History Main / SparkOfTheRebellion

* According to most histories, the Stonewall Riots began as a routine police raid of a Greenwich Village gay bar, the mafia-controlled Stonewall Inn. Shakedowns like these were commonplace; the [[TheBigRottenApple notoriously corrupt NYPD]] would get their payoff, the patrons who had been rounded up would be released, and the bar would be back in business quickly, sometimes even the same night. On June 28, 1969, however, the raid was taking much longer than usual, possibly due to a number of people there who were not used to the procedure. This allowed time for a [[PowderKegCrowd crowd]] to gather, many of them taunting the police with accusations of taking bribes. As the crowd grew rowdier, the police dragged a small, butch-dressing woman from the bar, her face [[WouldHitAGirl already marked from a baton strike]]. A hush came over the spectators, and the woman yelled something to the effect of "Aren't you going to do anything?" The police then roughly tossed her into a paddy wagon. Immediately, the crowd surged forward, throwing bottles and attacking the cops. The rioting would last off and on for several days. These events are usually credited with starting modern the gay rights movement.

* TheMutiny on the ''Potemkin'' battleship of the [[ Russian Imperial Navy]] started over sailors protesting them being served ''borsht'' made from rotten beef. ''Then'', when the anger calmed down, officers threatened them with firing squad or hanging, which started the whole mutiny.

* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'' is the epitome of this trope and is the TropeNamer. There's whole reason why the PilotMovie is even ''called'' "[[Recap/StarWarsRebelsSparkOfRebellion Spark of Rebellion]]". True to the trope, the ''Ghost'' crew do everything they can to make life on Lothal better from TheEmpire, but the defining moment was when they liberate Wookiee prisoners from the spice mines of Kessel. Since then, their actions on Lothal would signify the start of a growing rebellion. To further deliver the punch, the season finale is titled "[[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS1E13FireAcrossTheGalaxy Fire Across the Galaxy]]"[[note]]Which in itself is a reference to ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars'', when Yoda describes the Clone Wars conflict as spreading like fire across the galaxy.[[/note]] -- as the season ends with the rebel cells beginning to unite and people beginning to turn against the Empire, and it has served as ArcWords for the rest of the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse.

* In ''Literature/TheMortalInstruments'' in the Thule Universe, Sebastian was informed Lily, New York's Second in Command vampire, was sending information to the rebels, so she is killed mercilessly. The seemingly emotionless Head vampire, Raphael, led thousands of Downworlders out of the peace talks with Sebastian, sparking the rebellion, and almost succeded in killing him.

** A more specific example occurs later in the third book, when the rebellion is on its last legs before Darrow's RousingSpeech and public return from his presumed death gives the rebellion a HeroicSecondWind.
* ''Literature/TheMoonIsAHarshMistress'', the revolutionaries are planning an uprising, but the security from Earth precipitates it by raping and killing a woman, who Manny notes could have been a 'slot-machine sheila' (prostitute), but on the Moon you don't touch a woman without her consent.

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'' starts with Daein under the oppressive occupation of the Begnion Empire. The Dawn Brigade has been doing small acts of rebellion for a while at this point, but the spark seems to be an incident where Micaiah heals a boy wounded by Begnion artillery, thereby proving herself to be the Silver-Haired Maiden, the common people's near-mythical folk hero. Soon after, the Dawn Brigade finds King Ashnard's lost heir his attendant and Micaiah's identity convinces them it's the right time to start the fight against Begnion.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': In one episode, Katara wants to save the earthbenders from a Fire Nation's prison barge, but finds trouble due to the lack of something for them to bend, so she has Aang blowing up a lot of coals from the barge’s furnace, through the vents, onto the upper deck. At first, the warden stands there and gloats about how broken they are. It's not until one of the earthbenders throw a lump of coal at the alerted prison warden that the big riot starts. In the end, the earthbenders manage to escape with the Gaang.

* According to most histories, the Stonewall Riots began as a routine police raids of a Greenwich Village gay bar, the mafia-controlled Stonewall Inn. Shakedowns like these were commonplace; the [[TheBigRottenApple notoriously corrupt NYPD]] would get their payoff, the patrons who had been rounded up would be released, and the bar would be back in business quickly, sometimes even the same night. On June 28, 1969, however, the raid was taking much longer than usual, possibly due to a number of people there who were not used to the procedure. This allowed time for a [[PowderKegCrowd crowd]] to gather, many of them taunting the police with accusations of taking bribes. As the crowd grew rowdier, the police dragged a small, butch-dressing woman from the bar, her face [[WouldHitAGirl already marked from a baton strike]]. A hush came over the spectators, and the woman yelled something to the effect of "Aren't you going to do anything?" The police then roughly tossed her into a paddy wagon. Immediately, the crowd surged forward, throwing bottles and attacking the cops. The rioting would last off and on for several days. These events are usually credited with starting modern the gay rights movement.

