History ComicBook / WhenTheWindBlows

* [[spoiler:MutuallyAssuredDestruction]]

[[caption-width-right:300: [[{{Music/IronMaiden}} Just another when the wild wind blows...]]]]

* FateWorseThanDeath: What's worse than being killed by the bomb? ''Surviving'' the bomb. [[WebOriginal/ReactionAndReview Emer Provost]], in his (glowing) review of the movie, accurately described it as "winning the world's worst lottery".

* DoubleMeaning: Once the Blogges' health has declined far past the point of denial, Hilda suggests they pray. Jim, unable to think clearly, asks, "who to?" One gets the impression the question [[GodIsDead has meaning]] beyond his sickness-induced absent-mindedness.

* MutuallyAssuredDestruction

* MutuallyAssuredDestruction

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Jim is a decent chap who who wouldn't dream of being rude to his wife. When they hear the four minute warning that the missiles have been launched, Hilda fails to grasp the seriousness of the situation, decides to get the washing in and dithers about the cakes in the oven, panicking Jim so much that he shouts "Come back, you stupid bitch, and get in the shelter!"

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Hilda and Jim eventually die from radiation sickness some days after the bombing.]] Just after this, the skies clear, and it seems that the nuclear fallout is gone, only for an off-screen telegraph to tap out [[spoiler: M.A.D. (Mutually Assured Destruction)]] in Morse code at the end of the credits. [[spoiler:Either this wasn't a one-off nuclear attack, and a war is about to ensue, or the war is over and the NATO and Warsaw Pact have wiped each other out.]]

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Hilda and Jim eventually die from radiation sickness some days after the bombing.]] Just after this, the skies clear, and it seems that the nuclear fallout is gone, only for an off-screen telegraph to tap out [[spoiler: M.A.D. (Mutually Assured Destruction)]] in Morse code at the end of the credits. [[spoiler:This wasn't a one-off nuclear attack, and a war is about to ensue...]]

* TwoDecadesBehind: The Bloggses' knowledge of the political situation in the world and the current technological trends is hopelessly outdated. In addition, they often confuse the current events with those from the youth - for example Jim still thinks Montgomery is the head of the British Army, that the USSR is led by Khrushchev etc. Most importantly, they don't really understand the difference between a conventional bombing and a nuclear one.

* TechnologicallyBlindElders: The Bloggses' knowledge of the political situation in the world and the current technological trends is hopelessly outdated. In addition, they often confuse the current events with those from the youth - for example Jim still thinks Montgomery is the head of the British army, that the USSR is led by Khrushchev etc. Most importantly, they don't really understand the difference between a conventional bombing and a nuclear one.

* TruthInTelevision: There actually were government leaflets on how to survive a nuclear attack. Everything they do (when following it, at least) is [[http://www.atomica.co.uk/culture.htm exactly what the leaflet said one should do]].
** More importantly the symptoms the Bloggses suffer from are the actual symptoms of radiation sickness that align with real accounts.

* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Hilda and Jim eventually die from radiation sickness some days after the bombing.]]

* EverybodysDeadDave: After the bomb drops, the Bloggses find no other signs of human life. The only wildlife they can find are a few rats, a dog, and a dying bird.

* InnocentInaccurate: Jim and Hilda believe living through a nuclear war will be no different from living through the Blitz and, once the Bomb has dropped, think all they have to do is hold on until help arrives. It never seems to occur to them that no help is ever going to come. Also, at one point, they mistake the smell of burnt corpses for people cooking their Sunday dinners. In the film, they think a howling dog is merely hungry; it's more likely that the dog is in pain from radiation sickness and/or injuries sustained in the blast. And, when (in both the film and the comic strip) they develop radiation sickness, they fail to recognise the symptoms for what they are, instead putting them down to things such as ill-fitting dentures (bleeding gums) and "various veins" (radiation sores).
* InsistentTerminology: "Inner Core or Refuge". Jim's deference to authority is so strong, and unthinking, that he doesn't drop the "or" and call it either an "Inner Core" or a "Refuge".

