Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
213,897
edits
It's All Junk: Difference between revisions
no edit summary
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) m (Looney Toons moved page Its All Junk to It's All Junk: Adding proper punctuation to page name) |
No edit summary |
||
| (13 intermediate revisions by 4 users not shown) | |||
Line 1:
{{trope}}
{{quote|''When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.''
|'''[[The Bible|1 Corinthians 13:11]]'''.}}
{{quote|''...but I unpacked most of them when I got there.''
|[[Season Finale|Final Episode]] of '''[[Mac Hall]]'''}}
Some items, such as photographs, jewellery, stuffed toys and family heirlooms, [[Memento MacGuffin|are imbued with more worth than money can buy.]] They have sentimental value, and are a powerful link with a person or a memory. They can't be replaced on an insurance policy if they get stolen, because even if the replacement is identical, it doesn't have the same value as the
As such, these items are protected zealously, both in real life and in fiction. Sometimes they act as comfort blankets, when the protagonist is far from home and missing his mother. Sometimes, they're [[Tragic Keepsake|all they have to remind them]] of a [[Doomed Hometown]]. Either way, the audience is usually informed of these items' deep significance.
Line 10 ⟶ 12:
But occasionally, there comes a time when you decide that whatever that trinket represents is no longer important, or, more drastically, you come to realize that the person or memory it binds you to are not people or memories you want to be associated with any more. Maybe the boyfriend who gave the heroine her heart-shaped pendant has been two-timing her for the past year, or an ice skater finally realizes that they're too badly injured to make it as a champion, making their favourite skating boots a painful reminder of their lost dream. Either way, it's time to get rid of the [[MacGuffin]].
Usually, the said item is an innocent scapegoat - the pendant itself didn't betray its owner, and the ice skates weren't driving the car that hit the protagonist. It's just that the hero(ine) can't actually get their hands on the person that's caused the problem, ''especially'' if the change or misfortune is down to nothing more than luck or time. Characters who can get their revenge, and have no qualms about doing so, don't tend to bother with destroying jewelry - they just go and punch the offender's face in. It's the gentler, less violent characters, or those who really have no actual person they can blame, who decide
It is quite rare for these objects to be sold, even if they are actually quite valuable. They're either destroyed or discarded (if the hero is getting rid of them because they want nothing more to do with what they symbolise) or passed on to someone else (if the hero is acknowledging that their time in a particular role has passed and wants to hand the item down to someone who can make better use of it). By not even claiming the money they would make from a sale, the character further acknowledges that they reject their trinket and everything it stands for.
Line 16 ⟶ 18:
Sometimes it's not even a trinket - [[Where I Was Born and Razed|it can be something as big as a house or even a home town.]] Rarely, it might be a pet, though this has to be dealt with sensitively.
Broadly speaking, the destruction of an item in a fit of
Certain significant items, however, may [[Clingy MacGuffin|refuse to be discarded...]]
Compare the [[Trans-Redemptive Symbol]]. Contrast with [[Trash of the Titans]], [[Memento MacGuffin]].
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* In ''[[Haibane Renmei]]'', Kuu, the smallest of the Haibane, gives a large winter coat to Rakka, the newest Haibane. Rakka appreciates the gift, but only fully realizes its significance when the others explain to her that Kuu had kept the coat, which was too big for her, in the hope that she would eventually grow into it. By passing it over to Rakka, Kuu accepts that she will never grow to be as big as the other members of her group. This is a major turning point in the series - {{spoiler|shortly afterwards, Kuu ascends in her "Day of Flight," which the Haibane can only achieve after dealing with their personal issues. In Kuu's case, this seems to have been disappointment in her status as a small, "unimportant" member of their society - which Rakka helps her overcome, by accepting Kuu's guidance and acknowledging the little Haibane as her senior/sempai.}} By giving the coat to Rakka, Kuu showed that she was content with who she was, and prepared to move on rather than chase the impossible.
Line 32 ⟶ 33:
* Although it wasn't entirely Sara's ''choice'' to have her musical necklace stolen in ''[[Soukou no Strain]]'', nor was it Ralph's to have his crayon drawing blown to bits later on, it still strongly symbolizes that their [[Cain and Abel|connection]] has been severed and one of them will have to kill the other, [[Big Brother Worship]] or not.
