History Main / BreadAndCircuses

* '''[[BetterTheDevilYouKnow The Devil you know]] is better than the Devil you don't'''.

* This trope is more or less how the Imperial Order stays together in the ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' series, complete with BloodSport.

* In ''Anime/PsychoPass'': The Sibyl System uses holograms, virtual worlds, psychiatric medications, high-paying jobs, {{Kawaisa}} Drones, and anything so that the masses' Psycho-Passes would be reduced. If that does not work, then they would use either rehabilitation (which seems to be pretty comfortable as the rehabilitated were allowed to keep their cherished possessions in life) or enforcement.

[[{{Dystopia}} Evil governments]] are usually depicted as {{Crapsack World}}s of greedy, corrupt, backstabbing despots who each want to cut themselves the largest piece of the pie before it rots completely, at the expense of the rabble they [[PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny claim to represent]]. When a revolutionary hero rises from the masses and sets everything in its proper place, everyone's happy and all ends well. [[FullCircleRevolution (Or not.)]]

Sometimes, however, the evils of such a government (whatever they may be) may not actually filter down to the lower levels of society. Perhaps the leaders realize that a happy population is usually a supportive one, or maybe they just aren't ''that'' despotic in most of the more utilitarian areas of government. The workers all get paid, everyone has enough to eat, and TheTrainsRunOnTime. And it's not a LotusEaterMachine or an especially efficient PropagandaMachine; the stuff is real. As a consequence, as long as the people are contented, who's going to care about petty things like restrictions of basic freedom, environmental destruction, WMD research, or random abductions...

* In ''VideoGame/SecretofMana'', the protagonists eventually get [[HumanCannonball shot]] into [[TheEmpire Empire lands]]. A GenreSavvy player might be expecting to land in a CrapsackWorld only to find calm mellow music, green pastures, and a mix of ordinary citizens and resistance fighters moving about in a quiet country town. Even the empire soldiers, while strict, appear to be genuinely helpful to the populace. Eventually it's implied that there is peace and happy citizens in all empire towns.

* ''Webcomic/DomainTnemrot''. The title stadium is one of these. The people who can afford anything are all entertained with these, or compete with their slaves, and the slaves themselves are generally better off that the horrid scavenging we see at the beginning.

** Wealth and Corrida Colliseum is essentially the way Doflamingo is rulling his Dressrosa Kingdom, having turned that once simple people into an egotistical bunch. [[spoiler:They also completly ignore that their country generate immense incomes slave labour and arms trafficking, while dissidents are simply made into puppets and erased from other people's memories.]] As someone says, Dressrosa under Doflamingo's rule divides the people into submissive winners and rebellious losers, which isn't too far from how the World Government works.

--->'''Pycelle''': It gives the young a chance at glory and the common folk a respite from ther woes.

* ''VideoGame/RomeTotalWar'' of course, fits the trope as (among other factors) public order depends on the frecuency of gladiatoral games and races and how high are taxes.

* The Azadi Empire in ''VideoGame/DreamfallTheLongestJourney'' aren't entirely liked by the people they now rule, but most people dont' want to speak up specifically ''because'' the Azadi empire supplies them with paying jobs, food, and a roof over their heads.

* Deconstructed and parodied by [[http://www.theonion.com/articles/48-syrian-civilians-massacred-during-claire-danes,29666/ this]] [[Website/TheOnion Onion]] article describing a massacre of 48 civillians in Syria during the Emmy awards with the headline "48 Syrian Civilians Massacred During Claire Danes' Emmy Award Acceptance Speech"

* [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] In ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats2011'' the {{Catfolk}}-populated [[TheEmpire empire]] of Thundera has the severity of its decay, UrbanSegregation and FantasticRacism underscored by contrasting [[FantasticGhetto the slums]], and the fates of Thundera's prisoners-of-war with the extravagant entertainments and feasts enjoyed by the upper city's deeply complacent BlueBlood. They enjoy lavish banquets and watching BloodSport GladiatorGames in a [[TheThunderdome giant amphitheatre]], which a fêted general singles out as one of "the little things in life [I] miss the most." while slum-dwelling {{Artful Dodger}}s must pick pockets to buy food, and hungry LizardFolk P.O.W.s, [[MadeASlave enslaved]] for the crime of raiding the expansionist Cats' crops, must contend with the most dangerous implications of medieval StockPunishment. Small wonder the Cats fail to see their fall on the horizon...

** The WesternAnimation/BugsBunny cartoon "Roman Legion Hare," where Centurian guard Sam goes after Bugs as the token Christian to be thrown to the lions in the Coliseum.

* In ''SonicUnderground'', the series shows how Robotnik can afford to stay in power. The upper-class aristocrats can either provide his funding, or lose their land and privileges and risk roboticization.

** The BugsBunny cartoon "Roman Legion Hare," where Centurian guard Sam goes after Bugs as the token Christian to be thrown to the lions in the Coliseum.
** HannaBarbera's 1972 cartoon ''TheRomanHolidays'' is a dom-com in the days of Bread and Circuses.

* ComicBook/LexLuthor of ''{{Superman}}'' fame is known to do a great deal for the city Metropolis and the country in general. Of course, he is trying to covertly rule the planet and attempts to kill the world's greatest hero out of sheer pettiness every weekend, but everyone's gotta have a hobby.

