History Main / BreadAndCircuses

* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehog'' has Breezie use the line "Panem et circenses" verbatim to explain why she's running a fighting tournament with a Chaos Emerald as the prize.

* In ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'', the protagonists eventually get [[HumanCannonball shot]] into [[TheEmpire Empire lands]]. A 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.

** Creator/HannaBarbera's 1972 cartoon ''TheRomanHolidays'' is a dom-com in the days of Bread and Circuses.

* Bill Cullen once described bhis version of ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' as a modern-day (for the mid-60s) Bread and Circuses, what with the audience's shouts of "higher" and "freeze."

** [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090225 Later, Gil defends him on Bread and Circuses grounds.]]

** [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090225 Later]], Gil defends him on Bread and Circuses grounds.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Endstone}}'', [[http://endstone.net/2009/09/15/issue-2-page-14/ how Primrose justifies the slaughter of higher animals]].

* The government of the country of [[MeaningfulName Panem]] (from "panem et circenses", see above) in ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' keeps the people appeased (or at least those in the Capitol) with the titular DeadlyGame where youths from the subjugated "districts" are forced to kill each other until [[ThereCanOnlyBeOne only one is left]]. The games are meant to distract the Capitol's citizens from the suffering of the districts (who provide their resources), who in turn are ForcedToWatch them as a display of the Capitol's power. In ''Mockingjay'', the third book, a character directly quotes the phrase. And just to throw a little of Type 3, [[spoiler:the final half of ''Mockingjay'' reveals that, if victorious, District 13 would have also implemented games of their own, using children from the Capitol. Fortunately this never came to fruition after Katniss assassinates President Coin -- as Katniss herself narrates at the epilogue, 20 years later, the Hunger Games have since been treated as a shame, and all its arenas have been destroyed, replaced with memorials to the fallen youths]].

** It's worth noting that it [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amphitheatre_of_Pompeii occasionnally]] backfired, sometimes [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nika_riots spectacularly]].

->Already long ago, from when we sold our vote to no man, the People have abdicated our duties; for the People who once upon a time handed out military command, high civil office, legions -- everything, now restrains itself and anxiously hopes for just two things: bread and circuses.

The nastier, more blatantly dystopian sorts provide BloodSport and GladiatorGames - or, God forbid, PublicExecution, for the amusement, while the general population, of course, ''knows'' this, but doesn't care. After all, either [[MoralMyopia the savages who participate in such things probably can't appreciate true civilization anyway]] or [[UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming they probably deserved it for ''some'' reason, one way or another]]. A more benevolent ruler might arrange TheTournament and even participate in it.

* 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.

* ''{{WesternAnimation/Futurama}}''. The robot planet demonizes humans, produces anti-human movies, and go on (normally) fruitless human hunts to distract them from a lugnut shortage and incompetent Robot Elders leadership.

* [[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...

** This is also one of the arguments in favour of Daenerys reopening the fighting pits, which is fitting for an {{Expy}} of Roman GladiatorGames.

** More like a CrapSaccharineWorld - Bread And Circuses can make the difference between these two.

* In ''Film/OsmosisJones'', the cells of Frank are worried about Frank's health (i.e. their future), but Mayor Phlegming doesn't want to make the kind of sacrifices that living a healthy lifestyle would require. He doesn't want to lose the other cells' support in the upcoming election to Tom Colonic, so he uses the voice override to get Frank to just take a cold pill and call it good (even though voice override is supposed to require a vote). And he promises the cells that Frank is going to a chicken-wing FanConvention. (Cue cheers from the Love Handle District.)

* '''The government ensures a stable, if not always comfortable status quo'''.

* In ''OsmosisJones'', the cells of Frank are worried about Frank's health (i.e. their future), but Mayor Phlegming doesn't want to make the kind of sacrifices that living a healthy lifestyle would require. He doesn't want to lose the other cells' support in the upcoming election to Tom Colonic, so he uses the voice override to get Frank to just take a cold pill and call it good (even though voice override is supposed to require a vote). And he promises the cells that Frank is going to a chicken-wing FanConvention. (Cue cheers from the Love Handle District.)

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

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

* ''WesternAnimation/WallE'' plays with this: the people on the ''Axiom'' have been living this way for so long, they've actually gotten bored with it. At the same time, generations of complacency, consumerism, and being pampered by robots has almost completely removed the will and knowledge needed for them to fix things, at least until WALL-E himself shows up and [[SpannerInTheWorks accidentally disrupts the status quo]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheLEGOMovie'', everything in Bricksburg runs on this. It's most obvious when Emmet seems disturbed by President Business offhandedly mentioning people who oppose him "being put to sleep", then sees a clip of "Where Are My Pants," laughs, and forgets what the President was talking about.

* In the ''15MillionMerits'' episode of ''Series/BlackMirror'', the people are distracted from their dreary existence by an array of reality shows, including an American Idol knockoff dubbed "Hot Shots" that's the focus of much of the plot. In fact, citizens must watch commercials for these programs or they are fined monetarily.

The nastier, more blatantly dystopian sorts provide BloodSport and GladiatorGames - or, God forbid, PublicExecution, 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]]. A more benevolent ruler might arrange TheTournament and even participate in it.