History Main / SummerCampy

* In the ''Literature/AmericanGirl'' series, Molly attends one of these, and has to conquer her fear of swimming underwater in a game of capture the flag, all while dealing with the AlphaBitch.

* ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'': ''Many''. The original series alone has "Welcome to Camp Nightmare", "The Horror at Camp Jellyjam", "Ghost Camp" and "The Curse of Camp Cold Lake"; Series 2000 has "Fright Camp" and "Return to Ghost Camp" (which is actually unrelated to the original book), ''Goosebumps [=HorrorLand=]'' has "Welcome to Camp Slither", ''Most Wanted'' has "Creature Teacher: The Final Exam" and "A Nightmare on Clown Street", and ''Literature/GiveYourselfGoosebumps'' has "Escape From Camp Run-For-Your-Life". The second ''Tales to Give You Goosebumps'' anthology also features several stories set at summer camp.

* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama'': The premise of the series is a challenge-based summer camp reality TV show, but not all seasons have the summer camp setting. Those that do are the original ''Island'', ''Revenge of the Island'', and ''All-Stars''. At the island-based Camp Wawanakwa, several teenagers have to endure all the classic elements of a crappy summer camp - horrible food, dirty cabins, disgusting washrooms, and [[EverythingIsTryingToKillYou all the dangers offered by the great outdoors]]. Some of these are part of challenges, others are a condition of being a contestant in the first place.

* Taken UpToEleven in ''WebComic/CampWeedonwantcha'', as ThereAreNoAdults and all supplies (which vary from feral cats to whistles) are air dropped into the camp. [[spoiler: The name is also [[MeaningfulName meaningful]], as all of the "campers" have been literally abandoned by their families. Also, several deaths are implied to have occurred.]]

* Surprisingly averted in ''ComicStrip/{{Calvin and Hobbes}}''; an arc where he goes to a Boy Scout camp features ''none'' of the usual disasters that plague his family's yearly {{Horrible Camping Trip}}s.

* ''[[Film/Zombies2018 Z-O-M-B-I-E-S 2]]'': The Seabrook High Cheer Squad go to Cheer Camp at the beginning of the movie.

Summer camps in fiction are usually run like the company from ''ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}}''. The environment seems to be sentient and out to get you (mosquitoes chase you across camp, perfectly-timed inconvenient rain and so on). The food is as bad as cafeteria food. In sports, there's a handful of super-jocks who treat it as SeriousBusiness and reduce everyone else to terror. Arts and crafts are so boring you want to be back in school. The bathrooms are outhouses that require a full nature hike to reach. The teenage counselors are either awesomely stupid and actually take the "camp spirit" and "camp traditions" seriously (often bordering on PointyHairedBoss), or treat the camp as their own personal vacation spot with the campers' welfare as an afterthought, or in some cases are out-and-out bullies who sadistically terrorize their younger charges. Usually, though, there's at least one counselor who tries to make some of the awkward kids feel better.

** The Swedish version, reinterpreted by legendary Swedish singer/songwriter Cornelis Vreeswiijk,and the Norwegian version, which is largely based on Vreeswiijk's translation, takes it [[DarkerAndEdgier one step further]]. In both versions, one of the first things the kid tells his parents is to send him more money because he lost all he had on gambling. Both versions also suggests that the kid himself is responsible for a lot of the camp's shenanigans. The Norwegian version has the kid gleefully admitting that he's taken up smoking and tried cannabis while on the camp, and the Swedish version ends with him announcing that he and his cabinmates are off to burn down the neighbouring cabin.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* The "Summerteen Romance" story-arc from ''Webcomic/ParadoxSpace'' has [[Webcomic/{{Homestuck}} Karkat]] writing a story with his friends attending a summer camp, [[FramingDevice and forcing Dave to read it]]. [[TheMovieBuff Karkat]] naturally filled it with nearly every stereotype of this trope, including an antagonistic rival camp, a borderline-insane camp counselor, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin summer-based romance between teenagers]], [[spoiler: mysterious deaths]], and [[TheLastOfTheseIsNotLikeTheOthers paternity tests for lakes]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDramaIsland'', the very first season of the ''Total Drama'' series, was themed around this. For the entirety of their stays at Camp Wawanakwa in the game, the 22 teenagers have to endure all the classic elements of a crappy summer camp - horrible food, dirty cabins, disgusting washrooms, and [[EverythingIsTryingToKillYou all the dangers offered by the great outdoors]]. And that's ''without'' all the torturous challenges the hosts put them through every week.

