History Main / LingeringSocialTensions

This trope describes settings that have pivoted in an attempt to course-correct their values or heal social division--but are undermined by societal inertia and the past not being as easy to move on from as hoped (whether because of personal baggage, or more subtle continuing institutional unfairness). Years of conflict are hard to erase--and if murder, slavery or betrayal was involved people are going to hold a grudge.

Naturally this comes up a lot in sequels that explore what happens ''after'' a dramatic political or legal victory. Good intentions can only get you so far, and getting legal rights or an official peace agreement aren't magic bullets that make everyone get along. This HappyEndingOverride can show that peace is actually quite hard to hold onto, and takes a lot of continued work and diplomacy by all parties.

Whether that work ''succeeds'' depends. With luck, the bitterness and resentment between factions may slowly fade away over time as they learn to coexist. However, in less optimistic scenarios it may boil over into open contempt or riots. Coups and civil wars are generally the worst case scenario here, which is when one side chooses to outright destroy the nominal peace that exists and resume political hostilities.

This trope describes settings that have pivoted in an attempt to course-correct their values or heal social division--but are undermined by societal inertia and the past not being as easy to move on from as hoped -- whether because of personal baggage, or more subtle continuing institutional unfairness. Years of conflict are hard eras--and if murder, slavery or betrayal was involved people are going to hold a grudge.

This trope describes settings that have pivoted in an attempt to course-correct their values or heal social division--but are undermined by societal inertia and the past not being as easy to move on from as hoped -- whether because of personal baggage, or more subtle continuing institutional unfairness. Years of conflict are hard to look past and if murder, slavery or betrayal was involved people are going to hold a grudge.

* ''Literature/ReignOfTheSevenSpellblades'': A significant running conflict in the series deals with attempts to reform TheMagocracy to treat [[{{Muggles}} nonmagicals]] and demihumans better. It's only been a few years since a few species of the latter were even granted citizenship, and the A-plot of volume 1 has the [[TrueCompanions Sword Roses]] get caught between [[ZombieAdvocate activists trying to expand on their previous successes]] and conservatives trying to turn back the clock--a consequence of Katie Aalto and her family being strongly pro-rights. Volume 5 also states that PosthumousCharacter Chloe Halford was also an activist, and suggests this may have partly motivated her murder in volume 1's prologue.

This trope describes settings that have pivoted in an attempt to course-correct their values or heal social division--but are undermined by societal inertia and the past not being so easy to move on from as hoped (whether from personal baggage or more subtle continuing institutional unfairness). Years of conflict are hard to look past, especially if murder, slavery or betrayal was involved.

This trope describes settings that have pivoted in an attempt to course-correct their values or heal social division--but are undermined by societal inertia and the past not being so easy to move on from, whether from personal baggage or more subtle continuing institutional unfairness. Years of social conflict are hard to look past, especially if murder, slavery or betrayal was involved.

Whether that work ''succeeds'' depends. With luck, the bitterness and resentment between factions may slowly fade away over time as they reintegrate. But if the society is less lucky, it may boil over into open contempt or riots. Coups and civil wars are generally the worst case scenario here, which is when one side chooses to outright destroy the nominal peace that exists and resume political hostilities.

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'': Between the events of ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'', Morrowind's King Helseth abolishes the nation's long-time practice of slavery, particularly of the [[LizardFolk Argonians]] and [[CatFolk Khajiit]]. Despite this, between ''Oblivion'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', it is revealed that (at the encouragement of Thalmor {{Agent Provocateur}}s and with Morrowind having already been devastated by the [[ChekhovsVolcano Red Year]]), the Argonians [[TheDogBitesBack invaded Morrowind in part for revenge]] at their people's thousands of years of enslavement, raiding and capturing territory as far north as Morrowind's capital of Mournhold before being driven out (though still holding some southern areas).

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'': Between the events of ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'', Morrowind's King Helseth abolishes the nation's long-time practice of slavery, particularly of the [[LizardFolk Argonians]] and [[CatFolk Khajiit]]. Despite this, between ''Oblivion'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', it is revealed that (at the encouragement of [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Thalmor]] {{Agent Provocateur}}s and with Morrowind having already been devastated by the [[ChekhovsVolcano Red Year]]), the Argonians [[TheDogBitesBack invaded Morrowind in part for revenge]] at their people's thousands of years of enslavement, raiding and capturing territory as far north as Morrowind's capital of Mournhold before being driven out (though still holding some southern areas).

