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Run for the Border: Difference between revisions
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This usually manifests itself in one of two ways:
Type A is your standard getaway for criminals and malcontents after they rob a bank or engage in a crime spree, to escape arrest and prosecution. This can even include travel ''within'' the same country. In the US for instance, the criminal will cross a "state line" (border between states) because the police of the state they were in has no jurisdiction in adjoining states. Especially common in [[Western|Westerns]], and other old U.S. movies. This also includes [[POW|Prisoners of War]] who have escaped to an allied or neutral country as their goal after an escape attempt. Whether these types make it or not varies: it's an almost even split between those who do (and live in a lazy beach town [[Happily Ever After]]) and those who don't (usually dying in a [[Bolivian Army Ending]]).
Type B is the sufficiently more noble version, where a character's home country is either going [[Crapsack World]] by way of [[After the End]], or is [[Day of the Jackboot|taken over by a totalitarian movement]] which quickly brings an end to the previous civil liberties, and escape is the only sane alternative. Fleeing the country is usually the end goal, and they'll likely either have to escape or avoid capture by the roving death-gangs or evil repressive authorities to leave.
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== Literature ==
* In the first ''[[Riftwar Cycle|Serpentwar Saga]]'' novel, Rupert and Eric try to flee to the Sunset Isles after killing Eric's half-brother due to a law there that said that criminals who stayed there without causing trouble for a year had their records cleared. They didn't even get close.
* [[Played for Laughs]] in ''[[Jeeves and Wooster (novel)|Jeeves and Wooster]]'' whenever an [[Oh Crap]] situation is met by an escape to another country.
== Live-Action TV ==
* Andrew and Jonathan flee to Mexico at the end of season 6 of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''.
* See ''[[CSI]]'s'' Season 9 opener for an example of A.
* ''[[CSI: NY]]'''s season premiere had the perp try to escape to Canada before Mac caught up with him. Needless to say, he failed.
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== Films ==
* Happened in ''[[The Day After Tomorrow]]'' because Mexico was far enough south that the new ice age would be less deadly to people from northern United States. One especially snarky [http://community.livejournal.com/m15m/2025.html#cutid1 web review] put it thusly:
{{quote|'''TV NEWS:''' ''In other developments tonight, millions of Americans are evacuating to Mexico, which briefly closed the borders while drunk on the incredible irony of the situation, but then the administration forgave all Latin American debt. ¡Buenos dÃas a nuestros nuevos amigos!'' }}
* The movie ''[[Fortress]]'' (with ''[[Highlander]]'' star Christopher Lambert) has the protagonist and his pregnant wife try to leave a dystopian US after it implements a no-births policy to fight the increasing population growth. The film even opens with shots of the heavily crowded international bridges between the US and Mexico.
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== Literature ==
* The implied ending of ''[[
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== Music ==
* The [[Billy Joel]] song "Miami 2017" tells of a future in which New York City is destroyed and everyone flees to Florida. They can't literally [[Run for the Border]] because "[[The Mafia]] took over Mexico."
* Chris de Burgh's song ''Borderline'' is about this (probably the Nazi takeover of Germany, judging by the context of the sequel song ''Say Goodbye to it All'').
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