* The Studio in ''Literature/TheActsOfCaine'' is a company that funds the most extreme live action role playing games ever by sending highly trained "Actors" over to an alternate universe populated with creatures like dragons and elves, making them have Adventures, and selling the recorded memories. In Overworld (the alternate universe in question), they are known to the locals as Aktiri, a kind of human-resembling demon that brings wanton slaughter, and Earth is known by some Overworld religions as the True Hell. This is because the actors do all the stuff fantasy heroes do - [[DesignatedHero looting tombs, murdering people, exacting genocide on unpopular species, starting wars, etc.]] [[BloodSport The Adventures]] sold by the Studio are [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters the best-selling entertainment in human history]] and keep people from questioning a global feudal government that operates on a ruthless corporate caste system and keeps nine out of ten people in near wage slavery. [[SickSadWorld It's one of those stories.]]

* The TropeNamer was AncientRome, where the poor would receive free wheat and have gladiatorial shows staged for them to keep them happy. Although it's often said that "the Emperor" handed out the bread (or wheat) to placate his subjects, the practice predates the foundation of the Empire by ''centuries'' and the food was rarely if ever actually handed out by the Emperor in person. (The emperor, however, ''did'' incur the cost of the entertainment, or at least his treasury did -- and since the state funds and the Emperor's personal expenses both came out of said treasury, the distinction is essentially academic.) Depicted in ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'' (see above). It's worth noting that the it occasionally backfired [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nika_riots spectacularly]].

** No feudal house practices and demonstrates its effectiveness better than the Tyrells. Their home, the Reach, is a fertile region in Westeros famous for being the center of chivalry and romance. Margaery Tyrell, prospective and future Queen, wins the hearts and minds of her subjects by personally bringing food to war orphans. Her grandmother Olenna Tyrell outright tells Tyrion and Tywin Lannister that people need distractions like a royal wedding in the middle of wartime to turn their attention from the problems of starvation and poor governance.

* Akin to the ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' example above, in ''MegaManZX'', Serpent is the head of the Slither Inc., which gives the city the power source and protection from outer harm (namely Mavericks), which gives him [[VillainWithGoodPublicity a good PR]]. Beneath all that, though, [[spoiler: he actually staged all those Maverick outbreaks by his minions, and he's also planning to dig up the ArtifactOfDoom Model W for his personal power.]]

** ... which is Truth In Television, really...

* No feudal house in ''Series/GameOfThrones'' practice and demonstrate its effectiveness better than the Tyrells. Their home, the Reach, is a fertile region in Westeros famous for being the center of chivalry and romance. Margaery Tyrell, prospective and future Queen, wins the hearts and minds of her subjects by personally bringing food to war orphans. Her grandmother Olenna Tyrell outright tells Tyrion and Tywin Lannister that people need distractions like a royal wedding in the middle of wartime to turn their attention from the problems of starvation and poor governance.

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** The BugsBunny cartoon "Roman Legion Hare." where Centurian guard Sam goes after Bugs as the token Christian to be thrown to the lions in the Coliseum.

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* The ''{{Champions}}'' universe has MultiversalConqueror Istvatha V'han, who being both AffablyEvil and lacking her rivals' ability to assimilate other dimensions into her own, uses this method to consolidate her rule. It's proven quite effective-she isn't called the Empress of a Billion Dimensions for nothing (although that number's actually an exaggeration-it's more like a hundred million).

* Deconstructed and parodied by [[http://www.theonion.com/articles/48-syrian-civilians-massacred-during-claire-danes,29666/ this]] [[TheOnion Onion]] article describing a massacre of 48 civillians in Syria during the Emmy awards with the headline "48 Syrian Civilians Massacred During Claire Danes' Emmy Award Acceptance Speech"

The nastier, more blatantly dystopian sorts provide BloodSport and GladiatorGames, for the amusement, while the general population, of course, ''knows'' this, but doesn't care. After all, [[MoralMyopia the savages who participate in such things probably can't appreciate true civilization anyway]].

Can overlap with StrawmanNewsMedia and NetworkDecay.

* In the ''Caesar'' games, you play as a Roman governor and one of your most basic duties is to provide food for your citizens. Entertainment is also required for housing to evolve beyond the most basic levels. A combination of unemployment, hunger, and lack of entertainment can result in riots.
* The HeartsOfIron series features a CommandAndConquerEconomy for all countries, with different kinds of production controlled via sliders. This comes under the "Consumer Goods" slider - satisfy or exceed demand, and your Dissent rating goes down. Fail to meet demand, and before long you might be facing open revolt or (in the case of some countries) open civil war. Even an extremist dictatorship like UsefulNotes/NaziGermany can have a HundredPercentAdorationRating if production is managed well.

* This is some of the Dreaming Dark's M.O. in ''{{Eberron}}'' -- peace through kidnapping potential rebels and happy propaganda-filled dreams for everyone!
* In ''DarkSun'', all of the Sorcerer-Kings run the risk of a ZeroPercentApprovalRating, since they're overt wizards in a setting where all wizards are hated and their magic kills the environment. They distract their subjects with lavish gladiatorial games, which are so popular that the people keep running them after one Sorcerer-King is overthrown.

* "WorkingClassHero'' by Music/JohnLennon: