History Main / TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified

* In the reboot, ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'', the dynamic is repeated, although with more competent villains. The only time that the Rebellion is shown to look bad is in paper-thin Horde propaganda, and the only thing that makes the conquering, warmongering Horde look good is the number of sympathetic or {{Punch Clock Villain}}s in its ranks (though they ''do'' commit significantly fewer human rights violations than in the original series, so there’s that).

* In the reboot, ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'', the dynamic is repeated, although with more competent villains. The only time that the Rebellion is shown to look bad is in paper-thin Horde propaganda, and the only thing that makes the conquering, warmongering Horde look good is the number of sympathetic or {{Punch Clock Villain}}s in its ranks (though it notably engages in much fewer human rights violations than in the original series).

* In the reboot, ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'', the dynamic is repeated, although with more competent villains. The only time that the Rebellion is shown to look bad is in paper-thin Horde propaganda, and the only thing that makes the conquering, warmongering Horde look good is the number of sympathetic or {{Punch Clock Villain}}s in its ranks.

For instance, ''Literature/AnimalFarm'' (based on the Russian Revolution) depicts the animals revolting against a corrupt establishment and establishing a new government with a new leader...and then the new leader turns out to be a murderous tyrant. Oops. Less destructive examples usually involve the revolutionaries breaking into factions, where each faction has a different idea of how to run things now that the old regime has been defeated, and they can't agree on a common plan even if they all have good intentions. This may even lead to a civil war among the revolutionaries.

* ''Film/TheBattleshipPotemkin'' and any other Soviet depiction of the Russian Revolution. For obvious reasons, Western depictions (which are quite rare) will usually portray it as a FullCircleRevolution.

-> ''"I am said to be a revolutionist in my sympathies, by birth, by breeding and by principle. I am always on the side of the revolutionists, because there never was a revolution unless there were some oppressive and intolerable conditions against which to revolute."''

If things go bad, the new regime may have to confront a lot of pissed off government workers, businesses, and common folk who didn't want a war in the first place. All that unrest might produce a ''new'' crop of revolutionaries...who might just end up repeating the exact same mistakes.

It goes almost without saying that things taking place in the modern day of the country they are made in are as likely to avert this trope as not - just ask [[Series/TwentyFour Jack Bauer]].

** The pilots in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'' attack OZ and Earth Sphere Alliance military bases in order to secure independence for the space colonies. But while the series makes it clear that war is a terrible thing, the pilots are treated as the noblest and most heroic characters in the show. While unpleasant, their actions are portrayed as totally justified, and the only people who refer to the organization that funds or controls the Gundams as terrorists are OZ officials when they're lying to the media. And the original plan was to deliver a ColonyDrop and have the Gundams mop up the survivors, they opted for this option instead. It is worth noting, however, that while the pilots are treated as being noble because of their role as people who, particularly in the first arc, carry out orders rather than actively making decisions, the series doesn't attempt to depict their tactics as being any less violent, aggressive and deceitful than their enemies, frequently more so. In the first four episodes the audience sees: Heero conclude that the safest option to avoid detection is to shell a civilian aircraft, Heero try to murder an unarmed civilian, Wufei kill a dormitory full of trainees in their sleep with explosives and Duo blow up part of a hospital in order to rescue Heero. From the standpoint of Earth's residents, the Gundam pilots are nothing more than romanticized terrorists for the first ten or so episodes.
** The League Militaire of ''[[Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam Victory Gundam]]'' fights only to protect the Earth and space colonies from being taking over by the crazed bloodthirsty fanatics of the Zanscare Empire since the [[TheFederation Earth Federation]] is no longer able to do so.

* Mustang's rebellion in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' has Mustang and crew trying to take on a good portion of Central Army without killing a single person to do it. Olivier Mira Armstrong mocks Mustang for this since her soldiers are at least willing to kill. Their opponent is TheEmpire who has slaughtered their own civilians, waged war since it was founded, and plans to [[spoiler:sacrifice everyone in the country]]. Though, in Roy's defense, it quickly becomes clear that most of the regular soldiers [[LockedOutOfTheLoop have no idea what their superiors are planning to do]] and are only doing what they truly and honestly believe to be the right thing. And are severely ticked off when they find out the truth and rip off their badges and threw them in the corrupt officers' face. A lot of them have {{Heel Realization}}s after hearing Central Command's plans and realizing that their families and friend will be among the dead.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': Diana's SlaveRevolt turned revolution is a bunch of escaped slaves and sympathizers fighting the Kreel Empire to abolish their slavery practices and allow women to be equal citizens. The the core group does their level best to do so without ''any casualties'' as they are led by Diana. They are not all treated as saints and some of them have ''very'' checkered backgrounds but their cause and their methods are the opposite of villainous.

