History Literature / GulliversTravels

* AsimovsThreeKindsOfScienceFiction: Long before Asimov spelled his essay, ''Gulliver's Travels'' was making a satire of the social impacts of the mind-blowing technology that makes FloatingContinent Laputa possible. In the third story about Laputa, its residents are revealed to be pretentious xenophobes that [[FeigningItelligence Feign Itelligence] ], waste money on useless gadgets, and oppress the people outside their city.

* AsimovsThreeKindsOfScienceFiction: Long before Asimov spelled his essay, ''Gulliver's Travels'' was making a satire of the social impacts of the mind-blowing technology that makes FloatingContinent Laputa possible. In the third story about Laputa, its residents are revealed to be pretentious xenophobes that {{Feign|ing Intelligence}}, waste money on useless gadgets, and oppress the people outside their city.

''Gulliver's Travels'' has [[TheFilmOfTheBook been filmed]] several times, but most of the adaptations omit the last two voyages (and aren't too much better with the second - even today, many people don't actually realize there's more to Gulliver's story than just Lilliput). Often, a {{bowdlerise}}d version of the voyage is printed as a children's book. Go [[WesternAnimation/GulliversTravels here]] for the [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfAnimation 1939]] animated film version, and [[Film/GulliversTravels2010 here]] for the 2010 film starring Jack Black. In 1968, Creator/HannaBarbera produced a loosely-inspired animated adaptation ''The Adventures of Gulliver'' about teenaged Gary Gulliver.

* IfYoureSoEvilEatThisKitten: Weary of his disappointing time in Luggnagg, Gulliver is finally able to secure passage on a boat bound for Japan, and he arrives at the port of Xamoschi on 21 March 1710. His stay in the island country is brief, however, as he finds himself in trouble once again. It seems the custom for Dutchmen in Japan is to trample the crucifix, in order to demonstrate that they are not Christians, and none have ever refused to do so. The Japanese Emperor excuses Gulliver from this tradition, but later, a Dutchman again tries to force Gulliver into trampling the cross, a sacrilegious act in his eyes.

In 1996, Hallmark Entertainment and [[Creator/JimHenson Jim Henson Productions]] produced a TV mini-series for Creator/{{NBC}} starring Creator/TedDanson, Creator/MarySteenburgen, and a young Creator/TomSturridge. In this version Dr. Gulliver has returned to his family from a long absence. The action shifts back and forth between flashbacks of his travels and the present where he is telling the story of his travels and has been committed to an asylum. It is notable for being one of the very few adaptations to feature all four voyages, and is considered the closest adaptation to the book despite taking several liberties, such as Gulliver not returning home between each part.

