Line #21 Main/SummerCampy


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13	[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/{{Brickleberry}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/camping_sure_is_eazy.jpg]]]]
14
15	->''"All the counselors hate the waiters\
16	And the lake has alligators\
17	And the head coach wants no sissies\
18	So he reads to us from something called Literature/{{Ulysses}}"''
19	-->-- '''Creator/AllanSherman''', "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh! (A Letter from Camp)"
20
21	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 chasing you across the camp, perfectly-timed inconvenient rain, etc.). The food is as bad as cafeteria food. In sports, there are 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 territory), or treat the camp like it's their own personal vacation resort with the campers' welfare as an afterthought, or even worse 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.
22
23	Inevitably, boredom will drive all the campers to insanity (if they weren't that way to begin with, as the hero's bunk-mate always seems to be). The only fun they have is messing with each other, leading to an EscalatingWar in no time (and brutal hazing if some of the kids are new). If the camp is co-ed, the kids will all end up with crushes on each other that serve as an object lesson in how LoveMakesYouDumb (and nobody ever manages to hook up).
24
25	In spite of all this, however, the students and counselors will always band together at the end of the summer to take on their hated rivals: the more affluent summer camp across the lake. There will be a competition of physical and/or skills challenges pitting the poor underdog campers against their rich, arrogant counterparts, which the underdogs will either take down to the wire or win outright thanks to a combination of what they learned over the summer and [[HeartIsAnAwesomePower their own unique talents]] that they'd thought made them [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits weird outcasts]].
26
27	In older stories, the camp was always some outdoorsy place with a [[CampWackyname fake-Native American]] name (for American camps, at least). Modern stories are more likely to involve a specialized camp (like weight-loss camp), which is just as awful as the old camps.
28
29	Unlike the BoardingSchoolOfHorrors, these places tend to be played for laughs. Compare HorribleCampingTrip. See FatCamp for a more specialized type of summer camp.
30
31	----
32	!!Examples:
33
34	[[foldercontrol]]
35
36
37	[[folder:Comic Books]]
38	* In ''ComicBook/BePrepared'' Vera's hopes for a summer camp experience like her American friends are dashed when she arrives at her Russian culture summer The camp is a lot more rustic than she hoped, complete with outdoor toilets, camping in actual tents, and lots of wilderness.
39	[[/folder]]
40
41
42	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
43	* ''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.
44	* ''ComicStrip/{{Nuts}}'' has the wretched Camp Tall Lone Tree as the subject of several strips.
45	* ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'' featured this as a story arc almost every summer, sometimes with insane specialized camps like Sally's "Beanbag Camp" (where all you do is lie in a beanbag, watch TV, and eat junk food) and even a survivalist camp and a fundamentalist Bible camp.
46	** One year's storyline has all the gang filling out applications to ''get out of'' going to camp. Everyone has their application is accepted, except (naturally) Charlie Brown, who gets a letter informing him his request has been turned down, and "therefore, you are to report to the bus stop at 0800 hours."
47	** The "Mr. Sack" story arc, which was turned into one of the segments of the ''It's an Adventure, Charlie Brown!'' anthology. After his doctor sends him to summer camp for health reasons (he had bizarrely started seeing everything round as baseballs, culminating in a baseball-stitch rash on the back of his head), Charlie Brown bemoans his fate, and says that once he's old enough to make his own summer choices, he'll probably end up getting drafted to the infantry. Ironically, this is one of his better camp stays, as he becomes unexpectedly popular after he starts wearing a bag over his head to hide the rash, becoming known as the titular "Mr. Sack".
48	** The TV specials ''It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown'' and ''He's a Bully, Charlie Brown'' take place at summer camp.
49	** The feature film ''WesternAnimation/RaceForYourLifeCharlieBrown'' has the gang attending camp and getting involved in a river raft race against a gang of {{Jerk Jock}}s.
50	* ''ComicStrip/{{Shoe}}'' played with this by having Skyler (inadvertently) attend Marine {{Boot Camp\|Episode}} each summer instead.
