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"Join the Army," They Said: Difference between revisions
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{{examples}}
== [[
* Two such commercials appear for the EDF in ''[[Detonator Orgun]]''. The first one even features a cameo by Catty from ''[[Gall Force]]''.▼
== [[Comic Books]] ==▼
* This is a [[Running Gag]] in ''[[Asterix]]'', as the Romans have a tendency to mutter, "Join up they said... It's [insert recruiting promise here], they said..." after getting beaten up by the Gauls.▼
** The most common variation being "Join up, they said...it's a man's life, they said..."▼
*** And then later stories included one soldier moaning that "Join the army they" only to be interrupted by another soldier saying something along the lines of "Belt it, we've all heard that before, and we're sick of it."▼
* A recurring theme in the old Marvel comic [[Strikeforce: Morituri]], largely because the process for converting people into supersoldiers had the minor flaw of being 100% fatal, and your survival time decreased sharply the older you were. Potential volunteers got asked a LOT of questions, but only one mattered: "Why do you want to die?" (A solution to the problem was found, but the last stage of the conversion process, that actually activated the superpowers, still had a high fatality rate, and couldn't be changed because only the lethality of the environment could bring out the powers.)▼
* In the 1970s [[Underground Comics]] "Merton of the Movement", one of the would-be radicals watching an Army recruitment ad thinks the prospect of world travel and $288 a month sounds pretty sweet, and goes to enlist. He's such a drugged-out little wizened husk of a guy, however, that he drives the interviewing desk sergeant into an apoplectic rage - when he asks "Ya got any openin's in Denmark?" the sergeant boots him out.▼
* The famous [[World War I]]-era "I want YOU" ads involving [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/Kitchener-Britons.jpg Lord Kitchener] and [http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1d/Unclesamwantyou.jpg Uncle Sam]. Oft-imitated and parodied (including an anti-Vietnam War version).
** They now have their own trope: [[Uncle Sam Wants You]].
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* Several years back there was a slew of "combined armed forces" recruitment ads for the US military, with the slogan "Army, Navy, Airforce, Marines, what a great place to start!". The message of which was apparently, "We don't care which service you join, just join one." In these commercials, the soldiers were seen driving tanks and shooting rifles and running through the woods, the airmen were seen flying (or repairing) jets, the sailors were working with electronics onboard ships, and the marines... were standing in formation, looking pretty in their full dress blues, including sabres, and basically doing a whole lot of nothing. Many active duty service members in the Army, Airforce, and Navy found this ''hilarious''.
==
▲* Two such commercials appear for the EDF in ''[[Detonator Orgun]]''. The first one even features a cameo by Catty from ''[[Gall Force]]''.
▲== [[Comic Books]] ==
▲* This is a [[Running Gag]] in ''[[Asterix]]'', as the Romans have a tendency to mutter, "Join up they said... It's [insert recruiting promise here], they said..." after getting beaten up by the Gauls.
▲** The most common variation being "Join up, they said...it's a man's life, they said..."
▲*** And then later stories included one soldier moaning that "Join the army they" only to be interrupted by another soldier saying something along the lines of "Belt it, we've all heard that before, and we're sick of it."
▲* A recurring theme in the old Marvel comic [[Strikeforce: Morituri]], largely because the process for converting people into supersoldiers had the minor flaw of being 100% fatal, and your survival time decreased sharply the older you were. Potential volunteers got asked a LOT of questions, but only one mattered: "Why do you want to die?" (A solution to the problem was found, but the last stage of the conversion process, that actually activated the superpowers, still had a high fatality rate, and couldn't be changed because only the lethality of the environment could bring out the powers.)
▲* In the 1970s [[Underground Comics]] "Merton of the Movement", one of the would-be radicals watching an Army recruitment ad thinks the prospect of world travel and $288 a month sounds pretty sweet, and goes to enlist. He's such a drugged-out little wizened husk of a guy, however, that he drives the interviewing desk sergeant into an apoplectic rage - when he asks "Ya got any openin's in Denmark?" the sergeant boots him out.
* This trope is parodied in the classic [[Marx Brothers]] film, ''[[Duck Soup]]'', where Chico notes that Harpo's working in a new military recruitment drive; which consists solely on him banging a drum while wearing a sandwich sign saying, "Join the Army and see the Navy!". While walking around ''on the battlefield.''
* ''[[Private Benjamin]]'' has Judy Benjamin joining the Army thinking it is all travel and fun, like the adverts (an image reinforced by an unscrupulous recruiter).
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'''Both''': Do-ho-ho-ho-hoh! }}
== [[Literature]] ==▼
▲== Literature ==
* ''[[A Separate Peace]]'' addresses this trope. All you need to know is that it ends [[Death by Newbery Medal|badly]].
* In [[Larry Niven|Niven]] and Pournelle's ''The Mote in God's Eye'', right after a particularly dangerous mission, a naval rating quips "My brother wanted me to help him with his wet-ranch on Aphrodite and I thought it was too dangerous. So I joined the flipping Navy." The {{SPACE Navy]] that is!
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And this granite pedestal }}
== [[Live
* ''[[Monty Python's Flying Circus]]'' has a sketch featuring a soldier who has seen too many of the glamourised ads. "I joined the army for the water skiing and the travel, Colonel. Not for the killing."
** "This is obviously making fun of our slogan, 'it's a dog's life -- man's life in the Army!"
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* The ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'' card [http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=20396 Border Guard] parodies the "...and kill them" thing. "'Join the army, ''see foreign countries''!' they'd said."
* The NEG in ''[[Cthulhu Tech]]''.
== [[Theatre]] ==
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{{quote|''""Join the Legion! See the world!" Freeze your arse..."''}}
* ''[[Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas]]'' had '''Join The Military''' radio ads which by its very nature, a spoof of recruitment ads. see them [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSFQHtKGaE4 here].
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* Various recruitment techniques are parodied on ''[[Homestar Runner]]'' in the Strong Bad Email [http://homestarrunner.com/sbemail172.html more armies].
* The [http://www.schlockmercenary.com/d/20000612.html first] ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]''. Appropriate really.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
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* In an episode of ''[[Ned's Newt]]'', an army recruitment message looks more like a travel bureau ad, so much that the enthusiastic Newton ends up enlisting Ned into it without his knowledge.
== Other Media ==
▲== Other ==
* Parodied in [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBWWwvxutM0 this video], in which the Navy bases its entire recruitment spiel upon being everything the Army is not in a manner most awesome.
* The U.S. Army recruitment slogan "Be all that you can be" has become something of a cultural [[Catch Phrase]], as well as the subject of a number of spoofs.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Basic Commercial Types]]
[[Category:Military and Warfare Tropes]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Join the Army, They Said}}
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