* ''Film/FridayThe13th1980'' popularized the summer camp settings among the {{Slasher Movie}}s in the early 80's, with such examples as ''Film/TheBurning'', ''Film/SleepawayCamp'', ''Film/{{Madman}}'' and ''Bodycount'' [[FollowTheLeader following suit]].
* ''Film/FridayThe13th2009'': Jenna tells Clay that she never liked the camp she went to as a kid because it had bad food, cheap toilet paper, and too many bugs.

* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'': In ''OPERATION: C.A.M.P'', Numbuh Two and Numbuh Three are sent to Camp [[MeaningfulName Lemmeouttaheah]], where they discover that the insane councilor has brainwashed all the kids to employ them as slave labor to make cheap souvenirs.
* This is the premise of the animated series ''WesternAnimation/CampCandy'', which was created by comedian and actor, Creator/JohnCandy (who also voiced the head counselor).[[note]]He also [[DoItYourselfThemeTune sang the show's theme song]].[[/note]]
* ''WesternAnimation/CampWWE'' features kid versions of Wrestling/{{WWE}} personalities at a summer camp.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'', Brian checks into a rehab clinic for cocaine addiction. Peter then fakes having an addiction to check himself in and keep Brian company, and proceeds to treat the experience like a summer camp, dragging Brian along on various stock summer camp movie shenanigans such as pulling pranks on the "rival camp" (a TeenPregnancy clinic).
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Brickleberry}}'': To get extra funds, Woody decides to reopen "Camp Brickleberry", an annual summer camp hosted at the park that originally had to be shut down after Steve accidentally got the campers he was in charge of killed during The Gauntlet, an obstacle course competition held at the end of camp. To get as many attendants as possible, Woody advertised the new version as everything from FatCamp to a camp for inner-city kids, to a high-end regular summer camp, then cheaped out as much as possible on staff, lodgings and food. Among other things, the two local rednecks got hired as camp cooks (they misunderstood the job description, thinking they had been hired to run a ''meth'' hall rather than a mess hall).
* ''WesternAnimation/FatAlbertAndTheCosbyKids'': In "Fish Out of Water", the gang leaves the neighborhood for the first time to attend Camp Greenlane, where they are joined by a troop of scouts. At first, the two groups don't get along, distrusting each other due to the fact that the other group is "different". They attempt to get at each other with a series of escalating pranks, but when a homesick Russell runs away, he gets lost and everyone bands together to search for him. Probably due to the LimitedAnimation the series was (in)famous for, the camp only has one counsellor.

* Surprisingly averted in ''ComicStrip/{{Calvin and Hobbes}}''; an arc where he goes to a Boy Scout camp features ''none'' of the usual disasters that plague his family's yearly {{Horrible Camping Trip}}s.
* ''ComicStrip/{{Foxtrot}}'': An extended arc of strips dealt with Jason and Marcus attending the science camp Camp Bohrmore. While several of the usual disasters occur, most of them were brought on by Jason's own actions.
* ''ComicStrip/{{Nuts}}'' has the wretched Camp Tall Lone Tree as the subject of several strips.

* Parodied in the film ''Film/WetHotAmericanSummer.''
* ''Film/AgeOfSummerhood'' is a coming-of-age dramedy set and filmed at a real Canadian camp.

* Pugsley and Wednesday are sent to camp against their will in ''Film/AddamsFamilyValues''. The novelization of the film exposes the exaggeratedly perky camp's dark side: the counselors seem to be covering up campers' accidental deaths.
* The whole movie ''Film/DaddyDayCamp''.
* ''Gorp'' (1980) is set at a Jewish summer camp in the Catskills.
* ''Film/FridayThe13th1980'' popularized the summer camp settings among the {{Slasher Movie}}s in the early 80's, with such examples as ''Film/TheBurning'', ''Film/SleepawayCamp'', ''Film/{{Madman}}'' and ''Bodycount'' [[FollowTheLeader following suit]].

