[Authoritarian Trope] Casually being questioned/threatened by an imposing authority figure out of nowhere

[u/TheWalkingBag]

One way to really set the oppressive atmosphere of a setting is by having our characters get randomly questioned or interrogated by a soldier/cop out of nowhere, often for very minor reasons

1. "Pick up that can." (Half-Life 2)

When Gordon first arrives to City 17, a Combine Civil Protection officer he's passing by suddenly drops a soda can in front of him and orders him to pick it up. If you comply here and throw the can in the bin he'll amusedly let you pass, but if you don't then he'll proceed to whip out his stunstick and attack you on the spot

1. "I'm just a tourist." (Andor)

In the episode "Announcement" of Season 1, a random shoretrooper on Niamos questions and threatens Cassian (using the fake alias "Keef Girgo") for nervously looking around too much while they're conducting a crackdown. The trooper asks if he's "a part of it" to which Cassian repeatedly protests that he isn't and that he's just a perfectly normal tourist; he's then violently arrested by him anyway and sentenced to hard labor in Narkina 5 without a fair trial

1. "Now, you. Show me your identification papers, please." (Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus)

A Nazi commandant randomly sits down at Papa Joe's Diner, orders a strawberry milkshake for himself and then very casually asks Blazkowicz to show his ID papers to him. Here you can show him your fake IDs (where you use the alias "John Smith") which seems to fool the commandant for a bit before he looks at a wanted poster on the wall and immediately recognizes your true identity, frantically pulling out his pistol before being shot by the diner's owner

[u/SatoruGojo232]

Hans Landa casually visiting a random French farmer in the beginning of Inglorious Basterds as part of a routine inspection, and then suddenly asking if he is hiding people.

[u/BrainDamage2029 → u/SatoruGojo232]

I feel like the trope is supposed to be arbitrary petty shows of entirely random violent authority. The guard in half life just knocks over the can to have the petty power to make you pick it up. The guard arrests Julian on nothing more than a hunch and boredom.

The implication in the Inglorious Basterds scene is Landa already knew the farmer was hiding the Jewish family. The whole thing of talking to him about rats and milk is just ruse to back said farmer into a corner so he doesn’t resist.

[u/Recompense40 → u/BrainDamage2029]

Yeah, Landa had a pre-arranged plan with his men outside on how to handle things, and all he had to do when they came in was point at where he wanted them to shoot.

The only petty thing he did (besides the overall 'being a nazi' business) was letting Shoshanna get away because it amused him in the moment.