Unclear name, unexpectedly few wicks: Day Of The Jackboot

Problem #1: "Jackboot" does not have an immediate connotation of "facist/communist/totalitarian regime" for everyone. I never understood what "jackboot" had to do with Nazis and Communists until I finally decided to put it through Wikipedia and see what it was all about.

Problem #2: Only 70 wicks and 20 inbounds for a premise that I could've sworn was used much more commonly by fiction-writers, which is not surprising with such an unclear trope name.

Suggesting a rename to something much more indicative, like Takeover By Totalitarianism.

edited 9th Feb '12 12:17:57 PM by MarqFJA

Switch that to Totalitarian Takeover, and you'd get my vote.

That works too.

Anyway we can modify the title to include the "take over the protagonist's country or hometown." aspect, so we aren't decaying the trope to be any old coup in a Banana Republic that isn't the protaganist's/author's country/hometown?

It seems to me like a lot of this trope is making the threat posed by said totalitarian takeover seem more personal to the reader by having it occur in the home country of the protaganist, which more often than not is the same as the home country of the author and the audience. Instead of generic foreign dictators, you have an "it could happen to us" sort of message.

edited 9th Feb '12 7:22:55 PM by Catbert

You make a good point. Any suggestions?

The first thought that comes to mind is Hometown Tolitarian Takeover.

Granted the trope can also apply to nations, and the trope title by itself doesn't specificy whose hometown, but it would be fairly consistent with Doomed Hometown. "Tolitarian Takeover of Hero's Hometown" would be more specific but a bit on the long side. That might be better for a laconic.

BTW, not that I'm saying that the trope doesn't need a rename (it does), but I'm curious what you associate with jackboots other than Nazi's. In my experience they never really get mentioned outside of allusions to Nazis, such as phrases like "Jack-booted thugs" being used to conjure up images of Nazi SA stormtroopers.

Wikipedia: "[The word "Jackboot"] is commonly used in Britain as a synonym for totalitarianism, particularly fascism..."

Well that clears THAT up, but still...

...no disrespect to the British, but I don't think we should give tropes names that only make sense to Brits who grew up in the Cold War. Rename needed

Hometown Totalitarian Takeover (with a Homeland Totalitarian Takeover redirect) seems good to me.

I associated "jackboot" with a kind of military/combat boots that is used by many democratic countries. I never knew that it was ever used as a metaphor for totalitarian dictatorship or oppression.

I understood the trope from the title. Still, I'm not opposed to a rename, especially since the current title isn't very specific.

Yah, the biggest problem with the current title isn't the Jackboots reference, it's that it doesn't separate itself from stuff like Putting on the Reich or Those Wacky Nazis.

Is the title supposed to be a witty spin on The Day of the Jackal or something? If so, I will say that turning "jackal" into "jackboot" is a needless stretch, especially when the trope itself, as written, does not need to involve Nazis or fascists.

edited 10th Feb '12 6:08:47 AM by SeanMurrayI

Seconded.

Tyrant Takes The Homeland? Or is that too similar to Tyrant Takes the Helm?

EDIT DELETE: Sorry, I misunderstood something someone said earlier and the thread.

Anyway,jackboots are pretty commonly mentioned in association with Nazis in America as well as Britain. It isn't just a Brit thing.

But that's beside the point. It could use a better title.

edited 11th Feb '12 6:45:50 AM by Catbert

Crowner here.

Hooked.

I suspect it's a case of We All Live in America. People outside the US pick up American terms more likely than the other way around. Trope titles that feature Commonwealth English have an explanation for US-ians, but consider the opposite case... Go, Unfortunate Implications, go!

Anyway, the proposed renames and the trope itself seems a bit too specific to me. Couldn't this be merged under All Your Base Are Belong to Us? Or maybe... *gasp* snowclone it to All Your X Are Belong To Us?

No, it can't be merged. The two tropes are nothing alike. "Bad guys attack Mission Control" and "Totalitarianism political party comes to power in your home country" are not the same thing at all.

Also, on a general observation: I'm not against all trope names that reference works on general principle, but you'd think it would at least reference a work that has something to do with the trope. The Day Of The Jackal has no relationship to the trope.

Don't we have a more general trope where someone's place is taken over? I find having a Commie Nazi specific version to be strange. It's almost like that Eastern Japanese media specific thing that's a can of worms around here.

How about It Can Happen Here? Which is a shout-out to two mid-century examples.

All Your Base Are Belong to Us is about an external enemy attacking your homebase.

Day of the Jackboot is NOT just about "The external enemy happens to be commies."

Day of the Jackboot is about when domestic tolitarians come to power in your own country, and more often than not it is through normal political means (maybe reinforced by some thuggery) rather than all out war.

To use Real Life historical examples.

Day of the Jackboot is Hitler coming to power in Germany and Mussolini coming to power in Italy.

All Your Base Are Belong to Us is Japan bombing Pear Harbor and terrorists slamming an airplane into the Pentagon.

See the difference? Not only are they not the same trope, they aren't even in the same family or tropes, unless we want to make "Something bad happens" a trope.

edited 13th Feb '12 6:28:17 PM by Catbert

Okay... so it's "internal vs. external". Got it. Internal Regime Change?

edited 13th Feb '12 6:52:04 PM by Totenkruez

That could be any old revolution.

I feel that the word "Totalitarian" is absolutely vital for the trope title, and some variation on "Homeland" or "hometown" helps communicate that this is happening in the protaganist's home community.

I'm American and I have always understood "jackboot" to have fascist/totalitarian implications. Am reminded of the "I do not like boots" line from Stalag17.

Yea...due to my myopia, I thought everyone knew that jackboots=fascists and stuff..