** [[TheEmpire The Galactic Empire]] in the original trilogy is remarkably evil, what with the racist motives and the EarthShatteringKaboom. The Rebellion, on the other hand, wore halos. This was eventually fleshed out in the ExpandedUniverse with both sides [[KickTheDog kicking]] or [[PetTheDog petting the dog]]. However the Rebellion is ''still'' much better. This is explored in ''Film/RogueOne''; quite a lot of blood is being spilled in the background in order to keep the leadership's hands clean.

* ''Film/{{Spartacus}}'' by Creator/StanleyKubrick, Dalton Trumbo and Creator/KirkDouglas portrays the Third Servile War as a fight between the slaves and ''UsefulNotes/TheRomanRepublic''. Spartacus and his fellow ex-gladiators initially fight for their freedom from bondage, and escape from Rome, but they don't seem to have any desire to topple the Republic and establish an abolitionist regime. The historical record is fuzzy on this point.

** The Doctor tends to end up allied with the resistance against the Evil Totalitarian Despot of the Week, and rarely is the resistance shown as being anything less than favorable.
** In 'The Sunmakers', the 'resistance' -- at least initially -- are depicted as brutal, self-interested and venal criminals out for themselves rather than any higher purpose; it's only when the Doctor effectively takes over that he starts directing them to a better purpose.

** The implication is that, overall, the Alliance wasn't generally tyrannical. It's greatest fault was, as River Tam said in ''Film/{{Serenity}}'', that it is "meddlesome." WordOfGod has it that the Core worlds generally were more progressive than the outlying worlds, and the poor living conditions in the outer worlds were unnecessary. The formerly leading worlds of the Independents are the ones with aristocracy and slavery (though the connection isn't clearly drawn in {{Series/Firefly}}). Malcolm Reynolds is an {{Antihero}}, but his desire for independence is set against the tendency of the Alliance to overreach, which could lead to disaster.

* ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': [[SubvertedTrope Subverted]] in the episode "Resistance". Instead of the usual selfless support of outsider Good Guys, the underground battling the despotic Mocra only help Voyager's crew in exchange for payment in medical supplies, and aren't the least bit interested in helping free Tuvok and B'Elanna from prison. As their leader points out: "If I could get people out of there, I'd free my own first!" In fact, ''Voyager'' effectively subverted this trope several times. The episodes "Nightingale" and "Flesh and Blood" both involve a crew member attempting to help a resistance group, only to find out the situation is more complicated than good rebels vs. evil empire.

* Music/TheRevolutionWillNotBeTelevised by Music/GilScottHeron, announces a revolution in a cool, but self-assured way that makes the listener believe that it will be a just event.

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/LostEmber''. A famine compounded by the emperor's soldiers seizing their crops drove Kalani to banditry and protest against the Yanren emperor, but it ends in tragedy [[spoiler:as Kalani's father orders her house burned down with her lover inside]] and only radicalizes Kalani further. [[spoiler:She then proceeds to infiltrate the capital, incite riots, and try to overthrow the emperor. The only thing her revolution accomplishes is the destruction of the capital city, the downfall of the Yanrana and the death of herself and all of her followers.]]

* In the reboot, ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'', the dynamic is repeated, although with more competent villains. The only time that the Rebellion is shown to look bad is in paper-thin Horde propaganda, and the only thing that makes the conquering, warmongering Horde look good is the number of sympathetic or {{Punch-Clock Villain}}s in its ranks.

* In the reboot, ''WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower'', the dynamic is repeated, although with more competent villains. The only time that the Rebellion is shown to look bad is in hamfisted, paper-thin Horde propaganda.

* ''WesternAnimation/SonicTheHedgehogSatAM'': The Freedom Fighters are a strictly heroic group that is trying to overthrow the evil Dr. Robotnik. Technically however this is a ''counter''-revolution, as they are lead by a princess who happens to be the daughter of the king Robotnik deposed in ''his'' revolution.