51	[[/folder]]
52
53	[[folder:Fan Works]]
54	* In [[Fanfic/Swing123AndGarfieldodiesCalvinverse the Calvinverse]], ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheMovie'' is set in Camp Pine, where Calvin battles aliens. An episode of ''Fanfic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries'' revisits the location, now with [[BearsAreBadNews bears.]]
55	* ''Fanfic/CampNightmare'' is about Calvin and Hobbes going to one of these. [[spoiler:[[FromBadToWorse It doesn't end well]]. ''[[NightmareFuel At all]].'']]
56	* ''Fanfic/TheDragonAndTheButterflyWhiteout'': After Dragon's Edge was established as an outpost, Fishlegs would use it to during the summer as a retreat for Berk's children in the form of Camp Ingerman.
57	* ''Fanfic/SummerCampWawanakwa'' plays the titular Camp Wawanakwa straight as a functional summer camp for the ''WesternAnimation/TotalDrama Island'' contestants [[SpinoffBabies as children]], instead of the setting for a reality TV competition.
58	* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' fanfic [[https://archiveofourown.org/works/42247950/chapters/115010626 There's No One Like You]], Luz attends Camp Reality Check, which appears to play this trope straight. [[spoiler:However, two of the counselors, Jacob and Tara, molest several of the children there, eventually raping Luz. Luz is only able to escape with the help of the other counselor Eda, who had no idea about her coworkers' activities. She still has trauma stemming from the camp years later]].
59	[[/folder]]
60
61	[[folder:Film -- Animated]]
62	* [[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.]]
63	* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyEquestriaGirlsLegendOfEverfree'' takes place at Camp Everfree, which is rumored to be haunted by a malevolent spirit known as Gaia Everfree. Equestrian magic seems to be in the area too, as the Mane Six end up getting superpowers while there. [[spoiler: Gaia Everfree is actually a story made up to cover for the counsellor Gloriosa Daisy, who's been using Equestrian magic to keep the camp from closing. Of course she gets DrunkOnTheDarkSide.]]
64	* ''WesternAnimation/RaceForYourLifeCharlieBrown'', as mentioned in Comic Strips above.
65	[[/folder]]
66
67	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
68	* 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.
69	* ''Film/AgeOfSummerhood'' is a coming-of-age dramedy set and filmed at a real Canadian camp.
70	* ''Film/TheBurning'' is about a camp counselor who gets horribly burned in a prank gone wrong and takes revenge by slashing various campers to death.
71	* ''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.
72	* ''Film/CampCucamonga'' (1990) is another made-for-TV example.
73	* ''Film/CampNowhere'' is about a gang of kids who will do anything to avoid being sent to summer camp, up to and including their own fake camp.
74	* ''Film/CampRock'' is set at a summer music camp.
75	* ''Film/ConfessionsFromAHolidayCamp'' was about a summer camp with lazy workers and a barking owner who is pressured into creating a beauty contest.
76	* The whole movie ''Film/DaddyDayCamp''.
77	* ''Film/FearStreet'''s second installment ''1978'' details a massacre that happened at Camp Nightwing in the series's mythology; one of the counsellors is possessed and proceeds to murder eight people. It's something of a GenreThrowback to ''Friday the 13th'' mentioned below.
78	* In ''WebVideo/{{Fred}} 3'', Fred goes to a camp called Camp Iwannapeepee.
79	* ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'':
80	** [[Film/FridayThe13th1980 The first film]] popularized the summer camp setting among the {{Slasher Movie}}s of the early '80s, with such examples as ''Film/TheBurning'', ''Film/SleepawayCamp'', ''Film/{{Madman}}'', and ''Bodycount'' [[FollowTheLeader following suit]].
81	** Oddly, though, it wasn't until the sixth film ''[[Film/FridayThe13thPartVIJasonLives Jason Lives]]'' when they actually showed Camp Crystal Lake up and running (barring the prologue and flashbacks in the first film), with children in attendance. The first film was about the counselors ''preparing'' the camp before it opened for the summer, [[Film/FridayThe13thPart2 the second]] was about a training program for counselors, and until the remake, none of the other films involved a summer camp at all except as part of the history of Crystal Lake.
