My Life Flashed Before My Eyes: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

 

Oh no, [[No One Could Survive That|that's his knife lodged in my gut]]. I'm blacking out, too much blood loss. I can't die now! I had so much to live for! I can see my parents smiling as they tuck me in as a child. My school days as a lanky teenager, worrying about homework and girls. I see the day I got [[The Call]] and meeting up with my [[Five-Man Band|four new friends]]. You know, after seeing that sequence of relevant scenes either exposing parts of my [[Backstory]] or using somehow [[Stock Footage|familiar visuals]] I see that this can't be the end. [[My Name Is Inigo Montoya|I have to get up and fight!]]

 

== Anime & Manga ==

* In ''[[Naruto]]'' {{spoiler|Jiraiya sees flashbacks of him with Minato and Kushina and also of Naruto after he gets his throat slashed by Pain. This drives him to wake up to encode a message before he dies for real. Later, Hinata has flashbacks of how Naruto inspires her during her fight against Pain.}}

* A variation of this occurs in [[Elfen Lied]] when {{spoiler|Kurama blows himself up with his diclonius daughter}}. A vision of what life could have been like if {{spoiler|his daughter wasn't a diclonius and his wife therefore hadn't died}} rather than how it actually was (thus avoiding the usual [[Clip Show]] part of this trope) flashes before his eyes just before the bomb goes off.

** {{spoiler|Bandou}} plays it straight.

* ''[[Gungrave]]'' uses this trope as much as possible. Every character (good and bad) seems to have a flashback sequence or a life flashing experience as part of their death scene. In fact only the nameless mooks seem to be able to die without fuss.

* Shows up in a pivotal moment in ''[[Gun X Sword]]''. {{spoiler|Van survives his near-defeat once he remembers Elena, but the flashback also hints at the depth of his feelings for Wendy, since she and Elena are the only two people he remembers in full color.}}

* Happens in ''[[Pluto]]'' with a tragic twist. The person in question was making a [[Heroic Sacrifice]], broadcasting live footage of his duel with Pluto from his eye cameras to Geischt, which he could use to find Pluto's weakness. Once his life starts flashing, the footage is ruined and the guy [[Senseless Sacrifice|died for nothing.]]

 

 

== Fan Works ==

 

{{quote| Tumbling down end over end wind resistance on wings hurts oh Yoko oh Sean I'm dead I'm dead I'm dead you'll never make money with that guitar they're going to be bigger than Elvis THE BEATLES how do you add up all your money I once had a girl hey man I'm so fat and terrible can't he do his own bloody lyrics love love love Yoko oh God Yoko Apple is rotting I want a divorce primal SCREAM Paul is such an asshole where's Yoko why can't I come back mother Kotex green card Sean oh Sean I wanted to see you grow up }}

 

== Film ==

* Done in ''[[Armageddon]]'' when Harry detonates the bomb. Images of his daughter and wife briefly flash on the screen.

* In the last few moments of ''[[Vanilla Sky]]'', David experiences this when {{spoiler|jumping off a building}}

{{quote| '''Beavis:''' Hehehee ... I scored.}}

* Inverted in ''[[American Beauty]]''.

* From ''[[A Cinderella Story]]'':

{{quote| '''David:''' "I think I just saw your life flash before your eyes."<br />

'''Carter:''' "Oh yeah? Well, did you see the part where I run away?" *turns and flees* }}

{{quote| '''Nick:''' "When we crashed, my entire life flashed before my eyes. It didn't take too long." }}

 

*** The whole planet is a wizard computer chip with (almost?) unlimited memory space. You expect it to ''not'' do this to everyone it can?

* ''[[Hitch Hikers Guide to The Galaxy]]'': Subverted, in that Ford Prefect uses the flashback in order to gain inspiration on ways to get out of dying in the current situation.