** And Terminal in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED'', who fights against [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Blue Cosmos]] which controls the [[TheFederation Earth Alliance]] and the dogmatic army of [[TheEmpire ZAFT]] which plans to cull the Natural Population
** The pilots in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'' attack OZ and Earth Sphere Alliance military bases in order to secure independence for the space colonies. But while the series makes it clear that war is a terrible thing, the pilots are treated as the noblest and most heroic characters in the show, While unpleasant, their actions are portrayed as totally justified, and the only people who refer to the organization that funds or controls the Gundams as terrorists are OZ officials when they're lying to the media. And the original plan was to deliver a ColonyDrop and have the Gundams mop up the survivors, they opted for this option instead.
*** It is worth noting however, that while the pilots are treated as being noble because of their role as people who, particularly in the first arc, carry out orders rather than actively making decisions, the series doesn't attempt to depict their tactics as being any less violent, aggressive and deceitful than their enemies, frequently more so. In the first four episodes the audience sees: Heero conclude that the safest option to avoid detection is to shell a civilian aircraft, Heero try to murder an unarmed civilian, Wufei kill a dormitory full of trainees in their sleep with explosives and Duo blow up part of a hospital in order to rescue Heero. From the standpoint of Earth's residents, the Gundam pilots are nothing more than romanticized terrorists for the first ten or so episodes.

* Mustang's rebellion in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' has Mustang and crew trying to take on a good portion of Central Army without killing a single person to do it. Olivier Mira Armstrong mocks Mustang for this since her soldiers are at least willing to kill. Their opponent is TheEmpire who has slaughtered their own civilians, waged war since it was founded, and plans to [[spoiler:sacrifice everyone in the country]].
** Though, in Roy's defense, it quickly becomes clear that most of the regular soldiers [[LockedOutOfTheLoop have no idea what their superiors are planning to do]] and are only doing what they truly and honestly believe to be the right thing. And are severely ticked off when they find out the truth and ripped off their badges and threw them in the corrupt officers face. A lot of them have {{Heel Realization}}s after hearing Central Command’s plans and realizing that their families and friend will be among the dead.

* Both the government and the anti-government rebellion in Manga/Area88 are portrayed as essentially good people who just couldn't agree over certain issues. Then again, Manga/Area88 isn't really about the Aslani Civil War, but the dehumanising and destructive effects war has on people. [[DontDoThisCoolThing And awesome dogfights.]]

[[folder:Film]]

* Like the above Literature example, ''Theatre/LesMiserables'' portrays a France post-Revolution of 1830, where the populace is angry with the new king and already ready to rebel once more. Les Amis de l'ABC are brave, noble revolutionaries, and even the worst among them, the token drunk Grantaire, is still dedicated to the cause enough to [[spoiler:fight and die along with the rest of them]]. Justified in that many of the revolution scenes are adapted from and inspired by scenes from the book, which were taken directly from author Creator/VictorHugo's own experience with the June Rebellion of 1832, making it TruthInTelevision.
** Subverted by Javert and the Thenardiers, who each pretend to be revolutionaries for their own purposes - Javert to crush the rebellion and the Thenardiers [[spoiler:to line their pockets with the belongings of the dead students]].

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[[folder:Webcomics]]

* In Literature/TheDoctorsOfTheCatFamily the leader of the revolution is OK with Thomas healing their captured enemies.

* ''WesternAnimation/FairlyOddParents''' take on the American Revolution goes into this trope rather shamelessly. They even show what modern-day America would be like, were it still under British rule; a nation of bad-toothed [[EvilBrit Evil Brits]] stuck in the early 19th century, and still regularly ravaged by the taxman.
* ''WesternAnimation/SheRaPrincessOfPower'' led an example of a good rebellion...though with the majority of her RoguesGallery being even more incompetent than that of her SpearCounterpart [[WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse1983 He-Man]] with a ZeroPercentApprovalRating to boot, it's a wonder she wasn't running Etheria by the end of the first season.

'''Traximus:''' Revolution is usually what happens...''when the world needs to change.''
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'': The Crystal Gems are the members of a ServantRace who TurnedAgainstTheirMasters to prevent [[TheEmpire Homeworld]] from [[HostileTerraforming destroying all life on Earth to make new gems and a colony]]. Homeworld is expansionist, [[FinalSolution wanted to wipe the Crystal Gems out entirely]], treat their own members as [[WeHaveReserves expendable]] and [[IndividualityIsIllegal interchangeable]], and committed atrocities such as [[spoiler:resurrecting the dead to create a WeaponOfMassDestruction and inflicting TheCorruption on most of their enemies--along with much of their own forces]]. The Crystal Gems have an essentially defensive mission, took their enemies alive whenever possible (i.e. most of the time because of gems' [[FromASingleCell regenerative abilities]]), and most of them joined their leader's cause [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe because they were treated with respect and dignity]]. [[spoiler:Bismuth wanted to take the Crystal Gems into [[TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized shadier territory]], planning to deliberately kill enemy gems as a means to topple Homeworld's leadership, but Rose put a stop to that (and apparently reigned in anyone else who felt similarly).]]

