Persona Non Grata: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

You, possibly along with your [[True Companions|merry band of travelers]], have found a nice place to hang out. Maybe it's a nice bar, a seaside town, or a resort planet. But then...things happened. You may not have ''meant'' for bad stuff to go down, but sometimes events are beyond your control. There might have been [[Gone Swimming, Clothes Stolen|nudity]], [[We Come in Peace, Shoot to Kill|violence]], [[Stuff Blowing Up|stuff]] [[Impressive Pyrotechnics|blowing]] [[A Nuclear Error|up]], [[Intoxication Ensues|certain]] [[Everybody Must Get Stoned|substances]] may have been imbibed/smoked, and whoops, you just started a revolution. Possibly, your name is [[Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds|Mike Nelson]], in which case, you're probably screwed.

The trope name itself is Latin, meaning "an unwelcome person." The plural is ''personae non gratae''. It is the commonly used [[Real Life]] legal term for this trope, especially regarding diplomats (who, because of [[Diplomatic Impunity|diplomatic immunity]], often cannot be charged with crimes, but can be kicked out of the country).

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* Has happened to the ''[[Dirty Pair]]'' on at least two occasions. They go off on leave to some distant resort with plans to lounge on the beach, but while they're there [[Busman's Holiday|they inevitably get drawn into some sort of illicit intrigue]] and wind up causing massive destruction in their attempts to stop it.

* Something like this happened to the original ''[[Macross]]''. A freak accident causes them to be banned from <s>Utah</s> <s>the USA</s> ''the Earth''. This is after they spend several episodes getting back to Earth ''[[Shaggy Dog Story|through the defense of the Zentraedi]]''.

 

== Comic Books ==

* Happens far too often to [[LARP]] goth Walden Woods in ''[[Dork Tower]]''; ''something'' inevitably gets them banned from their latest gathering spot.

'''Walden:''' "APART FROM THAT!" }}

 

 

== Film ==

* ''[[O Brother, Where Art Thou?]]'': Ulysses should have stayed out of the Woolsworth [sic].

** Is that ''all'' Woolworths, or just that particular one?

* ''[[Rain Man]]'': Charlie and Raymond get kicked out of the casino for 'counting cards', and are warned not to try this at other casinos either because the word is out about them.

* Obliquely used in ''[[Return of the Living Dead]]'': "No, we can't: the cops said they'd ''shoot'' us if we go back to the park."

* In ''[[Little Miss Sunshine]]'', after the fiasco at the titular beauty pageant, the family is told that the pageant will not press charges, under the condition that Olive never enter another 'little miss' pageant in the state of California, ever again. The family's reaction to the news amounted to "That's fine with us!"

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* In an episode of ''[[Entourage]]'', Johnny Drama is banned forever from the Playboy Mansion, then he gets readmitted and gets someone else banned from the Playboy Mansion.

* On ''[[Friends]]'', Ross recounts how he and his first wife Carol got banned from Disneyland for having sex behind the animatronic children on "It's a Small World".

* ''[[Lie to Me (TV series)|Lie to Me]]'': As "Fold Equity" tells us, Cal Lightman has been banned from the entire city of Las Vegas after hustling one too many people at poker and [[Noodle Incident|something involving casino owner Ellis's wife]].

* Newark, NJ mayor Cory Booker put Conan O'Brien on the "No Fly List" after Conan made a disparaging joke about his city. Conan soon after banned Cory from Burbank Airport, to which Cory retaliated by banning Conan from the entire state of New Jersey, as well as Newark's sister cities around the world. Conan subsequently banned Cory from California. Of course, as later revealed, this was all staged.

* There are a handful of hosts and musical guests on ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' who have caused so much trouble backstage (or on the show) that they can never appear on the show again:

** Milton Berle: Hosted the April 14, 1979 episode, and after consistently upstaging other performers, non-stop mugging to the camera, and unscripted performance of "September Rain", Michaels banned him from the show. Berle's episode (along with Lasser's) would not be seen in syndication for twenty years after (and are included in the season DVD sets).

** Steven Seagal: Hosted the April 20, 1991 episode, and was banned soon afterwards because he had difficulty working with the cast and crew, often pitching lousy sketch ideas and getting angry that none of them were picked. This was referenced in a later episode (September 26, 1992) featuring Nicholas Cage, where Lorne Michaels responds to Cage's insistence that his monologue made him look like "the biggest jerk on the show" with the response "No, no. That would be Steven Seagal."

** Martin Lawrence: Hosted the episode that came right after the infamous Alec Baldwin-hosted show with the "Canteen Boy Goes Camping" sketch (where Canteen Boy (Adam Sandler) is {{spoiler|molested by his scoutmaster}}) in 1994 (Season 19), and got himself banned when he launched into a monologue about the decline in women's hygiene. All reruns have cut off Martin's monologue and replaced it with cards that explain why this can never air on TV again.

