History Main / WhyWereBummedCommunismFell

* The characters in ''GoodbyeLenin'' try to hide the fall of communism from their mother who just woke from a long coma after a stroke, as they fear she might die when the truth is revealed to her.

This is somewhat TruthInTelevision -- many people from the Eastern Bloc regret the fall of socialism. For more on this, see the Real Life section.

* The leaders of the Ultranationalists in ''ModernWarfare'' believe that Russian glory was lost after the fall of the USSR.

* The plot of the second ''{{Patlabor}}'' (a series which previously suffered quite heavily from TheGreatPoliticsMessUp) movie revolves around a terrorist plot intended to show the world how vulnerable the military budget cuts brought about by the end of the Cold War have made people ([[spoiler:at least it was before Tsuge hijacked the plan for his own personal vendetta against the apathetic citizenry & ArmchairGenerals who hung him out to dry when his attempts to develop a HumongousMecha school of combat fell apart]]).

* The BigBad of ''{{Phantom of Inferno}}'' used to brainwash people for the Stasi and KGB. When the Cold War ended, he picked up the protagonists and brainwashed them to be hired guns. Along with a [[TheShrikeTeam few others]].

* General Eiling explains that his war with the JusticeLeague in ''JusticeLeagueUnlimited'' was because we didn't have a clear threat like the Commies for the military to fight. It should be pointed out that Eiling is [[GeneralRipper not a character to be liked]], and his former co-conspirator even says that the idea is stupid.

* ''CaptainPlanet'' does this with Commander Clash, an American agent stationed on a remote island. For some reason, his superiors ''forgot to tell him that the war was over'' for a year or two, and when the Planeteers told him, he was rather upset. He eventually found new meaning by dedicating his life to (what else?) [[GreenAesop environmental protection]].

** A more minor example but Linka's home in the theme song changed fron The Soviet Union to Eastern Europe.

* ThePenguinsOfMadagascar had some fun with this in the "Red Squirrel" episode. For 47 years, Special Agent Buck Rockgut has the single-minded purpose of waiting for escaped Penguin Enemy #1 the Red Squirrel to surface and recapture him. The penguins join in on the hunt but eventually they realize that after decades of waiting, with not having seen hide nor hair of the villain, Buck has gone paranoid, accusing every animal of being secret agents for things that really don't have anything to do with the Red Squirrel. They conclude that the Red Squirrel probably no longer exists and Buck Rockgut just couldn't accept that. [[spoiler:Then it turns out that the Red Squirrel really has been hiding in his secret lair, and he is spying with satisfaction on how his arch-nemesis is being discredited and disposed of.]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* Patrick Mulcahy from ''AGirlAndHerFed'' yearns for simpler times.
-->'''The Fed''' (with his head in his hands): ...Born twenty years earlier, it'd be so much easier. "Agent Mulcahy," they'd say, "Go shoot Russians." And I'd ask, "Russians from an alternate future that no longer exists?" And they'd say, "They are your average Russians. Go shoot them."
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* In a 1991 ''BloomCounty'' strip, a passerby is flabbergasted to see Opus the Penguin playing "cowboys and Indians" with his friends. [[DeliberateValuesDissonance "You're fighting Indians in 1991?" the stranger asks.]] Opus concedes the point and then declares "Let's fight Commie spies!" No way, declares the stranger; they're too busy [[BurgerFool slaving away at the fryer]] in the new [=McDonald's=] in Moscow. Opus tries again: [[TheWarOnTerror "Arab terrorists!"]] Sorry, comes the reply; they're now our allies. "[[StarTrek Klingons]]," begins Opus, getting desperate now - but he's quickly informed that a Klingon warrior is now serving on the crew of the ''U.S.S. Enterprise''. Let's face it, the stranger concludes; it's the "end of history," and there are simply no more bad guys.

* ''Film/TheManWhoKnewTooLittle'' ultimately blossoms into this.

* StanislawLem's "On the usefulness of the dragon" describes an entire planet that feeds gigantic organism called ''dragon'', because they've been doing for so long, and feeding the dragon became so intergrated in their economy, they can't stop, despite that ''dragon'' occasionaly kills tourists and grows more and more, taking more land.

