Non-Lethal Warfare: Difference between revisions

In [[Real Life]], [[War Is Hell|warfare is hardly an entertaining and carefree experience]], and [[Harmful to Minors|can seriously mess with kids' heads]]... [[Child Soldier|not to mention their bodies]]. However, warfare and fighting can easily make for good, clean fun in entertainment media, and is often marketed to children. Most parents and [[Media Watchdogs]] are okay with media portraying Non-Lethal Warfare, regardless of the nature of the combat, its origins, the fridge logic or the unfortunate implications it may engender. No matter how lethal the weapons are, how dangerous the environment is, what the attitudes to enemy combatants and civilians are, [[Bloodless Carnage|no-one gets hurt]] and no-one dies. At least, not on-screen.

 

 

We should mention the rules set out above assume that the setting allows for the possibility of death at all, and that it can happen off-screen. If the target audience is too young even for that, the scale of Nerfed violence increases (er, decreases?). No one will use bladed weapons or guns (arrows [[Incredibly Lame Pun|might fly]], though.), traps, tanks, and other large scale weapons will be completely non-lethal, perhaps even designed to humiliate the enemy rather than knock them out. Likely "weapons" for use will be "[[Pure Energy|energy]]" guns that are about as dangerous as laser tag guns... scratch that, ''less'' dangerous. Laser tag guns can at least potentially blind you. Or perhaps blunt weapons that "can't kill" because they don't cause bleeding.

 

See also [[Stun Guns]].

 

== [[Anime]] ==

* ''[[Starship Girl Yamamoto Yohko]].''

* In ''~Dual! Parallel Trouble Adventure~'', the war between the UN and the Rara Army is deliberately handled this way, with either side surrendering before the risk of serious losses. Of course, nobody tells the protagonist Kazuki this before his first battle -- what, and spoil the angst?

** They also schedule their battles and give the population time to evacuate before they start.

* Zigzagged in [[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]. The fluff details horrifically violent conflicts in the distant past featuring -- among other things -- [[Night of the Living Mooks|armies of cyborg zombies]], universe-destroying starships, and [[Person of Mass Destruction|human WMDs]] under every freaking rock, all used at one point or another in a series of interdimensional wars which lasted thousands of years and devastated countless universes. It's enough to make a [[Warhammer 40 K|Space Marine]] wince. However the main series takes place over 100 years after the end of those wars and the Time-Space Administration Bureau has outlawed mass-based kinetic weapons in favor of magic-based weapons, the logic there being that magic can be set to stun living targets even when it's being used to level buildings [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|or blast halfway through the interior of an ancient starship]]. The titular character follows this religiously as does most of the main cast, but several characters die anyways even with these weapons in use. And then there's the ''Force'' manga, which features a team of villains who are completely immune to magic, forcing the good guys to ditch the stun guns and use perfectly lethal magic-powered kinetic weapons against them. But that's okay, [[Good Thing You Can Heal|they can regenerate]].

* ''[[Toshokan Sensou]]''. All the beligerents wear military-grade body armour. With few exceptions, their guns appear chambered for handgun bullets. Result: People get shot, people fall down with nasty bruises and possibly some cuts and are out of the fight. Few, if anyone, actually dies. This system seems to have been implemented on purpose since the Media Cleansing Comittee and the libraries are, essentially, involved in an institutionalized [[Civil War]] under state supervision.

** Actually, the really bizarre thing about [[G.I. Joe]] looking back at it as an adult is that their "laser guns" don't look like sci-fi weapons at all, instead virtually all the guns are animated to ''look'' like realistic depictions of identifiable real-world guns. Snake Eyes clearly is packing an Uzi, Duke blasts away on what's obviously a Colt .45, Falcon has a pump-action shotty etc. etc. But instead of firing bullets, these realistic firearms inexplicably shoot lasers, which is very dissonant. Sometime you can even see the guns expelling shell casings! That's right kids, LASER BULLETS!

*** [[Fridge Logic|Oxidized Copper tracers?]]

*** Most other adaptations (like the comics and the movie) brutally avert this, as we've got characters on both sides firing real bullets and actually scoring some kills against enemies.

* Battles in ''[[Transformers]]'' tend to involve lots of lasers and big weapons, but characters rarely die outside the movies and some of the comics. Even if they do, [[Death Is Cheap]] in ''Transformers''. This was averted most visibly in ''[[Beast Wars (Animation)|Beast Wars]]'', though every series has one or two onscreen deaths.