** Musical guest Sinead O'Connor was banned after ripping up a picture of Pope John Paul II and calling him 'the true enemy' after her second song (the segment was banned as well, save for an appearance on an ''SNL'' DVD special about the show's popular music performances in 25 years. The segment does appear, albeit with Lorne Michaels introducing the piece and telling viewers about the controversy behind it).

* In the first season of ''[[Heroes]]'', Ando and Hiro are banned from all of Mr. Linderman's casinos after they abuse Hiro's powers to cheat at poker. This becomes a problem later in the series, when they need to get back into one of the casinos in order to steal an ancient [[Samurai]] sword in Mr. Linderman's collection.

** And after a freak accident in December 2011 where a cannonball got loose and proceeded to bounce around a nearby suburb (which caused a fair bit of property damage but luckily no injuries), the Mythbusters are no longer allowed to use the Alameda County Bomb Range.

* ''[[The Middle]]'': Mike is banned from Brick's school after his attempt to help at the Valentine's Day craft project ends up ruining Valentine's Day.

 

== Literature ==

* In [[RA Salvatore]]'s novel ''Road of the Patriarch'' Jarlaxle and Artemis end up banned for life from the Bloodstone Lands. Jarlaxle points out that Elves live a long time and he'll probably outlive the ban. Artemis is not comforted by this, being a human, with the attendant shorter life span.

* Hrolf the Unruly, the captain of Elfmaid from ''[[Forgotten Realms|Starlight And Shadows]]'' trilogy by Elaine Cunningham got "a taste for recreational mayhem", which earned him ban from many ports and even imprisonment and confiscation in [[Wretched Hive|Skullport]], which is an achievement in itself. Where he was found under arrest, roaring a song:

* In [[Simon R. Green]]'s ''For Heaven's Eyes Only'', Roger the half-demon claims he's been banned from Limbo.

* This has happened to a variety of CIA officers with diplomatic immunity who got caught spying in [[Tom Clancy]] novels. The consequences for officers or agents who ''don't'' have diplomatic immunity and get caught spying tend to be far more severe.

 

== Music ==

* At one time, it was almost a point of pride for many punk rock, heavy metal, and hard rock bands to get themselves banned from venues and hotels; typically after trashing their rooms or starting riots at the venues, but also for violating local obscenity laws. Several have been banned from performing in entire states or countries; usually on obscenity grounds.

** [[GWAR]] was at one time banned from the state of North Carolina, for certain... elements of their costuming.

** [[The Who]] at one time held the record for this, thanks to the antics of the late Keith Moon.

** Taken to the extreme by [[Industrial|Power Electronics]] group Whitehouse, who would [[Blatant Lies|routinely bill themselves as a "synth-pop" band]] in order to get gigs, often provoking the baffled audience to riot or simply leave.

* [[Guns N' Roses]] can never again perform in St. Louis after the Riverport Riot (in case you don't know, it all started when a bootlegger pressed W. Axl Rose's [[Berserk Button]], and Axl flipped out and left the stage, which indirectly led the fans to riot).

* During a 1985 show in Switzerland, the [[Post Punk]] band Swans were actually arrested onstage and asked to ''leave the country'' for being too loud.

* Hanatarash, for reasons that only [[The Other Wiki]] [[wikipedia:Hanatarash|could adequately explain with a straight face]]. [[Refuge in Audacity|And yes, there is video.]]

* [[Ozzy Osbourne]] was banned from the city of San Antonio, Texas for a decade, for urinating on a cenotaph outside The Alamo.

** Ironically, the song itself became so over-used that [[Hype Backlash|it got banned from several SF conventions]].

** There's a sequel in which Argo forgives them, and invites the Next Generation crew to visit. They wind up getting banned themselves, and this time Argo learns its lesson and makes the ban permanent.

 

 

 

== Theatre ==

* In ''[[Mister Roberts]]'', it's understandable why the crew of the "Bucket" would not be allowed ashore on Elysium again, after hearing what they did while on liberty there.

* In ''Don't Drink the Water'' by [[Woody Allen]], the main character, Axel, is banned from Africa. He laments that while many diplomats have been banned from various countries, he's the only one to have ever been banned from a ''continent''.

 

== Video Games ==

** You ''can'' blackmail the authorities and force them to let you return, which is perfectly in line with the previous evil action.

* In ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]'', Ange mentions briefly that [[White-Haired Pretty Boy|Amakusa]] will get arrested if he's ever caught back in France.

* Max has something to brag about in the ''[[The Adventures of Sam & Max: Freelance Police|Sam and Max Freelance Police]]'' game ''Moai Better Blues'':

* The conclusion of ''[[Tony Hawk Pro Skater|Tony Hawk Underground 2]]''- subtitled "World Destruction Tour" - is a news report, which concludes with:

* A variation in ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'': You can get yourself banned from gambling at every casino in the game if you win too much while gambling. You can still enter the casinos, but you can't gamble anymore.