* In ''[[Planetes]]'', Yuri loses his wife in a spaceship accident in the opening seconds of the series. Her antique compass was in her hand, and it contained a message Yuri never got to read. He passes up lucrative opportunities in space industry to be an orbital garbage collector, secretly hoping against phenomenal odds to find that watch. By a small miracle, he manages to collect it; the message was "Please Save Yuri". However, as he finally comes to terms with his loss, he gives the watch to his co-workers brother, an amateur rocket builder, and tells him to put it back in space.
* Throughout the first season of ''[[
* [[Axis Powers Hetalia
== Comic Books ==
* At the beginning of the '90s revamp of ''[[Green Arrow]]'', Black Canary burned her (ugly) Eighties costume, calling it "trash". Which would have been a bit more plausible if the story introducing the costume hadn't had as a plot point that it was extremely fire-resistant.
* An especially poignant example from ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)]]'', where the "junk" is the [[Nigh Invulnerable|Saint]] [[The Gunslinger|of]] [[Implacable Man|Killers]]' ''corpse,'' the skeleton of his mortal body before he became Heaven's hit man. Jesse Custer digs it up to get the Saint's attention; the Saint says "This ain't but bones" and smashes it.
* An interesting example in ''[[Watchmen (
== Film ==
* The trope name comes from ''[[
** It could also symbolize Sarah's realization that she has to grow up and move past her childhood, as popular [[Fan Wank|fan-speculation]] is that the movie is all about Sarah coming into her sexuality and identity as an adult.
*** Judging by the "making of" documentary, fan speculation would seem to be on the money. Jim Henson states more than once that much of what happens in the film is powered by Sarah becoming aware of and dealing with the new, adult feelings she's simultaneously drawn to and a bit scared of.
*** That would certainly explain Bowie's, er... [[Memetic Outfit|eye-catching costuming]]...
** It also shows her becoming less childishly selfish, given that the choice is between her ''things'' and the welfare of another person.
* In ''International Velvet,'' a teenage girl, Sarah Brown, works hard to earn money in order to buy a foal her neighbour owns. When she finally has enough, she goes to make the purchase, only to find that the horse has already been sold. Bitterly disappointed, she throws the tin with all her cash into a lake. The symbolism is, of course, that she considers the money worthless in itself - she only obtained it in order to get her horse. It turns out to be a [[What an Idiot!]] moment however, since {{spoiler|it was her aunt that bought the horse as a present for her, and he's in the paddock waiting Sarah when she gets home. Given what the upkeep of a horse actually costs, the discarded money would have come in handy...}}
* In ''[[
** You make it sound like he had to try, though. Jack was already 99% there, he didn't need convincing, just a hammer.
* In ''[[Titanic]]'' elderly Rose discards with the "Heart of the Ocean" diamond which she'd carried around all these years and shown to no one, as while she still cherishes her memories of Jack she's finally told her tale and no longer needs to have it weigh on her soul anymore. It might have been nice of her to give it to the guys who spent bazillions looking for the damn thing instead of dumping it in the ocean, mind you.
Line 56 ⟶ 57:
* At the end of ''[[Top Gun]]'', Maverick throws Goose's dog tags into the ocean to symbolize him getting over the loss of his [[Ho Yay|navigator]]. Of course, it does raise the question of why Maverick, rather than Goose's wife, wound up with them in the first place.
** This scene is parodied in ''[[Hot Shots]]'', where Topper has his father's ''eyes'' and tosses them into the ocean in an identical scene.
** It raises a bigger question, in that dog tags are military property and go to very specific places (for record-keeping) if a
* It's not always the character that owns it that realizes it's all junk -- in the movie ''[[Richie Rich (comics)|Richie Rich]]'', the antagonist goes to incredible lengths to get into the Rich family vault, convinced that it's [[Treasure Room|full of gold, jewels, money, etc.]] When he finally gets Richie's parents to open up the vault, he finds that it's full of... bowling trophies, tricycles, and baby shoes. The Riches firmly believe that A) sentimental value is much more important than fiscal value and B) the best place for money is in a bank or investments, where it'll make
* ''[[Saw]] III'' has a brutal ''forced'' example of this trope. Protagonist Jeff has lost a son; Jigsaw wants to help him move on. Being a psychopath, he does this through agonizing tests, one of which requires Jeff to destroy all his son's toys (which he's been keeping in pristine condition).