82	** In [[Film/FridayThe13th2009 the 2009 remake]], 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.
83	* ''Film/{{Gorp}}'' (1980) is set at a Jewish summer camp in the Catskills.
84	* ''Film/HolidayOnTheBuses'' takes place in a Pontins Holiday Camp where Stan, Jack, and Blakey have to work after being fired by the bus company. The three aren't very good at keeping the campers happy, running terrible mystery tours, rigid dancing contests, and generally causing unintentional chaos.
85	* ''Film/IndianSummer'' has a group of adults returning to the summer camp of their childhoods at the invitation of the camp's retiring director.
86	* ''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.
87	* The ''Film/{{Meatballs}}'' films are all over this trope.
88	* 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.
89	* ''Film/{{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.
90	* ''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.
91	* The 1961 film ''Film/{{The Parent Trap\|1961}}'' starts out at a semi-utopian version of one of these. Fortunately for the audience, things get more amusing. The [[Film/TheParentTrap1998 remake]] keeps the same starting premise and adds a minor subplot about a boy who accidentally signed up for the all-girls camp.
92	* The 1985 made-for-TV film ''Poison Ivy'' starred Creator/MichaelJFox and was set in one of these.
93	* ''Film/ScoutToujours...'' (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.
94	* The first half of ''Film/SummerCampNightmare'' (a loose adaptation of the below-mentioned novel ''Literature/TheButterflyRevolution'') starts off as a typical summer camp comedy, but when the counselors-in-training take over the camp, things start getting serious.
95	* Parodied in the film ''Film/WetHotAmericanSummer.''
96	* ''[[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.
97	[[/folder]]
98
99	[[folder:Literature]]
100	* ''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.
101	* ''Literature/BruceCovillesBookOf Spine Tinglers'': Camp Ultima in ''Letters From Camp'', which is basically where parents send their troublemaking sons to get killed off (and they're opening a new one for girls the next year).
102	* ''Literature/TheButterflyRevolution'' by William Butler, in which the older kids at a boys' summer camp proceed to take it over (and the girls' camp next door), imprison the staff, and establish a totalitarian fascist regime that turns into a TeenageWasteland.
103	* 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.
104	* Camp Harvest Moon which the young campers aptly take to calling ''Literature/CampZombie''.
105	* Vesta Gul of ''Literature/DeathInHerHands'' lives in a decommissioned Girl Scout camp house. She is menaced throughout the story, whether by herself or someone else, while it's hinted the rest of the town considers her menacing.
106	* ''{{Literature/Everworld}}'': Part of David's backstory, and a major part of why he always has something to prove, is that he was raped by a camp counselor when he was younger.
107	* ''Literature/{{Goosebumps}}'': ''Many''. The original series alone has "Literature/WelcomeToCampNightmare", "Literature/TheHorrorAtCampJellyjam", "Literature/GhostCamp", and "Literature/TheCurseOfCampColdLake". Series 2000 has "Literature/FrightCamp" and "Literature/ReturnToGhostCamp", 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". ''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.
108	* 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.
109	* The novel ''Literature/IWantToGoHome'' by Creator/GordonKorman is about a SociopathicHero who we root for because he's the only smart person in his comic-opera summer camp. The entire place is flooded on ''visiting day'' because of a beaver's dam. When the waters subside, the PointyHairedBoss says "and so, another successful visiting day draws to a close." One of the counselors can't believe he's hearing this, and the head counselor explains, "that's his visiting day speech. He only has one, and it doesn't cover floods."
110	* ''Literature/LizardMusic'': Victor mentions having gone to a summer camp the previous year. He also mentions not seeing a point to returning after learning he was allergic to all the plants, running into poison ivy, getting stung by bees, and breaking his arm after falling off the roof of a cabin.
111	* ''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).
112	* 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.
113	* Creator/JeanShepherd wrote a wonderful short story about two weeks in a summer camp ''Revenge of the Mole People''.
114	* In ''[[Literature/BrasAndBroomsticks Spells and Sleeping Bags]]'', Rachel goes to one of these, though the camp's problem is not so much with the camp as it is the fact that [[spoiler: her witch cousin wants to switch bodies with her.]]