-->''"Treason doth never prosper. What's the reason?\\

** ZigZagged with the Clone Wars in the prequel trilogy and ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars''. A lot of the Separatists have legitimate reasons to want to secede from the Galactic Republic: the level of government corruption and dysfunction is frankly mind-boggling[[note]]Imagine if Creator/{{Microsoft}} had decided to handle [[https://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/08/microsoft-antitrust.asp the 1990s antitrust case]] by [[CorporateWarfare using a private army to take the entire state of Washington hostage]], and the federal government's response was to do absolutely nothing. That's the setup for ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' in a nutshell.[[/note]], and hardly anybody on the Republic side seems to have a problem with raising an army of SlaveMooks to put down the independence revolt. Unfortunately, they're fighting on the same side as the {{megacorp}}orations that [[FullCircleRevolution are largely responsible for that dysfunction in the first place]], to say nothing of figures such as General Grievous who just want {{revenge}} against the Republic and Jedi. And that's before you get to the part where ''both'' sides are secretly being played off against each other by the Sith...

** ZigZagged with the Clone Wars in the prequel trilogy and ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars''. A lot of the Separatists have legitimate reasons to want to secede from the Galactic Republic: the level of government corruption and dysfunction is frankly mind-boggling[[note]]Imagine if Creator/{{Microsoft}} had decided to handle [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_v._Microsoft_Corp. the 1990s antitrust dispute]] by [[CorporateWarfare using a private army to take the entire state of Washington hostage]], and the federal government's response was to do absolutely nothing. That's the setup for ''Film/ThePhantomMenace'' in a nutshell.[[/note]], and hardly anybody on the Republic side seems to have a problem with raising an army of SlaveMooks to put down the independence revolt. Unfortunately, they're fighting on the same side as the {{megacorp}}orations that [[FullCircleRevolution are largely responsible for that dysfunction in the first place]], to say nothing of figures such as General Grievous who just want {{revenge}} against the Republic and Jedi. And that's before you get to the part where ''both'' sides are secretly being played off against each other by the Sith...

* [[TheEmpire The Galactic Empire]] in ''Franchise/StarWars'' is remarkably evil, what with the racist motives and the EarthShatteringKaboom. The Rebellion, on the other hand, wore halos. This was eventually fleshed out in the ExpandedUniverse with both sides [[KickTheDog kicking]] or [[PetTheDog petting the dog]]. However the Rebellion is ''still'' much better. This is explored in ''Film/RogueOne''; quite a lot of blood is being spilled in the background in order to keep the leadership's hands clean.

* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': Diana's SlaveRevolt turned revolution is a bunch of escaped slaves and sympathizers fighting the Kreel Empire to abolish their slavery practices and allow woman to be citizens, and the core group does their level best to do so without ''any casualties'' as they are led by Diana. They are not all treated as saints and some of them have ''very'' checkered backgrounds but their cause and their methods are the opposite of villainous.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' {{downplayed}} this overall. The Bajorans' main claim to the moral high ground in their ultimately successful guerrilla war to drive out the Cardassians is that they were defending against a brutal foreign occupation involving concentration camps, forced prostitution, religious persecution, and pillaging of artistic and cultural resources. However, several episodes take pains to point out that [[BlackAndGreyMorality the Bajorans were hardly angels themselves]], being just as willing to kill Cardassian civilians as they were soldiers, murdering Bajoran civilian collaborators, and in some cases attempting to continue the fight against the Cardassians after they had already withdrawn.

-> ''"I am said to be a revolutionist in my sympathies, by birth, by breeding and by principle. I am always on the side of the revolutionists, because there never was a revolution unless there were some oppressive and intolerable conditions against which to [[PerfectlyCromulentWord revolute]]."''

* {{Deconstructed}} and {{reconstructed}} in the ''Literature/InheritanceCycle''. Oromis challenges Eragon to explain ''why'' he opposes the Empire. Most of the Empire's subjects, Oromis points out, are decent people and a war would have negative consequences for them. Eragon counters that unless Galbatorix is overthrown, his rule will never end, so upheaval over a single time is better than an eternity of oppression.

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' {{downplayed}} this overall. The Bajorans' main claim to the moral high ground in their ultimately successful guerrilla war to drive out the Cardassians is that they were defending against a brutal foreign occupation involving concentration camps, genocide, forced prostitution, religious persecution, and pillaging of artistic and cultural resources. However, several episodes take pains to point out that [[BlackAndGreyMorality the Bajorans were hardly angels themselves]], being just as willing to kill Cardassian civilians as they were soldiers and in some cases attempting to continue the fight against the Cardassians after they had already withdrawn.

* ''SIGMATA - This Signal Kills Fascists'' [[AnAesop explicitly aims to teach the players]] that this is the case in RealLife, albeit in the form of BlackAndGrayMorality. [[LaResistance The Resistance]] is full of fallible human beings with often [[WeAREStrugglingTogether different ideas on how to go about things]] and [[NoTrueScotsman the occasional bad apple giving others a bad name]]. However, [[TheEmpire the Regime]] is ''pure unadulterated evil'' and any method of fighting it is morally justified, [[PragmaticHero except insofar as causing too much collateral damage will cost you public support and is thus counterproductive.]]

* Creator/WarrenBeatty's ''Film/{{Reds|1981}}'', a biopic of American communist John Reed which defends the Russian Revolution and portrays the Bolsheviks sympathetically, though still marred with flaws of bureaucratic fussiness, whose authoritarian nature also irritates other leftists.

* Creator/WarrenBeatty's ''Film/{{Reds}}'', a biopic of American communist John Reed which defends the Russian Revolution and portrays the Bolsheviks sympathetically, though still marred with flaws of bureaucratic fussiness, whose authoritarian nature also irritates other leftists.

* ''VideoGame/{{Tyranny}}'' has several rebel groups in The Tiers still opposing Kyros' occupation. While not all the groups are presented flatteringly, the [[StarterVillain Vendrien Guard]] is presented as generally good, being TheRemnant of Haven's military and noble class with a goal of becoming {{Doomed Moral Victor}}s who will inspire others to rebel. Thanks to the [[PlayerCharacter Fatebinder]] they utterly fail, [[spoiler:as the first chapter sees them either [[MakeAnExampleOfThem killed by Kyros' Edict of Swords]], [[KillEmAll brutally suppressed by the Fatebinder]], or [[LoopholeAbuse being appointed Agents of the Court of Fatebinders.]]]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Tyranny}}'' has several rebel groups in The Tiers still opposing Kyros' occupation. While not all the groups are presented flatteringly, the [[StarterVillain Vendrien Guard]] is presented as generally good, being a band of FormerRegimePersonnel from Haven with a goal of becoming {{Doomed Moral Victor}}s who will inspire others to rebel. Thanks to the [[PlayerCharacter Fatebinder]] they utterly fail, [[spoiler:as the first chapter sees them either [[MakeAnExampleOfThem killed by Kyros' Edict of Swords]], [[KillEmAll brutally suppressed by the Fatebinder]], or [[LoopholeAbuse being appointed Agents of the Court of Fatebinders.]]]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Tyranny}}'' has several rebel groups in The Tiers still opposing Kyros' occupation. While not all the groups are presented flatteringly, the [[StarterVillain Vendrien Guard]] is presented as generally good, being a band of FormerRegimePersonel from Haven with a goal of becoming {{Doomed Moral Victor}}s who will inspire others to rebel. Thanks to the [[PlayerCharacter Fatebinder]] they utterly fail, [[spoiler:as the first chapter sees them either [[MakeAnExampleOfThem killed by Kyros' Edict of Swords]], [[KillEmAll brutally suppressed by the Fatebinder]], or [[LoopholeAbuse being appointed Agents of the Court of Fatebinders.]]]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Tyranny}}'' has several rebel groups in The Tiers still opposing Kyros' occupation. While not all the groups are presented flatteringly, the [[StarterVillain Vendrien Guard]] is presented as generally good, being a band of FormerRegimePersonell from Haven with a goal of becoming {{Doomed Moral Victor}}s who will inspire others to rebel. Thanks to the [[PlayerCharacter Fatebinder]] they utterly fail, [[spoiler:as the first chapter sees them either [[MakeAnExampleOfThem killed by Kyros' Edict of Swords]], [[KillEmAll brutally suppressed by the Fatebinder]], or [[LoopholeAbuse being appointed Agents of the Court of Fatebinders.]]]]

* The Vendrien Guard in ''VideoGame/{{Tyranny}}'' is fighting a heroic but doomed struggle against the forces of Kyras.

* The Freedom Fighters from ''WesternAnimation/SonicSatAM'' are a strictly heroic group that is trying to overthrow the evil Dr. Robotnik. Technically however this is a ''counter''-revolution, as they are lead by a princess who happens to be the daughter of the king Robotnik deposed in ''his'' revolution.