History Main / TheGreatDepression

* ''The Cliffhanger: Edward Randy'' is an Indiana Jones-style adventure game set in the '30s, stylized as [[YearX 193X]] in-game.[[labelnote:*]]That said, the Japanese version explicitly states it's September 14, and a calendar is shown with that day as a Friday. The only year of the 1930s where Sep. 14 was a Friday was 1934.[[/labelnote]]

The Great Depression / The Dirty Thirties: Home to dust bowl farmers, reedy-voiced folk singers and rail-riding {{hobos}}. Life pretty much sucks unless you're lucky enough to be a rich socialite, in which case you should expect to get involved in a wacky {{screwball comedy}}, which may or may not involve either [[Film/TheThreeStooges three short, bumbling men named Moe, Larry and Curly]] or [[Creator/MarxBrothers two fast-talkers named Groucho and Chico and their mute accomplice Harpo]]. (As the Depression drove prices plummeting through the floor, those who had been able to avoid getting wiped out in the crash suddenly found their money increasing in value.) Or, if you're female, you could ditch the Dust Bowl and head off to Hollywood, become a movie actress, and don [[PimpedOutDress long, sexy gowns]] on premiere night, showing off some [[SexyBacklessOutfit tanned skin]].

!!Works that are set in this time period:

!!Works made, but not set, during the thirties:

* Literature/AmericanGirlsCollection: [[Literature/AmericanGirlsKit Kit Kittredge]] (2000) (and the 2007 [[TheMoviemovie ]]) starts in 1932.

* ''Film/KitKittredgeAnAmericanGirl'', made in 2008, set in 1934.

* ''Literature/AmericanGirlsKit'' (2000-present)

* Literature/AmericanGirlsCollection: The story of [[Literature/AmericanGirlsKit Kit Kittredge]] (2000) from the books (and TheMovie) is set from 1932 to 1935

Otherwise, you would be scraping to survive, as Creator/JohnSteinbeck wrote about in ''Literature/TheGrapesOfWrath'' and ''Literature/OfMiceAndMen''. For some, it was a time to run wild and take what they wanted from the fat cats who exploited the people, as one of the ''Film/PublicEnemies'' like John Dillinger or the bank-robbing couple ''Film/BonnieAndClyde''. Others found more constructive paths, such as the folk singer Music/WoodyGuthrie, who rode the rails ''Bound for Glory'' giving voice to the underprivileged, or the many pulp-novel writers and newspaper-strip artists who were busily concocting ProtoSuperhero stories. Meanwhile, [[Creator/JerrySiegelAndJoeShuster a couple of Jewish teenagers from Cleveland]] managed to sell their seemingly-preposterous story of a [[ComicBook/{{Superman}} titanically strong hero dressed in blue tights and red cape]], in the process [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks changing the burgeoning comic book medium forever]] with a whole new [[{{Superhero}} fantasy genre]].

** The saga of Fantomius (GentlemanThief) is set in the RoaringTwenties, but a time travel episode states that the title character retired because, in the Great Depression, he had no reason to exist anymore, only to prepare himself for a successor when the time would be right.

* ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': This is the setting of the {{Flashback}} scenes in the second half of the fifth episode (1930) and all of the sixth episode (1930-1939).

* {{Zipperiffic}}: the decade made zippers more innovative in many things like bags and clothes.

** AllGermansAreNazis: When Hitler took power in 1933, this became a staple.

* CrapsackWorld: Pretty much mandatory if you're portraying the common peoples' life - it basically ''was''.

* DeadlyDustStorm: This was busy happening in the Dust Bowl- the dust storms blew so thick and long that people and animals would be permanently blinded or choke to death on them. They could generate such high amounts of static electricity that car motors would short out if not grounded, leading to people living in the Dust Bowl attaching lengths of chain to the undercarriage that would drag on the ground. A particularly massive dust storm blew all the way to Washington DC, further cementing this trope into the minds of Americans around the country at the time.

* GirlinessUpgrade: Androgynous flapper fashion becomes unfashionable due to the socio-economic situation. In response, the fashions reverted back to femininity, with the waistlines going up and hemlines going down. Floral prints and polka dots on frilly or puffy sleeved dresses of dusty pink, sea foam green, mauve, navy blue, and steel blue, topped with a hat, gloves, and scarves resembling oversized bows, became the rage of the era,.

** AllGermansAreNazis: When Hitler took power in 1933 this became a staple.

[[folder:Popular tropes from this time period:]]

* The 1991 beat-em-up ''64th Street: A Detective Story'' takes place on October 3, 1939. The robotic enemies in the later levels take cues from steampunk, while the multitude of mooks sporting mohawk hairdos, sunglasses, and bandanas take cues from 1980s punk.

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': The revival series 3 two parter "[[DoctorWhoS29E4DaleksInManhattan Daleks in Manhattan]]" / "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E5EvolutionOfTheDaleks Evolution of the Daleks]]" is set in New York City in November 1930, with the Daleks recruiting a labor force by abducting homeless from the Central Park Hooverville.

** ''ComicBook/SupermanNumberOne''. The first issue of Superman's solo comic, published in 1939

* ''TabletopGames/{{Monopoly}}'': Parker Brothers published the game in 1935, though variants of the game date back further.

* ''WesternAnimation/GulliversTravels'' (1939).