California Collapse: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[File:calfornia is gone 737.jpg|frame|[[Tool|Learn to swim; see you down in Arizona Bay...]]]]

 

The [[wikipedia:San Andreas Fault Line|San Andreas Fault Line]] runs across much of California, as do other smaller fault lines, and consequently, earthquakes are common in the region.

 

A subtrope of [[Artistic License Geology]]. If portrayed onscreen, it will usually use [[Earthquakes Cause Fissures]], but may be more justified depending on the circumstances. A [[Apocalypse How/Class 0|regional-scale]] [[Apocalypse How]].

{{examples}}

== [[Comic Books]] ==

* ''[[The Infinity Gauntlet]]'' shows the West Coast Avengers watching on in horror after Thanos' angry outburst of energy hits the Earth, and sends California collapsing into the Pacific Ocean. Japan suffers a similar fate.

 

== [[Film]] ==

* In ''[[Escape From L.A.]]'', a portion of the California coast has become separated from the mainland by a quake that flooded San Fernando Valley.

* In ''[[2012]]'', the San Andreas fault line goes absolutely berserk. In this movie, southern California is apparently suspended over a gigantic cavern of magma, and a sufficiently strong quake will cause pieces of the surface to fall into the cavern.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

* In the backstory of ''[[Transformers: Shattered Glass]]'', after Earth suffered through a nuclear exchange during [[World War III]] this was the fate of not just California, but a good chunk of the surrounding states as well.

 

* The [[Made for TV]] [[Miniseries]] ''[[10.5]]'' ends with a superquake (with the titular richter scale rating) that destroys the entire western seaboard of the United States, leaving a giant island where most of California used to be. The follow-up, ''10.5: Apocalypse'', takes it [[Up to Eleven]] by use of superfaults that split ''the whole of North America in half''.

** After ''[[10.5]]'' aired, the Internet briefly filled with jokes about it being a prequel to ''Escape From LA'', above.

* In an episode of ''[[Sliders]]'', they slide into a world where California has broken up into islands.

* An episode of ''[[SeaQuest DSV]]'' where the crew traveled to the future featured this.

 

== [[Music]] ==

* Discussed in the [[Warren Zevon]] song "Desperadoes Under the Eaves":

* ''[[The Decemberists]]''' 'Calamity Song' mentions "California succumbed to the fault line."

* The song "Ocean Front Property" by [[George Strait]], although it's more of a "It will never happen!" than suggesting that it will.

* Mentioned in the [[Steely Dan]] song "My Old School", with the line "California tumbles into the sea."

* The subject of the calypso-flavored 1969 novelty hit "Day After Day (It's Slippin' Away)" by Shango:

* "California Jam" by [[Klaatu]] is a [[Beach Boys]] pastiche that contrasts the sun & surf lifestyle with the future, when "the San Andreas misfortune" will make California "a place in our memory".

 

 

== [[Tabletop Games]] ==

* In the ''[[Deadlands]]'' setting, California was shattered by an earthquake, causing much of the state to collapse into the ocean. The Pacific flooded into the resultant fissure, creating the Great Maze.

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

* In ''[[Deus Ex]]'', much of Southern California and the Baja California peninsula are missing from in-game maps; in the backstory, they collapsed into the ocean.

* In ''[[Alone in the Dark]]'' 3, the [[Big Bad]] has a plan pretty much like the one from the [[Superman (film)|Superman]] example, just replace "Arizona" with "Ghost Town Slaughter Gulch" and "increasing real estate" with "fulfilling an ancient native prophecy to become a god".

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

 

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[[Category:Did Not Do the Research]]

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