Adult Fear: Difference between revisions
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** The greatest threat to Taki's physical wellbeing comes not from some fantastic beast, but rather {{spoiler|a fall. Considering how the mountain crater shrine is so desolate that the bottles there had moss growth from being untouched in 3 years, one can only imagine that no one would have found the body for a long time, if ever. Also imagine how terrible Miki and Tsukasa would have felt if the last they ever heard from him was a vague note that shed absolutely no light on what he was going to do.}}
** Come the [[Distant Finale]], {{spoiler|Taki is struggling to find a job, and judging by how Japanese universities have their graduation in the spring, it's been months.}} The whole thing is kinda [[Played for Laughs]], but makes for uncomfortable watching for anyone who's been in a similar situation.
* ''[[Suzume (film)|Suzume]]'':
** Screenings in Japanese theatres specifically warn audiences about realistic earthquake alerts.
** The film ''starts'' with our protagonist, at this point only four, wandering through [[Scenery Gorn]] desperately looking for her [[Missing Mom]]. She never finds her, never gets closure even years later.
** Your loved one apparently runs away from home and refuses to explain in any detail.
** The [[Invisible to Normals]] nature of the worm, while obviously fantastic, reflects a very real possibility overlapping with [[Paranoia Fuel]] that danger could be lurking around the corner at any moment with you not knowing until it's too late.
** You lose someone right before your eyes, helpless to do anything.
== Comic Books ==
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* Discussed in [[Parenthood]]: Kevin suffers severe anxiety issues as a gradeschooler, in part, because he "was first" and his parents frantically over-protected him as a child.
* ''[[Death Sentence]]'': The protagonist's son is killed by a gangster. He avenges the son, only for the gang to escalate by killing his wife and hospitalising the other son.
* ''[[Harry Potter (film)|Harry Potter]]
** In the very beginning of ''[[
** Fenrir Greyback. In the book he just manages to edge out Bellatrix in the bone-deep creepiness category. In [[Harry Potter (film)|the movie]]{{context}} <!-- MOD: Which movie? He's in more than one. --> he's downright disturbing, especially with Hermione. This was entirely intentional on Rowling's part.▼
*** In the first part of the final film installment, Fenrir's part is downplayed... but they play up the character of Scabior, one of the snatchers. To children in the audience, Scabior is frightening because he's feral-looking, gross, cruel, and hunting down the main trio. To slightly older viewers, particularly women, he is... a ''lot'' more frightening because he's ''threatening to rape Hermione''.▼
** The flashbacks to the night Lily and James were killed, full stop. The two died in total fear, but doing their best to protect their infant son. In the end, they weren't able to hold back the guy who broke into their house at all. If it weren't for [[The Power of Love]] and Lily's [[Mama Bear]] [[Dying Moment of Awesome]], they would have had no way to protect baby Harry at all.▼
== Literature ==
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* ''[[Two Weeks With the Queen]]'' is told from the perspective of the young Colin, who takes a long time to understand what's going on. However, the focus on the book is still a very adult fear: living knowing you are going to lose your brother (Colin), your child (his parents), or your life partner (Ted).
* The ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'' series, despite being [[What Do You Mean It's for Kids?|aimed at children]], has ''plenty'' of moments that scare the parents more than the kids, and a lot of them have to do with child abuse, [[Parental Abandonment]], and not being able to protect or take care of your own children. Most of this probably came from Rowling's own fears as a mother (and especially as a single mother, having broken off an ''abusive'' marriage.).
** It's very easy to see ''why'' Molly Weasley goes full [[Mama Bear]] during the Battle of Hogwarts. ''Not my daughter, you BITCH'', indeed. After all, we saw her boggart in the [[
▲** In the very beginning of ''[[Harry Potter/Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows|Harry Potter]] [[Harry Potter (film)|Part One]]'', when Hermione has to {{spoiler|erase all of her parents' memories of herself so Voldemort can't torture them for information.}} It gives a parent a sense of failure to protect their child, that they're weak and powerless.
** When you're a kid, the scene in the [[
▲** It's very easy to see ''why'' Molly Weasley goes full [[Mama Bear]] during the Battle of Hogwarts. ''Not my daughter, you BITCH'', indeed. After all, we saw her boggart in the [[Harry Potter/Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix|fifth book]] - {{spoiler|her family dead.}} Not to mention, {{spoiler|she lost her two brothers in the last war, one of the Weasley twins has just died, and the daughter she so desperately wanted after having several sons is apparently the next one...}}
▲** Fenrir Greyback. In the book he just manages to edge out Bellatrix in the bone-deep creepiness category. In [[Harry Potter (film)|the movie]] he's downright disturbing, especially with Hermione. This was entirely intentional on Rowling's part.
▲*** In the first part of the final film installment, Fenrir's part is downplayed... but they play up the character of Scabior, one of the snatchers. To children in the audience, Scabior is frightening because he's feral-looking, gross, cruel, and hunting down the main trio. To slightly older viewers, particularly women, he is... a ''lot'' more frightening because he's ''threatening to rape Hermione''.
