History Main / TheRevolutionWillNotBeVilified

For instance, ''Literature/AnimalFarm'' (based on the Russian Revolution) depicts the animals revolting against a corrupt establishment and establishing a new government with new leadership...and then one of the leaders overthrows the other and becomes 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/ThePatriot'' plays it straight, in best Hollywood tradition. The noble RagtagBunchOfMisfits shooting surrendering British soldiers is all but glossed over, and the various atrocities of the British army are actually fabricated much of the time.

** Les Mis is made into an exaggerated parody of itself in the Literature/{{Discworld}} novel ''Literature/NightWatch'', in which the ultra-cynic Sam Vimes is propelled back thirty years into the past of his city and realises he has to take the place of the man who led a revolution. The theory, practice, and ideology of revolution are seriously questioned along the way.

* Downplayed in ''Film/VForVendetta'', unlike the graphic novel where V gets more KickTheDog moments and often comes across as a full blown VillainProtagonist. In the film, while his revolution is still violent, [[BlackAndGrayMorality the Norsefire government is clearly so much worse.]] Making it clear that in spite of all of V's faults, he's still in the right. [[spoiler:Not to mention, he was genuinely wronged by the government who experimented on him while creating a ManMadePlague.]]

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim''. The game starts with the player and some Stormcloak rebels ending up victims of the Empire. (The player almost gets beheaded despite not being a rebel.) This gives the player a positive view of the Stormcloaks. But as the game progresses, it soon turns into a GreyAndGreyMorality situation as it's shown the Stormcloaks and the Imperials both have their flaws. The Stormcloaks' leader is racist, stubborn, and reactionary, but the Empire is oppressing a religion at the behest of the super-racist Thalmor. (The Empire agreed to outlaw Talos worship in the White-Gold Concordat.) Both sides are happy to kill the other and the civil war means that the Empire may be less able to defend itself against the Thalmor.

* Serves as the lifeblood of ''VideoGame/TonightWeRiot'', where a group of universally heroic revolutionaries take down the corrupt rule of the despotic {{Trumplica}} Chet Whippleton III.

* Downplayed in ''Film/VForVendetta'', unlike the graphic novel where V gets more KickTheDog moments and often comes across as a full blown VillainProtagonist, in the film, while his revolution is still violent, [[BlackAndGrayMorality the Norsefire government is clearly so much worse.]] Making it clear that in spite of all of V's faults, he's still in the right. [[spoiler:Not to mention, he was genuinely wronged by the government who experimented on him while creating a ManMadePlague.]]

* Played painfully straight in ''Film/BlackMamaWhiteMama''. The government is a dog-raping bureaucracy that is really just another gang, and the revolutionaries are BigDamnHeroes, with a Che Guevara-like leader, and aided by a beautiful, blond American woman. The film never goes into much detail about exactly ''why'' the government is so bad, or what exactly what the guerillas are fighting for. It was the [[GrandfatherClause 70's though]]!

* ''Film/VivaZapata'' by Creator/EliaKazan was an attempt at reconstructing this trope. Kazan had become an ex-communist, but unlike other ex-communists that swung hard to the right, he believed that genuine revolutionary change was a good thing to strive for. In the film, Zapata after succeeding in his rebellion takes office, but worries that he'll become a tyrant like he once opposed, so he resolves to fight and live among the people inspiring them from below rather than above.

** While this show's revolution is already over and failed, despite the rather ugly mess it caused, it's looked back on rather favorably. We didn't get to see a lot of Alliance oppression before ''Film/{{Serenity}}'', but the Academy and the Blue Hands and what they did to River was pretty damned evil. There are some indications that the Browncoats were not all squeaky-clean, though; in "Bushwhacked" an Alliance officer implies that he personally encountered prisoners who had been tortured by Browncoats, and in the tie-in comics there were extremists known as "Dust Devils" who kept on fighting after the war ended, performing terrorist attacks on civilians and soldiers.

* In ''VideoGame/DetroitBecomeHuman'', the android rebellion can be pacifistic if Markus makes peaceful choices (like using graffiti instead of destroying property, choosing calm language when making speeches, [[BreadEggsMilkSquick sparing human lives,]] etc.) North is against the idea of peace, as she believes humans are incapable of negotiating, but Josh supports it. [[spoiler:In fact, the game itself seems to be pushing a peaceful rebellion, as it's the only way that has a chance of every character surviving.]]

* Some film versions of ''Literature/LesMiserables'' made at points of anti-Communist hysteria, portray Enjolras as a dangerous kook and Marius as a wide-eyed innocent caught up in his overzealous mission. This trope is however played straight in the highly popular Film/LesMiserables2012'' where Enjolras is portrayed in the same manner as Creator/VictorHugo's original vision.

* ''Film/VivaZapata'' by Creator/EliaKazan was an attempt at reconstructing this trope. Kazan had become an ex-communist but he believed that genuine revolutionary change was a good thing to strive for. In the film, Zapata, after succeeding in his rebellion, takes office but worries that he'll become a tyrant like he once opposed, so he resolves to fight and live among the people inspiring them from below rather than above.

* Minor ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'' foe Tarantula's origins involved him being a member of a rebellion against a South American dictatorship only to get thrown out of the group when the other members got disgusted with his indiscriminate bloodshed against innocent civilians as well as government soldiers, at which point he joined up with the dictatorship's forces instead, becoming their twisted version of Captain America.

