Please Wake Up: Difference between revisions

[[File:PleaseWakeUp_2171PleaseWakeUp 2171.jpg|thumb|500px|link=The Lion King|frame| [[Survival Mantra|I'm not gonna cry ...]] [[Tear Jerker|I'm not gonna cry ...]]]]

{{quote|''"[[Please Don't Leave Me|Don't leave me here alone... Don't go where I can't follow...]] Wake up... not asleep...'' dead!"|'''Samwise Gamgee''', ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''}}

* ''[[Wolf's Rain|Wolfs Rain]]'':

* The climax of ''[[Pokémon: The First Movie|Pokémon the First Movie]]''. Ash, having been hit by Mew and Mewtwo's attacks, is turned to stone. Pikachu runs up to him and desperately tries to shock him back to wakefulness, wearing himself out in the process. [[Tear Jerker|Amazingly poignant]], as at first Pikachu seems confused, playing this trope to the letter, and then in denial, continuing to try and shock Ash awake even when it's apparent that his efforts are useless. Ash gets better, but it takes the tears of a small army of Pokémon to do it. TWO small armies of Pokémon, one of which is comprised entirely of the clones of the entire other one. Along with the tears of three humans. In fact, we're lucky Pokémon tears are full of life or else that would've ended the series right there.

* Once again in the ''[[Pokémon: Zoroark: Master of Illusions|Pokémon Zoroark Master of Illusions]]'' movie. Poor little Zorua.

* ''[[S-Cry-ed]]'' Hashas one that's [[Tear Jerker|phenomenally brutal]] in its simplicity. Kimishima has been severely injured amidst his [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] . So Kazuma carries him back home. Somewhere along the way, Kimishima stops talking, but Kazuma [[Distracted From Death|doesn't realize what this means]]. When they get home, Kaname realizes what's happened, and starts to cry. But [[Idiot Hero|Kazuma]]...

* ''[[One Piece]]'': In his flashback in the manga version, Zoro does this when Kuina dies, albeit in a way that's much more angry and hurt. Deeply in denial, he screams at her for abandoning their promise (implied that it's more because he felt she was abandoning HIM). It took an adult man and another boy around his age to hold him back.

* ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'': Kamina, having risen up what could already almost qualify as a "Please Wake Up" moment already. With blood dripping down his face, he climbs back into the seat of his giant mech, rips off one of said mech's arms, and throws it Simon who is already in a premature [[Heroic BSOD]]. Cue [[Crowning Music of Awesome]], followed by Crowning Speech of Awesome.

* In ''[[Summer Wars]]'', {{spoiler|the family reacts to Grandma Sakae's death like this. She dies in her sleep, thus when they discover her, everyone crowds around her bed, desperately crying for her to open her eyes.}}

* ''[[Shinryaku!Squid Ika MusumeGirl]]'' gives us a moment in episode 5, in the last segment, titled "Won't You Keep It?" [[Tear Jerker|Mini-Ika sits on a hospital bed as an aged Eiko passes from this world. She tries to wake her lifelong friend, to no avail]]. Thank goodness it turned out to be [[All Just a Dream]].

* ''[[Devil May Cry]]'' Anime: "Dante! Wake up, run away! No way you'd die from a little wound like this, right? Please wake up and take down the demons like you always do!... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry!.." "...Open your eyes! I promise not to get mad when you mess up your office! I won't eat your strawberry sundaes anymore!"

* In ''[[The Abyss]]'', [[Please Wake Up]] meets [[Cluster F-Bomb]]

* In ''[[Firefly|Serenity]]'', {{spoiler|Zoe}} had a mental snap and refused to believe that {{spoiler|Wash}} was dead, even though it was very clear. This was less about the tragic misunderstanding of death and more about how {{spoiler|Wash was Zoe's emotional anchor}}. {{spoiler|She did revert to her military training by the time she and Mal left the ship, however, and by the end...}}

* [[Monty Python and Thethe Holy Grail|I'm not dead yet! I think I'm getting better!]]

* Subverted in ''[[I Remember Mama]]''. "Are you still asleep? Y'old sleepy cat. Wake up. S'morning..." {{spoiler|And he does}}! It's beautifully set up. ''[[Tear Jerker|Make him live, Mama. Please.]]''

