Death by Materialism: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''Mugger:''' Don't make a move, this is a stickup. Now, come on--your money or your life.
'''[[The Jack Benny Program|Jack Benny]]:''' ''(silence)''
'''Mugger:''' Look, bud! I said, your money or your life!
'''Jack Benny:''' ''I'm thinking it over!!'' }}
A good indicator a character is on the low end of the [[Sorting Algorithm of Mortality]] is that the character acts materialistic at any point. This is not the same as being a [[Rich Bitch]]. You can be poor and materialistic, and that will still get you whacked. The usual form of this is failing to get away from the monster because you have to pick up valuables off the floor.
This is of course a highly [[Anvilicious]] [[An Aesop|aesop]] that shows that [[Greed]] is one of the [[Seven Deadly Sins]], along with how often [[Corrupt Corporate Executive
Can sometimes be a [[Karmic Death]], but more often comes across as [[Too Dumb to Live]]. Often set in a [[Treasure Room]]. [[Chest Monster]] relies on this to ambush its prey.
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{{examples}}
== General ==
* Any plot at all involving a [[Jerkass Genie]] is going to have this. No matter how obvious it is that the genie is purposely misinterpreting the requests, someone's greed is going to do him in, with only the smartest and/or wisest hero even ''suggesting'' throwing the lamp away.
* A common problem with an [[Artifact of Doom]] or [[Olympus Mons]]. Characters who use these tend to have little sense of self-control, becoming [[Drunk with Power]] and thinking themselves invincible, not knowing that the biggest danger to him is the very thing that grants him power.
== Anime and Manga ==
* In the [[Anime]] [[OVA]] ''[[Guy Double Target]]'', the [[Big Bad|BigBads]] of both episodes are cruel and sadistic, but they also show this trope, just in case [[Viewers are Morons|it isn't clear they deserve their fates]]. Then again, the heroes are greedy, so this is a bit of a [[Broken Aesop]].
** In the end of ''Guy: Awakening Of The Devil'', the villain is [[Fur and Loathing|wearing a white fur coat]], and is frantically trying to pick up [[Everything's Sparkly with Jewelry|the jewelry]] she dropped.
** In ''Guy: Second Target'', the villains are running a [[Corrupt Church]], and have a giant statue made of gold (even though it turns into a demon).
* The 'ingot scene' in ''[[Gankutsuou]]'' is an anthologic case of this. Basically, the Count catches Danglars as he's trying to escape from the Earth with 50 million francs in his private shuttle, forces him to confess his crimes, and leaves him in his shuttle with nothing but pure gold -no food or drink. It is strongly implied that the Count's henchmen have hacked into the shuttle's program so that it can't land anywhere. In the last scene Danglars is heard of, [[Fan Disservice|he's rolling around naked in his gold and probably close to dying.]]
* In ''[[Ranma ½|Ranma 1/2]]'', Nabiki is challenged by Kinnosuke Kashao to a date in which neither can spend even a single yen of their own
* Humorously subverted in an early episode of ''[[Dragon Ball]]''. A [[Mook]] decides [[Screw This, I'm Outta Here]] when Goku starts trashing the bad guy's fortress, and stops by the treasury to steal as much stuff as they can. While they're trying to escape they get shot full of holes by the heroes, but [[Pocket Protector|survive because all the jewels they stuffed down their shirt stopped the bullets]].
* ''[[Tokyo Babylon]]'' features a haunted Chanel suit. It doesn't actually kill its owner, though. Its entire arc/chapter is clearly meant to criticise consumerism; Hokuto does an outright speech at the end.
* No Face in ''[[Spirited Away]]'' is the living embodiment of this. If you're greedy (you go for the coins he offers), he eats you. If you're really greedy, he goes on an apeshit killing spree
* In ''[[One Piece]]'', countless pirates have met horrible deaths in the Grand Line (or trying to ''get'' there), tempted by Gol D. Roger's legendary treasure. Suffice to say, [[Understatement| getting it is not as easy as it sounds.]]
