History ComicBook / WhenTheWindBlows

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: As the couple gets weaker [[spoiler:from radiation sickness]], Jim requests tea from his wife, only to be informed by Hilda that they've run out of water. Trying to find an alternative, Jim suggests using milk, only to be told it went bad because the fridge went off. Desperate, he proposes black coffee, only to be reminded again they're out of water. Frustrated, Jim confronts Hilda, shaking her in a moment of panic (in the film, at least), demanding to know "what they're going to drink, for God's sake." The shift in Jim's demeanor is undeniably unsettling, showing he's truly ''scared'' of his and his wife's survival.

* NostalgiaFilter: Both Jim and Hilda grew up during the Blitz and like many people from their generation, have fond memories of the sense of community and patriotism that resulted from uniting against a common threat, despite the danger and hardship. Neither of them seem to realize the looming threat of World War III is more of an extinction-level event than a regular war.

* SkewedPriorities: Hilda seems more concerned with her cake being ruined than the fact that Britain is about to be nuked.

* WorldWarIII: Takes place in the middle of the story.

* FleeingForTheFalloutShelter: When Soviet Russia launches a nuclear attack on the United Kingdom and four-minute warning is announced on the radio, Hilda fails to grasp the seriousness of the situation, decides to get the washing in, and dithers about the cake in the oven. Jim is reduced to [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness shouting at her for the first time in the entire comic]] -- to the point of calling her a "[[PrecisionFStrike stupid bitch]]" in the animated adaptation -- and physically dragging her into the Inner Core or Refuge just before the missile detonates.

->"The powers that be will get to us in the end."
-->-- ''Jim Bloggs''

* PopStarComposer: Music/RogerWaters did the score, Music/DavidBowie wrote the title song, and Music/{{Genesis|Band}}, Music/{{Squeeze}} and Paul Hardcastle appear in the score too.

* EverybodysDeadDave: After the bomb drops, the Bloggses (and the viewers) find no other signs of human life. The only wildlife that can be seen are a few rats, a dog (which is heard), and a dying bird.

* ShootTheShaggyDog: Despite Jim and Hilda's best efforts to survive the bomb, they ultimately become little more than statistics.

%%* EmptyPromise: Jim saying that he'll run various errands to get stuff they suddenly realise they need.%%Is an example how?

%%* ImmediateSelfContradiction: Albeit some time apart:%%So is it immediate or not? Is it an example?
%%-->'''Jim:''' "Science has leapt forward with giant strides... science is still in its infancy."

* MinimalistCast: Barring a few mentions of others, Jim and Hilda are the only characters in the story.

Not to be confused with the novel by Creator/JamesPatterson.

%%* FateWorseThanDeath: What's worse than being killed by the bomb? ''Surviving'' the bomb. [[WebVideo/ReactionAndReview Emer Provost]], in his (glowing) review of the movie, accurately described it as "winning the world's worst lottery".%%Missing context. Explain how this is an example.

* EmptyPromise: Jim saying that he'll run various errands to get stuff they suddenly realise they need.

* FalloutShelterFail: The British government provide instruction on how citizens can build their own fallout shelters out of doors and cushions. Not realizing that this advice is shoddy placebo-based rubbish, Jim Bloggs takes the leaflets seriously and builds his "inner core or refuge" right in the middle of the house - declining to use the root cellar. Combined with the limited supplies and the simple fact that the Bloggses don't really understand the threat of radiation, the shelter is hopelessly inadequate. [[spoiler: Even before Jim and Hilda make the mistake of leaving the shelter two weeks early, they've already been exposed to a lethal dose of fallout, and the book ends with the two dying of radiation sickness.]]
* FateWorseThanDeath: What's worse than being killed by the bomb? ''Surviving'' the bomb. [[WebVideo/ReactionAndReview Emer Provost]], in his (glowing) review of the movie, accurately described it as "winning the world's worst lottery".
* FleeingForTheFalloutShelter: When Soviet Russia launches a nuclear attack on the United Kingdom and four-minute warning is announced on the radio, Hilda fails to grasp the seriousness of the situation, decides to get the washing in, and dithers about the cake in the oven. Jim is reduced to [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness shouting at her for the first time in the entire comic]] - to the point of calling her a "[[PrecisionFStrike stupid bitch]]" in the animated adaptation - and physically dragging her into the Inner Core or Refuge just before the missile detonates.

* ImmediateSelfContradiction: Albeit some time apart:
-->'''Jim:''' "Science has leapt forward with giant strides... science is still in its infancy."

* SayYourPrayers: In a played for tragedy sense at the end where [[spoiler: Hilda suggests that she and Jim get into the paper bags and pray.]]

''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.

* AbsurdlyIneffectiveBarrier: The "shelter" that Jim builds by inclining a door against the wall was absolutely useless in preventing exposure to radiation - justified in that he was following the instruction book issues by the government.

* {{Irony}}: In the final moments of the comic, the couple begin to pray, but cannot recall any prayers. In his desperation to say something poignant-sounding, James inadvertently quotes Tennyson's poem ''The Charge of the Light Brigade'', the famous story of a cavalry unit who followed incorrect orders to their certain deaths.

* 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 "varicrose veins" (radiation sores).

** In the film, Jim and Hilda hear a dog howling in the distance when they go outside after the attack (first heard in the radio adaptation). We also get to see the ruins of the nearby village, though it's unclear how many of its inhabitants are still alive, as the only signs of life are the aforementioned dog, a few rats and a bird, the latter of which is in its death throes. However, as in the comic, it's all but certain that the "roast dinners" Jim and Hilda can smell are actually the corpses of people and animals caught outside during the attack and burned to death. The comic simply has Jim and Hilda standing in their garden and looking over the hedge; we don't see what's on the other side.

** In the film, we get to hear Jim's side of his telephone conversation with his son Ron about building an inner-core-or-refuge. From what we hear, Ron (rightly) believes the advice given in the official pamphlets is "cobblers", though Jim still thinks he knows best and berates Ron for not taking the situation seriously. The comic simply has Jim going to make the phonecall, then reporting to Hilda that:
--->"Ron is not going to build an inner-core-or-refuge. I remonstrated with him, but he was adamant. He says if London cops it, he'll cop it and not to worry, Dad."

** In the film, Jim and Hilda hear a dog howling in the distance when they go outside after the attack (first heard in the radio adaptation). We also get to see the ruins of the nearby village, though it's unclear how many of its inhabitants are still alive, as the only signs of life are the aforementioned dog and a bird, the latter of which is in its death throes. However, as in the comic, it's all but certain that the "roast dinners" Jim and Hilda can smell are actually the corpses of people and animals caught outside during the attack and burned to death. The comic simply has Jim and Hilda standing in their garden and looking over the hedge; we don't see what's on the other side.

** In the comic, the nuclear explosion is represented by two blank white pages followed by several distorted frames which gradually straighten out to reveal Jim and Hilda crouching in their inner-core-or-refuge. In the film, we actually get to see the effects of the nuclear blast, with cars crashing, a train derailing, sheep being blown across a field, and buildings collapsing. This sequence is accompanied by the last words Hilda utters before the Bomb goes off:

** In the comic, the nuclear explosion is represented by two blank white pages followed by several distorted frames which gradually straighten out to reveal Jim and Hilda crouching in their inner-core-or-refuge. In the film, we actually get to see the effects of the nuclear blast, with cars crashing, a train derailing, sheep being blown across a field, and two windmills collapsing. This sequence is accompanied by the last words Hilda utters before the Bomb goes off: