History Main / TheFutureWillBeBetter

* The "Carousel of Progress" at [[DisneyThemeParks Disney World]] has the song "There's a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow" (which was also [[CoverVersion covered]] by TheyMightBeGiants for ''MeetTheRobinsons'').

* The song "The White Cliffs Of Dover" by Vera Lynn was written and recorded during the Second World War, where Lynn's assuration that "tomorrow, when the world is free/ just you wait and see" gave many Britons hope that the hardships of the war would be over one day.
* "Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance" by Frank Zappa from Music/WereOnlyInItForTheMoney sings that there will come "a time when everybody who is lonely will be free to sing and dance and love/ there will come a time when every evil that we know will be an evil that we can rise above" and "even take their clothes off when they dance."
* "The Miracle" by Queen concludes with the lines: "One day you'll see/ a time will come/ when we will all be friends."
* "One Day I'll Fly Away" by Gillian Welch also lifts the hope that despite all the miseries of today there will come a time when the protagonist will be able to escape from it.
* "We Shall Overcome" by Pete Seeger is perhaps the greatest example of this trope. Originally used for the Afro-American civil rights movement it has now become "the" rallying song to unite activists for a common cause.
* "Tomorrow Is Mine" from the film Film/{{Cabaret}} expresses faith that the future will belong to the protagonist.

* The ''ItGetsBetterProject'' is a series of web videos by LGBT and ally adults aimed at LGBT youth to promote the message that life will get better, even if it's really tough now. The project is aimed at cutting the suicide rate for LGBT young people.

* {{Jonathan Coulton}}'s ''The Future Soon'' features the now-loser main character fantasizing about his future success as a "space engineer in space."

This is somewhat of a [[CyclicTrope generational/cyclical trope]] in some ways: ScienceFiction in the optimistic post-WWII era in the U.S. featured easy travel to other planets, flying cars, the triumph of democracy and universally-recognized human rights, etc. Around the late 60s and 70s dystopic scenarios became increasingly common, however usually there was a hero who successfully undermined the dictators or exposed the dark secret that deceived the people, and the dystopia was overcome (''{{Logans Run}}'', ''{{Soylent Green}}'' possibly with the hero's publicly-proclaimed end reveal; later, ''{{The Running Man}}''). Around the 80s and 90s dystopian {{Crapsack World}}s would often stay dystopian {{Crapsack World}}s, with the drama centering more on heroes (or {{Anti Hero}}es) dealing with life as best they can and maybe accomplishing some bit of good in the process.

->''Hi, welcome to the future. San Dimas, California, 2688. And I'm telling you, it's great here! The air is clean, the water's clean, even the dirt... it's clean! Bowling averages are way up, mini-golf scores are way down. And we have more excellent water slides than any other planet we communicate with. I'm telling you, this place is great!''
-->--Rufus, ''Film/BillAndTedsExcellentAdventure''

-->[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_xcaBdBHf4 The future will be better tomorrow.]]
---->-- DanQuayle

A trope OlderThanYouThink, that of a story that informs us the future will not be full of doomsday scenarios, but in fact the time when all troubles will be behind us. All the audience has to do is be patient. Such idealized scenarios are very popular with the general public since everybody is eager for a world where everything will change for the better. The success of this entire idea is entirely built around the premise that so long as the audience still have to wait they will remain loyal. From the moment the future has finally arrived most of them will be disappointed, since expectations don't always live up to the actual accomplishments.

Hope for a better future can be naïve, but many people have changed this CrapsackWorld just by gaining strength by believing in their ideas.

This trope is especially popular in religions. All of them promise some sort of salvation or enlightment for their followers if they just keep on believing in the SecondComing or whatever positive future might be coming.

Politicians also love to promise a better future when they get elected. No RealLife examples are needed. Even pre-BarackObama era politicians have been doing this.

Please note that ONLY examples should be included where the supposedly rainbow shining happy future still has to occur.

[[AC:Film]]
* A famous line in GoneWithTheWind by Scarlett O' Hara: "After all, tomorrow is another day!"