== Comic Books ==
* Nearly happens to [[Donald Duck]] in [[Don Rosa]]'s comic story ''The Money Pit'', where Donald gets buried alive while digging for rare coins in Uncle Scrooge's money bin.
* In one ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'' comic that ran in ''[[Dragon (magazine)|Dragon]]'' magazine, Haley explained the "copper coin trap" to Belkar to get him to leave behind a huge number of copper coins; basically, a huge amount of low-currency coins that amount to a good bit of money, but weigh so much that it'll slow you down, allowing monsters to catch you. (When he agrees to leave the huge pile behind, Haley surreptitiously puts it into her bag of holding instead.)
== Film
* In ''[[The Princess and the Frog]]'', Doctor Facilier's entire plan - kidnapping and [[Baleful Polymorph|transforming Prince Naveen]], having a servant seduce and toy with Charlotte, and eventually {{spoiler|promising the "wayward" souls of everyone in New Orleans to a group of demons}} - stems from his jealousy over Big Daddy Lebouf's vast fortune and his desire to acquire it. This, of course, serves as a foil to Tiana and Naveen who desperately want money themselves but use legal methods of obtaining it (Tiana works several jobs and Naveen...erm... [[Gold Digger|plans to marry Charlotte as well]] {{spoiler|but then later decides against this and works for a living in Tiana's restaurant after they are married}}).
* Nearly happens in Disney's Aladdin, when Apu (Aladdin's pet monkey) grabs a large, shiny ruby in the Cave of Wonders, despite Aladdin telling him not to touch anything and the Flying Carpet trying (and failing) to stop Apu from grabbing the ruby.
* In ''[[Atlantis: The Lost Empire]]'', Commander Rourke, Helga, and the rest of the crew kidnap the super-powered Kida for this reason, condemning the people of Atlantis to die when their lifesource is taken away. Most of the crew abandons the plan [[Shaming the Mob|out of guilt]] after Milo [[What the Hell, Hero?|calls them out on it]]. Rourke and Helga follow through. {{spoiler|Helga winds up falling a ''long'' way down and is crushed by a flaming Zeppelin. Rourke winds up as a blue crystal monster and ultimately gets hacked up in the propellers of his air craft}}.
* In ''[[Treasure Planet]]'', most of the pirate crew die when the titular planet blows up to keep thieves from taking the treasure. Those who clung to their treasure eventually fell into the crevices below that opened as part of the booby trap. Those that dropped them and ran for their lives probably survived {{spoiler|and can be seen tied up in the brig near the end of the film. Long John Silver escapes, though he does [["Friend or Idol?" Decision|renounce the treasure at the last minute in favor of rescuing Jim]].}}
▲* [[Seen It a Million Times]] in [[Slasher Movies]].
* It didn't result in death, but this is what set the wheels of the movie ''The Wedding Planner'' into motion. Steve meets Mary by saving her after she refuses to leave her Gucci shoe stuck in a manhole cover, despite the heavy Dumpster speeding at her. It goes into [[Too Dumb to Live]] when you look at the Dumpster in question and realize that it's pretty high off the ground thanks to the wheels, and she could just get the damn shoe after the Dumpster rolls by.
* ''[[Land of the Dead]]'', where the zombies hit the rich folks harder than the poor because the rich simply lacked the Mole People-like hiding skills that the underclasses had developed.
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* In the 1994 film of ''[[The Jungle Book (film)|The Jungle Book]]'', Mowgli and his love interest flee a treasure-filled chamber in some ruins while the antagonist, who is also Mowgli's romantic rival, shouts to her "Go then! Go with your jungle boy! I got what I came for! I don't need you." A snake then emerges from the treasure and startles him, and he falls into the water, weighed down by the treasure he has in his pockets and bag. His terrified screams go unheard as he views the drowned corpses of all the greedy treasure hunters who came here before him.
