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Happiness Is Mandatory: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''"[[The Computer Is Your Friend]]. The Computer wants you to be happy. [[Trope Namer|Happiness is mandatory]]. Failure to be happy is treason. Treason is punishable by summary execution."''|''[[Paranoia]]''}}
An [[Dystopia|oppressive regime]] [[Dystopian Edict|requires]] its citizens to [[Stepford Smiler|"be]] [[Happiness in Slavery|happy"]]. Of course, this doesn't ''actually'' make them happy; it only gives them one more thing to fear, since beating your subjects for an ''emotional state'' is more likely to reinforce their negative emotions.
The regime may be small scale. For example, it might be a parent or boss. When the regime actually controls the world, it's a [[Crapsack World]]. Often without added [[Crap Saccharine World|saccharine]], since "be happy, or else" doesn't actually make the world look like a happy place; in fact, it's more likely to simply highlight the depressing atmosphere even more.
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* In ''[[Discworld/Witches Abroad|Witches Abroad]]'', Lily Weatherwax is an evil fairy godmother that turns Genua into an [[Expy]] of Disney Land, where everyone is happy and laughing... because the ones that aren't, disappear.
* In ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four|1984]]'', people are required to love [[Evil Overlord|Big Brother]] and be happy about it.
* In ''[[Slave World]]'', this is used as an addition to [[Getting Smilies Painted on Your Soul]]: The slaves are biochemically altered for certain kinds of happiness, and they get punished if they try to resist the effect.
* Inverted in Mr. Men/Little Miss story ''Little Miss Sunshine'' (not the movie about the infant beauty contest), the titular character visits Miseryland, where the inhabitants are kept miserable simply because of a sign stating the laws: "No smiling, no laughing, no chuckling. Giggling forbidden by order of the king." Naturally, Miss Sunshine is able to turn the kingdom around by simply changing the wording of the sign.
* In the [[Hard To Be A God]] at some moment freshly established theocracy punishes people for "non-exstatic way of thinking".
* In ''[[The Giver]]'', it's more like "Quiet Contentment is Mandatory", since excess emotion is discouraged in the dystopian society.
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== Live Action TV ==
* In ''[[Doctor Who]]'', this is the the entire point of the [[Doctor Who/Recap/S25
* The fairy-tale kingdom of Happy Valley from ''[[Monty Python|Monty Python's Flying Circus]]''. The subjects were always happy all the time because, by royal decree, anyone who wasn't happy would be put to death. One subject whose wife had just died is seen being arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced to hang by the neck until he cheers up.
* ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'' TOS episode "It's a Good Life", based on the Jerome Bixby short story. A mutant 6-year-old child with incredible powers requires that everyone be happy around him. Anyone who isn't gets "sent to the cornfield".
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* REM's song "[[Creator Backlash|Shiny Happy People]]" was a parody and a deconstruction of Chinese government propaganda following the Tiananmen Square crackdowns, which essentially ''ordered'' everyone to be happy (and [[Canon Discontinuity|be compelled to disregard]] what had just happened). The song's lyrics [[Lyrical Dissonance|become darker]] [[Fridge Horror|once this all sinks in]].
* [[Dmitri Shostakovich|Shostakovich]]'s Fifth Symphony. He tacked on a happy ending to his symphony so that the Stalin (who was seriously considering imprisoning or executing Shostakovich) would think he is writing music to glorify the regime. In fact, many of his works essentially embody this trope.
* "The Straight Razor Cabaret" by [[Voltaire (
* [["Weird Al" Yankovic]]'s 2014 CD ''Mandatory Fun'' mocks this concept with Soviet-style imagery and a stern-faced Al in military garb.
== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[Paranoia (game)|Paranoia]]'' has this as a major part of its base premise. See the page quote. This game is also the [[Trope Namer]].
** Inverted in [[Commie Land|Alpha State]], where ''morbid depression'' is mandatory.
* One of the many facets of the 2056 juncture from ''[[Feng Shui]]''.
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== Western Animation ==
* In a ''Simpsons'' "Treehouse of Horror" story, Homer's time traveling creates a dystopian present in which Ned Flanders rules the world and requires everyone to be happy all the time. Those who don't comply are given a "re-Neducation" culminating in a lobotomy.
** Another example from ''[[The Simpsons]]'' is the episode where they all have nightmares. Bart's dream is all about having psychic powers and everybody in Springfield walks around thinking "happy thoughts" so as not to displease him and be turned into something weird in a spoof of ''It's A Good Life''.
* In [[Fairly Oddparents]], Timmy's time traveling caused his father to turn into a power hungry dictator whose main rule is 'Be Happy Or Else'.
* In ''[[Coraline (animation)|Coraline]]'', the Other Mother becomes dissatisfied with the Other Wybie's tendancy to not smile, so she sews his smile in place.
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* [[Dave Barry]] had a column about [[Walt Disney]] World with a similar description:
{{quote|"You can't not have fun at Disney World. It's not ''Allowed''."}}
** He claimed that if you're seen not having fun, you get abducted by the staff "and then it's ''into the Goofy suit.''"
* This is not an uncommon vicious cycle in psychologically abusive situations, where the abuser uses the pain they inflict as an excuse to lash out again. The abuser may perceive their victim's misery as ingratitude, or they may simply be enraged by the evidence of their own actions.
* The early days of the service industry saw a lot of companies making this trope a major policy. Happy staff tend to make customers feel more at ease even if the system is inefficient, so directors would mandate that employees smile and show as much courtesy as possible regardless of personal problems or mental state. Experts eventually realized that ''genuinely'' happy staff made customers ''happier'' but there are still some older firms that haven't received the memo.
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