Line #1 Literature/DownAndOutInTheMagicKingdom


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/down_out_magic_kingdom.png]]
2	A novel by Creator/CoryDoctorow set in the future of the Bitchun Society, which has abolished conventional money (replaced by Whuffie, a complex reputation-based system), scarcity (cheap renewable energy and nano-assemblers), death ([[BrainUploading brain uploads]] and subsequent [[BodySurf downloads]] to fast-grown clones), and government (entirely ad-hoc structures).
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4	The story chronicles one of a group of adhocrats running The Haunted Mansion at Disney World, trying to solve his own murder after he is killed prior to the hostile takeover of said attraction by another ad-hoc committee.
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7	!!Tropes present in this novel:
8	* BodyBackupDrive: Everybody has access to cloned bodies that they can download their memories into when they die.
9	* CrapsaccharineWorld: Yes, everyone's effectively immortal and money has disappeared, but half the characters smoke crack to overcome how boring the world is, while a bunch of others have put their minds in storage until something interesting happens.
10	* Ride/DisneyThemeParks: Primarily set in them, particularly a future Magic Kingdom.
11	* DrugsAreGood: Since addiction is easily cured and health consequences don't mean much to immortals, there are casual in-passing references to the main character's girlfriend smoking crack.
12	* EmotionalMaturityIsPhysicalMaturity: No one so much as bats an eyelash at the MayflyDecemberRomance anymore, since physically nearly everyone has a twenty-something body.
13	** Subverted in that the age difference between the protagonist and his girlfriend ''does'' cause some problems. The first chapter opens:
14	---> My girlfriend was 15 percent of my age, and I was old-fashioned enough that it bugged me.
15	* HumanPopsicle: "Deadheading" and Keep-A-Movin' Dan's decision to deadhead until the heat-death of the universe. A different technical implementation of the trope, since the bodies aren't actually on ice, the minds are just sitting in backup to be restored at some future date (as opposed to ASAP). The same issues apply, though (in particular, would-be deadheaders wonder whether crowded future generations won't just decide to leave them in storage indefinitely).
16	* ImmortalLifeIsCheap: Taken to extremes, since people in the Bitchun society will evidently deal with ''a cold'' by backing up their minds, offing themselves, and resurrecting into a clone. Plus, the main character is ''murdered'' by someone who just wants him out of the way temporarily, since they know that killing him will just be an inconvenience.
17	* MemoryGambit: [[spoiler: Debra reverted to an earlier backup after planning Julius' murder so she wouldn't have any knowledge of the plot. Her co-conspirator Dan was supposed to as well, but he didn't and eventually confessed.]]
18	%%* MobstacleCourse
19	* NoFameNoWealthNoService: The reputation economy basically behaves like this if your Whuffie is low enough. Since money has apparently disappeared, personal reputation is the only standard to determine who gets served (you can get free stuff from the automated systems, but not being able to deal with humans is still a pain in the ass).
20	* NoPaperFuture: When the main character's implants are offline, he mentions that he temporarily has to live like a caveman: "surrounded by dead trees and ticking clocks."
21	* NothingLeftToDoButDie: Keep-A-Movin' Dan has lost purpose and wants to die.
22	* PostScarcityEconomy: The Bitchun society has eliminated scarcity and replaced conventional currency with a reputation meter, the problems of which Doctorow had to [[http://www.locusmag.com/Perspectives/2016/03/cory-doctorow-wealth-inequality-is-even-worse-in-reputation-economies/ explicitly spell out.]]
23	* TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified: Partially averted, there are some downsides to the Bitchun Revolution. Depending on your philosophical views, immortality by backup might be more NightmareFuel than not, but everyone in the book's society who felt that way has simply died off, out-competed by the immortals. The reputation-based currency also stifles some sorts of innovation, as going against the crowd is a sure-fire way to end up impoverished.
24	** The book also mentions a transitional phase in Bitchun when a group of students declared an adhocratic coup against their university professor over the way the class was run, turning the class into a non-functional anarchy.
25	* ShoutOut: Chapter 6 includes the "Literature/SnowCrash Spectacular Parade" along with Sushi-K reenacting the journey of Hiro Protagonist.
26	* SociallyScoredSociety: The setting features a PostScarcityEconomy where instead of conventional money people have a "Whuffie" rating that goes up or down based on other people's opinions of them. After the protagonist speaks out against the antagonist's planned renovations of Disney World his Whuffie drops so low that his scooter gets swiped the moment he turns his back on it and elevator doors don't open for him.
27	* StayingAlive: {{Immortality}} by backup.
28	* SuicideIsPainless: And, in the book's world, often very ''temporary''.
29	* WeWillHaveEuthanasiaInTheFuture: Dan was able to buy suicide drugs from a chemist fairly easily.
30	* WhodunnitToMe: The protagonist was restored from backup after being murdered, and he's trying to find out who.

Context Literature / DownAndOutInTheMagicKingdom