* ''[[28 Days]]'' has flashbacks of the main character and her sister trying to wake their mother when they find her collapsed in the living room {{spoiler|subverted, as she was just passed out from alcohol, and just when they're getting worried a sharp slap brings her around. However when she really dies, the girls assume it's the same thing, and suggest "slapping her REAL''real'' hard" to their aunt, who's come to tell them.}}

* Although Sam's quote from the top of the page is the most famous example, in the extended edition of ''[[Return of the King]]'', Eomer rushing screaming to Eowen's side and shaking her has all of the techniques. It's actually quite effective; Eomer is usually [[The Stoic]], seeing him screaming wordlessly in grief is downright shaking.

* Subverted or averted or something in John Ajvide Lindqvist's ''[[Handling Thethe Undead]]'', where a mother and her father refuse to believe that their zombie son/grandson won't get better if they keep trying, to the point of purchasing books on handling children with autism, because they think that will help.

* ''[[Tideland]]'' is a freakish example... whereaswhere the daughter doesn't notice her dad's corpse and assumes he is "farting" when he starts to rot.

* Used [[Tear Jerker|somewhat disturbingly]] in the ''[[Redwall]]'' books:

* Appropriately for its mythic style, sleeping is often a metaphor for death in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. As in, "she laid herself to rest on [some hill], and there is her green grave ..." In both novel and film Sam asks Frodo to wake up after Shelob stabs him, but soon gives up and declares him dead. {{spoiler|Of course, he's not.}}

* Harry did this to Ginny in ''[[Harry Potter and Thethe Chamber of Secrets (novel)|Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets]]''. Although she turned out to be alive, she was in a kind of magical coma and was thus about as responsive as a corpse anyway.

* A harsh variant of this occurs in Katherine Paterson's novel ''[[Flip-Flop Girl:]]'':

* Bluepaw (young Bluestar) in the ''[[Warrior Cats|Warriors]]'' book ''Bluestar's Prophecy'' does this when {{spoiler|1=her mother Moonflower is killed by Hawkfrost in the attack on the WindClan camp. The sequence is made even more heartbreaking when Bluepaw must relay the news to her sister Snowpaw.}}

* In ''[[Cirque du Freak]]'' by [[Darren Shan]] when Darren fakes his own death, at his wake his sister Annie is heard screaming for him to "stop playing around and wake up". He's not actually dead but still...

* In ''[[Night Watch]]'' a Dark mage is killed by a rogue Light [[Knight Templar]], when he's enjoying dinner with his human family in a restaurant. This serves as a somewhat educative moment, as the sight of the mage's grieving wife and son trying to wake him up (the magic weapon leaves no traces and he indeed looks asleep) convinces the over-zealos rooky Night Watcher Svetlana that killing Dark Others indiscriminately would indeed bring more harm then good to people.

* The children in ''[[The Blue Lagoon]]'' (book and film) think their adult friend Paddy is taking a nap at the opposite end of the lagoon and row over to wake him, only to find him with his eyes wide open, bugs already at work, and a tiny crab crawls out of his mouth when they turn him over.

* Heartbreakingly rendered in ''[[Law and Order Special Victims Unit|Law & Order: Special Victims Unit]]''{{'}}s "Loss" between Alex Cabot and Olivia Benson. Benson and Stabler are escorting Cabot, who is under a death threat from some particularly nasty Colombian drug dealers, when said dealers' mooks pull a drive-by shooting. Benson is the first to notice Alex laying mortally wounded on the sidewalk, and tries her best to stop the bleeding, all the while talking frantically in a futile effort to convince herself that Alex is going to survive:

{{quote|'''Benson:''' Alex? ...Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no. ''Someone call an ambulance! Call 911 now!!'' Alex, it's okay, Alex, look at me, it's okay sweetie, stay with me, stay with me, you're going to be okay, Alex, you're going to be okay, do you hear me? You're going to be fine, you're going to be just fine, stay with me... Alex, it's okay... Alex? Alex...?}}

:It's not okay at all, of course, as the next scene shows Benson's desk, atop which is her badge with a mourning band and a newspaper headline announcing what most of us already guessed. {{spoiler|Then it turns out it IS''is'', in fact, OK, but she has to remain "dead" in order to go into Witness Protection. The scene got worse during the final scene: it's all about Alex and Olivia, and everyone else fades into the background. They just ''look'' at each other for eons, and then Olivia says,}}|{{spoiler|'''Benson:''' [[Tear Jerker|"Your funeral is tomorrow."]]}}}}

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer|]]'': "Mom? Mom...? ...Mommy?"]], followed, of course, by frantic shaking and "Mom! Mom! Mom! MOM!" [[Mood Whiplash|Thanks a lot, Whedon...]]

