History Main / BathOfPoverty

* TruthInTelevision: during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, British civilians were restricted to one bath per week in no more than five inches of water. This appalled American servicemen. Soldiers in North Africa had it worse: they were issued with three pints of water ''per day'' for all purposes. In order to conserve as much as possible for drinking, new recruits were taught that it was possible to have an all-over wash using a face flannel and a single mess — tin full of water — which was then collected and pooled and used to wash socks and underwear. This is still taught to recruit soldiers today - at least in some training barracks - as part of the softening-up procedure.

* One of the more famous scenes in ''Film/Gummo'' involves Solomon eating a meagre dinner in a bathtub full of nasty-looking water. It drives home how inescapable the poverty and squalor of his hometown is.

A way to avoid InformedPoverty.

* TruthInTelevision: during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, British civilians were restricted to one bath per week in no more than five inches of water. This appalled American servicemen. Soldiers in North Africa had it worse: they were issued with three pints of water ''per day'' for all purposes. In order to conserve as much as possible for drinking, new recruits were taught that it was possible to have an all-over wash using a face flannel and a single mess-tin full of water - which was then collected and pooled and used to wash socks and underwear. This is still taught to recruit soldiers today - at least in some training barracks - as part of the softening-up procedure.

* In an ''Franchise/ArchieComics'' story set in ancient Egypt we see Queen Veronica taking a luxurious bath with slaves assisting her; we then cut to plebian Betty washing herself in a water puddle having to shoo out miscellaneous fauna.

* In an ''Franchise/ArchieComics'' story set in ancient Egypt we see Queen Veronica taking a luxurious bath with slaves assisting her; we then cut to plebean Betty washing herself in a water puddle having to shoo out miscellaneous fauna.

* Right up until the 1950's and 1960's in Great Britain, many homes in industrial areas did not have bathrooms as they are known today. "Public Baths" were not just a place to swim. For a few pennies they'd provide a bath or a shower with guaranteed clean towels at an extra price. Working-class Brits in dirty jobs would visit once or twice a week for a thorough scrub. Bathers were segregated by sex, but the bath-tubs would have none or minimal screening from each other. Whole families tended to go togegther on the same night, seeing it as a family night out. Public baths, as such, declined in numbers and importance as living standards improved and bathrooms were built, as standard, into family homes. Some employers in really dirty jobs, such as iron foundries and coal mines, provided free bathing (communal) as a perk of the job.

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* In ''LightNovel/AmagiBrilliantPark'', [[BathingBeauty]] Isuzu Sento's apartment doesn't have a bathroom so she had put a clawfoot bathtub in her kitchen that is filled by a hose connected to the sink so she can easily keep up with her 3 baths a day that keep her alive.

* In ''LightNovel/Amagi Brilliant Park'', [[BathingBeauty]] Isuzu Sento's apartment doesn't have a bathroom so she had put a clawfoot bathtub in her kitchen that is filled by a hose connected to the sink so she can easily keep up with her 3 baths a day that keep her alive.

* In ''Light Novel/Amagi Brilliant Park'', [[BathingBeauty]] Isuzu Sento's apartment doesn't have a bathroom so she had put a clawfoot bathtub in her kitchen that is filled by a hose connected to the sink so she can easily keep up with her 3 baths a day that keep her alive.

* In the ''Literature/PhryneFisher'' novels, Phryne loves luxuriating in long hot baths. She is beacuse in her poverty-stricken childhood, she often had to take what she refers to as 'cat baths': standing a basin and wiping herself down with damp flannel.

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* Inverted in ''Series/RobinHood'' when Much is temporarily made an Earl he gets to have a bath smelling of flowers.

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* Right up until the 1950's and 1960's in Great Britain, many homes in industrial areas did not have bathrooms as they are known today. "Public Baths" were not just a place to swim. For a few pennies they'd provide a bath or a shower with guaranteed clean towels at an extra price. Working-class Brits in dirty jobs would visit once or twice a week for a thorough scrub. Bathers were segregated by sex, but the bath-tubs would have none or minimal screening from each other. Whole families tended to go togegther on the same night, seeing it as a family night out. Public baths, as such, declined in numbers and importance as living standards improved and bathrooms were built, as standard, into family homes. Some employers in really dirty jobs, such as iron foundries and coal mines, provided free bathing (communal) as a perk of the job.

Most apartments on TV or in movies are [[StandardizedSitcomHousing more or less the same size]]; it's often hard to tell the difference between a messy apartment and a rundown one. Showing that the shower or bath doesn't work or the water is cold is an easy way to make the setting more rundown and give it a more "rustic" feel. It's also used to lampshade American perceptions that anywhere outside the USA, all you will get are third world standards of hygiene.

Subtrope of ShowerScene. Might employ the FlushingToiletScreamingShower, in more modern works. Might also be used to set up a DIYPlumbingProject plotline in a comedic work.

Subtrope of ShowerScene.

Most apartments on TV or in movies are more or less the same size; it's often hard to tell the difference between a messy apartment and a rundown one. Showing that the shower or bath doesn't work or the water is cold is an easy way to make the setting more rundown and give it a more "rustic" feel. It's also used to lampshade American perceptions that anywhere outside the USA, all you will get are third world standards of hygiene.

* On ''MyNameIsEarl'', when Earl and Randy move into the trailer, they live in the kitchen. They are told that they have a "half bath" in the form of the sink. Not only that, but Frank uses the rinse hose on the sink to shower after working out by running in place, because the shower is broken and he doesn't even have the money to buy a real treadmill, let alone get the shower fixed.

* Near the end of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', Asuka, who suffered a mental breakdown after being MindRaped by an Angel and ceased being able to pilot her Eva, is found by Nerv personnel in a destroyed house sitting in a tub filled with nasty brown water. ([[{{Squick}} Please let that[[ [[BathSuicide have been rust]]...) Things just keep getting worse for her from there.

* Near the end of ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'', Asuka, who suffered a mental breakdown after being MindRaped by an Angel and ceased being able to pilot her Eva, is found by Nerv personnel in a destroyed house sitting in a tub filled with nasty brown water. ([[{{Squick}} Please let that have been rust]]...) Things just keep getting worse for her from there.