Super Fun Happy Thing of Doom: Difference between revisions

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{{quote|''The Ministry of Love was the really frightening one. There were no windows in it at all. Winston had never been inside the Ministry of Love, nor within half a kilometer of it. It was a place impossible to enter except on official business, and then only by penetrating through a maze of barbed-wire entanglements, steel doors, and hidden machine-gun nests. Even the streets leading up to its outer barriers were roamed by gorilla-faced guards in black uniforms, armed with jointed truncheons.''|''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four]]''}}
 
Something, often a company, that is described with an adjective in the title that is entirely at odds with what it actually does. Commonly, something evil will be paired with a nice-sounding adjective. This also applies when the title's implications are opposed to what the company/organization/EvilOverlord does. Basically, when you apply a completely inappropriate adjective to something ([[Villain Withwith Good Publicity|often to make it seem better)]], that's this trope. Look for characters exclaiming "Hey...this isn't happy!" or something similar.
 
This is a [[Newspeak]] trope. There is usually a rather pointed takeaway for the audience about the people doing the naming: a society that uses vicious irony like this is never ''ever'' nice or just misunderstood.
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=== Contrast with: ===
* [[Deathbringer the Adorable]]: The inverse of this trope, where something harmless has a fearsome name.
* [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin]]
* [[I Don't Like the Sound of That Place]]
* [[Villain Withwith Good Publicity]]: Most likely why the "evil" corporation wanted to achieve with the name.
 
{{examples}}
 
== Anime & Manga ==
* The Summer of Love in [[Eureka Seven]] was a worldwide catastrophe that sparked tremendous conflict and civil war. It is feared that, if it is allowed to occur, the Second Summer of Love could mean [[The End of the World Asas We Know It]].
** Also, the research station that performs inhumane and usually fatal experiments on teenage girls is nicknamed "Joy Division" by the scientists there.
*** Which happens to be the name of a [[Joy Division|band whose lead singer committed suicide]].
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== Film ==
* The Lemarchand puzzle boxes from ''[[Hellraiser (Film)|Hellraiser]]''. Their real name is the Lament Configuration.
* Consumer Recreation Services in ''[[The Game (Filmfilm)|The Game]]''.
 
 
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* [[Saturday Night Live|Anything to do with]] [[Happy Fun Ball]].
* In season two of ''[[Babylon Five|Babylon 5]]'', Earth's government actually creates a Ministry of Peace (or [[Double-Speak|minipax]] [[Shout-Out|as they like to call it]]). The results are predictable.
 
 
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** It's even lampshaded when one of the characters reflects on the fact that she suggested to the [[Big Bad]] he start styling himself "Emperor Jagang the Just".
* The trade paperback of Jhonen Vasquez' ''Squee'' series is called ''Squee's Wonderful Big Giant Book of Unspeakable Horrors'', and not without reason.
* Mocked in ''[[America the(The Book)]]'' by [[Jon Stewart]], which contained a chart demonstrating how as the Congo's "Inherent Lies in Name" had increased, so had its oppression level.
{{quote| Sub-saharan Africa's largest nation has grown more oppressive over the decades, and its names has kept pace."<br />
Congo. Lies in name; 0. Oppression level; bloody.<br />
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People's Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lies in name; 3. Oppression level; inhuman.<br />
Shiny, Happy, People's Democratic Republic of the Congo. Lies in name; 5. Oppression level; hide. }}
* In the [[Strugatsky Brothers]]' novel ''[[Hard to Be A God (Literature)|Hard to Be A God]]'', a lot a villages were renamed from their [[Wretched Hive]] names to this trope. Perhaps in hopes it will make them better.
* ''[[The Hunger Games]]''. Gather round, everybody! Celebrate! We're going to take your children and make them kill each other. Brutally! And you will have to watch every second of it! And you will enjoy it!
* ''[[Animorphs (Literature)|Animorphs]]'' gives us The Sharing, an organization full of nice, friendly people who do charity work and have a great time doing it. And after you are initiated, a parasitic alien crawls into your ear and you are a slave to the invading alien race.
* ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'': [[Town Withwith a Dark Secret|Harfang]] is said to be the home of the only "[[Gentle Giant|Gentle Giants]]" of the far north. [[To Serve Man|Don't believe it]] [[I'm a Humanitarian|for one second]].
** The "Island Where Dreams Come True." [[Nightmare Fuel|Night]][[Nightmare Sequence|mares]] are dreams.
* In "Little Harmonic Labyrinth" from ''[[Godel Escher Bach]]'', the Tortoise was promised by a fortune teller "a stroke of Good Fortune," and it happens to him and Achilles in the form of one "Hexachlorophene J. Goodfortune, Kidnapper-At-Large, and Devourer of Tortoises par Excellence."
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== [[Music]] ==
* "Super Duper {{spoiler|Meteor}}" from [[Lemon Demon (Music)|Lemon Demon]]'s ''Dinosaurchestra''.
 
