Commie Land - Television Tropes & Idioms

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

— C. S. Lewis, being somewhat hypocritical

Countries, sometimes fictious, ruled by communist regimes. As a rule of thumb, these tend to be what happens to Ruritania when People's Republic of Tyranny is installed there.

These places are often pretty depressing, dominated by dilapidated concrete architecture, people wearing drab Commie clothing and probably even the weather cold and rainy (unless it's some place like Cuba). Basic utilities are substandard, there are shortages of almost everything and what little consumer goods are produced are absolute rubbish, especially the cars. Locals, besides the clothing, tend to be The Eeyore or Apathetic Citizens, and even if not, they tend to be very keen on Gallows Humour and alcohol. Talking Is a Free Action doesn't apply (in the literal sense) here. On the up side, there's always someone caring for you. You can as well expect secret weapons facilities (especially in the biological field of WMD).

Compare Eagleland.

Examples:

Comic

Brutopia in stories of the Disney Ducks Comic Universe written by Carl Barks and Don Rosa.

Film

Bulgaria as depicted in Bruce Campbell's Man With the Screaming Brain.
Many James Bond films, usually as Russia, but sometimes another country like Czechoslovakia or China.
The Terminal has Viktor Navorski and his former homeland Krakhozia.

Literature

Two of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's (who used to live in the Soviet work camps himself) books, One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich, which is a historical fiction based on experience in the camps, and The Gulag Archipelago, which is a non-fiction history of the Soviet work camps.
Just about every Ayn Rand book features some manner of socialist dystopia, which is probably due to her being from an actual Commie Land (Russia).
Terry Goodkind's Faith of the Fallen, being inspired by Rand's work, involves the protagonist being forced to live in a collectivist dystopian city of The Empire.

Live-Action TV

The Klingons on the original Star Trek were supposed to be like this, but that didn't exactly pan out. The Romulans were later developed in TNG as being similar to commie land.
A frequent setting in Mission: Impossible.

Multiple Media

The American agents of nearly all older Spy Dramas get sent there at least once.
Crimson Skies has the successor state The People's Collective (covering most of the territory of former Iowa). The name is kind of a giveaway. In a slight twist, it's ruled by a ''Christian'' communist regime.

Video games

Cold War centers around an American trapped in one of these.
The Malden islands and the Republic of Nogova in Operation Flashpoint are former Commie Lands, which managed to split from the USSR in the 70s and 80s.
The Democratic Republic of Sahrani in ARMA : Armed Assault. Chernarus in ARMA II is a former Commie Land, with one of the factions in the game wanting to restore the past regime.
Novistrana from Republic : The Revolution.

Tabletop Games

Genius The Transgression: Tsoska is quite literally made of this trope.
Played very much for laughs in Paranoia's The People's Glorious Revolutionary Adventure. Normally, the players lived in the Computer-controlled Alpha Complex as (semi-)loyal Troubleshooters; in TPGRA, they lived in the Communist-controlled Alpha State as (semi-)loyal Smershoviks. Everything was, of course, RED clearance (though some things were more RED than others), and everyone had big bushy beards and were to be speakink in thick Russian accent. Depression is being mandatory! Tovarich Computer is your Tovarich!

Web Original

In The Gamers Alliance, Scundia becomes a commie land in the Godslayer era after the Proninist Party has conquered it.
This article on Cracked (about ridiculous G.I.Joe action figures) parodies this trope by mentioning that villain Darklon originates from "the kingdom of Darklonia, a nebulous Eastern Bloc nation sharing its borders with Borovia and Madeupbullshitistan".