115	* ''Literature/TheSummerIsEndedAndWeAreNotYetSaved'' is set at a summer Bible Camp. It's all good cheesy fun [[spoiler:until the resident priest decides that the children need to be sent to heaven before they lose their innocence]].
116	[[/folder]]
117
118	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
119	* The Creator/DisneyChannel series ''Series/{{Bunkd}}''.
120	* ''Series/CampRunamuck'', a short-lived '60s sitcom.
121	* ''Series/HiDeHi'', was a not so short-lived sitcom set in a English holiday camp.
122	* ''Series/HighSchoolMusicalTheMusicalTheSeries'': In Season 3, the wildcats go to a theatre summer camp called Camp Shallow Lake located in California.
123	* ''Series/MrBelvedere'': Although not played comically in the very least in "The Counselor," due to Wesley's frightening encounter with one of the counselors who touches him inappropriately. Wesley reveals his encounter in front of his parents, and it's curtains for the counselor.
124	* ''Series/{{Psych}}'' combines SummerCampy with a SerialKiller plot that also makes fun of horror movie tropes.
125	* The entire premise of ''Series/SaluteYourShorts.''
126	* ''Series/SesameStreet'':
127	** 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.
128	** 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''.
129	** 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.
130	[[/folder]]
131
132	[[folder:Magazines]]
133	* ''Magazine/{{MAD}}'' has also done this every summer. One old piece from the 70s had a camp where the only medical supplies are aspirin and calamine lotion, so every sick and injured camper goes untreated...until we meet a lucky boy who's "got poison ivy, and a terrible headache from worrying about it." The camp director seems to have no problem with the camp being run like a summer-long prison for children, but when his wife complains about their own children acting unruly and recommends that he puts them in the same summer camp, he objects, stating how terrible it is. A more recent strip had ButtMonkey Monroe sent to a camp that made him long for the CrapsackWorld back home.
134	[[/folder]]
135
136	[[folder:Music]]
137	* The classic novelty/comedy song "Hello Muddah, Hello Fadduh! (A Letter from Camp)", by Creator/AllanSherman, is a boy's letter to his parents where he complains about his stay at one Camp Granada, sung to Ponchielli's ''Dance of the Hours''. Ultimately subverted. Once the rain and hail end, the boy ends the letter with, "[[spoiler:Muddah, Fadduh, kindly disregard this letter!]]"
138	** 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, the kid is actually really excited about being at camp because of all the cool stuff he gets to do -- and one of the first things he 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 (an updated version of the song changes this to him talking about how he's learned how to hotwire cars), and the Swedish version ends with him announcing that he and his cabinmates are off to burn down the neighbouring cabin.
139	* "Les jolies colonies de vacances" is basically the summer camp anthem, in which a child writes home to explain how AWESOME summer camp is (the food sucks, the counselors are drunkards, they all swim in the river where industrial waste is being dumped...)
140	* The titular boy-scout camp of the Homer and Jethro song "The Battle of Kookamonga" may have been of this type. A boy was mad at being sent to camp, but changes his mind at the events of the song, [[spoiler:chasing a troop of girl scouts]].
141	* "Camp Werthahekawee" by Music/RayStevens.
142	[[/folder]]
143
144	[[folder:Theater]]
145	* An obscure example: the off-off-Broadway kids musical ''Everything About Camp (Almost)'' is a {{Troperiffic}} look at everything that can go wrong at camp. In a typical scene, the new kids are sent on a SnipeHunt, and one of the kids is suspicious. He discovers that not only is he required to go anyway, but he's required to pay for the privilege of going. As with most examples of SummerCampy, it's played entirely for comedy.
146	[[/folder]]
147
148	[[folder:Video Games]]
149	* ''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.
150	* ''Friday the 13th'''s Camp setting is revisited in the [[VideoGame/FridayThe13th NES Game]].
