Million-Mook March: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

You've got a massive army at your disposal, but people need to see its size, not only to show off your power, but to hurt morale of anyone who stands against you. So you have them march, either in a straight line that takes all day, or massive formations that cover even the largest fields. Of course, [[The Empire]] can be expected to show this off.

 

 

[[Truth in Television]], going back to most ancient armies.

 

Contrast [[Suspiciously Small Army]].

{{examples}}

* Saruman's army in ''[[The Lord of the Rings (film)|The Two Towers]]''.

** And Sauron's outside the gates of Minas Tirith in ''The Return of the King''.

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LGjTleOHVJI Here] is a nice example (Napoleonic troops entering Russian territory; ends around 2:20).

* Done in [[Ilya Muromets]]. It actually has a world record for extras.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

** However, military parades are given very little attention in the series.

* Jesus' army of saints at the Battle of Armageddon in the [[Left Behind]] book ''Glorious Appearing''. Of course, they're mostly there to praise the Lord while Jesus does all the work of [[Curb Stomp Battle|slaying His enemies]] with the [[The Bible|Word Of God]].

 

== [[Music Video]] ==

* [[Gorillaz|Jamie]] [[Tank Girl|Hewlett's]] music video ''Monkey Bee'' is a remix of a song from his ''Monkey: Journey To The West'' album. As expected, it is loosely based on ''[[Journey to the West]]''. At the end of the video, the Monkey King is faced with a massive amry of the undead, resulting in a [[Bolivian Army Ending]]. The video can be seen [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdZjO-i_vxg here].

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

** And that's not counting [[Flaunting Your Fleets|the tanks, artillery and other vehicles]].

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* Done at the beginning ''[[Gears of War]] 2'', complete with an inspiring speech.

* It's not actually an entire army, but when the US task force tries to arrest Occelot in Prague in [[Metal Gear Solid]] 4'', it takes over three minutes for the several dozens of trucks, ten patrol boats, six helicopters, and hundreds of soldiers to come out of their hiding spots and surround his boat on the river. But even with just three mooks and himself, Ocelot doesn't think about surrendering. But in a terrible subversion, {{spoiler|he already got the master password to shut down all their equipment and when the soldiers are ordered to open fire, nothing happens. Then Ocelots mooks start mowing down the entire Task Force in a few moments.}}

 

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* ''[[Animaniacs]]'' had one of these. Episode: 'King Yakko', a thinly disguised parody of ''[[Duck Soup]]'' with Yakko in the Groucho Marx role. He and his siblings search for the invading army, until it's pointed out. Yakko ends up seeing one of these. [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|He figures it'd take a commercial break to come up with a viable battle plan.]]

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

** The trick is [[Older Than Feudalism]]. Military manuals written in Greece before the birth of Alexander the Great already feature passages detailing how to make your army look bigger than it is. Ploys include the "unending loop" as well as alternating spears to make formations seem twice as wide, marching in single file to make columns stretch endlessly, marching in hollow formations using dust clouds to hide true numbers, and dressing up women as soldiers [[Values Dissonance|("though you should never allow them to throw missiles, for a woman immediately betrays her sex when she tries to throw")]].

* Victorious Roman generals would be feted with "triumphs", enormous festivals meant to honour the conquering hero of the Republic. An enormous parade would begin at the Field of Mars, winding its way past shrines while crowds of plebeians roared "Io Triomphe!", before finally reaching the great Temple of Jupiter. The general was followed by his soldiers as well as a host of toga-clad senators and priests, families of prominent patricians, and the Vestal Virgins. Chariots bore the plundered loot of subjugated tribes and captured barbarians were yanked along in chains. The general, at the head of the procession, was followed by a slave who held a laurel wreath over his head while whispering "remember, you are mortal" into his ear. Later, during the Empire, only the Emperor was feted in this manner - whether he had led his troops in the field or not.

* The Trooping of the Colour can look suspiciously like this.

* This tactic has also been recorded in [[The Bible]] - from an initial standing army of 32,000 men, Gideon selected 300 men and used this tactic against a much larger Midianite-Amalek combined force.

[[Category:Just for Pun]]

[[Category:Mooks]]