* ''Camp Cucamonga'' (1990) is another made-for-TV example.
* ''Film/LittleDarlings'' involves two teenage girls making a [[TheBet bet]] as to which of them will be the first to [[SexAsRiteOfPassage lose her virginity]] at a summer camp.
* ''Film/IndianSummer'' has a group of adults returning to the summer camp of their childhoods at the invitation of the camp's retiring director.
* ''Film/CampRock'' is set at a summer music camp.
* A classic theme in France:
** ''Nos jours heureux'' (2006) is a comedy about a group of kids and the adults who try to keep them in line for a whole summer.
** ''C'est pas ma faute!'' (1999): in this one the main character isn't in summer camp but fights against the children who are during his holidays. Summer camp life, though, is still the same.
** ''Scout Toujours...'' (1985): a group of unruly scouts manage to break their crazy scoutmaster's leg just before summer camp, so they end up with a guy who has no experience with children. Of course it's played for laugh and everything works out fine in the end.
** Although most Summer camp movies are comedies, ''La meilleure façon de marcher'' (1976) is the exception. It's a very screwed-up movie about bullying in a closed environment, in which one camp counselor accidentally sees another dress up as a woman and leverages the information to psychologically torture him for months. The children, of course, notice nothing.
* ''Film/NudistColonyOfTheDead'' has a Christian bible camp, complete with silly songs. Camp Cutchagutsout happens to be built over the remains of a cursed nudist colony retreat.
* In ''WebVideo/{{Fred}} 3'', Fred goes to a camp called Camp Iwannapeepee.
* ''Film/ConfessionsFromAHolidayCamp'' was about a summer camp with lazy workers and a barking owner who is pressured into creating a beauty contest.

* ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'': ''Many''. The original series alone has "Welcome to Camp Nightmare", "The Horror at Camp Jellyjam", "Ghost Camp" and "The Curse of Camp Cold Lake"; Series 2000 has "Fright Camp" and "Return to Ghost Camp" (which is actually unrelated to the original book), ''Goosebumps [=HorrorLand=]'' has "Welcome to Camp Slither", ''Most Wanted'' has "Creature Teacher: The Final Exam" and "A Nightmare on Clown Street", and ''Literature/GiveYourselfGoosebumps'' has "Escape From Camp Run-For-Your-Life". The second ''Tales to Give You Goosebumps'' anthology also features several stories set at summer camp.
* Camp Harvest Moon which the young campers aptly take to calling ''Literature/CampZombie''.

* The whole point of ''How To Survive Summer Camp'' by Creator/JacquelineWilson. Stella actually ends up semi-enjoying her holiday - not that she'll admit to it.
* The book ''Camp Camp: Where Fantasy Island Meets Lord of the Flies'' by Roger Bennett features hundreds of pages of campy photos taken at various Jewish summer camps within the past several decades.
* ''Literature/TheMagickers'' is set at one of these crossed with a WizardingSchool. The camp counselors actually want to set up a ''proper'' WizardingSchool, but with their current budget and location, a summer camp is the best they can do. It's actually a fairly fun place, though not above some of the usual camp issues (like wild animal problems).
* In the ''Literature/AmericanGirl'' series, Molly attends one of these, and has to conquer her fear of swimming underwater in a game of capture the flag, all while dealing with the AlphaBitch.
* Bobby wants to avoid one of these in ''Literature/OneFatSummer'' because he's too old for most of their activities and will be relegated to being a [[TheIntern "Junior Assistant Councilor"]] made to look after the younger campers. Becomes the setting of the sequel when he qualifies for a paid position at the camp and winds up in charge of a quartet of {{Bratty Halfpint}}s.

* ''Literature/TheBerenstainBears At Camp Crush'', a Big Chapter Book, sees Brother, Sister and their friends attending a summer camp run by their school's vice-principal Mervyn "Bullhorn" Grizzmeyer. The place is in desperate need of fixing up, and the campers themselves have to spend the first few days doing the work themselves, and there's a number of anonymous pranks that end up being the work of Too-Tall Grizzly and his gang (who weren't actually attending when they pulled them, they just got bored hanging around home without their "friends" and decided to go have some fun with them), but it's the "no contact between boys and girls" rule (due to Mr. Grizzmeyer's belief that they'll wind up getting a lot of silly crushes on one another and giving the camp a bad name) that really ticks off a lot of the campers. In spite of all this, they wind up having a lot of fun in the end and are looking forward to coming back; the big musical show at the annual inter-camp meet, where they proceed to show off their issues with the camp and yet how much they've wound up liking it, proves their point to Grizzmeyer and leads him to admitting he made some mistakes (including the "separate camps for boys and girls" rule) and will do better next year.

* ''Series/{{Psych}}'' combines SummerCampy with a SerialKiller plot that also makes fun of horror movie tropes.
* ''Camp Runamuck'', a short-lived '60s sitcom.
* ''Series/HiDeHi'', was a not so short-lived sitcom set in a English holiday camp.
* The Creator/DisneyChannel series ''Series/{{Bunkd}}''.