* ''[[Up (
{{quote|
* ''[[
* In ''[[Inception]]'' {{spoiler|Cobb no longer cares for the totem top when he is back with his kids.}}
** There's a darker interpretation to that. {{spoiler|After he spins the top the final time, he doesn't wait to see if it falls. Cobb no longer cares if he's still in a dream or not.}}
* If you substitute a zealously pursued goal for a sentimental item, Danny's refusal of the band award at the end of ''[[Brassed Off]]'' fits the trope pretty well.
{{quote|
* See scene from film version of ''[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1P2N8x8d-aQ Cat On A Hot Tin Roof]'', in which Brick furiously destroys most of his family's (and his father's) treasured possessions and keepsakes, in a desperate plea for his father to understand the value of love as opposed to possessions or personal wealth.
* Done in ''[[Taxi Driver]]''. After Betsy rejects Travis for taking her to a porno for their date, Travis buys her a bouquet of flowers. She sends them back and he keeps them in his apartment just as they were. They eventually die. When he {{spoiler|finally goes off the deep end he's shown burning the flowers in the sink, driving the symbolism home.}}
* Arguably, this trope is the entire point of ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]] 3''... with the twist being that the story is told ''from the junk's point of view''.
== Literature ==
* [[Tamora Pierce|Tamora Pierce's]] novels frequently deal with growing up, and the things we leave behind as a result:
** [[Tortall Universe|Alanna's]] sword, Lightning, was given to her by the gods in a dramatic scene. Imbued with magic, it was almost a character in itself. However, {{spoiler|it is broken in the novel ''The Woman Who Rides Like A Man'' and, to repair it, she merges it with an "evil" crystal sword.}} Lightning is never quite the same afterwards, and Alanna finally abandons Lightning for good when {{spoiler|she uses it to kill her nemesis and leaves it embedded in his corpse, to make sure he doesn't resurrect himself. Again.}} The loss of Lightning coincides with Alanna's acceptance of adulthood and its responsibilities, and the end of her life as a free roaming teenager/young adult.
** ''Protector of the Small'' uses the pet version of
** In ''[[Circle of Magic]],'' this is done to the point of overdose in ''The Will of the Empress.'' The now-grown up quartet of mages, Tris, Daja, Sandry and Briar, must leave Winding Circle Temple, their home, as no-one is allowed to stay there past the age of sixteen without becoming a Dedicate (priest/priestess). The house they grew up in, "Discipline Cottage," is now home to a new generation of troublesome mages. Even more poignantly, {{spoiler|Tris leaves their pet dog, Little Bear, at the temple to keep the youngest of the new Discipline residents company.}} The Circle must begin their adulthood with little left but their magic and each other.
* In the [[
** Initially played straight in ''[[
* The novella ''The Pearl'' end with the titular object being tossed back into the ocean after the struggle over it cost the life of the main character's son.
* In ''A Tree Grows in Brooklyn'', aspiring writer Francie keeps all her beautiful "A" Compositions. When her father dies, she starts writing more realistic stories about her father and how despite his faults, namely alcoholism, he was a good man. Her English teacher calls these stories "sordid" and tells her to burn them. Instead, she realizes the "good" compositions were cliched and insincere, and burns ''them''.
* ''[[The Three Musketeers (
* In ''Mrs. Dalloway'' by Virginia Woolf, the traumatized soldier's foreign wife takes off her wedding ring after coming to England to be with him, only to have him descend into madness and neglect her. She tells him that it was because it doesn't fit in her finger anymore (she's lost weight because of their poverty), but he sees it as the end of their marriage. Somewhat subverted in that she didn't destroy the ring (not [[The Lord of the Rings|that one]]), but we're told puts it away in her purse instead.
