History Main / FascistsBedTime

* RealLife: Dictatorial regimes have in fact been known to do this. [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany The Nazis]] did this during the occupation of Continental Europe. UsefulNotes/AugustoPinochet is said to have enforced his curfew with snipers. Mubarak tried it in Egypt recently. It was quite ignored indeed.

* Fire Nation-occupied settlements in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''.

* The MirrorUniverse in the ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'' episode "Brave New Metropolis".

* In an attempt to curb video game addiction, South Korea has a "Shutdown law" which prevents kids under the age of 16 from playing online video games between the hours of 00:00 and 06:00, though their parents can exempt them from the law. China passed a similar law in 2019 limiting kids under 18 to less than 90 minutes of playing video games on weekdays and three hours on weekends, with no video game playing allowed between 10 p.m. to 8 a.m, and also limiting the amount of money they can spend games game per month.

* RealLife: Dictatorial regimes have in fact been known to do this. [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany The Nazis]] did this during the occupation of Continental Europe. The Communists did in NationalStereotypes/EasternEurope during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar. UsefulNotes/AugustoPinochet is said to have enforced his curfew with snipers. Mubarak tried it in Egypt recently. It was quite ignored indeed.

Apparently many writers' favorite way to show that a government is evil and oppressive is to have said government instill on its citizens a practice that many parents would instill on their children anyway. In the minds of many writers, a curfew is the piece of martial law no self-respecting dictatorship can go without. Specifically: the government legally forces everyone to stay inside past a certain hour at night and until a certain hour in the morning. While normally you'd expect the penalty for a rule like this to be a simple ticket or fine, the actual punishments you will find range from [[DisproportionateRetribution immediate jailtime]] at ''minimum'' to [[FelonyMisdemeanor summary execution]] at most. Narratively speaking, the authorities can say that [[FelonyMisdemeanor someone is a rebel just for being about]]; it also means characters can fight in major urban areas without risking innocent lives.

* During the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic, many governments instituted local or national lockdowns to prevent the spread of the virus. In some places where lockdowns measures have been eased, there are still curfews. Opponents of such measures argue this trope to be in effect and vehemently oppose them. [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment It is best to leave it without further elaboration]].

* During the [[UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic Coronavirus Pandemic]], many governments instituted local or national lockdowns to prevent the spread of the virus. Opponents of such measures, however, argued this trope to be in effect and have vehemently opposed them. [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment It is best to leave it without further elaboration]].

* ''Rebel Music'' from Music/BobMarley 's ''Music/NattyDread'' tells the story about a man being arrested by the police after ''three o'clock'' at night during curfew and taken in custody for possession of marihuana.

* In ''Film/TheHungerGamesCatchingFire'', new Head Peacekeeper Romulus Thread declares a curfew in District 12.

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* In ''Xchange'', everyone is required to carry a dog tag, fitted with a trackable chip, apparently replacing plastic and paper [=IDs=]. It is illegal to be out after curfew, if you don't have a proper tag. It is never revealed what the punishment is, though. The government is not a dictatorship, however.

* In the Konquest mode of ''VideoGame/MortalKombat Deception'', the main character returns to meet his former ally and all-around KnightTemplar Hotaru in the town he's just conquered, only to be arrested for breaking curfew. Judging by appearances, he is held in a cell awaiting trial for ''over a decade''.

* In the wake of the UsefulNotes/COVID19 pandemic, several countries (and by no means all dictatorial!) have declared curfews with the stated goal of preventing the epidemic spreading even further.

* This was actually a historical and very grim way racial segregation was enforced in the US. A "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sundown_town sundown town]]" was one in which non-ethnic-Europeans would be assaulted and/or killed if found there at night. Non-Europeans could not buy land in these communities, and being caught in them after dark could lead to harassment, expulsion, or even lynching, sometimes at the hands of local law enforcement. This phenomenon was not limited to Southern white-on-black oppression - the technique was used against blacks, Native Americans, Jews, and Chinese minorities. The state with the most confirmed cases of the phenomenon was actually Illinois.

* In the wake of [[UsefulNotes/CoronavirusDisease2019Pandemic the 2019-20 coronavirus epidemic]], several countries (and by no means all dictatorial!) have declared curfews with the stated goal of preventing the epidemic spreading even further.

Apparently many writers' favorite way to show that a government is evil and oppressive is to have said government instill on its citizens a practice that many parents would instill on their children anyway. In the minds of many writers, a curfew is the piece of martial law no self-respecting dictatorship can go without. Specifically: the government legally forces everyone to stay inside past a certain hour at night and until a certain hour in the morning. The reasoning is generally that it is the job of a parent or guardian to give curfews, not the government. Narratively speaking, the authorities can say that [[FelonyMisdemeanor someone is a rebel just for being about]]; it also means characters can fight in major urban areas without risking innocent lives.

Other times, a democratic nation may declare a curfew in the wake of a natural catastrophe or epidemic, in order to prevent a nasty situation from exacerbating even further, and to prevent looting and outright sabotage. Even so, often this curfew is a good early sign that the democratic government is starting to control people's lives, so they're useful as [[StartOfDarkness a sign of benign government turning into a cruel regime]].