* Played with in ''VideoGame/YggdraUnion''. Yggdra and her army are unambiguously good people who believe that they're doing the right thing. Yggdra's enemies, Gulcasa and ''his'' army, are exactly the same. Both characters are revolutionaries--Gulcasa overthrew his country's corrupt government via coup d'etat; Yggdra seeks to reclaim her country from Gulcasa's invasion--but Gulcasa is a WellIntentionedExtremist who believes he has to conquer the world to save the poor and weak, and Yggdra has been raised since birth to believe that she has an OmniscientMoralityLicense. [[KillEmAll The body count by the end of the game includes almost every character who isn't in Yggdra's army.]] [[WhatTheHellHero The narrative doesn't hesitate to call you out repeatedly.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Tyranny}}'' has several rebel groups in The Tiers [[OccupiersOutOfOurCountry 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 Haven's remaining 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.]]]]

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

-> ''"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."''

(Try not to confuse "Revolution" and "Rebellion". All revolutions ''are'' rebellions against the established order, but all rebellions ''need not be'' revolutions. Rebellions are driven mostly in opposition to the existing system without necessarily an idea in place to replace the new regime. Rebellions can even include military and parliamentary coups which are usually not seen as positive examples of this trope. They are also vague, limited in outcome and yet, ironically, they are generally more spontaneous as expressions and reactions of genuine sentiments than a revolutionary program.)

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]].

* ''Film/VivaZapata'' by Creator/EliaKazan was an attempt at reconstructing this trope. Kazan had become an ex-communist but he believed that genuine revolutionary change was a good thing to strive for. In the film Zapata after succeeding in his rebellion takes office but worries that he'll become a tyrant like he once opposed, so he resolves to fight and live among the people inspiring them from below rather than above.

** Les Mis is made into an exaggerated parody of itself in the Literature/{{Discworld}} novel ''Literature/NightWatch'', in which the ultra-cynic Sam Vimes is propelled back thirty years into the past of his city and realises he has to take the place of the man who led a revolution. The theory, practice and ideology of revolution are seriously questioned along the way.

** Not only is there the big resistance against President Clark, but Mars and Proxima 3 are also rebelling and generally seen as oppressed planets under the thumb of the increasingly fascist Earth Forces.

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim''. The game starts with the player and some Stormcloak rebels ending up victims of the Empire. (The player almost gets beheaded despite not being a rebel.) This gives the player a positive view of the Stormcloaks. But as the game progresses, it soon turns into a GreyAndGreyMorality situation as it's shown the Stormcloaks and the Imperials both have their flaws. The Stormcloaks' leader is racist, stubborn, and reactionary, but the Empire is oppressing a religion at the behest of the super racist Thalmor. (The Empire agreed to outlaw Talos worship in the White-Gold Concordat.) Both sides are happy to kill the other and the civil war means that the Empire may be less able to defend itself against the Thalmor.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents''' 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 {{Evil Brit}}s stuck in the early 19th century, and still regularly ravaged by the taxman.

** Les Mis is made into an UpToEleven parody of itself in the Literature/{{Discworld}} novel ''Literature/NightWatch'', in which the ultra-cynic Sam Vimes is propelled back thirty years into the past of his city and realises he has to take the place of the man who led a revolution. The theory, practice and ideology of revolution are seriously questioned along the way.

* ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'' portrays the American Revolution as a just cause of revolution against an oppressive English government (to the point that King George III outright says that he'll kill the revolutionaries' friends and families to get them to fall in line). Thus, all the actions taken by Hamilton and Co. against the English (the Boston Tea Party, stealing British cannons, etc) are justified, and when Samuel Seabury offers a contrasting opinion (that all Americans don't necessarily agree with the Revolution), he is talked down and mocked for his beliefs.

* ''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 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.

Contrast with FullCircleRevolution, TheRemnant, ObligatoryWarCrimeScene, and the DarkMessiah. See also the related and often confused trope of LaResistance. When the rebels are generally good but hampered by infighting, it's WeAreStrugglingTogether. For the opposite, when the rebels are anti-heroes or outright villains, see TheRevolutionWillNotBeCivilized. For the case where the whole conflict really was "civilized" (for better or worse), see VelvetRevolution.

* ''Film/PansLabyrinth'': A historical exception to the "If the revolutionaries are wearing brown, they're the bad guys" which tells us a bit about the [[UsefulNotes/PoliticalIdeologies sorting algorithm of political ideologies]]: If you want the DirtyCommies to be the good guys, the bad guys pretty much have to be fascists. We still see them doing the old "[[ObligatoryWarCrimeScene line up soldiers to shoot them in the head]]" shtick that the fascist military was doing itself earlier.

-->-- '''Creator/MarkTwain'''[[note]]Who ironically lived through a [[UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar counterexample]].[[/note]]

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[[caption-width-right:340:''[[Theatre/LesMiserables Do you hear the people sing?...]]'']]

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[[quoteright:340:[[UsefulNotes/TheFrenchRevolution https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Pillar10-History-French-Revolution-Delacroix_7053.jpg]]]]

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim''. The game starts with the player and some Stormcloak rebels ending up victims of the Empire. (The player almost gets beheaded despite not being a rebel.) This gives the player a positive view of the Stormcloaks. But as the game progresses, it soon turns into a GreyAndGreyMorality situation as it's shown the Stormcloaks and the Imperials both have their flaws. The Stormcloaks' leader is racist and stubborn, but the Empire is oppressing a religion at the behest of the super racist Thalmor. (The Empire agreed to outlaw Talos worship in the White-Gold Concordat.) Both sides are happy to kill the other and the civil war means that the Empire may be less able to defend itself against the Thalmor.