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[[File:CopperHappy 9447.png|frame|From ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20150112093046/http://www.boltcity.com/copper/copper_021_happy.htm Copper]''.]]
{{quote|''"[[The Computer Is Your Friend]]. The Computer wants you to be happy. [[Trope Namer|Happiness is mandatory]]. Failure to be happy is treason. Treason is punishable by summary execution."''
|''[[Paranoia (game)|Paranoia]]''}}
An [[Dystopia|oppressive regime]] [[Dystopian Edict|requires]] its citizens to [[Stepford Smiler|"be]] [[Happiness in Slavery|happy"]]. Of course, this doesn't ''actually'' make them happy; it only gives them one more thing to fear, since beating your subjects for an ''emotional state'' is more likely to reinforce their negative emotions.
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{{examples}}
* In the ''[[Fables]]'' spinoff comic
▲== Comics ==
▲* In the Fables spinoff comic "Cinderella: From Fabletown with Love" Cinderella's fairy godmother decides she'd conquer a world, and force people to act happy until they became happy.
* Played with in a [[The Wizard of Id]] strip. The King is showing a visiting noble around, and the noble asks a peasant how things are for him, and gets the reply, "I can't complain." The noble says that's nice and asks why, and is told, "It's forbidden."▼
* In one [[Mickey Mouse Comic Universe|Mickey Mouse]] story, Mickey and Goofy meet a deranged monarch who has taken this [[Up to Eleven]]. He explains that he has no unhappy subjects, because if they are unhappy they are imprisoned. ''Then'', to demonstrate, he asks a random peasant whether he is happy. The peasant grins maniacally and seemingly sincerely and says that he is happy... and the king promptly orders him thrown into jail.
{{quote|'''Mickey:''' But he ''was'' happy!
'''King:''' Yes, but he is sad ''now'' - and [[Morton's Fork|I aim to prevent crime before it happens!]] }}
== Film ==
* In ''[[Flash Gordon (film)|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."
* In ''[[Coraline (animation)|Coraline]]'', the Other Mother becomes dissatisfied with the Other Wybie's tendancy to not smile, so she sews his smile in place.▼
== Literature ==
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* ''[[It's a Good Life]]''
* In ''[[Discworld/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
* In ''[[Slave World]]'', this is used as an addition to [[Getting Smilies Painted on 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
* In ''[[The Giver]]'', it's more like "Quiet Contentment is Mandatory", since excess emotion is discouraged in the dystopian society.
▲== Live Action TV ==
* In ''[[Doctor Who]]'', this is the the entire point of the [[Doctor Who/Recap/S25/E02 The Happiness Patrol|Happiness Patrol]].
* The fairy-tale kingdom of Happy Valley from ''[[
* ''[[The Twilight Zone]]'' TOS episode "It's a Good Life", based on the Jerome Bixby short story. A mutant 6-year-old child with incredible powers requires that everyone be happy around him. Anyone who isn't gets "sent to the cornfield".
* ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' has "Lawgiver Day", wherein, as described by poor Professor Bobo, "all are ordered to make merry and be light of heart, under pain of horrible lingering death."
== Music ==
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* "The Straight Razor Cabaret" by [[Voltaire (musician)|Voltaire]] is about a macabre vaudeville show whose master of ceremonies mutilates the faces of anyone he thinks isn't enjoying his show enough.
* [["Weird Al" Yankovic]]'s 2014 CD ''Mandatory Fun'' mocks this concept with Soviet-style imagery and a stern-faced Al in military garb.
== Newspaper Comics ==
▲* Played with in a ''[[The Wizard of Id]]'' strip. The King is showing a visiting noble around, and the noble asks a peasant how things are for him, and gets the reply, "I can't complain." The noble says that's nice and asks why, and is told, "It's forbidden."
== Tabletop Games ==
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** Inverted in [[Commie Land|Alpha State]], where ''morbid depression'' is mandatory.
* One of the many facets of the 2056 juncture from ''[[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.
== Video Games ==
* In the video game ''[[Floyd]]'' (also known as ''The Feeble Files''), the Omnibrain demands happiness. Solving one of the early puzzles in the game gets an innocent civilian executed on the spot for being unhappy.
* ''[[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim]]'': [[Ironic Nickname|Grelod the Kind]] has quite a way with [[Orphanage of Fear|children]].
{{quote|'''Grelod:''' Constance!
'''[[Beleaguered Assistant|Constance]]:''' Yes Grelod?
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* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' has Donald stating that the [[Cool Airship|Gummi Ship]] only functions when the pilots are "Smiling". This could've been a [[Blatant Lies|Blatant Lie]] to snap [[The Hero|Sora]] out of an incoming [[Heroic BSOD]], and we rarely see the pilots inside the ship, so who knows? The manga leaves no room for doubt, though: You HAVE to be smiling when aboard the damn thing.
== Web Comics ==
* In the ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' arc "758449", Riff finds himself in an alternate dimension city-state which enforces perpetual happiness with knockout drug injections at the slightest hint of discontent.
* ''[[Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal]] ''has [http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=2363#comic its fun with this.]
== Web Original ==
* This is an official policy on [[TV Tropes]].
* After making an unpopular Let's Play video, the [[The Nostalgia Critic|Nostalgia Critic]] ''has'' to act positive during his review of ''[[James and the 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]]'s review of the
== Western Animation ==
* In a ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|Simpsons]]'' "Treehouse of Horror" story, Homer's time traveling creates a dystopian present in which Ned Flanders rules the world and requires everyone to be happy all the time. Those who don't comply are given a "re-Neducation" culminating in a lobotomy.
** Another example from ''
* In ''[[The 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 (animation)|Coraline]]'', the Other Mother becomes dissatisfied with the Other Wybie's tendancy to not smile, so she sews his smile in place.
== Real Life ==
|