* ''[[Double Dragon]]''

{{quote| '''Billy Lee:''' "My whole life flashed before my eyes! Dude, I sleep a lot."}}

 

== Live Action TV ==

{{quote| '''Saffie:''' "My life just flashed before my eyes."}}

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' "Killed by Death"

* ''[[Saturday Night Live]]''

{{quote| '''Caitlin:''' "This one time, I got choked on a pickle at Wendy's and my whole life flashed before my eyes and I said, 'Not yet, sweet Jesus, not yet; I've never been to Disney World!' and then I threw up all over the restaurant and the manager gave me a certificate for one free hamburger a year for the rest of my life! Isn't that right, Rick? Rick, Rick, ''Rick''!"}}

* Called and inverted in ''[[Dead Like Me]]'':

{{quote| ''[As a toilet seat from the re-entering Mir station plummets through the sky, George is awkwardly moving through a city plaza.]''<br />

* ''[[Firefly]]'', "Out of Gas": Mal has flashbacks of meeting the other crewmembers

* On ''[[Bottom]]'', as Richie and Eddie dangle above the ground in a broken ferris wheel:

* On ''[[QI]]'', [[Stephen Fry]] suggests that, if you [[Mundane Utility|lose your keys]], you should start drowning yourself -- then you can wait until you see the moment where you last had them flashing before your eyes, save yourself, and go get them.

* David Fisher, in one episode of ''[[Six Feet Under]]'', is kidnapped by a violent lunatic who comes very close to shooting him in the face. This trope is represented by a montage of short clips from earlier in the series, just as David is convinced his life is almost over.

* ''[[Lost]]'' episode ''Flashes Before Your Eyes'' has an interesting variation: not only do the flashes triggered by a near-death experience ''continue'' after the event is over, they actually are a combination of premonitions and [[Mental Time Travel]]. This trope is merely used by a character to describe the weird things happening to him.

{{quote| '''Desmond:''' "When I turned that key my life flashed before my eyes. And then I was back in the jungle and still on this bloody island. But those flashes, Charlie - those flashes - they didn't stop."}}

 

== Radio ==

{{quote| '''Thomas''': My whole life is flashing before my eyes! Hold on... that's not my life! I don't recognise any of these people! [[Crowning Moment of Funny|They're all talking Swedish!]] YOU'VE GIVEN ME THE WRONG LIFE! Bloody NHS!}}

* Every episode of ''[[The Very World of Milton Jones]]'' is built around this, since they all begin with [[Once an Episode|him about to die]].

== Video Games ==

* At the start of ''[[Sly Cooper]] 3'', the titular thief ends up in the crushing grip of the [[Big Bad]]'s monster. The entire game after this point up until the final part is really his life flashing before his eyes as a way to show [[How We Got Here]].

** And 100% laughable. [[Memetic Mutation|That peppy gets me every gosh dang time.]]

* Featured in the opening cinematic of ''[[Sam and Max]]: Night of the Raving Dead''

{{quote| '''Sam:''' "Well, this is it, little buddy. My whole life is flashing before my eyes... I wondered where I left my wallet!"}}

 

 

== Webcomics ==

* Happened in ''[[Zebra Girl]]'', only it was Sandra's life flashing before Sam's eyes.

* ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]'' has one where Monty is going to get excecuted, which he flashed a parody of the early sequence of ''The Last Crusade'', and another one with Lambert, who's seeing a fireball (and might die of one, again).

* In ''[[Concerned]]'', we find out that you life in fact doesn't flash before your eyes. Your death does, however.

{{quote| '''Dvorak''': My whole life just flashed before my eyes.<br />

'''Qwerty''': [http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff400/fv00323.htm Mine's still flashing. I've got to buy some faster memory.] }}

== Western Animation ==

* In ''[[Garfield and Friends]]'', when Jon takes up skydiving: "My life is flashing before my eyes, and I'm not even in it!" Indeed, everything he sees is Garfield and Odie.

{{quote| '''Ed:''' "My life is flashing before my eyes!"<br />

'''Eddy:''' "What life?" }}

* In ''[[Family Guy]]'' where Peter was about to be killed by a bear. Images of him constantly held back in Fourth Grade show up. The last one shows that he passed Fourth Grade hours before this happened.

* ''[[The Simpsons]]'': This happened to Homer twice, in two episodes, "Homer's Triple Bypass" and "Eternal Moonshine of the Simpson Kind", and to Mr. Burns in the episode, "Burns' Heir".

{{quote| '''Gumball:''' "My life is flashing before my eyes...''and it's boring!"''}}

* An episode of [[Timon and Pumbaa]] managed to turn this concept into a [[Clip Show]] as they were falling off a very deep cliff.