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!!'''The Ted Danson mini-series provides examples of:'''
* AdaptationalHeroism: The Brobdingnagians are much more enlightened than they are in the original; they are implied to be completely free of racism and sexism, since their rulers are black and the Queen has as much authority as the King, and said rulers act like philosopher-kings instead of abusing their power. In the book, it is made very clear that Brobdingnag has all of England’s flaws except war, hinting that the latter is only absent because it is isolated from all other countries. The courtiers are flighty and ignorant, and the court dwarf is treated like shit because of his deformity, not to mention the extreme poverty in the city. The miniseries removes this to the point that the Brobdingnagians’ horror at gunpowder seems like moral conviction instead of [[OvenLogic Gulliver not realizing that scaling up a magazine by a factor of 12 would be potentially catastrophic]].
* AdaptationalVillainy: Dr Bates gets only a cursorial mention in the book; in the mini-series he has Gulliver committed to an insane asylum so that he can marry Gulliver's wife.
* AdaptationDistillation: In the novel, Gulliver returns to England at the end of each voyage. In the miniseries, he is gone for nine years and only returns home at the end of his final voyage.
* AgeLift: In the novel, the Emperor of Lilliput is "twenty-eight years and three-quarters old." In the miniseries, he is in his sixties at least.
* BedlamHouse: The original Bedlam House, no less.
* CompositeCharacter:
** All of Gulliver's children are replaced a single son named Tom.
** The Brobdingnagian King's role is given to the Queen.
* GenderFlip: The Brobdingnagian king is replaced with the Queen, and Gulliver's Houyhnhnm master is now a mistress.
* HappilyMarried: Gulliver and his wife Mary, as opposed to the novel.
* InNameOnly: The Struldbruggs in the miniseries bear little resemblance to the book besides the name and the fact that they're immortal. They're not born that way and they don't have AgeWithoutYouth; instead, they drink from a FountainOfYouth which also robs them of their sight (although they consider this a small price to pay for never dying, and try unsuccessfully to convince Gulliver of this).
* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Ted Danson doesn't try to put on an English accent except for a moment or two, even though Gulliver is an Englishman, and mostly just sounds American. (which actually makes it an AccidentallyCorrectWriting[[invoked]]; in the 18th century when the book was written, the "English accent" sounded a lot closer to what we would consider an American accent.)
%%* OvenLogic: Gulliver tries to be a OneManIndustrialRevolution in Brobdingnag by teaching the King the secrets of gunpowder. So he has a powder keg filled up that is scaled to Brobdingnagian size (meaning it holds 1728 times as much as normal). ...Yeah, he’s really lucky that didn’t straight-up kill him. The explosion makes the King call the English “an odious race”.
* RelatedInTheAdaptation: General Limtoc and Admiral Bolgolam are the Emperor of Lilliput's sons in the miniseries.
* YouHaveToBelieveMe: Gulliver tries to convince people his experiences were real, but comes off quite deranged since they're incredibly bizarre and he suffers from very frequent traumatic flashbacks which make him seem like he's just hallucinating it all. [[spoiler: His son Tom eventually finds the tiny sheep from Lilliput which he brought, proving it was real.]]

* ForScience: Seems to be the main motivation in the Academy of Lagado, whose half-baked ideas range from extracting sunbeams from cucumbers[[note]]okay... Plants use sunlight to split carbon from carbon dioxide, and excrete the dioxide (02, aka breathable oxygen). Applying heat catalyzes the release of the stored solar energy as light and heat, leaving the carbon as ash. So, technically, even if it's hard to ignite, you ''could'' extract sunbeams from cucumbers. Not that anyone in Swift’s time had a clue about this chemistry, of course.[[/note]] to [[BodyHorror turning a dog inside out]] to cure its diarrhea.

* ValuesDissonance: Of a sort. The extensive and insulting portrayal Gulliver gives of medicine in the fourth book seems very strange coming from a surgeon. But in Swift's time, surgery was not considered a branch of medicine. Surgeons were second-tier craftsmen at best, and Gulliver is a ship's surgeon, who tended to be the worst of their profession.

In 1996, Hallmark Entertainment and [[Creator/JimHenson Jim Henson Productions]] produced a TV mini-series starring Creator/TedDanson, Creator/MarySteenburgen, and a young Creator/TomSturridge. In this version Dr. Gulliver has returned to his family from a long absence. The action shifts back and forth between flashbacks of his travels and the present where he is telling the story of his travels and has been committed to an asylum. It is notable for being one of the very few adaptations to feature all four voyages, and is considered the closest adaptation to the book despite taking several liberties, such as Gulliver not returning home between each part.

* ToiletHumor: In addition to all the high-minded satire, the book has plenty of this as well, Gulliver putting out the Lilliputian castle fire by pissing on it, [[FanDisservice the lengthy descriptions of]] [[GagBoobs Brobdingnagian breasts]], Gulliver getting covered in Yahoo feces.

There is also a 1996 TV mini-series starring Creator/TedDanson, Creator/MarySteenburgen, and a young Creator/TomSturridge. In this version Dr. Gulliver has returned to his family from a long absence. The action shifts back and forth between flashbacks of his travels and the present where he is telling the story of his travels and has been committed to an asylum. It is notable for being one of the very few adaptations to feature all four voyages, and is considered the closest adaptation to the book despite taking several liberties, such as Gulliver not returning home between each part.

* BlackHumor: Along with BlackComedy, a specialty of Swift's. See, for example, the horrifically aged Struldbruggs, or the appalling, incestuously inbred Yahoos.

* NoPronunciationGuide: The Houyhnhnm. The most common guess is "HWIN-im"[[note]]It's likely meant to represent a sound/word that horses can make, but humans can't[[/note]].

