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Happiness Is Mandatory (view source)

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If this trope was inverted, it would be much easier for the citizens to follow - since the law itself would already give them something to be unhappy about.
 
See also [[Getting Smilies Painted Onon Your Soul]], where people actually ''do'' become happy whether they like it or not, such as by [[Government Drug Enforcement]].
 
{{examples}}
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== Film ==
* In ''[[Flash Gordon (Filmfilm)|Flash Gordon]]'' during Ming's wedding scene, a ship flies over head with a banner reading "ALL CITIZENS SHALL MAKE MERRY," followed by another one with "...ON PAIN OF DEATH."
 
 
== Literature ==
* ''[[Brave New World (Literaturenovel)|Brave New World]]''
** Distributing affordable drugs in large quantities makes it a borderline case with [[Government Drug Enforcement]].
* ''[[It's a Good Life]]''
* In ''[[Discworld (Literature)/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 Onon 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".
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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 Dis Continuity|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 (Musicband)|Voltaire]] is about a macabre vaudeville show whose master of ceremonies mutilates the faces of anyone he thinks isn't enjoying his show enough.
 
 
== Tabletop Games ==
* ''[[Paranoia (Tabletop Gamegame)|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 (Tabletop Game)|Feng Shui]]''.
* One of [[Ravenloft]]'s lesser domains was home to a king who had no sense of humor, who'd clumsily tried to simulate one by requiring all citizens to laugh with every sentence they spoke. As he couldn't tell a real laugh from a forced one, this resulted in people who weren't particularly happy or amused saying "ha ha ha" after each statement.
 
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== Web Original ==
* After making an unpopular Let's Play video, the [[The Nostalgia Critic (Web Video)|Nostalgia Critic]] ''has'' to act positive during his review of ''[[James and Thethe Giant Peach]]'', partly because of this trope and partly because [[I Just Want to Be Loved]]. If he complains about something in the movie, the fans start [[Dramatic Gun Cock|pointing their guns at him]] until he goes back to praising it.
* Similarly, in [[The Angry Video Game Nerd (Web Video)|The Angry Video Game Nerd]]'s review of the ''[[Video Game/Friday The Thirteenth|Friday The Thirteenth]]'' NES game, Jason is hiding behind the couch ready to kill him if he says anything bad about the game. This being the Angry Video Game Nerd, he ends up fighting back and killing him by the end, then proceeding to call out everything bad about the game.
 
 
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** 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 (Filmanimation)|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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