* In ''Film/{{Yellowbeard}}'', Dan attempts to stand up to Mr. Crisp, which [[NoSell goes as well as you'd expect]], resulting in him being knocked out. Crisp is about to finish the job, when [[HeroicSociopath Yellowbeard]] comes out of hiding, headbutts Mr. Crisp, and throws him overboard. On finding out, Captain Hughes, thinking Dan did it, exposes him as Yellowbeard's son, and is about to punish him, when the crew, inspired by Dan's example, mutiny, surrounding the captain, and hanging him upside down.

* According to most histories, the Stonewall Riots began as a routine police raids of a Greenwich Village gay bar, the mafia-controlled Stonewall Inn. Shakedowns like these were commonplace; the [[TheBigRottenApple notoriously corrupt NYPD]] would get their payoff, the patrons who had been rounded up would be released, and the bar would be back in business quickly, sometimes even the same night. On June 28, 1969, however, the raid was taking much longer than usual, possibly due to a number of people there who were not used to the procedure. This allowed time for a crowd to gather, many of them taunting the police with accusations of taking bribes. As the crowd grew rowdier, the police dragged a small, butch-dressing woman from the bar, her face [[WouldHitAGirl already marked from a baton strike]]. A hush came over the spectators, and the woman yelled something to the effect of "Aren't you going to do anything?" The police then roughly tossed her into a paddy wagon. Immediately, the crowd surged forward, throwing bottles and attacking the cops. The rioting would last off and on for several days. These events are usually credited with starting modern the gay rights movement.

* According to most histories, the Stonewall Riots began as a routine police raids of a Greenwich Village gay bar, the mafia-controlled Stonewall Inn. Shakedowns like these were commonplace; the notoriously corrupt NYPD would get their payoff, the patrons who had been rounded up would be released, and the bar would be back in business quickly, sometimes even the same night. On June 28, 1969, however, the raid was taking much longer than usual, possibly due to a number of people there who were not used to the procedure. This allowed time for a crowd to gather, many of them taunting the police with accusations of taking bribes. As the crowd grew rowdier, the police dragged a small, butch-dressing woman from the bar, her face already marked from a baton strike. A hush came over the spectators, and the woman yelled something to the effect of "Aren't you going to do anything?" The police then roughly tossed her into a paddy wagon. Immediately, the crowd surged forward, throwing bottles and attacking the cops. The rioting would last off and on for several days. These events are usually credited with starting modern the gay rights movement.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': In one episode, Katara wants to save the earthbenders from the Fire Nation's remote island prison, but finds trouble due to the lack of something for them to bend, so she has Aang blowing up a lot of coals from the island's furnace, through the vents, to a hole on the prison field. At first, the warden stands there and gloats about how broken they are. It's not until one of the earthbenders throw a lump of coal at the alerted prison warden that the big riot starts. In the end, the earthbenders manage to escape with the Gaang.

->''"When the Empire's operations are targeted on an ongoing basis, it could signify more than the theft of a few crates; it could signify the spark of rebellion. Next time they make a move, we'll be waiting for them -- [[HopeCrusher to snuff out that spark before it catches fire]]."''

* ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'': Hopper has the colony paying him tribute every year, threatening to wipe them out if they fail to provide an offering, and Flik tries standing up for them twice. The first time Hopper stares him down, but the second, after Flik's been worked over by [[TheBrute Thumper]], he gets back up and delivers a blistering ReasonYouSuckSpeech to Hopper, pointing out that the colony does everything to provide for itself ''and'' the grasshoppers. Shortly after, Hopper realizes all the ants, who by his own admission outnumber his gang a hundred to one, are about to charge him. The scene ends with the ants charging and driving the grasshoppers off, although Hopper himself requires a little more effort to get rid of...

-->-- '''Agent Kallus''', ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'', [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsSparkOfRebellion "Spark of Rebellion"]]

!!Examples

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Film -- Animation]]

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

* ''VisualNovel/{{Utawarerumono}}'': The spark that sets off a rebellion that overturns not one but over a dozen nations? An old woman getting accidentally killed by royal guards in a backwater, no-name farming village. The village immediately arms for war, joins forces with another village already doing the same, and then the idiot emperor starts pre-emptively slaughtering neutral villages "just in case", which leads to even ''more'' villages joining the rebellion... and it all snowballs from there.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': In one episode, Katara wants to save the earthbenders from the Fire Nation's remote island prison, but finds trouble due to the lack of something for them to bend, so she has Aang blowing up a lot of coals from the island's furnace, through the vents, to a hole on the prison field. At first, the warden stands there and gloats about how broken they are. It's not until one of the earthbenders throw a lump of coal at the alerted prison warden that the big riot starts. In the end, the earthbenders managed to escape with the Gaang.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'' is the epitome of this trope and is the TropeNamer. There's whole reason why the PilotMovie is even ''called'' [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsSparkOfRebellion "Spark of Rebellion"]]. True to the trope, the ''Ghost'' crew do everything they can to make life on Lothal better from TheEmpire, but the defining moment was when they liberate Wookiee prisoners from the spice mines of Kessel. Since then, their actions on Lothal would signify the start of a growing rebellion. To further deliver the punch, the season finale is titled [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS1E13FireAcrossTheGalaxy "Fire Across the Galaxy"]][[note]]Which in itself is a reference to ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars'', when Yoda describes the Clone Wars conflict as spreading like fire across the galaxy.[[/note]]--as the season ends with the rebel cells beginning to unite and people beginning to turn against the Empire, and it has served as ArcWords for the rest of the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse.