[[AC:Literature]]
* Every religion promises a better future in the future.

* In ''Literature/ThePendragonAdventure'' books the original version of Third Earth, which is Earth in the 51st century, is practically perfect. It's an idealistic paradise where the humans are entirely happy, and all of knowledge and history is easily available. However, it becomes much worse once the timeline is changed.

[[AC:Music]]
* "The White Cliffs Of Dover" by Music/VeraLynn.
* "Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance" by Music/FrankZappa.
* "The Miracle" by Music/{{Queen}}.
* "One Day I'll Fly Away" by Gillian Welch.
* "We Shall Overcome" by Pete Seeger.
* "Tomorrow Is Mine" from ''Theatre/{{Cabaret}}''.
* "It's Gonna Be Alright" by Deep Zone.
* "Imagine" by JohnLennon.
* "Three Little Birds" by BobMarley.
* "The Times They Are-A Changin'" by BobDylan.

[[AC:Real Life]]
* MartinLutherKing's "I Have A Dream" speech
* {{Transhumanis|m}}ts are sure that accelerating technical progress will reach the [[TheSingularity the technological singularity]] soon enough.
* The concept of universal world peace.

Politicians also love to promise a better future when they get elected. No RealLife examples are needed. Even before BarackObama politicians have been doing this.

* "The Times They Are-A Changin' by BobDylan.

* "Imagine" by John Lennon

Hope for a better future can be naïve, but many people have changed the world just by gaining strength by believing in their ideas.

* The song "The White Cliffs Of Dover" by Music/VeraLynn.

* "It's Gonna Be Alright" by Deepzone.

Politicians also love to promise a better future when they get elected. No real life examples are needed. Even before BarackObama politicians have been doing this.

* In ''ThePendragonAdventure'' books the original version of Third Earth, which is Earth in the 51st century, is practically perfect. It's an idealistic paradise where the humans are entirely happy, and all of knowledge and history is easily available. However, it becomes much worse once the timeline is changed.

* {{Transhumanis|m}}ts are sure that accelerating technical progress will reach the [[TheSingularity the technological singularity]] soon enough.

* In {{The Pendragon Adventure}} books the original version of Third Earth, which is Earth in the 51st century, is practically perfect. It's an idealistic paradise where the humans are entirely happy, and all of knowledge and history is easily available. However, it becomes much worse once the timeline is changed.

* The song "The White Cliffs Of Dover" by VeraLynn.
* "Take Your Clothes Off When You Dance" by FrankZappa.
* "The Miracle" by Queen
* "One Day I'll Fly Away" by Gillian Welch
* "We Shall Overcome" by PeteSeeger
* "Tomorrow Is Mine" from the movie "Cabaret".

* In {{The Pendragon Adventure}} the original version of Third Earth, which is Earth in the 51st century, is practically perfect. It's an idealistic paradise where the humans are entirely happy, and all of knowledge and history is easily available. However, it becomes much worse once the timeline is changed.

* In [[ThePendragonAdventure]] the original version of Third Earth, which is Earth in the 51st century, is practically perfect. It's an idealistic paradise where the humans are entirely happy, and all of knowledge and history is easily available. However, it becomes much worse once the timeline is changed.

* In {{ThePendragonAdventure}} the original version of Third Earth, which is Earth in the 51st century, is practically perfect. It's an idealistic paradise where the humans are entirely happy, and all of knowledge and history is easily available. However, it becomes much worse once the timeline is changed.

* "You can fool some of the people some of the time but you can't fool all the people all of the time." - AbrahamLincoln.

AC:Real Life]]

Examples:

Literature:

Music:

Real life:

* [[{{Transhuman}} Transhumanists]] are sure that accelerating technical progress will reach the [[TheSingularity the technological singularity]] soon enough.

* [[Transhuman Transhumanists]] are sure that accelerating technical progress will reach the [[TheSingularity the technological singularity]] soon enough.

* MartinLutherKing's "I Have A Dream" speech