* ''The Boyhood of Grace Jones'' shows the titular tomboy winning a gold ring for "Best Female Student" at the end of the year. She is proud and pleased, until the Best Male Student is announced, and it's a kid that never stands out in any way. Grace realizes that the two of them were merely chosen as the "students who caused the least problems to teachers," and is so disappointed that she not only gets rid of the ring, but forbids her proud parents from even mentioning it.
** Come to think of it, Grace's entire life is a series of It's All Junk moments.
Line 88:
== Live Action TV ==
* At the end of ''[[Primeval]]'' Series 2, Nick Cutter tears up {{spoiler|his photograph of lost love Claudia Brown, which was the last proof she existed at all.}}
* On ''The George Lopez Show'', George inherits a watch from [[Parental Abandonment|his deadbeat father]], and his father's will also asks George not to go to the funeral, in order to keep his father's secret about having abandoned his wife and son. Because George is offended by the latter request, he destroys the watch in a fit of rage. Then he talks to his mother about it, and it is clear that he [[What an Idiot!|hadn't even considered the idea that it might have been better to sell the watch,]] and he clearly regrets overlooking this possibility.
* Taken to extremes on ''Track Me If You Can'', a [[Discovery Channel]] program on how to avoid surveillance. The show's host demonstrates how to abandon your old life and go into hiding, by discarding ''everything'' that might tie you to your former identity: home, job, relationships, electronics, habits, preferences. Tossing out old mementos is just the beginning on this show.
* ''White Goods'' is a virtually unknown ITV drama (with a surprisingly awesome cast including [[Lenny Henry]], Ian McShane, [[Rachel Weisz]], Chris Barrie) about a severe falling-out between two families after they win a bunch of stuff in a game show and can't agree on how to divide up the loot. [[Lenny Henry]]'s character eventually decides to [[Kill It
* An interesting contrast occurs in the ''[[Battlestar Galactica
* An interesting case in ''[[True Blood]].'' Back during the first season, after Gran is killed, Sookie seems to get violently attached to a pie that Gran had made, including rather violently screaming at a woman who took it out of the fridge to make room. A little later, when the denial and anger wear off, and acceptance starts to creep in, Sookie sits down and forces herself to eat the whole thing as a way of letting go.
== Tabletop Games ==
Line 103 ⟶ 102:
* In ''[[The Cherry Orchard]]'', Ranevskaya's estate and the orchard itself serve as a link to her happier childhood. In contrast, for Lopahin and the other former peasants and serfs, it serves as a reminder of their miserable past. Ranevskaya isn't really able to let go of the past until {{spoiler|Lopahin buys the estate in a mandatory auction and gets ready to chop down the orchard in order to put summer cottages there, forcing Ranevskaya to find happiness elsewhere}}.
== Web Comics ==
* Flik trashing his mother's necklace in ''[[Para-Ten]]''.
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[
** Zuko also burns some family pictures while he, Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee discuss the ways in which their respective childhoods sucked.
* In ''[[The Simpsons Movie]]'', Marge {{spoiler|tapes a "Dear John" message for Homer and runs off}}. The kicker is that {{spoiler|she deliberately erases their wedding video in the process}}, thus signifying that she really means it this time: {{spoiler|it's over}}. Of course, {{spoiler|it isn't}}.
Line 115 ⟶ 112:
* Played surprisingly straight on ''[[Futurama]]'', when Fry decides not to resurrect his dog's fossilized corpse. Though a form of subversion does appear, it's a rather brutal one {{spoiler|the reason Fry decides not to do so is because he believes his dog lived a full life after he (Fry) was frozen, however the audience finds out that his dog never did anything ''but'' [[I Will Wait for You|keep waiting for Fry.]]}} This was eventually retconned in the first ''[[Futurama]]'' DVD movie.
** Many fans speculate the retcon was done exclusively because of how horrifically sad the original ending was.
== Real Life ==
* Arthur Wellesley, later the Duke of Wellington, was an accomplished violinist in his youth. The last thing he did before leaving his home to start his military career was to burn his violin.
* Many people have this
* Traumatised by [[World War I|the First World War]], the war poet [[Siegfried Sassoon]] threw his Military Cross into the River Mersey.
** On a similar note, [[
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Narrative Devices]]
▲[[Category:Its All Junk]]
| |||