User:Beta Log 86/sandbox



""You want to know the best part about childhood? At some point, it stops.""

- Malcolm

Depending on the region, children and teenagers are often Blessed with Suck since they're under the rules of whoever is in change, usually their parents but anyone who has guardianship of them while proving the basic needs. However, what if it was cranked up, say on a societal measure? What if laws against youth rebellion were put in place, even for yelling at someone in charge?

The official term for this is called "Adultism" and it's just what it wounds like: "Prejudice and accompanying methodical discrimination against juveniles". There are two sub-version of this:


 * Ephebiphobia: Fear or loathing of teenagers
 * Pedophobia: Fear of children, those who yet to hit puberty

For the purpose of this trope, a societal element is required since Abusive Parents are not always the driving force behind the trope. This will focus on mostly "institutional form", such as laws and/or school systems that would get the attention of a Mama Bear or Papa Wolf. If it's set in a dystopian society with a protective parent willing to do anything for their child, that counts too.

The term "underage" varies in different countries, often referencing the "age of majority." Thus, it depends on whether a country has set that age - for example, 21 is considered an adult in the United States. On the other hand, medical science has placed adulthood at 25 years since that's when the prefrontal cortex, the section of the brain responsible for decision-making, usually finishes developing. Given that information, what would qualify for this trope? For starters, the age limit for this trope's purpose will be 20; this is when the term "teen" no longer appears when age is mentioned.

While an age being mentioned is optional, the work has to apply the existence of this trope. This means, just as long the trope is being used in a work, the age of the characters doesn't have to mention just as long as it's been implied.

Types of Adultism:
 * Type 1: Societal Level –- There are laws targeting adolescents including the legal right to have a disorderly one be taken or worse. This can be by the request of parents or others.
 * 1A: If the adolescent is subject to any form of punishments including corporal by the law, it would count - especially if it's done in public.
 * 1B: The adolescent can be sent by force (especially by those who lack empathy) to a competition with injuries or death is likely. If the results of such a practice can include fatality, it counts too.
 * 1C: If adolescents are being exposed to environmental vulnerability or being subjected to unethical experiments against their will or with fatal results, it would also count on societal level.
 * Type 2: Institutional Level –- An institution like a school or juvenile hall in which adolescents are treated poorly. Outside the institution they are treated no differently from adults.
 * Bonus if a Mama Bear and/or Papa Wolf happens to discover this, but any kid-friendly adult would count.
 * Type 3: Similar to a Type 2 or 3 on the Wasteland scale, but a world without adults doesn't mean that the adolescents who are left are out of harm's way.

Note: This is different from a Childless Dystopia because it's unclear whether there are any children around, hidden or not. Teenage Wasteland, on the other hand, type 4 is an exception because even if the young are in charge, life isn't any easier.

 Different Reasons Why Things Are Not Kid Friendly 
 * School has haters, sadists, and evil educators.
 * Bonus, if the person in question is the principal.
 * Its administration or founder have made it their mission to quash the Rebellious Spirit of children, even if they get called out for it
 * Where it's common to abuse in where adolescents are in detention, especially if a Dirty Cop or Rabid Cop is behind the situation.
 * A situation that could risk the health and/or life of adolescents, and adults often ignore the warnings until...

Due to the nature of this trope, it's advised Real Life Examples aren't to be in included. While there is truth behind this tropes, the trope can be abused should real-life examples be listed. This is due to the controversy behind it when it comes to real life. Documentaries would likely fall under the Real Life clause.

However, if the work is loosely based on a real-life case like a news case or a memoir, then the “No Real Life Examples” clause is excused for the adaption of that work ONLY. Roman à Clef would also be excused from the “No Real Life Examples” rule because, while based on a true story, names of people and location are often altered for privacy reasons, regardless of the outcomes of the parties involved. This page is dedicated to examples in WORKS ONLY.

 Sub-Tropes 
 * Boarding School of Horrors
 * Orphanage of Fear
 * Harmful to Minors - Sadly, yes that does includes fatalities.
 * Hide Your Children
 * Teenage Wasteland, where Adults Are Useless or There Are No Adults. However, depending on the type, life for adolescents may not be any easier.

Compare to Would Hurt a Child and Crapsack World. Often takes the form of a Dystopian Edict.

Anime and Manga

 * Gakuen Alice: Alice Academy – Type 2
 * Grave of the Fireflies: Since it’s set during and following the firebombing of Kobe, it shouldn’t be a surprise that this Japanese animated film displays a 1C scenario exceptionally profoundly.

Film

 * Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: Vulgaria... NO CHILDREN ALLOWED!
 * Class of 1984: Students are forced to pass to metal detector thanks to an increased risk of problems with gangs, drugs and violence. In the Class of 1999 sequel, many of the teachers are replaced with sentient robots that ends up taking their schools too seriously, even for the IT department. It’s unclear from the outside that this is mostly a Type 2.
 * Class of Nuke 'Em High: The school is near a nuclear power plant ... and there's a leak. Due to this situation and the incidents following it, this would be a 1C condition.
 * The Faculty: A group of students must survive an alien invasion that turned their teachers into monsters.
 *  Kids in America: A bully for a principal vs. a group of students... On the surface, appears to be a Type 1, but later leans towards a Type 2.

