Basic Trope: An organization of Moral Guardians, sometimes government-sanctioned, sometimes not.
- Straight: Tropestan sends out an organization of church militants to enforce moral behavior.
- Exaggerated: Anyone found not conforming to moral ideals is executed right on the spot.
- Downplayed: A Censorship Bureau is essentially the downplayed version, at least with regards to arts and media.
- Justified:
- Tropestan is religious nation, and there is no separation of church and state; enforcing moral codes is just another aspect of law enforcement.
- A dictator wants to force people to support him, so he institutes laws that media cannot say anything bad about him or the government and/or must showcase Tropestan's glory, and needs to enforce these laws.
- Inverted:
- La Résistance
- The Tropestan Culture Police indeed punishes people— but it's for thinking inside the box rather than outside, since Tropestan culture encourages idividuality and dissent to an unhealthy degree.
- Subverted:
- While certain "blue laws" exist as a relic of times long past, they are rarely (if ever) enforced; even many lawyers are not aware of them.
- A Media Watchdog group forms, but they are not government-sanctioned or funded.
- Double Subverted:
- But a dictator rises to power, and in an attempt to get back to the Good Old Ways, enforces these laws to create his idea of a Utopia.
- While not officially government-backed, the group is still quite vocal and maybe even influential.
- Parodied: The Army of "Stop Having Fun" Guys, complete with red armbands featuring frowny-faces
- Zig Zagged: Tropestan's Culture Police ban rock music, unless it doesn't have lyrics, and most books, but children's works are untouched...unless they specifically praise individuality and disobedience to authority.
- Averted: Tropestan has no rules or laws governing what people can/cannot say, do, listen to, wear, eat, associate with, etc. (May or may not be actual anarchy.)
- Enforced:
- A Take That! at Moral Guardians, Media Watchdogs, and Political Overcorrectness
- Truth in Television (which the creators may or may not be subject to and/or agree with)
- Lampshaded: ???
- Invoked: A strongly-religious political leader wants to create a Utopia based on his/her morals and ideals.
- Exploited: Bob Bland, a less-than-stellar writer, creates works praising the Culture Police of Tropestan so that his books will be allowed to be sold while better but unapproved books are unavailable to compete.
- Defied: This leader knows that forcing his/her own beliefs and morals on others will just cause problems (whether in the form of protests to waste time and money quashing or in the form of a dangerous revolt), and does not try to enforce moral codes or censor the media.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed: One person's Utopia is another person's Dystopia. Also, what if a government-sanctioned media restriction restricts access to information people need, including basic education?
- Reconstructed: Either the people themselves or officials elected to speak for them are given a say about what (if any) kind of censorship is legitimate and necessary, and what rules in general must be followed. And when rules (moral codes or practical things like traffic laws) are enforced, the punishment is proportional to the offense (i.e. confiscation and maybe a small fine — rather than imprisonment or capital punishment — for possession of a forbidden item).
- Played For Laughs: Those Wacky Nazis (see, for example, "Parodied")
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