History PlayingWith / PointlessCivicProject

** The sheer incongruence of a fifty-foot-tall statue of William Gilligan, made of gold and lit with spotlights and torches like the Golden Calf of ''Film/TheTenCommandments'', proudly standing in the middle of Skid Row is BlackComedy at its finest.

** The sheer incongruence of a fifty-foot-tall statue of William Gilligan, made of gold and lit with spotlights and torches like the Golden Calf of ''Film/TheTenthCommandment'', proudly standing in the middle of Skid Row is BlackComedy at its finest.

** The sheer incongruence of a fifty-foot-tall statue of William Gilligan, made of gold and lit with spotlights and torches, proudly standing in the middle of Skid Row is BlackComedy at its finest.

** It is more proof of the Mayor believing in IncrediblyLameFun. If it was a statue of Creator/SeanConnery (like everybody else in Tropeville, Guinness World Record recipient of most James Bond fans in a single city, wanted) the project would have worked like gangbusters.

* '''Reconstructed''': The mayor is actually a good leader, and the Gilligan statue is ignored or even forgiven considering his other achievements.

** Troperville is in a horrible condition: the roads are broken, the only school is a SuckySchool, the police and fire departments are understaffed, nobody has access to healthcare, and unemployment, homelessness and poverty are through the roof. Instead of doing anything about any of the above, the MayorPain [[SkewedPriorities decides it's more important to build a giant statue of Gilligan.]]

** The Mayor is hoping to get re-elected by playing to the townspeople's love of classic TV, or by showing his love for classic TV.
** The statue project is a stopgap solution to the unemployment problem, while more permanent solutions are being set up.

** The mayor is CrazyIsCool. The creepy giant Gilligan statue actually more than pays for itself in five years as people flock to see its surreal placement.

* '''Enforced''': None of the writers likes bureaucrats at all and they all decide [[AuthorFilibuster to showcase their views on what they believe is corruption, stupidity, and bullying that are standard to anyone and everyone who gets elected]] on the show by having the MayorPain waste fifteen million dollars that are desperately needed to rebuild a neighborhood devastated by a tornado to build a statue of Gilligan, because he just loves Gilligan '''that''' much, and then [[BlatantLies lie about how it will "help with morale".]]
* '''Lampshaded''': "A giant statue of one of the biggest idiots on TV. [[SarcasmMode Yes, that's exactly what this town needs.]]"

* '''Exploited''': The Mayor's political rivals hammer him for his wasteful civic projects in [[AttackOfThePoliticalAd attack ads]].

** The sheer incongruence of a fifty-foot-tall statue of William Gilligan, made of gold and lit with spotlights and torches, standing in the middle of Skid Row is BlackComedy at its finest.

** The mayor is CrazyAwesome. The creepy giant Gilligan statue actually more than pays for itself in five years as people flock to see its surreal placement.

'''Basic Trope''': A (usually local, occasionally state/provincial or federal) government project that serves no apparent practical purpose.

** The Mayor of Troperville just got caught in a scandal and wants to distract the citizens from that scandal, in hopes that it blows over on its own.
** Everything in Troperville is ''[[{{Utopia}} perfect]]'': the roads are newly paved, the schools are great, nobody is homeless or hungry, everybody who needs a job has one, the library is jam-packed with books and other media, the police and fire departments have what they need to do their jobs, the hospitals are state-of-the-art, local farms and factories are productive, every house has electricity and indoor plumbing, and everyone is happy.

** The money for the Gilligan statue is not coming from taxpayers' money, but from the mayor's own pocket.

** Or so he says. In actuality, he's embezzled millions of dollars just to build a giant Gilligan statue.

* '''Zig-Zagged''': Troper State's governor builds a giant flood barricade around a city one hundred miles off the coast. It is widely mocked until a tsunami comes -- and it turns out it would have been cheaper to replace the whole town and the investment could have saved more people spent elsewhere. However the earthquake that made the tsunami also resulted in sinking that made it prone to flooding and thus a justified investment over the long term.

* '''Enforced''': None of the writers likes bureaucrats at all and they all decide [[AuthorFilibuster to showcase their views on what they believe is corruption, stupidity and bullying that is standard to anybody that gets elected]] on the show by having the MayorPain waste fifteen million dollars that are desperately needed to rebuild a neighborhood devastated by a tornado to build a statue of Gilligan, because he just loves Gilligan '''that''' much, and then lie about how it will "help with morale".

* '''Exploited''': The Mayor's political rivals use his wasteful civic projects against him in [[AttackOfThePoliticalAd attack ads]].

* '''Deconstructed''': The mayor loses his reelection fight because the Tropervillans hate his ideas of civic projects.
* '''Reconstructed''': The mayor is actually a good leader, and the Gilligan statue goes ignored considering his other achievements.