* In ''[[Secret of Mana]]'', the hero gets banned from his hometown after pulling out the Mana Sword because the village elder fears that it will bring monsters to their village.

 

* Tedd of ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' managed to get himself banned from [http://egscomics.com/?date=2002-03-01 certain areas of the mall.] This overlaps with [[Noodle Incident]] because not even the author wants to know what happened (read the title of that strip).

* In ''[[Questionable Content]]'', Jimbo managed to get himself banned from Canada. [[Noodle Incident|Not even he knows how it happened.]] [http://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=777 Apparently he was very drunk at the time].

* In ''[[Slightly Damned]]'', [[Our Demons Are Different|Buwaro]] and [[Our Angels Are Different|Kieri]] can never go back to the town of Weyville. Not because they've been ''banned'', technically, but because it's home to a [[Knight Templar]] angel who'll kill them if he ever sees them again (and already tried to the first time he saw them).

* In ''[[Homestuck]]'', John and Dad are banned from the Cirque du Soleil. It's implied that it has something to do with John's {{spoiler|Gamzee caused}} phobia of clowns.

 

== Web Original ==

** Similarly, [[The Cinema Snob]] was banned from returning to Kickassia by the Critic, after he plotted to overthrow him.

* The [[Homestar Runner|Strong Bad email]] "movies" ends with Strong Bad firing a bazooka in a theater out of frustration at the other patrons. Cut to him typing...

 

== Western Animation ==

* Skipper mentions in ''[[The Penguins of Madagascar]]'' that he can't go back to Denmark due to the [[Noodle Incident|Copenhagen Incident]] involving Hans the Puffin.

* Unsurprisingly, ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'':

** In the episode where Marge conquers her fear of flying, Homer Simpson ends up banned from Moe's Tavern for a prank he committed against Moe on Prank Day. Ironically, his prank (overloading the sugar container so it spills in a soggy manner) was actually safer than some of the pranks played that day, such as having a king cobra nearly bite Moe or causing a fire.

** The Simpsons were nearly banned from Springfield by the populace for some of the things they did.

** Also, Cosmo is banned from Atlantis since he sunk it nine times. Therefore, he becomes the number one criminal there. But in the end of the episode, Timmy is the new number one criminal.

* In the ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]'' "We Call It Maze", Dr. Doofenshmirtz reveals that he's no longer welcome in Albania after he [[Noodle Incident|somehow provoked the ambassador's wife]].

* On ''[[Frisky Dingo]]'', Killface and Simon CAN'T EVER GO BACK TO ARIZONA!

* ''[[Chowder]]'' episode "Banned From the Stand" featured Mung Daal being [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|banned from Gazpacho's fruit stand]]. Mung can't simply buy fruits from another stand because the fruit stand owner code allows Gazpacho to extend the ban to the other fruit stands in Marzipan City. After Mung tried (and failed) to buy fruits under several disguises, Gazpacho became so paranoid he banned everyone... even ''himself''. Because being banned from a stand last for as long as the stand remains, his only way out was destroying the stand and building a new one, from which {{spoiler|Mung got himself banned after repeating what got him banned from the first one}}.

* ''[[Generator Rex]]'': Lansky in "Moonlighting" has a [[Running Gag]] of "I can't go to (X). Long story."

 

== Real Life ==

* This is essentially the idea behind most restraining orders, to keep someone away from someone or someplace after they do something bad to them.

* Michael Savage is [[Banned in China|banned from entering the UK]] for "inciting hatred" against Muslims.

* Fred Phelps is banned from several places, most notably the UK.

** He was, apparently, unbanned at some point before [http://www.mtv.com/photos/vma-2011-backstage-moments/1669000/6498896/photo.jhtml attending the 2011 MTV Video Music Awards].

* At least one musician is banned for life from England's Channel 4 for saying "Fuck" before the [[Watershed]].

* [[Ozzy Osbourne]] was banned from entering San Antonio after he was caught urinating on the Alamo.

* The Sheraton hotel chain will not host a Shriners' convention, owing to the extreme rowdiness and damages that tend to follow them. Ray Stevens' song about a Shriners' convention involved molestation, extreme intoxication, and a motorcycle going off a high diving board; the real ones aren't nearly that sedate.

* In [[Ancient Greece|ancient Athens]], criminals convicted of the most heinous crimes weren't executed or imprisoned for life, they were instead ''exiled'' from Athens. At the time, most of the territory in the Greek islands was untamed wilderness, and exile often amounted to a death sentence.

** This was called an ostracism, and there were [[Honor Before Reason|people]] who preferred death to being exiled from Athens, even if they had the chance to live elsewhere.

* Frequently happens on internet forums, for obvious reasons. Sometimes, the members who were banned make spin-off forums, as sort of a "refugee camp" for banned users so to speak.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]

[[Category:Party At My Index]]