J'accuse!: Difference between revisions

Simply, when one is outraged beyond all other words, when there is nothing left to do but put on your Frenchest of accents, point your pointiest finger and cry, '''J'accuse!'''.

This is a half storied work of public journalism, half [[Memetic Mutation]]. It goes like this: Once upon a time in France, a renowned writer named [[Emile Zola]] penned a scandalous open letter (published in the newspaper ''L'Aurore'' on January 13, 1898—that's it to the right) that accused the French government of anti-SemitismAntisemitism and corruption in its handling of the Dreyfus Affair of 1894—in which an innocent French Army officer, Alfred Dreyfus, who just happened to be Jewish, was used as a scapegoat in an espionage case, when it was quite clear to everyone that he was guilty of nothing more than being Jewish. The letter pointed out the weakness of the evidence and several clear occurrences of judicial error and prejudice during Dreyfus's trial; Zola was rapidly charged with and convicted for libel and had to flee to England for a year, until the bureaucrats then in power were removed. Dreyfus had been sentenced to life in prison on Devil's Island; he appealed his case multiple times, but it was not until 1906 that his conviction was actually annulled. And all this to cover the French government's collective ass because of the existence of a spy that the government couldn't afford to catch, out of embarassment.<ref>See the story of [[Mata Hari]] for ''another'' case, only a few years later, where the French government used an innocent person as a scapegoat.</ref>

* ''[[Scott Pilgrim]]'': "[http://smartovercoat.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/blog_1008_scottpilgrim_jaccuse.png?w=246&h=332 It's french]. [[Note From Ed|- ed.]]"

* In ''[[Discworld/Going Postal (Discworld)|Going Postal]]'', the hero Moist von Lipwig uses a technically complicated plot to replace a message used in a bet with his enemy Reacher Gilt to do a wonderful reveal of Reacher's entire plot and bring him and his minions down using this trope.

== [[Live -Action TV]] ==

* ''[['Allo 'Allo!|'Allo 'Allo]]'': -- In an unusual subversion of the showsshow's trope of using [[Just a Stupid Accent]] as a [[Translation Convention]] for whatever language is actually being spoken, Rene at one point cries out his first real French: "''J'accuse!''" "''J'accuse!''". [[Double Subversion]]: "Who's this 'Jack Hughes'?"

** Rene doesn't actually say this, Lt. Gruber is relating a dream he had of Rene saying it.<ref>Okay, it is like this. Gruber thinks he has killed Rene with a firing squad and the Rene currently in the show is Rene posing as his own twin brother also called Rene</ref> At the end of the episode Rene gets stuck on a [[Rube Goldberg Device|giant aerial]] rising out of a grave (they'd hidden a transmitter Rene's crypt since it was empty) and Gruber sees this figure of Rene rising out of the grave (looking sheepish) and faints. Helga then says "Well at least he didn't mention this "Jack Hughes". Roll credits. ''[['Allo 'Allo!|Allo Allo]]'' doesn't do simple and straightforward.

== [[Video Games]] ==

* ''[[The Simpsons Hit and& Run]]''

* ''[[Bad Machinery]]'': An [[Unsound Effect]]. Don't you wish your arm could do [httphttps://wwwweb.archive.org/web/20130425094601/http://scarygoround.com/index.php?date=20100915 that]?

* ''[[Shadow Raiders]]'': An episode title. The episode deals with the trial of a military officer that threatens society itself no less.

* ''[[Futurama]]:'' Zoidberg says this once, the joke being not that he's French but that he's [[Ambiguously Jewish]].

* On one episode of ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', Lisa complained about her French teacher not actually speaking French. "J'accuse!" "...What the hell is this broad talkin about?"

[[Category:J'accuse!Trope Names From the French]]