* '''Played for Drama''': Troperville is full of {{Corrupt Politician}}s who use "civic projects" to enrich themselves and their friends, regardless of what is good for the town. The political system is so corrupt and broken that even though these politicians are widely hated, actually unseating them is very difficult.

'''Basic Trope''': A (usually local, occasionally state/provincial or federal) government project that has seemingly no purpose.
* '''Straight''': The Town of Troperville decides to build a giant statue of Series/{{Gilligan|sIsland}}.

** Troperville is in a horrible condition: the roads are broken, the only school is a SuckySchool, the police and fire departments are understaffed, nobody has access to healthcare, and unemployment, homelessness and poverty are through the roof. Instead of doing anything about any of the above, the MayorPain decides it's more important to build a giant statue of Gilligan.

** The Mayor of Troperville just got caught in a scandal, and wants to distract the citizens from that scandal, in hopes that it blows over on its own.
** Everything in Troperville is ''[[{{Utopia}} perfect]]'': the roads are newly paved, the schools are great, nobody is homeless or hungry, everybody who needs a job has one, the library is jam-packed with books and other media, the police and fire departments have what they need to do their jobs, the hospitals are state-of-the-art, local farms and factories are productive, every house has electricity and indoor plumbing, and everyone is happy.
** The Mayor is hoping to get re-elected by playing to the townspeople's love of classic TV, or by showing his love for classic TV.
* '''Inverted''': The town decides to invest the money in its SuckySchool to improve it.

** It builds a shrine to classic TV, in hopes of tourists GoingToSeeTheElephant.
** Or so he says. In actuality, he's embezzled millions of dollars just to build a giant Gilligan statue.
** However it is still a terrible investment since the fad was short lived.
* '''Parodied''': Troperville boasts all kinds of wacky and purposeless structures.
* '''Zig Zagged''': Troper State's governor builds a giant flood barricade around a city one hundred miles off the coast. It is widely mocked until a tsunami comes - and it turns out it would have been cheaper to replace the whole town and the investment could have saved more people spent elsewhere. However the earthquake that made the tsunami also resulted in sinking that made it prone to flooding and thus a justified investment long term.
* '''Averted''': Troperville is not engaged in any civics project, meaningful or otherwise.
* '''Enforced''': The writing team doesn't likes bureaucrats at all and they decide [[AuthorFilibuster to showcase their views on what they believe is corruption, stupidity and bullying that is standard to anybody that gets elected]] on the show by having the MayorPain waste 15 million dollars that are desperately needed to rebuild a neighborhood devastated by a tornado to build a statue of Gilligan, because he just loves Gilligan '''that''' much, and then lie about how it will "help with morale".
* '''Lampshaded''': "A giant statue of one of the biggest idiots on TV. [[SarcasmMode Yes, that's exactly what this town needs]]."
* '''Invoked''': A sleazy company bribes the {{corrupt|Politician}} mayor into contracting them to build a giant statue of Gilligan.

* '''Implied''': Troperville is full of broken roads, and it has a giant statue of Gilligan that all of the town's inhabitants seem to hate.

* '''Played For Drama''': Troperville is full of {{Corrupt Politician}}s who use "civic projects" to enrich themselves and their friends, regardless of what is good for the town. The political system is so corrupt and broken that even though these politicians are widely hated, actually unseating them is very difficult.

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%% Optional items, added after Conversed, at your discretion:
%%

%%* '''Played For Laughs''': ???

* '''Straight''': The Town of Troperville decides to build a giant statue of [[Series/GilligansIsland Gilligan]].

* '''Invoked''': A sleazy company bribes [[CorruptPolitician the mayor]] into contracting them to build a giant statue of Gilligan.

* '''Conversed''': ???

Go finish building the unnecessary statue of Fast Eddie [[PointlessCivicProject here]].

%%* '''Reconstructed''': ???

* '''Basic Trope''': A (usually local, occasionally state/provincial or federal) government project that has seemingly no purpose.

* '''Exaggerated''': The Town of Troperville decides to build a large shrine to classic TV in general.

* '''Justified''': The Mayor of Troperville just got caught in a scandal, and wants to distract the citizens from that scandal, in hopes that it blows over on its own.

* '''Subverted''': Troperville invests in a civic project that will bring in money to rebuild the DyingTown.

* '''Double Subverted''': It builds a shrine to classic TV, in hopes of tourists GoingToSeeTheElephant.

* '''Invoked''': ???
* '''Exploited''': ???

* '''Discussed''': ???
* '''Conversed''': ???

* '''Zig Zagged''': ???

* '''Enforced''': The writing team doesn't likes bureaucrats at all and they decide to mock them on the show by having the MayorPain waste 15 million dollars that are desperately needed to rebuild a neighborhood devastated by a tornado to build a statue of Gilligan, because he just loves Gilligan '''that''' much, and then lie about how it will "help with morale".

* '''Enforced''': ???

* '''Defied''': ???