Torches and Pitchforks: Difference between revisions

Featured and parodied so many times, it's a definite [[Undead Horse Trope]]. See also [[Kill It With Fire]] and [[Burn the Witch]] for its inspiration. [[Internet Backdraft]] is what happens when you take the sentiment behind this and apply it on the Internet. When you've got pitchforks but not torches, see [[Prongs of Poseidon]]. If [[Torches and Pitchforks]] are featured in a musical then an [[Angry Mob Song]] is pretty much guaranteed.

== Anime & Manga ==

* Subverted in ''[[Cthulhu (Film)|Cthulhu]]'' (2007). When the gay protagonist is wrongly arrested for raping and murdering a boy, he naturally assumes the shouting, torch-carrying crowd is a lynch mob and desperately holds onto the door of the cell to keep it shut. In the morning, he discovers the crowd (presumably Dagon cultists) have unlocked the cell door, and driven off the police so he can escape.

* In the movie ''[[The Elephant Man]]'', there was a brief moment aboard a ship that the eponymous character was on... even though some bad little boys started the trouble.

{{quote| '''Norm Macdonald''': [[Lampshade Hanging|Hey, doesn't this guy get a fair trial? I mean...]]<br />

'''Dr. Cox from ''[[Scrubs]]''''': Alright, you! Back of the Mob! }}

** either when being roused by a revolutionary,

** when the taxes get too high,

*** Then they will get out their torches, pitchforks and placards (with nothing written on them) and rampage through your towns, to lapidate statues of yourself, and to burn down all buildings they encounter, including vital public institutions, firms, and their own houses. While the [[The Guards Must Be Crazy|Fire Brigade never intervenes]]. After the crisis is settled, they start revolting, because vital public institutions, firms, and their own houses(!) are amiss ''[[Sarcasm Mode|all of a sudden]]''. It should be noted, that the higher your population is in the public order, the more they are prone to revolt. While Citizens, Merchants and [[Aristocrats Are Evil|Aristocrats]] are the most aggressive, the Pioneers and Settlers are almost always content.

** In such cases, this troper would wish to simply put down these revolts with his soldiers. Unfortunately, there is no such option in these games.

* In the ''[[The Fairly Odd Parents (Animation)|The Fairly Odd Parents]]'' episode "Mother Nature", every time the local weather reporter makes an incorrect forecast, they get run out of town by an angry mob, who come complete with [[Torches and Pitchforks]].

** [[Truth in Television]]: an Indian weather reporter so consistently got the weather wrong that enraged viewers harassed him on the streets, waved weapons at him, and even threatened his mother with a chainsaw.

** "Gentlemen, start your pitchforks!"

* Alternately parodied and featured several times on ''[[The Simpsons (Animation)|The Simpsons]]'', like the mob that comes after Bart near the end of "The Telltale Head", and the one that goes after Homer in ''[[The Simpsons Movie (Animation)|The Simpsons Movie]]''.

** In another episode, Buttercup, having stunk up Townsville after refusing to bathe, is run out of town by a mob (led by the Mayor, no less). The scene parodies the usual setting, with a dark forest, Buttercup glancing back anxiously before tripping and cutting herself on a bramble - then she [[Forgot I Could Fly|comes to her senses and just flies away]].

* Used a couple times on ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants (Animation)|SpongeBob SquarePants]]''. On the episode "Sing a Song of Patrick", an angry mob went after Spongey and Patrick, and passed a torches stand [yes, they burn, and yes, they're still underwater], a pitchforks stand, and a... cotton candy stand. After all, as the man said, "You can't go riot without cotton candy!" On another episode, Spongebob and Sandy were at the movies, and Spongebob's wig blocked the screen. Spongebob made the mistake of saying there was no need to start a riot, and so they did...

* Parodied in an episode of ''[[Father of the Pride (Animation)|Father of the Pride]]'', in which an angry mob is formed by characters who were on their way to a luau-style harvest festival. And despite the fact they already ''have'' [[Torches and Pitchforks]], they decide the symbol of mob justice is ... rocks.

** Also done during the Halloween special, "That's the Spirit", with the townsfolk pulling torches and pitchforks out of [[Hammerspace|nowhere]] to chase down the Werecow. In the episode paired with it, "The Curse of Candace", Doof's invention hits a group of marathoners, turning them into an angry mob that ends up chasing Candace (who has become convinced she's now a vampire).

* Parodied and unsuccessfully [[Defied Trope|defied]] in the ''[[South Park (Animation)|South Park]]'' episode "Butt Out". Kyle wants to tell the grown-ups the truth to avoid a torches-and-pitchforks confrontation, which ends up happening anyway.

* Used in the Disney 1950's documentary, ''The Great Cat Family'' where angry villagers carry torches and pitchforks.

* Spoofed in an episode of ''[[My Life As a Teenage Robot (Animation)|My Life As a Teenage Robot]]'' called "Raggedy Android", Jenny the Android is wearing an {{spoiler|exosuit}} that makes her appear like a freakish Raggedy-Ann-like monster, and some of the locals, thinking it was one of Dr. Wakeman's experiments that had killed her {{spoiler|(the good doctor was exhausted after trying to find Jenny!)}}. General panic and chaos ensues, and an angry mob starts chasing her with makeshift pitchforks and torches, {{spoiler|which were actually one pitchfork and cotton candy}}. Ironically, ''they'' get exhausted... after running ''just a few feet'' from the carnival! Lay off the fatty foods, guys.

** In one scene, three clowns climb into their tiny car, and crashes it a second later, makes a reference to {{spoiler|1=the hologram SRT in THX1138}}.

*** [[Humans Are Bastards|That answer is]] '' [[Fantastic Racism|pretty]] [[Captain Obvious|obvious]]'', fella.

* Two such incidents happened in ''[[Chowder (Animation)|Chowder]]''. One was when the catering gang were [[Naked People Trapped Outside|caught outside in their underpants]] after their party costumes were [[Wardrobe Malfunction|accidentally destroyed]]. Another was a [[Noodle Incident]] that resulted from the last time Mung Daal cooked "Tooty Booty Beans".

* In ''[[The Secret Saturdays (Animation)|The Secret Saturdays]]'' episode "The Kur Guardian", a flashback showing how Fisk joined the Saturdays shows him being hunted by a mob wielding the aforementioned items in their pursuit.

* Forming an angry mob armed with torches and pitchforks to storm the castle is practically the official pastime of the villagers in ''[[Frankensteins Cat]]''.