** [[VillainousIncest The origin of the Yahoos]] is a parallel to [[Literature/TheBible Adam and Eve]], whose children mated with each other out of necessity, and grew more and more wicked. No wonder Gulliver ends up a MisanthropeSupreme after hearing about it; this was long before Darwin.
[[DramaticallyMissingThePoint to think he could be mistaken for a Yahoo.]]

* PlayingGertrude: Creator/PeterOToole plays the Emperor of Lilliput, whose sons are played by John Standing and Edward Fox. He was only slightly older than them both.

* AgeWithoutYouth: The Struldbrugs are built around this trope, as they were meant to {{Deconstruct}} the dreams of immortality people had in Swift's time.

* AndIMustScream: Several residents of Luggnagg, notably the Strudbrugs, are born with immortality. However, their bodies never stop aging, most of them living for exceptionally long periods of time without the ability to do anything for themselves. They are unable to stand, walk, they suffer ailments such as losing their hair and eyesight and talking is nearly impossible, if not completely impossible for them. To make matters worse, as soon as they turn 80 years old, despite being immortal, they are considered dead by law and have no legal rights, not even being allowed to be witnesses in court and cannot be employed, buy or own lands, or take leases...

* BlackHumor: Along with BlackComedy, a specialty of Swift's. See, for example, the horrifically aged Struldbrugs, or the appalling, incestuously inbred Yahoos.

* LegallyDead: In order to prevent the Struldbrugs from concentrating all wealth in their hands, they are made that at the age of eighty.

* WhoWantsToLiveForever: The Struldbrugs, who [[AgeWithoutYouth just get more senile and decrepit as they age]].

* InNameOnly: The Struldbrugs in the miniseries bear little resemblance to the book besides the name and the fact that they're immortal. They're not born that way and they don't have AgeWithoutYouth; instead, they drink from a FountainOfYouth which also robs them of their sight (although they consider this a small price to pay for never dying, and try unsuccessfully to convince Gulliver of this).

* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Averted when two female Yahoos in heat set their sights on a bathing Gulliver, [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters who is horrified]] [[DramaticallyMissingThePoint to think he could be mistaken for a Yahoo.]]

* SquareCubeLaw: Averted. Lilliputians and Blefuscudians don’t freeze to death, Brobdingnagians don’t collapse under their own weight, and the latter can even roast meat the same time it would take for something normal-sized.

* AlwaysChaoticEvil: The Yahoos. It is noted [[FieryRedhead the red-haired Yahoos take this]] UpToEleven.

%%* OvenLogic: Gulliver tries to be a OneManIndustrialRevolution in Brobdingnag by teaching the King the secrets of gunpowder. So he has a powder keg filled up that is scaled to Brobdingnagian size (meaning it holds 1728 times as much as normal). ...Yeah, he’s really lucky that didn’t straight-up kill him. The explosion makes the King call the English “an odious race”.

There is also a 1996 TV mini-series starring Creator/TedDanson and Creator/MarySteenburgen. In this version Dr. Gulliver has returned to his family from a long absence. The action shifts back and forth between flashbacks of his travels and the present where he is telling the story of his travels and has been committed to an asylum. It is notable for being one of the very few adaptations to feature all four voyages, and is considered the closest adaptation to the book despite taking several liberties, such as Gulliver not returning home between each part.

* NotEvenBotheringWithTheAccent: Ted Danson doesn't try to put on an English accent except for a moment or two, even though Gulliver is an Englishman, and mostly just sounds American. (Which actually makes it AccidentallyAccurate; in the 18th century when the book was written, the "English accent" sounded a lot closer to what we would consider an American accent.)

* MoralDissonance: The Houyhnhnms preach of their own superiority but have incredibly hypocritical beliefs about the Yahoos and refuse to be persuaded otherwise when presented evidence to the contrary. Whether the reader is supposed to acknowledge this or not has been debated for centuries.

** "...in the kingdom of [[UsefulNotes/{{Britain}} Tribnia]], by the natives called [[UsefulNotes/{{London}} Langdon]] ... the bulk of the people consist in a manner wholly of discoverers, witnesses, informers, accusers, prosecutors, evidences, swearers, together with their several subservient and subaltern instruments..."