History Main / BigBrotherIsEmployingYou

[[folder:Machinima]]
* ''Machinima/CivilProtection'': The protagonists are PunchClockVillains for a Dystopian police force ruled by transdimensional alien invaders.
* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'': The Reds, the Blues, the Freelancers [[AndZoidberg and Doc]] are working for Project Freelancer, at least until ''Reconstruction'' where the Project and its Director are brought down by some of them.
[[/folder]]

** Similarly the premise of ''VideoGame/{{Beholder}}'' is that you are government-installed landlord of a small building in a totalitarion state.

* Though set in real-world Britain, this is the basic premise of VideoGame/Floor13, in which you play the head of a secret black-ops agency to protect the reputation of the Prime Minister and his party. You're a wholly deniable and expendable asset if you slip up.

* In ''Literature/{{Coda}}'', after being captured and arrested for starting an underground band, Anthem is given the best musical equipment the Corp has... to produce music that will control everyone.

* Winston Smith in ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' works for the Ministry of Truth, where he alters the past and turns lies into objective truth. The book invented the term "Big Brother" and is thus the trope namer.

* Claire and the other Claymores in ''Manga/{{Claymore}}''
* Re-l and Vincent in ''Anime/ErgoProxy''

* The ''Literature/WarchildSeries'' by Karin Lowachee. While Captain Azarcon isn't the narrator in any of the books, he can undoubtedly be considered the protagonist. And he's a captain of a large space carrier for a government which invaded an alien lunar colony, started a war, and then re-started the war out of prejudice and bigotry when he tried to end it. Needless to say, he [[spoiler: stops working for the government by the end of the second book.]]

* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', [[MagnificentBastard the Illusive Man,]] brings Commander Shepard back from death and equips him/her with everything s/he needs to help him defeat the lackeys of [[EldritchAbomination the Reapers]], who want to destroy all organic life in the galaxy. Once the Collectors are defeated [[spoiler:he wants you to not destroy their technology, but to salvage it to make mankind stronger than any other species. But that's pretty much the same thing every other slaves of the Reapers have believed to be doing.]]
** However, this outcome was completely predictable less than half an hour into the game when you first meet his Ceberus agents. [[spoiler: The Illusive Man himself never realizes that he's just playing into the Reapers hands.]]

* In ''VideoGame/Manhunter'' you are press-ganged as a "manhunter". Your task is finding humans who commit crimes against Orbs — the aliens that conquered Earth.

* Cracked did an episode of After Hours where this was considered a reason to select Lex Corp or a similar evil company if you had to be a henchman and could choose your overlord. You might as well get stock options and a retirement account. Others rejected the idea; henchmen die too young to ever cash in your 401k, after all.

[[folder:Machinima]]
* ''Machinima/CivilProtection'': The protagonists are PunchClockVillains for a Dystopian police force ruled by transdimensional alien invaders.
* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'': The Reds, the Blues, the Freelancers [[AndZoidberg and Doc]] are working for Project Freelancer, at least until ''Reconstruction'' where the Project and its Director are brought down by some of them.
[[/folder]]

* Downplayed with Yuri Briar in ''Manga/SpyXFamily'', who is a member of the SecretPolice. He's not the main character, though.

* In contrast to the earlier two ''Film/{{Cube}}'' movies were the protagonists were implied to be under covert surveillance by whoever controls the Cube, the two main characters in ''Film/CubeZero'' actually ''are'' the Orwellian observers of the Cube's occupants and perform its day-to-day operations. At the same time they also have people to answer to and are inferred to be under constant surveillance themselves, as their masters throw the technicians into the Cube if they become too much of a nuisance. [[spoiler:This is because the technicians are actually another level of the Cube experiment -- observing the observers and such.]]

* Happens on occasion in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasy''.
** Cecil starts out as pretty much TheDragon until he realizes that his king is being more evil than usual (too late for many towns, unfortunately)

* [[{{Deuteragonist}} Suzaku Kururugi]] from ''Anime/CodeGeass'', who thinks it's better to work for [[TheEmpire the Britannian Empire]] to reform it instead of fighting against it.

* Edward Elric (and his brother Al, in practice), as well as Roy Mustang and his staff, all work for the oppressive Amestrian military in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist''.

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

[[folder:Fan Fiction]]

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]

* The Lambsbridge Gang, in ''Literature/{{Twig}}'', is created and controlled by the amoral Radham Academy, and serve to hunt down dissidents and rogue experiments.

Don't think that makes you important though. Get the least bit uppity with us, and [[WeHaveReserves we can and will easily replace you]]. And don't think anyone would care to remember you if that happened; we have already taken the liberty of [[{{Unperson}} erasing you from the few publicly available databases]]. Now, now, don't look so upset, it just came with the job. Granted, it is a bit hard knowing exactly what you are signing up for, when you are eager to get out there and take your boot to the face of the numerous enemies of our glorious state, or if you are volunteered at gunpoint.

* Happens on occasion in ''Franchise/FinalFantasy''.

* BlackCloset spins this with a school instead of a government, casting you as the leader of the AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil tasked with keeping order in a prestigious girls' academy.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}''. In most of the official products your PlayerCharacter is a Troubleshooter who works for The Computer, the paranoid, repressive dictator of Alpha Complex.

* In Creator/TerryGilliam's ''Film/{{Brazil}}'', Sam Lowry (Jonathan Pryce) works for the Ministry of Information Processing. God help him when he gets unavoidably tangled in the toils of Information ''Retrieval''... It's strongly implied that everyone works for ''central services'' i.e. the state.

[[quoteright:350:[[Film/{{Brazil}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/brazil_ministry_of_information_retrieval.png]]]]

* In the ''Franchise/MetalGear''[=/=]''Literature/GenerationKill'' crossover series ''FanFic/PatriotsVerse'', this is at first subverted with Fick's political career, which never had a chance of getting off the ground in the Patriots-controlled United States, but later played straight when Fick settles for a business job at [=ArmsTech=] Security, a front-company for much of the assets the Patriots used.

** Similarly the premise of ''VideoGame/TheBeholder'' is that you are government-installed landlord of a small building in a totalitarion state.

* The protagonist of the Creator/RobertAHeinlein novella ''If This Goes On'' (also known as ''Revolt In 2100'') is one of the guards at the HQ of the CorruptChurch that rules a dystopian future America.