* ''VisualNovel/Utawarerumono'': The spark that sets off a rebellion that overturns not one but over a dozen nations? An old woman getting accidentally killed by royal guards in a backwater, no-name farming village. The village immediately arms for war, joins forces with another village already doing the same, and then the idiot emperor starts pre-emptively slaughtering neutral villages "just in case", which leads to even ''more'' villages joining the rebellion... and it all snowballs from there.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_1rsz_1477519985585.png]]
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* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': In one episode, Katara wants to save the earthbenders from the Fire Nation's remote island prison, but finds trouble due to the lack of something for them to bend, so she has Aang blowing up a lot of coals from the island's furnace, through the vents, to a hole on the prison field. At first, the warden stands there and gloats about how broken they are, but it's not until one of the earthbenders throw one coal to the alerted prison warden that the big riot starts. In the end the earthbenders managed to escape with the Gaang.

* In ''Literature/TheHungerGames'', Katniss volunteering in place of her sister to be their district's warrior tribute for a BreadAndCircuses tournament put in place by [[TheEmpire the Capitol]], which was almost unheard of in their district (as [[ButtMonkey District 12]] had only ever won the Hunger Games twice in their 73-year history). While preparing for the event, Katniss does do some things that edge on being barely acceptable in the Capitol, but the most significant thing she does is (appear to) fall in love with fellow District 12 tribute Peeta. Unknowingly, this soap opera-esque love entertains the masses of the Capitol, which causes the gamemakers to decide to change the rule about how to win the Hunger Games; you can survive with your fellow district tribute. This ultimately comes back to kick them in the teeth, because when those conditions are met and the gamemakers decide to backspace for dramatic effect, the couple attempts to commit suicide to be TogetherInDeath and prevent there from being a single winner for the games, so since that would upset the audience, the Capitol reluctantly lets the two live. The Capitol bending over just to entertain the masses ends up giving covert rebels throughout Panem a chance to begin their rebellion. It may also be mentioned that there was also a firebird motif with TropeNamer ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'', which was released after ''The Hunger Games'' series.
** Though it's also been argued that Rue's death is the true spark, as her young age and friendliness results in a non-malicious alliance between Katniss (from District 12) and herself (District 11), with Katniss helping her find peace in death when she gets mortally wounded. [[spoiler:This causes a riot in District 11 (in the film adaptation, it is implied her father was the first to lash out).]]
* In between the second and third books of the ''Literature/RedRising'' trilogy, Sevro releasing footage of Darrow's carving and posthumously ([[UncertainDoom or so he thinks]]) outing his friend as TheMole sparks a mass uprising against the Golds.

Literature/TheMoonIsAHarshMistress, the revolutionaries are planning an uprising, but the security from Earth precipitates it by raping and killing a woman, who Manny notes could have been a 'slot-machine sheila' (prostitute), but on the Moon you don't touch a woman without her consent.[[/folder]]

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTellius: Radiant Dawn'' starts with Daein under the oppressive occupation of the Begnion Empire. The Dawn Brigade has been doing small acts of rebellion for a while at this point, but the spark seems to be an incident where Micaiah heals a boy wounded by Begnion artillery, thereby proving herself to be the Silver-Haired Maiden, the common people's near-mythical folk hero. Soon after, the Dawn Brigade finds King Ashnard's lost heir his attendant and Micaiah's identity convinces them it's the right time to start the fight against Begnion.

* ''WesternAnimation/ABugsLife'': Hopper has the colony paying him tribute every year, threatening to wipe them out if they fail to provide an offering, and Flik tries standing up for them twice. The first time Hopper stares him down, but the second, after Flik's been worked over by [[TheBrute Thumper]], he gets back up and delivers a blistering ReasonYouSuckSpeech to Hopper, pointing out that the colony does everything to provide for itself ''and'' the grasshoppers. Shortly after, Hopper realizes all the ants, who by his own admission outnumber his gang a hundred to one, are about to charge him. The scene ends with the ants charging and driving the grasshoppers off.

[[/folder]]