▲** The flashbacks to the night Lily and James were killed, full stop. The two died in total fear, but doing their best to protect their infant son. In the end, they weren't able to hold back the guy who broke into their house at all. If it weren't for [[The Power of Love]] and Lily's [[Mama Bear]] [[Dying Moment of Awesome]], they would have had no way to protect baby Harry at all.
▲** When you're a kid, the scene in the [[Harry Potter/Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone|first novel]] with Harry seeing his family in the mirror is interesting and sort of sad. When you're older it kind of makes you want to cry.
** Xenophilius Lovegood is a whole lot more tragic in ''Deathly Hallows'' because of this. {{spoiler|"They took my Luna, and I don't know if I'll get her back!" The poor guy nearly blows up his house trying to catch the trio, but ''not'' out of ill will towards them... but only so he can save his poor daughter from being imprisoned by Death Eaters.}}
** Narcissa Malfoy's most prominent and sympathetic role in the story comes from her attempts to save Draco from the power of Voldemort. So much that {{spoiler|she managed to ''lie to the face of Voldemort'' so Draco would live.}}
** In the fourth book, Harry is trapped in a room with someone he thought he could trust, {{spoiler|a teacher no less}}. Only for said person to try to murder him.
** ''[[Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (novel)|Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix]]'', full stop: there's a catastrophe looming in the horizon but the government is too scared/incompetent to do anything about so it just decides to pretend it doesn't exist, manipulate the media into discrediting those trying to warn people about it, send [[Tyrant Takes the Helm|bureaucrats]] to force institutions to leave people ''less'' prepared for the catastrophe and finally just start arresting people who keep insisting.
* In Terry Pratchett's ''[[
* Many of [[Bentley Little]]'s novels deal with these sort of themes, including the nullification of personal identity (''The Ignored'') and the destructive power of consumerism (''The Store'').
* The premise of ''[[The Lovely Bones]]'' is based on the worst possible outcome of the "Oh, shit. My kid was supposed to be home hours ago; what if they're dead?" fear.
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* In ''[[Palimpsest]]'', Lyudmila died as a child, before her younger brother was even born. Her ghost is his sole companion {{spoiler|and turns out to only be a hallucination from him not taking his medication}}. There's also Sei's {{spoiler|pregnancy near the end, with the warnings that her baby will be [[Creepy Child|terrifying]] if she goes through with the birth,}} along with her own memories of her mother's insanity.
* ''[[Radiance]]'' has Severin's disappearance and all the sadness and stress it brings to the ones who love her. Of particular note is her father, who is so heartbroken and convinced he failed as a parent that he spends most of the story struggling to make a movie that will bring him some sense of closure.
* "Balanced Ecology" by [[James H. Schmitz]]: When the [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]'s offer is refused, he reveals that he's already bribed enough people to {{Spoiler|have the farmer's adopted daughter forcibly re-adopted by her uncle, who she hardly knows, and who will use his "parental" right to steal her land}}. As if that isn't enough, {{Spoiler|the parents she knows are to be [[Brainwashed]] and exiled, and it's implied that they'll lose their son as well.}}
== Live Action TV ==
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== Web Original ==
* ''[[Snopes]]'' has an entire collection of Urban Legends with this trope in mind under the [http://www.snopes.com/horrors/parental/parental.asp Parental Nightmares] section.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130529005127/http://bash.org/?32509 This] [[bash.org|Bash]] quote.
* [[The Nostalgia Critic]]'s kindergarten drawing of his parents as monsters bloodily tearing him apart has a tendency to affect real life parents more than the teenagers of his fanbase.
* [[Potter Puppet Pals]] parodies the whole concept of Adult Fear in "Harry's Nightmares", where, nestled in among the bizarre and occasionally juvenile ("In one dream, I was ''middle aged!'' Yuck!") traumas that haunt his noggin, was the dream he had where he gave birth to Ron, and raised him from infancy, but one day, he misplaced him, and that terrified him, because it meant he had failed as a parent.
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** Parodied when Lisa tricks Homer into letting her go downtown by herself on the bus. He casually tells Lenny and Carl this, and they're horrified. Cue Homer making up a story about how Lisa is so smart she overloaded a computer, which Lenny and Carl don't fall for, and Homer finally running off to save Lisa.
** "Alone Again, Natura-Diddly"—Ned and Maude Flanders go to a racetrack and Maude, naturally offended by Homer's inevitable antics, gets up to go get her family some hot dogs. They look away, and [[Distracted From Death|Maude dies in a freak accident moments later.]]
* ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'': ''[
* In ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' episode "Nothing to Fear", Magica DeSpell used real-life images of Uncle Scrooge & co.'s worst fears to descend upon them. For Uncle Scrooge, this took the form of being told by Huey, Dewey and Louie that they secretly couldn't stand him and they only wanted his money, for HD&L it was that unca Scrooge never loved them.
* In ''[[Lilo & Stitch: The Series]]'', the Halloween episode featured an experiment that could transform into a person's worst fear. For Nani it turned into Social Services Agent Cobra Bubbles telling her that he had to take Lilo away because she was an unsuitable guardian, a very notable event from the [[Lilo and Stitch|original movie]].
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