Literature

 * Works by Roald Dahl tends to fit this trope.


 * Battle Royale and The Hunger Games trilogy: Teenagers are selected to take in battles to the death. As a result, a Type 1B case on both works.


 * Captain Underpants: A Type 2 circumstance, forcing George and Harold to take revenge by hypnotizing their principal, Mr. Krupp, into the title character whenever someone snaps their fingers. The rest is history.


 * The Chocolate War


 * Divergent Series: Teenagers who are confirmed to be “divergent” are targeted for death. Due to this, the protagonist must found about before she’s found out herself, marking this Type 1.


 *  Delirium: Love is declared a mental illness and teenagers must undergo a surgical procedure to be “cured”, making this mostly a Type 1.
 * Gone series: Adolescents are left behind after an unknown phenomenon causes everyone over the age of 15 to disappear. A dome is put in place over the Californian town where it happened, but life isn't made easier for the survivors. This would fit a Type 3 situation due to the uncertainty the survivors face.
 * Jane Eyre: the title character is sent to Lowood School, where there is a typhus outbreak, making this both a Type 2 scenario and Older Than Radio.


 * Little Brother: just the plot of a teenager rebelling against a police organization for kidnapping a friend of his during a takeover makes sense by itself.


 * Kristen Landon’s novel The Limit tells of a society where the government can legally take custody a child, sending the child to a workhouse if their family gets into financial trouble. It becomes double-subverted for Matt when he learns what is happening to others despite being the most advantaged of workers.
 * Lord of the Flies: A group of boys find themselves on an island without adults. The oldest, Ralph, is twelve years old. The group attempts to set up a form of government until help can arrive.
 * Never Let Me Go: Double Subverted, while the staff is kid-friendly, they struggle to convince the public that, even protesting to spare them.
 * The Program series: Double Subverted, parents try out a new suicide prevention method to “help” the youth population, but it comes at a cost. One does wonder why many are being Driven to Suicide in the first place.
 * Shade's Children: An alien invasion leads to the death of adults and the harvesting of children for their organs.
 * Shadow Children: Only first- and second-born children are allowed; third-born and following are banned. Those in violation could face punishments, including the death sentence.


 * Truancy: A student rebellion forms, thanks to the strict system in a totalitarian city via education.


 * Unwind series: An agreement over abortion leads to a system where teenagers can be put to death and have their organs harvested.
 * The Declaration Trilogy, child birth is discouraged in order to prevent overpopulation when immortality has been understood unless they “Opt Out” and is allowed to have one child. Children born to those who didn’t “Opt Out” (or had but are already parents) are known as “Surpluses”. While most of them are killed, some are taken to institutions by the state, which was Anna's situation. This would make it a Type 2 except for the social input, which makes this a clear Type 1.
 * However, a Surplus could later be declared a Legal if left orphaned.

Live-Action TV

 * The Good Wife: “Lifeguard” focuses on a judge who is caught getting kickbacks in exchange for sending juveniles to private detention centers, based on the Kids for Cash Scandal.
 * iCarly: In "iHave My Principals", the school under Howard and Briggs meets this trope. This is mostly on a Type 2 situation since it's unclear if any adult from the outside would've helped.
 * Ned's Declassified School Survival Guide: Averted, In “Principals” Crubbs almost makes the school a Type 2 case, but
 * The Tribe: A New Zealand program about adolescent survivors of a plague that left them orphaned. This is a full-blown Type 3 situation due in part of the adults being killed by the plague. The series focuses on survivors and new societies they must formed as a result.
 * The 1985 revival of Twilight Zone episode, Examination Day, children are given an examination by law, which only those who score at the ‘legal’ limit are allowed to return home.
 * In the 2002 take of the episode, Evergreen, a gated community found a solution to handle juvenile offenders….

Western Animation

 * The Simpsons:
 * "Marge vs. Singles, Seniors, Childless Couples and Teens, and Gays": Springfield temporary becomes this after a baby riot. When plans to make matters worse arrive, Marge has come up with her own plan for families although it’s who save the day for the children of Springfield.
 * Downplayed in “Wild Barts Can't Be Broken”: After Homer and his friends crashed a Springfield Elementary School after the Springfield Isotopes winning the National League pennant, a curfew is put in place and a few kids (including Bart) get sentenced to community service for breaking it. Chef Wiggum drives off, with his car throwing mud at the kid, prompting Bart to form a rebellion..
 * In "My Fair Laddy", gym class under Coach Krupt fits this trope, thanks to his sadistic ways towards children. It comes to the point where Bart is forced to take action.
 * In "Blazed and Confused", the brutality of Jack Lassen forces Bart to take action for his peers, this time with Milhouse helping out, when Lassen's abuse of the students became too much - even for Nelson, who's became fair game.