Ultimate Authority Mayor: Difference between revisions

Fiction often focuses on a local setting; the action may rarely, if ever, move beyond the borders of the town where the main characters live. In these cases, the highest authority appearing in the work -- oftenwork—often the local mayor -- ismayor—is treated as if they have absolute authority over their domain. They never have to worry overstepping their authority, or having their decisions overruled by the county, state, or -- God forbid --or—God federalforbid—federal government. If such lofty figures show up at all, it will probably be in the form of an [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]] who buzzes around for a while before being dealt with, allowing things to [[Status Quo Is God|return to normal]].

This allows the characters to interact directly with the person in charge, without having to deal with annoyances like referrendums or town councils. Whether they have a brilliant scheme that needs a powerful backer or they're trying to deal with the mayor's latest crackpot scheme to revitalize the town, they'll be able to (and, in fact, be ''forced'' to) go straight to the mayor himself instead of dealing with bureaucracy or procedure. Expect such a mayor to be around forever, heedless of minor details like elections or competence.

Other settings may use other authority figures; the principal in a school setting, or the base commander in a military setting, for example. Often overlaps with [[Permanent Elected Official]].

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* The mayor in ''[[Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs]]'' even lampshades this. At one point he mentions spending the entire town budget on a project "without consulting anyone", and later funds ''another'' project by taking out a "very high interest loan".

* The mayor in the various ''[[Harvest Moon]]'' games is always this, generally of the more benevolent type.

* The player is one in the ''[[Sim CitySimCity]]'' series.

* The Mayor of ''[[Ink City]]'' presents himself as one of these, though he prefers interacting with the residents on ''his terms'' -- rather—rather than letting them bring their questions and grievances directly to him, he tends to show himself primarily to rebuke and remind them of their place. It helps that he can {{spoiler|control the ink monsters}}.

* ''[[Sonichu]]'' has the [[Author Avatar]]. The mayor rules a total [[Egopolis]] where everything from the radio station to the currency to the most popular ''soda'' to the city itself is named after him, and the laws (based purely on his own values and [[Squick|Squicks]]s) are enforced via ''psychic monitoring.'' His authority is primarily exercised by slaughtering the avatars of those who've pissed off the author in real life in the [[Nightmare Fuel|most horrific ways]]. As he is above the law, no one ever blinks an eye. Oh, and we the audience are intended to root for him.

* The Mayor in ''[[Powerpuff Girls]]'', who only manages to keep things running thanks to the Powerpuff Girls and his hypercompetent assistant.

* Mayor Quimby of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' is a classic sleazeball politican type.

* Mayor White from ''[[Doug]]''. Unusually for this trope, he's eventually voted out and replaced by Doug's neighbor, Mrs. Dink.

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