History Main / SmallTownBoredom

A teenager growing up in a small rural town wants to get away from it all, to the big city, or abroad, anywhere but the boring old Small Town. Characters that come from this background, such as the CountryMouse and FarmBoy, generally [[JumpedAtTheCall Jump At The Call]]. If they don't, expect [[TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive the Call to come looking for them anyway]].

* Rusty, the first protagonist of ''Literature/WarriorCats'', decides to give up place as a housecat and join the Clans because of this.

* Much of Music/BigBlack's work, such as "Cables" and "Kerosene", deal with how people alleviate this trope.
** "Kerosene" by is a particularly dark example. It's about someone who decides the only cure for his boredom a combination of sex and fire.

--> Dreamin of glory

* During Episode 398 of the ''Rooster Teeth Podcast'', Chris and Blaine talk about the weird stuff they did in their small towns as teenagers because there as just nothing to do. Both admit that it's pretty common to just... randomly climb buildings, among other things, which Miles jokes is them looking for an escape. Miles then quickly jots down the hallmarks of small town America, which match Chris and Blaine's hometowns, before noting that it's a miracle they didn't succumb to hard drugs.

* During Episode 398 of the ''Rooster Teeth Podcast'', Chris and Blaine talk about the weird stuff they did in their small towns as teenagers, and both admit that it's pretty common to just... randomly climb buildings. They also did other things, and Miles quickly jots down the hallmarks of small town America, all of which match Chris and Blaine's hometowns, before noting that it's a miracle they didn't succumb to hard drugs.

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'': Said boredom is such [[spoiler:that it drives someone to murder]]. This was also a key point in Shadow Yosuke and Shadow Yukiko's dialogues. [[ShadowArchetype Shadow Yosuke]] taunts Yosuke about how boring the town is to him, while Yukiko's shadow mentions how much she hates the town and just sits on her '''ass''' waiting for her prince to come rescue her from it. It should be said that the whole town's leisure facilities basically amount to one small diner, the shrine, the river, and if you're really desperate, the food court of the local supermarket. That is literally it.

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 4}}'': Said boredom is such [[spoiler:that it drives someone to murder]]. This was also a key point in Shadow Yosuke and Shadow Yukiko's dialogues. [[ShadowArchetype Shadow Yosuke]] taunts Yosuke about how boring the town is to him, while Yukiko's shadow mentions how much she hates the town and just sits on her '''ass''' waiting for her prince to come rescue her from it. It should be said that the whole town's leisure facilities basically amount to one small diner, the shrine, the river, and if you're really desperate the food court of the local supermarket. That is literally it.

Compare and contrast with NothingExcitingEverHappensHere and HatedHometown. Related to GrassIsGreener, which is about someone in bad conditions dreaming of going to a better place. Often seen in stories set in {{Dying Town}}s, perhaps ones with SmallTownRivalry.

* In ''Film/SonicTheHedgehog2020'', this is Tom's motivation for wanting to leave Green Hills for San Francisco. He wants to join the SFPD because he wants to be challenged in his abilities as a police officer and have someone rely on him. There's no challenge for Tom in helping people recover bagels stolen by ducks and sitting at a speed trap. [[spoiler:At the end of the film, [[IChooseToStay he chooses to stay in Green Hills after all]] and let Sonic live with him and Maddie.]]

* One official source states that VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog only began exploring because he was bored with his birthplace, Christmas Island.

* Hodaka Morishima from ''Anime/WeatheringWithYou'' is so unhappy with his endlessly shallow (and possibly abusive) lifestyle on his home island, that he decides to get away from it all and kickstarts the the plot of the movie where he gets involved with a girl who has magical weather-bending powers.

* Belle from Disney's ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast'': "There must be more than this provincial life!"
* Ariel from Disney's ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid''. She's an odd example, though, in that in her case the "small town" is actually ''the ocean''.
* The titular heroine of ''Disney/{{Moana}}'' lives on an island and has a strong desire to sail the ocean. Unfortunately, everyone on the island is forbidden from sailing past the reef, so she never gets the opportunity to explore the ocean. A DownplayedExample in that she does not dislike her village and is going to be their future chief. A part of Moana's character development involves her reconciling her love for her people and the strong draw of the ocean.

* This is a recurring theme in ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon'', as the games take place in rural towns:

[[folder:Comic Book]]
* The comic and film ''ComicBook/GhostWorld''.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* The DCOM ''Stuck in the Suburbs''.

-->'''C-3PO:''' I'm only a droid and not very knowledgeable about such things, not on this planet, anyway. As a matter of fact, I'm not even sure which planet I'm on.
-->'''Luke:''' Well, if there's a bright center in the universe, you're on the planet it's farthest from.

* Corrie Swanson in the ''Literature/AgentPendergast'' novel Literature/StillLifeWithCrows.

* The mother in the novel ''AnywhereButHere''.

[[folder:Live Action Television]]
* Motivation for Joey on ''Series/DawsonsCreek''.
* This is a good portion of JJ's backstory on ''Series/CriminalMinds''.

