I'm in search for inspiration and I thought I'd ask for some help. I'm trying to create an oppressive government in the Harry Potter fic I'm writing, and I'm wondering if anyone could suggest some sources of inspiration. I recently re-watched V for Vendetta and was wondering if anyone knew of any similar works.

 

You could just turn on the TV and watch it. Really, it's the best source of inspiration possible.

Or you could search the Wikipedia, maybe the article on "Nationalism" which I believe could be related to the Wizarding World (who are proud of their heritage, etc.)

 

Try the book 1984 or whatever it's called.

Or perhaps WWII Germany under Hitler.

Or maybe a few of the extremist Middle-Eastern countries.

*Shrugs*

Oooh, oooh!

The Aedra Temple of Vvardenfell and their zealous hatred of the Daedra worshippers.

 

One word - Star Wars

 

There was this movie Mila Jovich was in, "UltraViolet" - it kinda sucked, but it was more about a benevolent corporation becoming a corportocracy.

 

Well there's always Farenheit 451 (no non-approved content for the masses, no really good spells for Harry) or Freehold (by Micheal Z Williamson available in the Baen Free Ebook Library, features US/UN gone horribly wrong, just because you're allowed to vote doesn't mean the choices are worth having, eventually you end up in a "Nanny State" where people voted away their rights because they don't want "them" to be able to do anything wrong/dangerous/"immoral"/that might make them think.)

 

There's "Equilibrium", in which the population is forced to take pills that repress their emotions.

 

That was a good movie!

Fight scenes the equal of "The Matrix".

Come on, in how many movies do you get to see a guy getting his face slashed off AND then duelling with guns and using said guns like swords?!

I suppose you could theoretically say the machines in the matrix represent the "Government". They're cold, spineless, brainless and have an overwhelming majority of power.

 

Equilibrium? I remember another book where the population can take pills (but are not forced though).

A Brave New World, by Aldoux Huxley.

Excellent book. It's the oppressive government pushed to the extreme.

 

I second Brave New World and 1984. Great reads.

V for Vendetta was a good movie, but really, I felt the original graphic novel far more inspiring. It didn't have those action scenes, and it didn't need them. The Fate as it was shown has a great potential in a magical world (I'm thinking mechanically made Prophecies). You might want to read that series.

 

Umm....you could just read canon again. From what I remember stuff like due process and separation of powers is something that the wizarding world either hasn't figured out yet or can discard at a whim (Sirius Black and then Shunpike in HBP). In canon the Minister of Magic has the power of prosecution and the power to arrest whoever he deems an enemy or against the ministry (Dumbledore in OoTP). They also seem like they have a decent control over the media, and Umbridge abused her ministry power to send Dementors after Harry. There are probably more examples if you go back and dig through canon thoroughly. At times the Ministry in canon seems like a dictatorship. I don't know about you, but that is pretty damn oppresive and fucked up.

 

For real-world examples, have a look at some of the world's autocratic nations like the Sudan, or or former dictatorships like Suharto's in Indonesia, or the good Chairman Mao's early China, or the USSR, or even Cuba. Pakistan is another example. And I almost forgot Hussein's Iraq.

For oppressive examples, I can think of no better example than Israel's conduct on the Palestinians. The PLO and Hamas existed for a reason: they are incredibly misguided attempts to fight back against a heavy-handed power.

Need propaganda? Try some of the PRC's statements during the annexation of Tibet, or maybe the North Korean anti-American campaigns.

 

Perhaps

George Orwell's "Animal Farm"

In a very believable manner shows how those with benevolent aims become corrupted and ultimately only concerned with sustaining their power.

 

Indeed.

If they wanted to do it properly, they'd have Harry being pelted by rotten fruit/ fecal matter.

You'd have Wizard's and Witches jeering at #4 Privet Drive.

 

Or they'd have arrested him for sedition.

 

Finally, someone thinks like I do.

Scary thought, ne?

Arrested, bounty...a press war is only a small part. Perhaps they'd even start attacking Harry's friend's families but leave Harry alone so his friends abandon him?

Hell, knowing how Fudge is influnced by Malfoy, I wouldn't have been surprised if teams of Hit-Wizards and Auror's were sent after Harry.

 

It really depends what type of oppression you're going for. Is it going to be one where information is tightly controlled, à la China, or is it a more obvious sort of oppression, à la Nazi Germany? There are many different methods of oppression, and thousands of different ways of implementing each of them, and all of those have to be taken into account.

Personally, if I was reading a story I'd rather have the oppression not be noticed by the populace. Not at all like what Voldemort did, which makes it obvious who is behind it all. If you read Animal Farm as Nephilim suggested you'll noticed that most of the animals don't notice that they're being oppressed. The way the laws are changed to reflect the growing power of the pigs (symbolising Stalin's corruption of the Socialist ideals), and how the ignorant masses are kept in line by the 'threat' of Snowball and the return of Mr Jones are some of the most effective methods of censorship history has seen. All in all it's a very good book that shows an effective use of censorship and oppression.

If you want to make it really realistic, find another class of oppressed citizens the main class can use. Like a hierarchy, Government > Purebloods > Halfbloods > Muggleborns. Actually, I was going to compare a corrupt, oppressive government to canon... but I don't really have to. Canon already has the oppression of whole races of beings, has censorship of the media, has second-class citizenship in the form of muggleborns under Voldemort (and under the Ministry to a lesser extent). The only thing you could really do is make it more excessive, like what V for Vendetta did with the medical testing on humans.

Just think about it, there doesn't have to be an enormous amount of dead bodies for people to be oppressed.

Aekiel

 

*Ponders*

True

Lacing the water supply would be a good method. Mind-altering drugs, drugs that increase the power of suggestion.

And since everyone drinks water, who would think they'd drug the water?

It often amazed me the sheer...stupidity Voldemort posessed.

He could have killed Muggles on a larger scale if he had tampered with the water supply, blown up power stations, etc etc.

Even killing off a few people could plunge Britain into the Dark Ages. Parliament and most of the Royal Line. Throw in afore-mentioned methods, you have a populace cowed by fear. An enemy that can strike anywhere, anytime, could be listening everywhere...people would be paralyzed by fear.

 

Dubya-dar...tingling! Terrorists! /ass

I think assassination of major political figures is not the way to go for someone who (essentially) wants to stay low-key, like Voldemort through OOTP. To make the Ministry an oppressive government is no challenge; it already is, as Aekiel mentioned. The trick is showing this to the masses. And speaking of masses, is this going to be Liberator!Harry? Then just have him organize peaceful protest and then pull a Tien An Men square. Will Harry be a dictator using a revolutionary pretext? Then use some of the most delightfully simple tactics: engineer an incident of extreme and brutal repression and cruelty. Example: Have a group of Harry's supporters dress in Ministry Auror robes and accuse a group of shoopers (some part-humans like werewolves and quasi-Veela and so on plus a couple halfbloods) of sedition and treason and proceed to hang the terrified group from streetlights. Harry will lead another group in defense of the innocent, betraying and killing his subordinates and saving some (but not all) of the shoppers from the 'oppressors'. Fun scenario, no?