 
== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==
* Raven has invented his own variation on the hardcore match he's dubbed the "[[A Clockwork Orange (Literaturenovel)|Clockwork Orange]] House of Fun", which he's challenged several opponents to in [[Ring of Honor]] and [[TNA]].
 
 
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* Future Fun Land in ''[[Diddy Kong Racing]]''. Giant stone spikes, electric fences and spaceships shooting at the player character are probably not what most people would expect from the 'fun' part of the name.
** Peaceful Pier in ''[[Donkey Kong Country Returns]]'' is anything but peaceful due to sharks and a pirate ship firing cannonballs at you. Though it could just mean that the pier is peaceful- the ocean is not.
* In the pre-console days, [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|Evil Otto]] of Berzerk! was a bouncing, smiley "have a nice day" face which was trying to kill you. So great is Evil Otto's urge to destroy the Humanoid that he will literally steamroll over his allies just to get a shot at you - grinning all the while. His hatred was so great that he'd go through the electric death walls to get to you, curse his bright smiliness.
* ''[[The Sims]]'' 3 features a building that appears to be <s> a local branch</s> the headquarters of the [[Most Definitely Not a Villain|Outstanding Citizens]] Warehouse Corporation. It is an immense, [[Abandoned Warehouse|run-down warehouse]] where a sim may [[Equal Opportunity Evil|join]], and advance through the [[Nebulous Evil Organisation|criminal career]].
* ''[[Left 4 Dead]]'' has the "Survival Mode". As they say on the poster, "It doesn't end well."
** With name like "Survival Mode", it should suit anyone who likes to survive.
* ''[[Mother 3 (Video Game)|Mother 3]]'' features the following sign:
{{quote| "Tower of Love and Peace. Stay away!" {{spoiler|sign for the Tower of Thunder, which zaps people's houses if they don't obey Porky}}}}
* The Hidden Fun Stuff of ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]''. {{spoiler|[[Demonic Invaders]] that attack your fortress if you [[Dug Too Deep|dig too deep]].}}
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'''Zola:''' ''Gillll!'' }}
* Done by Ridley in ''[[Planet Zebeth]]'', with his bar's Super Happy Fun Slide. It is a slide, but the wall above the entrance disguises the fact that it leads down to a deep-fryer; any small enemies who enter the slide are cooked up and served to hungry bar patrons. Amazingly, none of the minions notice the deception; presumably due to the state of its riders, word-of-mouth recognition of the slide is based solely on its name.
* ''[[Sinfest (Webcomic)|Sinfest]]'' has [http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2113 National Perfection Agency], [http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2150 Beelze-Bud] and [http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3506 Illumi-nicey (the New Illuminati Logo)].
 
 
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* Many [[People's Republic of Tyranny|totalitarian regimes]] use this sort of technique as a form of propaganda. See [[Maximum Fun Chamber]], [[People's Republic of Tyranny]].
** Stalin's USSR had "the ultimate act of social security". Guess, what that means? {{spoiler|Death penalty}}. Later thay realized how stupid it sounds and changed the legal formula to the much more appropriately-sounding "ultimate act of punishment".
* It's very common, at least in the U.S.A. and its member states, for legislation to be given names that are either unrelated to the legislation in question or, often, actually in contradiction to what the legislation does, purely for propaganda uses. This is especially common if the act in question is written by or for powerful business interests. Examples include things like "The Clean Water Act" or "The Job Creation Act" or "The [[Fun Withwith Acronyms|USA PATRIOT Act]]". After all...who would want to vote against something called "The Clean Skies and Fair Treatment for Innocent Victims Act" or the "Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act"?
** The British Parliament gets around this by naming acts in [[Beige Prose]], always of the form "General Topic (Optional Specific Subtopic) Act Year".
** In recent years there has also been a trend in the U.S. toward informally assigning girl's names to legislation (usually laws concerning punishment and/or registration of convicted sex offenders), i.e., "Megan's Law," "Jessica's Law." (Combines this trope with [[Think of the Children]] as well as [[Missing White Woman Syndrome]]).