** Then again, Marshal Tito wasn't exactly a Communist. He was a more conventional Socialist who quickly broke with the Soviets after WWII, and helped found the third-way Non-Aligned Movement.

* Many citizens of old Soviet bloc countries miss Communism because it's what they knew. And it certainly affected a lot of people in various ways. Naturally, YourMileageMayVary as to whether this makes the fall, in itself, a bad thing.

* ThePenguinsOfMadagascar had some fun with this in the "Red Squirrel" episode. For 47 years, Special Agent Buck Rockgut has the single-minded purpose of waiting for escaped Penguin Enemy #1 the Red Squirrel to surface and recapture him. The penguins join in on the hunt but eventually they realize that after decades of waiting, with not having seen hide nor hair of the villain, Buck has gone paranoid, accusing every animal of being secret agents for things that really don't have anything to do with the Red Squirrel. They conclude that the Red Squirrel probably no longer exists and Buck Rockgut just couldn't accept that. [[spoiler:Then it turns out that the Red Squirrel really has been hiding in his secret lair, and he is watching through his secret-lair-monitor with satisfaction at how his arch-nemesis is being discredited and disposed of.]]

* The few places Communism didn't fall was more because they didn't practice it to begin with, or at least not to the letter. Post Mao Mainland China and 1990s Vietnam are the more successful examples of ideology bending to reality - Deng Xiaoping, leader of the CCP was proud to proclaim words to the effect that "It doesn't matter whether 'the cat' is black or white; if it catches rats, it's a good cat". North Korea is an example of spectacular failure. North Korea actually had a ''higher'' standard of living than South Korea for a time, until Park Jung-Hee took over South Korea and set into motion a bunch of five-year plans that worked. His successors carried it on, and by the time Seoul hosted the {{Olympics}} in 1988, South Korea blew past their northern brethren.

* The few places Communism didn't fall was more because they didn't practice it to begin with, or at least not to the letter. Post Mao Mainland China and 1990s Vietnam are the more successful examples of ideology bending to reality - Deng Xiaoping, leader of the CCP was proud to proclaim words to the effect that "It doesn't matter whether 'the cat' is black or white; if it catches rats, it's a good cat". North Korea is an example of spectacular failure. North Korea actually had a ''higher'' standard of living than South Korea for a time, until Park Jung-Hee took over South Korea and set into motion a bunch of five-year plans that worked. His successors carried it on, and by 1988, South Korea blew past their northern brethren.

* PlayedForLaughs on ''SaturdayNightLive''. The TropeNamer sketch was a ''[=~Wayne's World~=]'' TopTenList for "why we're were bummed communism fell". A TitleDrop was worked into #10 on the list: "We won't be the first people in the Soviet Union to say 'Live! From New York! It's Saturday Night!'"

* PlayedForLaughs on ''SaturdayNightLive''. The TropeNamer sketch was a ''[=~Wayne's World~=]'' TopTenList for "why we're were bummed communism fell". Actually it was just a list of nine, since the top item was the TitleDrop.
** The TitleDrop was worked into #10 on the list: "We won't be the first people in the Soviet Union to say--Live! From New York! It's Saturday Night!"

** On a related note, this troper remembers a late-night talk show host making quips about how badly American high school students had performed on a globally-administered geography test. "Slovakia, which had been a country since, like, ''Tuesday'', kicked our butts!"

** On a related note, this troper remembers a late-night talk show host making quips about how bad American high school students had performed on globally-administered geography test. "Slovakia, which had been a country since, like, ''Tuesday'', kicked our butts!"

** Uh, ex soviet nations that border Russia includes most of the stans, Georgia, Belarus and Ukraine that have pretty much been fluctuating degrees of political and economic disaster. The only real successes from the Soviet proper are the Baltics and even then only Estonia is really able to be labeled as prospering. Lithuania can't keep inflation down or get enough jobs to keep their population from fleeing to the rest of Europe. Latvia had no choice but to take a IMF loan after 2008 took its toll and is the poorest EU nation besides Romania. Sure they fare a bit better than their Eastern neighbors, but no former Soviet nation has quite 'made it'.

* In Germany, there is the term: Osteralgie, a neologism combining Oster (east) and Nostalgie (nostalgia).

** Actually it is called "Ostalgie", since "Ost" means east and Ostern means easter.

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