Attending Your Own Funeral: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[File:Attending Your Own Funeral 9959.jpg|link=Spamusement|frame|[[Sesame Street|HELLO ME NOT DEAD]]]]

 

{{quote|'''Priestbot''': "We are gathered here to mourn the death of Calculon; industrialist, private eye... friend."

'''Calculon''': "Mind if ''I'' give the eulogy?"

 

A character shows up alive to his or her own funeral, whether through [[Faking the Dead|faking it]], [[Back from the Dead|resurrection]], or [[Time Travel]]. The [[Not Quite Dead]] character may either reveal him/herself to be alive or attend the funeral in disguise and leave with no one the wiser. Or sometimes the character won't even know they've been presumed dead until they walk through the door...

 

{{deathtrope}}

{{examples}}

== Advertising ==

* A recent commercial for whiskey tells the story of a man, John Jameson, who dived into the ocean to rescue one of his kegs and presumably died. The next scene shows his funeral with the narrator telling us "All of [[Oireland|Ireland]] was in attendance, including... John Jameson." Jameson is then seen walking up the beach front holding the keg.

* In ''The Death of Groo,'' [[Groo the Wanderer]] goes to his own funeral, expecting there to be much sadness at his demise. There isn't. Everybody at that funeral had had endless trouble from him, and they were all delighted at his "death."

* [[Deadpool]] did this in spirit form. He found that he was able to possess people and had no end of fun causing trouble, culminating in a giant brawl between Juggernaut, Wolverine, T-Ray, and pretty much every other minor character to appear in Deadpool's book up to that point.

 

 

== Film ==

* The essay, "Dead at 17" (frequently known as "Please God, I'm Only 17"), was written by New Hampshire resident John J. Berrio, after the teen-aged son of a close friend died in a 1967 car accident. The story – a cautionary tale imploring that teenagers adopt safe-driving habits – is told from the point-of-view of a teen-ager who drove recklessly, was involved in a major car accident and suffered fatal injuries. The story begins with hindsight ("I was too cool for the bus" and "All the kids drive"), then progresses as the protagonist's car is involved in the deadly collision, then is examined by on-scene medics and police officers, brought to the morgue to be identified by his shocked parents and then to the visitation (where his grieving friends and family pass by his open casket). The final scene sees the teen-ager protesting in vain being placed in the ground, pleading for a second chance and promising to be a safer driver.

** On an almost annual basis, readers of Dear Abby and Annie's Mailbox (previously Ann Landers) will request that Berrio's essay be republished, hoping teen-agers who are newly licensed will read it and decide to adopt safe driving habits.

* [[Raffles]] did this, as part of a gambit to throw a too-persistent ex-girlfriend off his trail; it was the second time he'd been thought to be dead, but the first funeral. The other time, he'd jumped from a ship in the Mediterranean, and been mistakenly reported to have washed up dead on shore.

* ''[[Rumpole of the Bailey]]'' lets it be thought that he is dead, partly to lure a solicitor that owes him a great deal of money out of hiding and let She-Who-Must-Be-Obeyed pwn him good and gets to hear Judge Bullingham giving an eulogy for him, which he greatly enjoys hearing.

* Prince Josua at the end of ''[[Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn]]''.

* Mr. Sellars at the end of ''[[Otherland]]'', also by [[Tad Williams]].

* There was a Japanese police drama in which a funeral is staged as a sting to draw out a scam artist who shows up at funerals, claims to have known the deceased and asks the family for payment of debts the deceased supposedly owes him. The "deceased", of course, attends the funeral.

* In the ''[[Leverage]]'' episode "The Two Live Crew Job" Sophie (going by the name Katherine) poses in a coffin after someone sends her a bomb in a flower vase. She listens to the other members of the team eulogize her (including Parker, who almost blows the con). Nate closes the casket and taps on it, which is Sophie's cue to drop out through the false bottom. She even makes an appearance a minute later, wearing a veiled hat.

* In a long string of pranks, a bar owner rival of ''[[Cheers]]'' fakes his own death, funeral, and is even buried inside a coffin to prank Sam Malone. After Sam breaks down and accepts the death is not a hoax, the "dead" man pops out of the office and reveals it was just an elaborate prank.

* Happens to Hobbes in ''[[The Invisible Man (TV series)|The Invisible Man]]'' when the Chinese are after him. He is spying from afar on the funeral, but is kidnapped by the Chinese anyway, as they don't buy the hoax. Also, the only one of the Agency who wasn't told was Claire, as they needed real tears.

* There's a hideous glurge that periodically makes the rounds in email: it's a chronicle of child abuse and murder, told from the victim's point of view, and ends with the lines "My name is Sarah/And I am but three/And tonight my daddy/Murdered me." Multiple people have written to [http://www.snopes.com snopes] ''asking whether this is a true story''. (Their [http://www.snopes.com/glurge/blueribbon.asp response]: "As unlikely as it might be that a three-year-old could possess the language skills necessary to compose such a piece, it's even more unlikely that anyone could describe her own murder in the first person.")

** Note that the question is not quite so daft as it might seem; though a true murder victim could not write of it, there are many cases of people describing highly traumatic events in such terms.

 

== Radio ==

 

 

* One of the ''[[GURPS]]'' books has a short story told from the POV of a newly minted ghost. After attending his own funeral (and weeping over it) he decides to do some world travel. Tries to go to the moon, but doesn't quite get that far.

 

== Video Games ==

** It happens again in season 9, to Simmons this time. At first he's excited at the prospect, but he becomes rather less so when the best things his teammates can come up with are "He talked a lot," and "He liked gum."

{{quote|'''Simmons''': I never thought my death could somehow be worse than my life, but here it is. Bitchin'.}}

* The Leet World has one of sorts, where Player, having survived a grenade injury, makes the rest of the team hold a funeral for him, so he can see what it's like.

* In [[A Very Potter Musical]], Ginny says that this is what she would do if she had an invisibility cloak.