** Arguably anticipated and lampshaded by Mowgli, who dissuades the love interest from taking the treasure with a comment along the lines of, "To take this gold is to take death." It's also implied that he's seen the snake.
** Partially based on an original Kipling story, but there a bunch of people kill ''each other'' for an item of treasure.
* Before ''[[Land of the Dead]],'' George Romero's previous movie, ''[[Dawn of the Dead (film)|Dawn of the Dead]]'' had this trope as its main theme. The survivors holed up in a mall that happened to attract zombies even when there were no living people around there at first, apparently the zombies were drawn there because it was "an important place in their lives" and this is to say nothing of Roger dying to help secure the mall instead of leave it and Stephen dying after shooting at bikers for trying to loot ''their'' mall...to say nothing of the bikers themselves, who invade the mall to steal the money and various other objects, which results in several of them getting killed by both Peter and the various zombies that they let in.
* What happens to Beni at the end of the 1999 version of ''[[The Mummy Trilogy|The Mummy 1999]]'' is a [[Double Subversion]]. He safely brings a bag of treasure to his camel. Then he goes back to load up another bag, and doesn't make it.
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*** Jonathan isn't that rich by the sequel, but largely because he squandered it all in the meantime and all he was left with was a [[MacGuffin|gold stick]].
*** A milder example could be Evie and Rick's determination to gain the Book of the Dead. Granted neither of them dies from it, but that's not for a lack of trying on the antagonist's part.
** A subversion in the sequel, ''The Mummy Returns''. The heroes are escaping the collapsing pyramid in an airship. Evie's brother Jonathan is dangling by his ankle off the side of the ship and screams to be pulled up...until he notices the diamond pyramid topper.
{{quote|'''Rick:''' It's not worth your life, you idiot!
'''Jonathan:''' Yes it is! YES IT IS! }}
** Warden Gad Hassan, who attempts to take some of the jeweled scarabs from a wall mural, only to discover that they're ''real'' flesh-eating scarabs after one burrows into his boot... up his leg... over his chest... and into his brain...
* In the 1989 ''[[Batman (film)|Batman]]'' movie, numerous Gothamites [[Too Dumb to Live|grab cash offered by a known serial killer]]. Many walk away in good shape, thanks entirely to Batman, but at least some disregarded warnings until it was too late.
** In a bit of a subversion, the scene apparently went on longer originally, showing that all the money was fake, one dollar bills with the Joker on it, calling back to a earlier joke he made.
* At the end of ''[[Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade]]'', although it wasn't choosing the wrong grail (that was just paying attention to Biblical history), it was that Elsa kept reaching for the grail, instead of taking Indy's hand.
** Happens to Mac in ''[[Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull]]''. [[Gainax Ending|Maybe]].
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* The otherwise horrid film of ''[[Doc Savage]]'' ends with [[The Dragon]], in the middle of a hidden valley where a lake of molten gold is erupting, dancing in glee, and trying to catch the superheated metal in his pockets. Amazingly, he {{spoiler|does not die from this, or even get burned as liquid gold splatters across him. However, when the hero and his allies leave the cave they took shelter in, they find him nothing but a statue, completely encased in gold.}}
* In ''[[Marathon Man]]'', Dr Christian Szell (played by [[Laurence Olivier]]) dies after he [[Karmic Death|acidentally stabs himself]] risking his life to rescue a briefcase full of diamonds.
* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves]]'' has a strange Inversion where the heroes are able to ''save'' lives via materialism. {{spoiler| Here’s the set up, Sofina is planning to use a spell of darkest evil called Beckoning Death to kill the whole population of Neverwinter and turn them into zombie slaves (this same spell was used by her master, Szazz Tam, to inflict such a fate on Thay). Sofina’s accomplice Forge Fitzwilliam has gathered the whole population in a stadium for the Highsun Games; he is planning to loot the town’s vaults and skip town on a boat before the spell is cast. Once the heroes commandeer the boat and realize what Sofina’s plan is, they use the Hither Thither Staff (a staff that can create portals) to place a portal on the bottom of the boat with the other end on a hot air balloon that is circling the area. The spectators see the treasure raining down on the city and they all rush out to grab as much of it as they can, so the casualties of Sofina’s spell are limited to a bunch of [[Upper Class Twit]]s in the VIP seats who clearly had it coming.}}
** Played straight, however, {{spoiler| with Forge, who splits town with as much as he can carry, only to be weighed down by it and caught by Harpers' leader Xent. He doesn't die, but the end of the movie shows him rotting in jail.}}
* ''[[Cocaine Bear]]'' is a horror movie where the most visible "monster" is a bear driven mad by rage after consuming a stash of cocaine, but the true monster would be Syd, the drug runner who inadvertently causes the bear's condition. At the end of the movie, his two henchmen - Eddie and Daveed - are smart enough to flee with the other surviving named characters, and they survive. Syd, however, refuses to abandon the remaining stash of cocaine, and is promptly disemboweled by the bear and her cubs.
== Literature ==
* One of the funniest parts in the [[Mockumentary]] [[Zombie Apocalypse]] novel ''[[World War Z]]'' is when a bunch of celebrities (including not-so-hidden pastiches of Paris Hilton, Ruben Studdard, Bill Maher and Ann Coulter) set themselves up in a fortified mansion on Long Island and then broadcast the resulting party to the world. The compound is promptly overrun, not by zombies, but by desperate still-living humans, following the transmissions and looking for a safe place to hide. Cue the rich, arrogant bastards dying and the mercenary/bodyguard narrator fleeing the scene, along with Hilton's dog.
** Played straight with the man who sold the fake zombie vaccine Phalanx, who made loads of money on "the appearance ''of the appearance'' of safety!" He then used his money to pay rent in a Russian facility in Anarctica. He appears to be a [[Karma Houdini]], until in the closing chapter a government official says that he's in talks with Russia to stop renewing his lease.
* If some street robbers on ''[[Discworld]]'' demands "Your money or your life" from some dwarves, they should be prepared for a long wait while the dwarves discuss.
** It's also suggested that any bandit attacking a Dwarf mail coach, Dwarfs being faithful about sending money home, and demanding their money or their lives should bring a book, folding chair and lunch.
** In ''[[
** Also in ''[[Discworld]]'', the Luggage often suckers bandits or other riffraff into biting range by sitting perfectly still with its lid open, exposing a fortune in gold coins within.
* "The Golden Girl", a short story by [[Ellis Peters]] in the [[Alfred Hitchcock]] collection ''Stories Not for the Nervous''. A man and his pregnant wife are passengers on a ship. The ship catches on fire and the passengers must evacuate. After she gets her life jacket on, a ship's officer drops her over the side into the water, where she sinks like a stone. The man jumps in after her. The story ends with a line about how they'll never know if he jumped in to save the girl or to save the 30 pounds of gold being smuggled in her fake maternity bulge.
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* In ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', the Dwarves that sacked Menegroth are successfully ambushed by Beren and the Green-Elves because their loot was weighing them down.
* [[Ivan Krylov]] wrote a fable about a man who received a purse (either from a spirit or a [[Deal with the Devil|devil]]) which contained a golden coin, with new ones spawning up as soon as the old one is taken out. The only catch is; not a single coin can be spent - unless you get rid of the purse. Try to guess the rest.
* Chaucer's ''The Pardoner's Tale''.
== Live Action TV ==▼
* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' serial ''Horror of Fang Rock'', the last surviving non-regular character is killed when he starts scrabbling for a handful of diamonds the Doctor discards on the floor, despite the fact that the [[Monster of the Week]] is steadily advancing.
* Happens routinely on ''[[Tales from the Crypt]]''.
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== Radio ==
* [[The Jack Benny Program|Jack Benny]]'s famous "Your money or your life!" routine, quoted above, is a bit of a parody of this.
== Tabletop
* Monsters such as the mimic from ''[[Dungeons
▲* Monsters such as the mimic from ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' often mimic treasure chests or the like, the better to lure in gullible adventurers.
* About half of all adventurers have "Risk your life for treasure" as their job description, making this pretty much a guarantee.
== Video Games ==
* ''[[Tomb Raider]] Anniversary'' had one scene where Lara fails to find the 2nd piece of the Scion and discovers that Pierre took it and he shows up with a gun to her head. He taunts her as he gets ready to take Lara's other Scion piece in the following scene:
{{quote|'''Pierre''': "You see, instincts can be expensive, mademoiselle. Yours is going to cost you both pieces of the Scion!"
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* Can be used as a weapon in ''[[MadWorld]]''. In various levels, you can pick up big suitcases filled with dollar-bills, and throw them at the Mooks - who will immediately abort their attempts to kill you to instead go jumping around, trying to pick the floating currency out of the air. Leaving them all nicely gathered in a single spot with their defenses down. Cue the [[Chainsaw Good|chainsaw]].
** Other levels uses alternate objects with a similar effect, though only some of them falls under this. Throwing a big-ass bloody steak at a bunch of zombies, or a plateful of hot pork buns at some Kung-Fu Mooks probably still counts... throwing a pirate-hat at a group of Ninjas so they'll ignore you to cut the hat to pieces instead, maybe not to much.
* In ''[[Toontown Online]]'', one set of Lure gags (which are [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]]) contains money on fishing poles. You throw out a $1, $5, or $10 bill on a line toward one of the [[Mecha-Mooks|Cogs]], and if it works, they come toward you. While they are lured, they cannot attack. Higher denominations keep them lured longer. Also, if a Trap gag is set before the Cog before it's lured, they walk right into the trap, resulting in anything from the famous [[Banana Peel]] to actually ''being blown up''. Unfortunately, this kind of Lure gag only works on one Cog at a time, and are single-use. And low chance of working. But combined with traps, this is the best example of
** Except possibly the Cashbot CFO, where you have to fling safes at him to damage him. And then he gets run over by a train.
* ''[[Paper Mario (franchise)|Paper Mario]]'': Narrowly avoided by Professor Kolorado. He's inside an erupting volcano, jumping to grab a treasure chest, and another character has to drag him out to save his life. Even after seeing the volcano erupt and barely escaping crispy doom, he continues to complain about the rescue and the loss of the treasure. Oddly, the treasure is actually blown clear, and you have to give it to him to advance the story, making him a very happy man and simultaneously [[Broken Aesop|shooting the Aesop in the foot]]. Even though Kolorado was interested in the treasure for its historical value rather than the money, he was still about to die for it.
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* There's a monster in ''[[Monster Rancher]] 4'' that looks exactly like a treasure box. If you "open" it, it attacks.
* In ''[[Quest for Glory II]]'', there's a treasure room while on the way to get the lamp. If you try to take any of the treasure, it's [[Have a Nice Death|game over time]] for you!
* At the end of ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' [[Downloadable Content|DLC]] "Dead Money", the treasure of the Sierra Madre includes several gold bars that each value at a little over 10,000 caps and weights 35 pounds. However, by that point the player's [[Explosive Leash]] will activate, giving them limited time to make it out, with the intent that the player can at best grab a few of the bars before becoming overencumbered. It's all part of the DLC's theme of "[[Arc Words|letting go]]", though it's possible for a very crafty player to make it out with all the treasure via manipulating the gameworld.
* In [[Startopia]], the [[Idle Rich|mindblowingly rich and lazy]] Gem Slugs have their own [[Conspicuous Consumption|private, personalized bar and bathhouse]]; the contents of the latter smell positively ''vile'' to non-Slugs. Every once in a while, a Gem Slug will become so relaxed in one of these baths that they'll forget to take care of their health, eventually dying/drowning. The developers caught it early... but [[Ascended Glitch|didn't really feel like fixing it because Gem Slugs dying by their own opulence was just plain funny.]]