* "Camp Werthahekawee" by Ray Stevens.

[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
* ''Series/SesameStreet'':
** The Season 14 (1982) opening week of episodes, where Big Bird goes to Camp Echo Rock for a week of fun and life lessons. Each episode opens with video of the camp bus on the way to camp, and sound cues of a cheesy, kiddie camp-type song ("Pean-a budda, jelly!") interspersing a banjo-mixed version of the main theme. The scenes themselves represent the traditional summer camp: A wooded area where Big Bird and his new friends – including an Anything Muppet named Rusty – engage in the requisite swimming, hiking, trying new foods, dealing with homesickness, etc. It is implied that Big Bird spends two weeks at camp (as one of the scenes deals with him writing a letter and wondering what's going on back home), although just three full episodes and parts of the other two -- Big Bird leaving in Monday's opener, saying goodbye to his new friends on Friday – are devoted to his time at camp. Camp Echo Rock, by the way, was actually Bear Mountain in upstate New York, and it is presumed that Echo Rock is in that same vicinity.
** A children's record, "Camp Oonie Koonie Cha," was released in 1981, featuring Big Bird and Oscar at camp. Also, a photo spread and a summary of the "Camp Echo Rock" episodes were published in the June 1983 issue of ''Sesame Street Magazine''.
** Camp Wannagohoma, a series of skits starring Grover that aired starting in the early 1980s. Here, Grover is a camp counselor who attempts to teach his campers about nature, survival tips and the like, but always gets his facts wrong, leading his more knowledgeable charges to correct him.
[[/folder]]

* Camp Whispering Rock in ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'' has the bad food (Ford ''really'' can't cook), cheesy arts-and-crafts, the JerkJock bully, and more preteen hormones running rampant than you can shake a stick at... But since the counselors are frackin' super spies out to teach the children how to utilize their psychic powers, that pretty much makes up for everything. Including the [[CatsAreMean pyrokinetic cougars]] and [[BearsAreBadNews telekinetic bears]] in the woods.

* ''Videogame/Afterlife1996:'' The generic Hell punishment of "Camp Mennihackatorso" puts damned souls in one of these, where the demonic counselors are overbearing and sadistic, the activities go from dull to painful, and entire hordes of hockey-masked killers prowl the hills.

* The premise behind the Creator/RoosterTeeth series ''WebAnimation/CampCamp''. Camp Campbell started out as a normal (if somewhat poorly run) camp, but the rising popularity of modern technology led founder Cameron Campbell to diversify the camp's activities, running the camp's budget into the ground. The series itself focuses on the exploits of campers Max, Neil, and Nikki, as well as their annoyingly cheerful counselor [[ThePollyanna David]], who is willfully oblivious to what a craphole the camp is in his determination to give kids a memorable summer.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
** A darker-than-usual example in Kamp Krusty. The counselors are actively abusive, the arts-and-crafts projects are thinly-disguised sweatshop labor, the only food for the campers are burnt pinecones and imitation gruel, every single building except the staff one is in disrepair, and letters have to be smuggled out. Oh, and they say Krusty the Clown will come to visit, but he won't.
** The tie-in video game ''[[VideoGame/BartSimpsonsEscapeFromCampDeadly Escape From Camp Deadly]]'' featured, among other things, a hide-and-seek game where Bart is Team A and Team B consists of everybody else (that, as well as a very lethal FoodFight).
** Homer and Marge met each other for the first time as kids on two neighbouring summer camps[[note]]Although Homer was actually ''working'' at his camp, because his dad was too cheap/poor to pay to actually attend.[[/note]], but because of mistaken identity, didn't realize it until later.

* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDramaIsland'', the very first season of the ''Total Drama'' series, was themed around this. For the entirety of their stays at Camp Wawanakwa in the game, the 22 teenagers have to endure all the classic elements of a crappy summer camp - horrible food, dirty cabins, disgusting washrooms, and [[EverythingIsTryingToKillYou all the dangers offered by the great outdoors]]. And that's ''without'' all the torturous challenges the hosts put them through every week.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' has a weight-loss camp where Cartman is the OnlySaneMan who isn't impressed by the dancing mascot and his perky teenage sidekicks. Unusually, the ending suggests that even though the camp is stupidly run, they mean well and should be supported.
** They revisit the trope in a later episode called Crippled Summer. The camp is for handicapped children, a boy cheats at all of the tournament events, and oh yeah, Towelie is employed there.
* Camp [[MeaningfulName Wannaweep]] in ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'' is a Summer Campy in flashbacks (and is responsible for pretty much every one of Ron's neuroses and phobias). By the time of the show, it's no longer Summer Campy and has become an abandoned camp of horrors.
** In a later episode we see Camp Wannaweep reopened and back to its Summer Campy status, this time as a cheerleading camp [[spoiler:which Ron discovers is ''still'' a camp of horrors]].
* "Flappy Bob's Happy Camp Learnatorium" from ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'' is this, with two overly-eager counselors, Happy-Peppy Gary and Happy-Peppy Betty, that are obsessed with making normally fun things as boring as possible. ''WesternAnimation/SchoolsOutTheMusical'' reveals that it was actually designed by The Pixies as part of one of their 37-year plans to conquer Fairy World, with it's creator Flappy Bob being a pawn they had brainwashed from infancy into thinking boring was fun (he was actually the son of two circus clowns who lost him). Even after Timmy helps Flappy Bob and restores the world though, Gary and Betty are still around with their own version of the Learnatorium, the Pixies had nothing to do with them, they're genuinely like this.
* In ''WesternAnimation/AsToldByGinger'', the special ''Summer of Camp Caprice'' (sometimes split up into 2 episodes for TV airings) is about Ginger, Dodie, and Macie's annual trip to Camp Caprice, an all-girls camp. Problems arise when Courtney decides to go to prove that she isn't high maintenance. Meanwhile, Darren and Miranda are at a military camp run by Miranda's father. Camp Caprice subverts this trope, but the military camp does not.

* Camp Campingston Falls in ''WesternAnimation/HomeMovies''. Dear Gawd. A vile place in the middle of nowhere where two embittered, sadistic failed drama coaches divide their time between setting monotonous, wearying tasks for their unlucky charges ("Braid the twine in the hot Summer's dirt! Braid the hard, unmalleable twine!") and deliberately encouraging the victimization of selected outsiders ("RABBIT TROOP SUCKS!"). Small wonder that when Brendon, Jason and Melissa decide to "burn some bridges", we're 100% on their side. ''Let There Be Devil Music!!!''

* The titular ''WesternAnimation/CampLakebottom'' is this. Two of the three counselors are a [[OurZombiesAreDifferent zombie]] and a [[BigfootSasquatchAndYeti sasquatch]], even.
* [[DeconstructedTrope Deconstructed]] in ''WesternAnimation/BarbieInRocknRoyals''. The story take place in two summer camps, but unlike most depictions [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-2aeohoiFI they're dreamy places.]] So much, that everyone is impatient to be back there, [[spoiler: and is willing to avoid both camps to shut down.]]

->''All the counselors hate the waiters\\

So he reads to us from something called Literature/{{Ulysses}}''

* ''Fanfic/CampNightmare'' is about Calvin and Hobbes going one of these. [[spoiler:[[FromBadToWorse It doesn't end well]]. ''[[NightmareFuel At all]].'']]

* In ''WesternAnimation/DanVs'', Dan and Chris met at Camp [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace Atrocious]] ("It's even worse than it sounds!"). The sole counselor is a SocialDarwinist who believes MiseryBuildsCharacter to an utterly insane degree. The campers are divided into two cabins based on how strong he thinks they are, with whichever holds the "spirit stick" essentially being in charge and allowed to do anything (even steal from the other and eat all the food). Even when Dan and Chris manage to get the stick for their cabin he decides they "cheated" because they outsmarted them instead of taking it by force, so he locked the entire cabin in a tennis court for the remainder of their stay. [[spoiler:Dan and Chris break everyone out, their cabin takes over the camp entirely, and as Dan and Chris leave it's implied the other campers ''murdered'' the counselor by making him the target for WilliamTelling by campers who never used a bow before.]]

* [[http://www.homestarrunner.com/tgs11.html One issue]] of ''WebAnimation/TeenGirlSquad'' had three of the girls going to "Camp Firstbassawassa", which had recently installed "working toilet paper" ("I'm gonna miss the oak leaves"). Whats-Her-Face's bunkmate turns out to be an emaciated, diabetic raccoon girl, the boys' camp across the lake turns out to be a "Cosplayover Camp" inhabited by nerds like Sci-Fi Greg, and Whats-Her-Face and the Ugly One get killed by a chainsaw-wielding "Maniac in a Speedo!"