lupin for France? Not exactly a detective but still an icon of the genre.

[mimiyanina.livejournal.com]

"Derrick" for Germany XDDDDD

[zacloud.livejournal.com]

This'll be a big long feature, either a series or a movie type deal, so the investigation scene will only be one brief part at the very beginning. I didn't want TOO many sneaking in, so I figured limiting it to the G8 would be a good cut-off point.

Austria will get plenty of his own epic scenes later on, as I hope to do for ALL the characters. :3 I even have things planned for Seychelles, Ukraine, Poland, Cuba, Monaco... Gonna do my best to give ALL of them time in the limelight. ;D

[zacloud.livejournal.com]

Well, I picked Clouseau because he's probably the most well-known French inspector character in the US (yes, I know that's a shame. ^_^;;) and also because the US audience would find it quite funny. Having that familiar theme song playing while he's sneaking around would fit right in with the James Bond and Mission Impossible themes, in terms of being recognizable by most of the audience.

But if I can find enough evidence to support broad popularity of your suggestions, or find a way to make it work, I'll definitely consider them. :3

I was actually consiiiidering making two versions, one "international" (more authentic to each country) and one "U.S. cinematic" (with the intent to cause recognition and cheering from audiences in the US), both with slightly different nuances and different music. If I do that, then your suggestions might be used for the international version. ^_^

I might have too much ambition... this will already be a huge project. We'll seeee~!

[reilin.livejournal.com]

Yeah, Montalbano is very popular and I think it would be perfect to represent Italian attituden investigations!

[binary-pixie.livejournal.com]

Is it wrong that the first thing that popped into my head when I thought Canada and detective was The littlest hobo? And now I can't get that danged song out of my head :/

[shiruvia-101.livejournal.com]

For Canada, there is a popular show right now called the Murdoch Mysteries and it's all set in Toronto.
Here's a link http://www.murdochmysteries.com/
There was also the very popular show called Due South, that revolved around a RCMP being sent to work in the States.
Here's the link to that http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Due_South

Hope these suggestions help you out.

[lvargas.livejournal.com]

Sorry I can't be much help...the only thing I can think of is the rather popular Inspector Montalbano series, but I'm not sure that's easily recognised outside of Italy.

Your project sounds interesting though, good luck.