* ShoutOut: During their telephone conversation James' son quotes a line from Music/TomLehrer's song "We All Will Go Together When We Go".

* MeaningfulName / PunnyName: Their surname, Bloggs, derives from "Joe Bloggs," the British equivalent to "John Q. Public."

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Jim is a decent chap who who wouldn't dream of being rude to his wife. When they hear the four minute warning that the missiles have been launched, Hilda fails to grasp the seriousness of the situation, decides to get the washing in and dithers about the cakes in the oven, panicking Jim so much that he shouts "Shut up, you stupid bitch, and get in the shelter!"

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Jim is a decent chap who who wouldn't dream of being rude to his wife. When they hear the four minute warning that the missiles have been launched, Hilda fails to grasp the seriousness of the situation, decides to get the washing in and dithers about the cakes in the oven, panicking Jim so much that he shouts "Get in the shelter, you stupid bitch!"

* EverybodysDeadDave: After the bomb drops, the Bloggses find no other sign of human life. The only wildlife shown are a few rats, a dog, and a dying bird.

A classic weapon of the anti-nuclear weapon movement, ''When The Wind Blows'' uses its bright colours, eccentric characters and art style similar to Briggs's classic children story ''ComicBook/TheSnowman'' to [[SomeAnvilsNeedToBeDropped hammer home the horrors of nuclear war]], and [[BlackComedy make dark satire]] about government leaflets advising how best to survive a nuclear attack. Naturally, its child-like style in both art and the characters' personalities make it one of the more famous examples to come from the AnimationAgeGhetto.

* {{Irony}}: [[spoiler: The slow, painful demise of the Bloggses]] had they paid attention to the one most important piece of advice in the government-issued pamphlets: [[spoiler:do NOT expose yourself to radiation]].

* InnocentInaccurate: Jim and Hilda believe living through a nuclear war will be no different from living through the Blitz and, once the Bomb has dropped, think all they have to do is hold on until help arrives. It never seems to occur to them that no help is ever going to come. Also, the film version contains a scene where they mistake the smell of burnt corpses for people cooking their Sunday dinners and think a dog howling in pain from radiation sickness is merely hungry. And, when (in both the film and the comic strip) they develop radiation sickness, they fail to recognise the symptoms for what they are, instead putting them down to things such as ill-fitting dentures (bleeding gums) and varicose veins (radiation sores).

* InnocentInaccurate: Jim and Hilda believe living through a nuclear war will be no different from living through the Blitz and, once the Bomb has dropped, think all they have to do is hold on until help arrives. It never seems to occur to them that no help is ever going to come. Also, the film version contains a scene where they mistake the smell of burnt corpses for people cooking their Sunday dinners and think a dog howling in pain from radiation sickness is merely hungry. And, when (in both the film and the comic strip) they develop radiation sickness, they fail to recognise the symptoms for what they are, instead putting them down to things such as ill-fitting dentures (bleeding gums) to varicose veins (radiation sores).

* InnocentInaccurate: Jim and Hilda believe living through a nuclear war will be no different from living through the Blitz and, once the Bomb has dropped, think all they have to do is hold on until help arrives. It never seems to occur to them that no help is ever going to come. Also, the film version contains a scene where they mistake the smell of burnt corpses for people cooking their Sunday dinners and think a dog howling in pain from radiation sickness is merely hungry. And, when (in both the film and the comic strip) they develop radiation sickness, they fail to recognise the symptoms for what they are, instead putting them down to things such as ill-fitting dentures (bleeding gums) to varicose veins (radiation sores)>

[[quoteright:320:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_whenthewind_1854.jpg]]

''When The Wind Blows'' is a 1982 comic book and 1986 animated film written by Creator/RaymondBriggs. There was also a [[Creator/TheBBC BBC Radio]] adaptation of the original comic. It concerns the Bloggses, a mildly dim but cheerful elderly English couple, and their preparations for an imminent nuclear war. This war commences mid-story, and the focus switches on their efforts at keeping a stiff upper lip while waiting for help, all the while succumbing to radiation sickness.

!!''When The Wind Blows'' provides examples of: