Fatal Family Photo: Difference between revisions

 

{{deathtrope}}

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* {{spoiler|Physica}} from ''[[Macross 7]]'', has to be the master of this trope. Not only does he show us a picture of his wife and daughter before he's killed in combat, but {{spoiler|he's about to be re-united with his family a day late for his Daughters Birthday}}, and the photo he shows us is in a {{spoiler|handmade music box for the daughters Birthday}}. He tugs more at our heart strings by telling us {{spoiler|that his daughter doesn't recognize his face}}... what's more after he dies a senseless death and his team mate (one of the [[Love Triangle]], goes to deliver the {{spoiler|birthday gift/family photo}} to his wife and child, it's implied that his wife was cheating on him. This series doesn't kill very often so they make sure to get their millage. The only other death of note is the [[Heroic Sacrifice]].

* Subverted in ''[[Transformers (film)|Transformers]]'', at least partially. Jorge Figuerosa talks about going back to his mother's house and eating alligator stew, while Captain Lennox actually talks ''to'' his wife via webcam and sees his baby. Neither of them die in the movie (although Fig died in a cut scene).

* We see a brief shot of Dryden's picture of his wife and kids on a table when [[James Bond (film)|James Bond]] kills him in the opening of ''[[Casino Royale]]''.

* {{spoiler|Nikolai}} from ''[[Predators]]'' shows a photo of his two children and becomes the next to die. {{spoiler|Edwin steals the photo and uses it to gain sympathy from Royce and Isabel. He too dies shortly afterwards.}}

* In Anthony Mann's ''Men in war'', American soldiers find the family photo on the corpse of a North Korean. So those [[Dirty Commies]] are simply ''men'' ?!

* Agent Fielding pulls one out in ''[[Time Cop]]''.

* In [[Apocalypse Now]] it is not a photograph but a {{spoiler|tape recording of the family back home. And the character is dead before it finishes playing back.}}

* [[Saving Private Ryan]] has an interesting variation in that technically it was {{spoiler|a letter that Caparzo reveals after getting shot by an enemy sniper. Said letter gets taken by [[The Medic]], Irwin Wade, with the presumed intention of mailing it after the mission. Wade dies about half-way through the film, and the letter is taken by Captain Miller, who gets shot during the final battle}}.

** It is even clever lampshaded when {{spoiler|Reiben is seen removing the letter from Miller's coat as he is dying, with an extremely uneasy look on his face}}.

 

== Literature ==

* ''[[Harry Potter]].'' {{spoiler|Lupin! How could you have taken out that photograph of your newborn son! And you, Fleur, giving him reason, too! You fools!}}

** {{spoiler|I have to say I'm impressed with the rapidity with which this trope took effect, there. One minute he's stupidly playing show and tell practically in the middle of a battle, and no more than ten pages later...}}

** The weirdest part is that he only took out the picture and started blabbing about it to relieve the tension from the uncomfortable moment {{spoiler|Percy's sudden return}} had created.

*** As if to add insult to injury(or death), his wife dies as well. Good job, {{spoiler|Lupin}}

* Played with in [[Dan Abnett]]'s [[Gaunt's Ghosts]] novel ''Straight Silver''. {{spoiler|Gutes}} laments that he has no photographs of his dead daughter and granddaughter; they had intended to send him some after, but then Chaos destroyed their planet. Then he dies.

* Inverted in ''The Things They Carried''. In one section, Tim O'Brien is showing Kiowa a picture of his girlfriend when an attack on the camp begins. O'Brien survives, but Kiowa doesn't.

* On ''[[Babylon 5]]'', Captain Jack insists on showing off a picture of his daughter to a heavily disinterested [[The Medic|Doctor Franklin]] and [[Badass Longcoat|Marcus Cole]]. {{spoiler|1=Turns out to be a tragic subversion. Captain Jack was acting under the influence of an [[Puppeteer Parasite|alien parasite]] that was trying to get him to root out the Mars Resistance hideout so they could be wiped out by EarthForce. He [[Heroic Sacrifice|committed suicide]] before this could happen and the picture of his daughter had her contact information on it so the heroes could tell her what happened.}}

* Averted in ''[[Space: Above and Beyond]]'', Lieutenant West carries a picture of his girlfriend on his dogtag chain and lives through the entire series. His quest to find her and rescue her after her colony is attacked by the Chigs in the series pilot is his primary character arc on the show.