* Interestingly played with in the [[Myst]] spinoff Uru. One age consists of seven large puzzles/locks protecting a massive vault filled with gold, art, carpets, gems, valuables... and a single skeleton reaching out for a linking book out of the age. Bit of backstory, the D'ni suffered a great tragedy that killed them off, the few survivors retreating to other ages. This survivor retreated to his vault and locked himself inside to be with his valuables... lacking any food or water. He didn't USE the linking book due to the terror of dying away from his riches.
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** Athena planning to get rid of the mercenary permanently in this way is highly unlikely as [[Death Is a Slap on The Wrist|death only means a temporary monetary loss]].
* In ''[[Batman: Arkham City]]'', there are two areas in the subway tunnels that are obvious traps set up by the Riddler. It's easy for someone gunning for [[One Hundred Percent Completion]] to rush into the traps to get the Riddler Trophies hidden inside, but if you have the right tools, you can save yourself from it all. As well, if you die from the traps, the Riddler will taunt you for it, but will be aghast if you manage to outwit him.
* In ''[[Conker's Bad Fur Day]]'', Conker's bad day is made much worse because he keeps getting distracted by wads of cash that sidetrack him from his goal of getting home.
==
* Amelia Sturtz (formerly Amelia Travoria) from ''[[Dominic Deegan]]'', who wears the most extravagant (and [[Stripperific|minimalistic/revealing]]) clothes of the Travoria sisters. After her plan to have her husband assassinated in order to gain control of his wealth goes south, the would-be assassin strangles her - with her own pearls.
== Western Animation ==
* This nearly happens to the gold-obsessed "El Capitan" in the ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'' [[Five Episode Pilot]] "Treasure of the Golden Suns", but since it's a Disney production and the good guys [[Save the Villain|can't leave him to die]], Scrooge saves him from falling into a lake of molten gold.
** This
*** Though it's been fairly solidly established that he values his nephews far higher than his money.
* [[Daffy Duck]] in many ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' cartoons. But particularly in "[[Ali Baba Bunny]]", where after he finds a genie in a lamp in a treasure trove, this is his reaction:
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'''Genie:''' Duck! You have desecrated the spirit of the lamp! Prepare to face the consequences!
'''Daffy:''' Consequences, schmonsequences, long as I'm rich. ''(get zapped by the genie)'' }}
* Thailog, Goliath's [[Evil Clone]] in ''[[Gargoyles]]'', ''fakes'' his death this way.
== Real Life ==
* A Turkish wrestler who was always carrying his whole fortune (in gold coins) hidden in his belt. One day he went on a cruise on a ship that would sink. He didn't want to take off his very heavy belt, and thus drowned.
* This was also the fate of many of Cortez's men when they fled the Aztec capital. Set in the middle of a lake, the city was only reachable by man-made causeways. As they fled across these, in their panic many fell into the water. The weight of the gold they had stuffed their clothes with caused them to drown.
** There are stories of soldiers that were caught by the Aztecs having molten gold poured down their throat, since 'if they love gold much - let's let them have it!'
*** A similar yet earlier story concerns the death of Marcus Licinius Crassus. He became the richest man in the Roman Republic through, among other things, buying burning homes before his fire department would put them out. Legend has it that the Parthians poured molten gold down his throat during an attempt at parley.
* [[Mark Twain]] relates in, "The Innocents Abroad" on his trip to Pompei, "In one of these long Pompeiian halls the skeleton of a man was found with ten pieces of gold in one hand and a large key in the other. He had seized his money and started toward the door, but the fiery tempest caught him at the very threshold, and he sank down and died. One more minute of precious time would have saved him."
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Death Tropes]]
[[Category:Money Tropes]]
[[Category:Morality Tropes]]
[[Category:Horror Tropes]]
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