* King Tyrannus from ''ComicBook/{{Swordquest}}'' prevents threats to his rule by imposing a nightly curfew in his realm. This is enforced with flying four-armed demons welding flaming swords.

* In ''Xchange'', everyone is required to carry a dogtag, fitted with a trackable chip, apparently replacing plastic and paper [=IDs=]. It is illegal to be out after curfew, if you don't have a proper tag. It is never revealed what the punishment is, though. The government is not a dictatorship, however.

* This is one of the theories of the origin of a popular Ashkenazi Jewish Klezmer song "7:40". In Imperial Russia, Jews couldn't show up in Odessa after dark if they weren't registered residents (and even that was the case, they had no right to leave their ghettos after dark). So any Jew from outside Odessa who had business in the city had to arrive on a morning train which entered the city at the eponymous time (7:40 am), and leave in evening.
* ''Rebel Music'' from Music/BobMarley 's ''Music/NattyDread'' tells the story about a man being arrested by the police after ''three o' clock'' at night during curfew and taken in custody for possession of marihuana.

** In the prequel ''VideoGame/DeusExMankindDivided'', Prague which already has a heavy police presence in the area around Jensen’s home and workplace, goes under full blown curfew when Jensen returns there from a mission in Switzerland. Earlier, the cops would randomly stop you to demand your papers, instantly react with violence if they see you doing anything suspicious and casually insult you, but they’d let you be as long as you behaved. Now, they shoot and kill ''anyone'' out on the streets who isn’t a policeman. This forces you to either fight through them or sneak past them.

** Not only dictators, the American soldiers did it in Iraq, too. Curfews are an effective counter measure against insurgencies or when you're expecting trouble. Not only is there the implication that people ''not'' following the curfew must be Up To Something, but it can also help to ensure that innocents are out of the way if and when trouble happens.

* In Turkey, a 24 hour curfew took place every five years, in order for the census to be done. It was a case of curfew being done not out of authoritarianism but simply lack of technology, and most Turkish people treated it as a day off. Because nobody expected trouble, the worst you could expect if caught violating curfew was detainment for the rest of the day. Once the system was computerized, the whole curfew method of performing census was done away with.

* While not quite the same, the effect of the concept known in German as ''Sperrstunde'' is similar. It dictates an hour after which bars (and in some cases discos) have to be closed. Nothing is keeping you from being out and about after this hour, but you really don't have any place to go. Most German cities have greatly reduced the effect of this rule by creating more and more exceptions or gotten rid of it altogether. Some have a nominal one where e.g. fast food restaurants have to close for an hour ("cleaning hour") before they can reopen. However, the whole issue still differs between each of the sixteen States of Germany.
* Similarly, certain holidays (again, depending on state law) are considered "silent," and you cannot have any type of festivity involving song and dance on those days. In practice this means there won't be commercial parties, but private parties will only get into problems if they have excessive noise. As all of those holidays are religious and it is worded as a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing_ban#Legal_bans "dancing ban,"]] atheist, secular and civil liberties groups have taken to holding dance-ins on those days.
* In the wake of [[UsefulNotes/CoronavirusDisease2019Pandemic the 2019--20 coronavirus epidemic]], several countries (and by no means all dictatorial!) have declared curfews with the stated goal of preventing the epidemic spreading even further.

* Temporary curfews are often imposed in the wake of hurricanes or other natural disasters. It can be an arrestable offense if it looks like you're out to cause trouble.
* Also happens on occasion for more reasonable cases where a city is struck by a riot or an increase in violent crime.

* Also happens on occasion for more reasonable cases where a city is struck by a riot or an increase in violent crime.

[[{{Dystopia}} Totalitarian governments]] are known for many oppressive means of controlling their citizens: taking [[{{Tradesnark}} Undesirables™]] and [[FinalSolution forcibly removing them from the gene pool]], [[PropagandaMachine filtering The News such that only information (accurate or otherwise) that makes the government look good can find its way to the eyes and ears of the citizens]], collaborating with {{Mega Corp}}s (of PeaceAndLoveIncorporated variety) to outlaw the {{Weird Trade Union}}s and their LaResistance in their own OneNationUnderCopyright, making anyone who disagrees with the government [[{{Unperson}} disappear]], and... [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking making sure everyone goes to sleep on time]]?

[[{{Dystopia}} Totalitarian governments]] are known for many oppressive means of controlling their citizens: taking [[{{Tradesnark}} Undesirables™]] and [[FinalSolution forcibly removing them from the gene pool]], [[PropagandaMachine filtering The News such that only information (accurate or otherwise) that makes the government look good can find its way to the eyes and ears of the citizens]], collaborating with {{Mega Corp}}s (of PeaceAndLoveIncorporated variety) to outlaw the WeirdTradeUnions and their LaResistance in their own OneNationUnderCopyright, making anyone who disagrees with the government [[{{Unperson}} disappear]], and... [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking making sure everyone goes to sleep on time]]?