* Mocked in ''[[Generation Kill]]''. Evan Wright shows off his girl back home picture, and the Marines tease him about it. But it's the picture that suffers the most, as they steal it and use it for "recreation" for the entire tour.

* Averted in ''[[Jericho]]'' with Major Beck. His family is mentioned soon after his first appearance but the photo he keeps on the inside of his helmet isn't shown until the final episode. Instead of being killed, he finally completes his [[Heel Face Turn]]. (Also a potential inversion, as it's very likely his family has already been killed.)

* Invoked/Lampshaded in a sketch of ''[[That Mitchell and Webb Look]]'', when they decide they need to [[Tonight Someone Dies|kill someone off]] to [[Drama Bomb Finale|boost their ratings]]. Who should turn up but a minor player mooning over his lovely girlfriend's Facebook page..?

* A variant in ''[[Burn Notice]]'': {{spoiler|Victor}} directs the heroes to a picture of his ''dead'' family, serving to humanize him- in, of course, the very same episode in which he's fatally shot.

* On ''[[The Amazing Race]]'', generally when a team talks about how much they miss their family back at home, especially early in the race, you can expect them to get eliminated that episode.

* On an episode of ''[[Cold Case]]'': As the victim of the week is pushed to the floor by her soon-to-be killer, the [[Rape Discretion Shot|camera pans away]] to a picture of her and her parents stuck to the refrigerator door. What makes this especially wrenching is that the girl's mother had died recently and she and her father had moved to a new town for a fresh start. The picture is the last one taken of them as a happy family. [[Fridge Horror]] kicks in full force when you realize that the father will now have to contend with the loss of his wife and daughter within one year.

* Given a twist in ''[[Angel]]''. After Jasmine's spell over LA is broken, Connor talks a depressed cop out of killing himself. He then takes out a picture of his wife and daughter which sends Connor (who has some issues with his parents) into a rage.

{{quote|'''Connor:''' That's your family. That's your family, and you were just gonna leave them like that? How were they gonna feel if you didn't come back?

'''Cop:''' I don't know.

'''Connor:''' ''You don't know?'' }}

 

== Music ==

 

== New Media ==

* Inverted in ''[[Gears of War]] 2'', where Dominic shows everyone a picture of Maria, his wife who had gone missing in the war. It turns out that {{spoiler|She was captured by the Locusts, put into a Work Camp and gets a [[Fate Worse Than Death]]. So Dom has to kill her.}}

** The first [[Gears of War]] plays it straight with Rojas. The first mention of him is when you see an unidentified corpse from a bridge, and one of your squadmates says something along the lines of 'I hope that's not Rojas. His little boy turned two last week". The corpse you saw WASN'T Rojas, but you do find his mutilated body later.

* In the introduction sequence of ''[[Xenogears]]'' we see the Captain open up and look at a photo locket before he sets off the [[Self-Destruct Mechanism]]. As the scene plays out the camera focus pulls back to show us that it's a photo of his (presumed) wife and child. On a second play through of the game you {{spoiler|realise that they bear a remarkable resemblance to some of the characters in the game that follows}}.

* Barry Burton of ''[[Resident Evil]]''. The guy's a nut for his family and keeps a photo of them in his pocket. Later in the game, If the player decided, Barry will be knocked off a cliff to his death, leaving the photo of his family behind. In a reverse example, in Jill Valentine's ending (if Barry survives, and if the player dosen't rescue Chris Redfield) Barry will show the same picture to Jill and talk a bit about his family

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Death Tropes]]

[[Category:Photography and Illustration]]

[[Category:Alliterative Trope Titles]]