'''Buffy''': "No! My ''mom''!"}}

** "Tara?" And they'd just made up... }}

* To a lesser extent a video clip shown on ''America's Funniest Home Videos'' showed a deer (or a moose, or something similar) trying to mate with a lawn ornament of a deer, which broke into three pieces under its weight. After regaining it'sits balance the deer (moose?) started lightly kicking one of the pieces, as if trying to get the '"other deer'" to wake up.

* In an episode of ''[[ER]]'', Benton's ex-girlfriend Carla died in a car accident. Upon reaching the hospital, he tried to break the news to their 4-year old son, telling him via sign language (the boy is deaf) that "Mommy went to sleep forever". Not understanding, the boy kept signing back to him, "Then wake her up", until Benton finally signed (and said) "Mommy died".

{{quote|''Oh, why do grown-ups say asleep, instead of saying dead?

''Only makes kids nervous when it's time to go to bed.... }}

* "Lady D'banville" is about a man's lover who dies in bed with him.

{{quote|''My lady D'banville

''Why do you sleep so still

''Your heart feels like winter

''Our love shall never die

''Our love shall never die }}

* Used briefly in [[Avril Lavigne]]'s song, "Slipped Away" (which is dedicated to her grandfather):

{{quote|''[[Growing Up Sucks|I've had my wake up]]<br />

[[Please Wake Up|''Won't you wake up]]<br />

''I keep asking why.<br />

''And I can't take it<br />

''It wasn't fake it<br />

''It happened you passed by }}

* [[Tom Paxton]]'s song "Jimmy Newman", about a dying soldier:

{{quote|'''Eminem:''': Susan I'm so sorry! I'm sorry! Susan wake up! You're not dead...''you're not dead''! Please...please wake up...}}

* [[Sarah McLachlan]]'s "Hold On" has this in the chorus:

{{quote|''While you're sleeping peacefully, I'll lie awake and pray

''That you'll be strong tomorrow and we'll see another day. }}

* Blues Traveler's "Pretty Angry" (written by John Popper about the death of a friend):

{{quote|''And I want to shout from my guitar,

''Come out, come out, wherever you are.

''The joke is over, open your eyes,

''A heart like yours it never dies.

''And I saw your keys behind the chair,

''I still can see you sitting there.

''It isn't funny, don't fool around,

''You let me go, you let me down. }}

{{quote|''The other night, I saw you lying there,

''I didn't want to wake you up

''The next day, I saw you lying there,

''I didn't want to wake you up

''The next evening, I saw you lying there

''You hadn't moved an inch

''The next day, I saw you lying there,

''I wish that I could wake you up }}

* Particularly dark example in the opening fiction to the ''Adamantine Arrow'' [[Sourcebook]] for ''[[Western Animation/Mage The Awakening|Mage: The Awakening]]'', where an Arrow from the American Civil War describes the time he encountered the corpses of an old man and a young boy. The old man had been shot in the head, while the boy (whowhom the Arrow realised must have been the man's grandchild) had no marks on his body. Upon further inspection, he found that the man's corpse had bread stuffed into its mouth, and the boy's corpse was clutching a bread loaf. The Arrow realised that the boy must have thought that his grandfather was only sleeping, and tried to keep feeding him, until he himself died of exposure.

* In the ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]'' sourcebooks, a short piece of fiction is told from the perspective of a young vampire who has recently drained his mortal girlfriend’s blood and fed her of his own vampiric blood, hoping to turn her into another vampire so they can stay together forever. After half an hour without her giving any signs of life, he starts becoming increasingly desperate, wondering if something has gone wrong (it is implied that his blood might not behave been strong enough to successfully create new vampires) and starts begging her cooling body to wake up.

{{quote|''A plague upon you, murderers, traitors all!

''I might have saved her; now she's gone for ever!

''Cordelia, Cordelia! stay a little. Ha!