[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]

* ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'': The Republic of the Sphere was rife with this issue. Created by worlds that were ceded from the Successor States' territories near Terra, the efforts to actually turn worlds that had belonged to five different nations were not great- Devlin Stone came up with the [[SarcasmMode brilliant]] idea of simply ordering big chunks of the populations of each world to move to different Republic worlds. The idea was that this would force a melting pot that would cause everyone to abandon their previous national identities. The effect was that a lot of people were resentful of the fact that they'd been forced to leave their homes, many of which had been their family homes for centuries, and forced to go to other planets where the people already living there resented them for forcing out the other people who'd previously lived there. The end result was that the Republic of the Sphere had a significant amount of underlying social tension that was never dealt with and was part of the contributing factors in its eventual collapse after the HPG network stopped functioning.

* ''Anime/{{Naruto}}'': After Hashirama and Madara struck a peace alliance to build the Hidden Leaf village, the resentment between the Senju and Uchiha never fully went away. This ultimately led to the Uchiha becoming ghettoized and the target of constant suspicion by those in power.

* ''Anime/{{Naruto}}'': After Hashirma and Madara struck a peace alliance to build the Hidden Leaf village, the resentment between the Senju and Uchiha never fully went away. This ultimately led to the Uchiha becoming ghettoized and the target of constant suspicion by those in power.

* This is the premise of ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}''. Predators and prey have learned to co-exist in the same society, but many prey are quite untrusting towards predators due to [[PredatorsAreMean certain stereotypes]]. That is why [[TheHero Judy]] wants to help bridge to gap between predators and prey even further to prevent this racism. [[spoiler:Things go downhill when it's revealed that predators are going savage, which divides the gap between predator and prey even further. Eventually, though, the predators are found innocent, as the only reason they were going savage was due to it being at the hands of a PoliticallyIncorrectVillain who happens to be prey. Even though there is still tension between the two animal groups when everything is said and done, the prey are still struggling to accept predators. However, they are on the right track for making it work.]]

* ''Film/{{Barbie}}'': In the conclusion, [[spoiler: the Barbies agree to try to integrate the Ken's properly into their society, but concede it will take years of slow work to achieve.]]

* ''Series/{{Snowpiercer}}'': In the second season the train is ostensibly united after the various factions all came together to repel a brutal counter-revolution, but there's still a lot of bad blood. Namely, the Tailies still bitter about the years of oppression they faced at Melanie Cavill's hands, and First Class being not at all happy about their loss of privileges over the Tailies. Further complicating things is that all the passengers now know that the train's owner, Mr. Wilford, who many of them view as a PhysicalGod, was cast off the train before it departed, and that Melanie Cavill has been impersonating him for years.

[[folder:Video Game]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'': The setting takes place a few decades following the [[RobotWar Omnic Crisis]], where [[MechanicalLifeforms Omnics]] around the world [[AIIsACrapshoot suddenly turned on humanity]], which was quelled thanks to the formation of the titular HeroesRUs. Much of the remaining Omnic population has become content with peace and coexisting with mankind, with the general attitude of peaceful integration as equals becoming increasingly accepted, but it's not perfect as fresh scars still remain. Many characters -- [[PoliticallyIncorrectHero even some largely heroic ones]] like Zarya and Torbjörn -- [[FantasticRacism remain distrustful of Omnics on principle]], and many countries are more accepting than others -- Numbani is an egalitarian ShiningCity in Africa where human and omnic successfully coexist in harmony, but King's Row in England (home of the SeriesMascot and AllLovingHero Tracer) remains a social hotbed where Omnics are treated as slaves and are visibly ''not'' happy about it. Ramattra originally sought spiritual enlightenment and harmony following the Crisis, but the seeming lack of meaningful progress shattered in his faith, leading him to believe based on humanity's continued cruelty towards his race that they can ''never'' truly coexist, and thus [[YourTerroristsAreOurFreedomFighters started the violent revolutionary group Null Sector to grant omnickind the world they deserve by force]].
* ''VideoGame/TalesOfArise'': It's DownloadableContent campaign "Beyond the Dawn" shows the state of the world one year after the main game's ending, revealing that even with the defeat of the Renan Lords, freedom of the Dahnans, and the reunification of the two worlds, the centuries of FantasticRacism will still be hard to overcome, even if progress has been made. Even places like Elde Menancia where co-existence is being practiced is seeing issues, namely from hordes of people fleeing from regions with high racial tensions leading to resource issues, and having to be on alert for radicals trying to set up shop in the area for the purpose of deliberately inflaming tensions.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': In the episodes building up to “The Three Armies”, Anne and her allies travel throughout Amphibia persuading various factions to join the fight against King Andrias. In the episode itself, the Newt, Toad and Frog factions come together to begin strategizing, but the tensions between them threaten to destroy the alliance before it can even begin, as Newts and Frogs view Toads as violent brutes, Frogs and Toads see Newts as snobbish elitist intellectuals, and Newts and Toads see Frogs as weak peasants. After Anne’s attempts to get the three groups to work together through a series of team-building exercises fail, she tells them that she can’t force them to resolve their centuries-old differences, but that they will have to find a way to get over them on their own if they’re to have any hope for victory, shaming the three groups into finally listening to each other.

* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseFuture'': Downplayed. For the most part [[spoiler: Homeworld and Earth are living in peace, but Jasper, Eyeball and Aquamarine continue hostilities due to bad blood]].

* This is the premise of ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}''. Predators and prey have learned to co-exist in the same society, but many prey are quite untrusting towards predators due to [[PredatorsAreMean certain stereotypes]]. That is why [[TheHero Judy]] wants to help bridge to gap between predators and prey even further to prevent this racism. [[spoiler:Things go downhill when it's revealed that predator are going savage, which divides the gap between predator and prey even further. Eventually, though, the predators are found innocent, as the only reason they were going savage was due to it being at the hands of a PoliticallyIncorrectVillain who happens to be prey. Even though there is still tension between the two animal groups when everything is said and done, the prey are still struggling to accept predators. However, they are on the right track for making it work.]]

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]

Changing society can be tough. FantasticRacism and FantasticCasteSystem often form deeply held beliefs that aren't so easily uprooted (even when abolished), and decades of brainwashing and bigotry under TheEmpire can take ''years'' to {{Deprogram}}. For this reason, even when good faith policies or leadership changes try to address these conflicts, it often isn't enough to undo the damage on it's own.

This trope describes settings that have pivoted in an attempt to course correct their values or heal social division--but are undermined by societal inertia and the past not being so easy to move on from. Whether it be from personal baggage or more subtle continued institutional unfairness. Years of social conflict is hard to look past, especially if murder, slavery or betrayal was involved.

Naturally this comes up quite a lot in sequels that explore what happens ''after'' a dramatic political or legal victory. Good intentions can only get you so far, and getting legal rights or an official peace agreement aren't magic bullets that make everyone get along. This HappyEndingOverride can show that peace is actually quite hard to hold onto, and take a lot of continued work and diplomacy by all parties.

Whether that work ''succeeds'' depends. If you're lucky, the bitterness and resentment between factions might just slowly fade away over time as they reintegrate. But if you're less lucky, it could boil over into open contempt or riots. Coups and civil wars are generally the worst case scenario here, which is when one side chooses to outright destroy the nominal peace that exists and resume political hostilities.

* ''VideoGame/TalesOfArise'': It's DownloadableContent campaign "Beyond the Dawn" shows the state of the world one year after the main game's ending, revealing that even with the defeat of the Renan Lords, freedom of the Dahnans, and the reunification of the two worlds, the centuries of FantasticRacism will still be hard to overcome, even if progress has been made. Even places like Elde Menancia where co-existence is being practiced is seeing issues, namely from hordes of people fleeing from regions with high racial tensions leading to resource issues, and having to be on alert for radicals trying to set up shop in the area for the purpose of deliberately inflaming tensions.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince'': After King Ezran comes to power and drops all hostilities with Xadia, members of the court turn traitor. A similar thing happens when the Fire Elves attempt to reconcile peace with the humans.

* ''Anime/{{Naruto}}'': After Hashirma and Madara struck a peace alliance to build the Hidden Leaf village, the resentment between the Senju and Uchila never fully went away. This ultimately led to the Uchila becoming ghettoized and the target of constant suspicion by those in power.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}: In the episodes building up to “The Three Armies”, Anne and her allies travel throughout Amphibia persuading various factions to join the fight against King Andrias. In the episode itself, the Newt, Toad and Frog factions come together to begin strategizing, but the tensions between them threaten to destroy the alliance before it can even begin, as Newts and Frogs view Toads as violent brutes, Frogs and Toads see Newts as snobbish elitist intellectuals, and Newts and Toads see Frogs as weak peasants. After Anne’s attempts to get the three groups to work together through a series of team-building exercises fail, she tells them that she can’t force them to resolve their centuries-old differences, but that they will have to find a way to get over them on their own if they’re to have any hope for victory, shaming the three groups into finally listening to each other.

[[folder:Film--Animated]]

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': A huge part of Danerys story has to do with her realizing conquest is easy, but changing social norms and creating a lasting peace is hard. This comes up most prominently in her trying to end slavery in Essos while having the slave masters and their previous slavers live together in peace, which is a conflict she confesses might take a lifetime to heal.