* In an episode of ''Series/TheGeorgeLopezShow,'' George is considering taking a new job and moving the family to a small town in Colorado. He believes that it will be a better place for the kids instead of L.A. However, when they go there to look around, they see that the kids that live there have ''literally'' nothing else to do but smoke, drink, and get into trouble (a little girl encourages Max to steal for little more than the fact it's a cheap thrill.)

* ''Series/ThisCountry''. Set in a tiny village in the Cotswolds, and following the lives of two of its bored young residents, the sitcom pretty much is this trope.
* ''Series/Daredevil2015'': In a season 3 flashback showing Karen's backstory, we see Karen dealing with this. It's prominent enough that her father and brother can see it, and it's implied that this (plus her father's inability to handle his money) is the reason she's shagging a drug dealer named Todd Neiman.
* ''Series/CrazyExGirlfriend'': both Greg and Valencia see West Covina as this, and it's the subject of one of the series' most surprisingly earnest songs, "What'll It Be?" Contrast Josh, who loves how peaceful and uncomplicated it is, or Rebecca, who tries to convince herself it's something amazing and special to justify why she moved there, because it [[SelectiveObliviousness DEFINITELY wasn't because Josh lives there.]]
-->'''Greg:''' Hey West Covina, why won't you let me break free? Am I doomed to stay here pouring my [[EveryoneWentToSchoolTogether high school friends]] beer for the rest of eternity?

[[folder:Theater]]
* Creator/AntonChekhov's ''Theatre/ThreeSisters''.
* Natalie from the musical ''Theatre/AllShookUp''.
* "Blow Wind Blow" from ''Frank's Wild Years''
* The title character in ''Evita''.

* This trope is what starts off the plot of ''Music/AmericanIdiot.''

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/BobAndGeorge'', [[http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/001206c George jumps universes to escape.]]
* The BackStory of Lars from ''Webcomic/GirlGenius''. He was a cheesemaker's apprentice and left with the circus because life was boring in his home.

* ''Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent'': This shows up in both Tuuri and Reynir's backstories. ThePlague that has been around for ninety years results in those who are not TheImmune to be greatly discouraged from leaving whichever place they were born in, and the DepopulationBomb resulting from the initial outbreak has made just about all settlements small (sometimes ''very'' small) towns. Tuuri has lived in two of those small settlements during her childhood, the second implied to be significantly larger than the first, but still yearns for more. Reynir lives in the only known entire country to have been secured, but his great-grandfather who was alive during the initial outbreak reacted to the circumstances by intentionally moving to a small town.

* In ''Film/LustForGold'', Julia decides to latch on to Walz (and dump her husband Pete) because she has no intention of staying put and becoming "dried-up" like all of the over townswomen.

** It gets worse in rural regions like the [[DownOnTheFarm Great Plains]] and New England, where this trope, combined with industrialized agriculture outcompeting small farmers, has been causing [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_flight "rural flight"]]. Small towns are being abandoned as nobody shows up to replace the young people leaving and the old people dying, and the latest Census survey holds that some areas now have a lower population density than they did in [[TheWildWest 1890, the year that the frontier was declared to be closed]]. There have even been calls to bring back the Homestead Act ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Land_Policy_and_Management_Act_of_1976 which was repealed in 1976]]) in order to resettle the Plains states.

** It gets worse in rural regions like the [[DownOnTheFarm Great Plains]] and New England, where this trope, combined with industrialized agriculture outcompeting small farmers, has been causing [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_flight "rural flight"]]. Small towns are being abandoned as nobody shows up to replace the young people leaving or the old people dying, and the latest Census survey holds that some areas now have a lower population density than they did in [[TheWildWest 1890, the year that the frontier was declared to be closed]]. There have even been calls to bring back the Homestead Act ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Land_Policy_and_Management_Act_of_1976 which was repealed in 1976]]) in order to resettle the Plains states.

* TruthInTelevision: This can even happen in good-sized cities that aren't as huge as others.

** It gets worse in the [[DownOnTheFarm Great Plains states]], where this trope, combined with industrialized agriculture outcompeting small farmers, has been causing [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rural_flight "rural flight"]]. Small towns are being abandoned as nobody shows up to replace the young people who leave, and the latest Census survey holds that some areas now have a lower population density than they did in [[TheWildWest 1890, the year that the frontier was declared to be closed]]. There have even been calls to bring back the Homestead Act ([[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_Land_Policy_and_Management_Act_of_1976 which was repealed in 1976]]) in order to resettle the Plains states.
* Some of the [[DownOnTheFarm farm-country]] and LovecraftCountry areas of New England.
** Similarly, the party in the middle of a cornfield depicted in ''Film/FreddyVsJason''? They're rather common in rural areas (though some areas might be in orchards instead).
* Inverted in some areas of the Rust Belt, particularly Michigan, where young inner suburbanites and city dwellers go from universities in the bigger cities to high-paying jobs in the exurbs. The fastest growing towns in the state are all boring bedroom communities 45 minutes from anywhere of import.

* One official source states that Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog only began exploring because he was bored with his birthplace, Christmas Island.