151	* ''[[VideoGame/LakeviewCabinCollection Lakeview Cabin III]]'' is set at a summer camp which has fallen on hard times following certain... ''incidents''. While one of the StoryBreadcrumbs you can find is a pamplet welcoming new conselors, it's unclear whether the four protagonists are employees or just some hard-partying teens taking advantage of the cabins. Either way, their stay doesn't end well.
152	* 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.
153	* ''VisualNovel/WeKnowTheDevil'' features a Christian summer camp with the typical gross food, terrible accommodations, and annoying counselors. Not so typically, however, the characters are given semi-magical radios and are sent to a cabin to possibly fight the devil.
154	* In ''Videogame/FateGrandOrder'', the "Servant Summer Camp" event has the Master and the Servants attend a camp for the Summer only to be beset by various genres of horror each night, starting off on a Slasher, then Japanese Psychological Horror and even a Zombie scenario.
155	[[/folder]]
156
157	[[folder:Web Animation]]
158	* 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.
159	* [[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!"
160	[[/folder]]
161
162	[[folder:Webcomics]]
163	* ''WebComic/CampWeedonwantcha'': 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.]]
164	* The camp in ''Webcomic/DetoxCamp'' has gone for so long without adult supervision, it's essentially become a fascist state. Running away is allowed, but then there's the [[spoiler:cursed]] Alaska wilderness to deal with.
165	* 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 paternity tests for lakes.
166	[[/folder]]
167
168	[[folder:Web Original]]
169	* The long-running Livejorunal roleplay ''Roleplay/CampFuckYouDie'' is set in the titular (and accurately named) camp.
170	* ''Website/{{Cracked}}'': "[[https://www.cracked.com/personal-experiences-1592-fatal-placebos-6-realities-life-as-child-with-cancer.html 6 Disturbing Realities of Surviving Childhood Cancer]]" describes the author's experience at a summer camp for children with cancer. The intent there was to make the cancer patients feel less like cancer patients and more like normal children by inviting healthy children and providing quality summer camp activities that would appeal to them. However, it wound up having the opposite effect when the children with cancer were told that [[DidntThinkThisThrough they were too sick to do any of the cool stuff]]. Not helping matters was a doctor [[DrJerk making inappropriate jokes]] about children dying of cancer. When the organizers realized their error, they tried to make up for it by promising the kids a chance to roast marshmallows over a fire and sing camp songs... which ''also'' [[EpicFail backfired]] in what reads like an unintentional example of PoliticalOvercorrectness:
171	--> Except we couldn't have marshmallows, because some of the kids were on medication that would react badly to sugar. And we couldn't have a fire, because some of the kids had medical equipment that could be damaged. And we couldn't sing, because two of the kids were deaf. So we sat out under the stars on a beautiful night and, I shit you not, watched a VHS tape of a fire. A night at Camp Crystal Lake would've been more fun. Ironically, it did manage to make me a feel like a normal kid, because my brother and all the other healthy campers had to put up with that joyless activity right along with us.
172	[[/folder]]
173
174	[[folder:Western Animation]]
175	* 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.
176	* ''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).
177	* 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]]
178	* The eponymous ''WesternAnimation/CampLakebottom'' is this. Two of the three counselors are a [[OurZombiesAreDifferent zombie]] and a [[BigfootSasquatchAndYeti sasquatch]], even.
179	* The entire premise of ''WesternAnimation/CampLazlo,'' where most of the humor comes from the happy-go-lucky main character actually enjoying the place.
180	* ''WesternAnimation/CampWWE'' features kid versions of Wrestling/{{WWE}} personalities at a summer camp.
181	* ''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.
182	* 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.]]
183	* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' episode "Camp Fear" features a reunion of campers from Daria and Quinn's previous trip to Camp Grizzly. Daria has several poor memories of the experience, including having a horse run off with her on it, tossing her into the river. (Nine stitches were required.)
184	* "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.
185	* 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).
186	* ''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.
187	* 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!!!''
188	* 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.
189	** 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]].
190	* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
191	** 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.
192	** 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).
193	** 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.
194	* ''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.
195	** 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.
196	* ''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'', ''All-Stars'', and the 2023 reboot. 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.
197	[[/folder]]

Context Main / SummerCampy