''What is't thou say'st? Her voice was ever soft,

''Gentle, and low, an excellent thing in woman. }}

* Inverted in ''Romeo and Juliet'' in which Juliet actually ''is'' just sleeping, but Romeo commits suicide out of despair. In some adaptations (such as [[Romeo + Juliet|the Baz Luhrmann movie]]), she wakes up ''while he's doing this''. Whoops.

* In ''[[BioshockBioShock (series)|BioShock]]'', the Little Sisters go "Mister Bubbles, please wake up!" when their Big Daddy is killed. This is apparently a side effect of their mental states, since they get over it rather quickly when the player heals them (you ''are'' healing them, right?). They also can't tell the difference between the various Big Daddies, since in the sequel, they will treat the player (a Big Daddy himself) as if he were the same Big Daddy he just killed, with a happy "Mr. Bubbles, you're back!!" Some Splicers also say: "Come on, get up. I was only foolin'!" after they shit-kick you.

* In ''[[.hack]]//G.U.|.hack//G.U. Rebirth]]'', when Haseo defeats an AIDA infected Pi, Subverted when she does wake up and he blushes.

* In ''[[The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena]]'', shortly after Jaylor, the resident former crewmembercrew member of the Athena, now prisoner and seriously sick guy overall, {{spoiler|randomly shoots}} Silverman, another prisoner and resident [[Wrench Wench]], {{spoiler|in the back}}, Riddick, of course, then must {{spoiler|kill Jaylor}}. Of course, shortly afterwards, you soon have an obligatory encounter with Lynn, her daughter. {{spoiler|"Is mommy asleep, Mr. Riddick? Is she asleep?!"}} Different in that it's not actually said to the corpse.

* In [[Metal Gear|any of the ''Metal Gear'' games]], if and when you die, 99% of the time, someone from mission control screams the titular "Snake? Answer me! Snake? [[Say My Name|SNAAAAAAAAAAAAKE!]]"

* In the [[Multiple Endings|Bad Ending]] of Path A in ''[[Rondo of Swords]]'', {{spoiler|Altrius/Serdic}} is tired after a long battle and decides he needs to rest right then and there. This is followed by Marie trying to continue their conversation, calling his name, {{spoiler|"Altrius? ...Altrius?"}} His lack of a response strongly implies that he has kicked the bucket.

* In ''[[Uncharted]] 2|Uncharted 2: Among Thieves]]'', Elena is caught in a blast during the finale and spends much of it limping, barely conscious. After killing the [[Big Bad]], Nathan Drake carries her the rest of the way out. When they reach the surface, he lays her down on a slab and she is not moving or breathing and appears to be dead. Nate, visibly upset by this possibility, starts attempting to wake her up whilst saying she'll be alright. {{spoiler|Turns out, he was right. She is seen recovered at the end of the game. Good thing too, otherwise that could have been a major [[Tear Jerker]]}}.

* In ''[[Alter Ego (video game)|Alter Ego]]'', this is a possible event. The player owns a goldfish during their early stages of their lives, and the goldfish eventually dies. The player, however, doesn't understand why the goldfish won't go after her food or interact with the player. The player can then decide to either hide the fish's body in their drawer or ask their mom about it. Even if they do the latter and Mom explains the concept of death to them, the player still doesn't seem too fazed about death even after flushing the goldfish down the toilet.

* One of Carter's sermons you can listen to in ''[[Harvest Moon|Harvest Moon: Friends Of Mineral Town]]'', features this trope, in the form of a little boy deciding to save up his pocket money to buy an alarm clock to 'wake up' his mother, after his father tells him that she's '[[Please Wake Up|sleeping]]'. Carter then questions whether it was right or wrong of the father to lie to his son.

* In the canon route of ''[[Blaze Union]]'', this is Eimi's reaction when the party gets together to mourn {{spoiler|Siskier}}. It's a partial subversion, as Eimi is stated in other routes to have seen a lot of death on her [[Walking the Earth|journey to find her brother]] and has a full understanding of mortality--shemortality—she just doesn't seem to want to accept it.

* [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2004/02/12/episode-383-spinal-snap/ This] episode of ''[[8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|8-Bit Theater]]'':

{{quote|'''Fighter:''': "That's the last mistake you'll ever make, ya stinky pile of bones! Give 'im a dose of ultimate destruction, BM."

[[Beat Panel|*beat*]]<br />

[[Beat Panel|*beat*]]<br />

'''Fighter:''': "Go on, make with the blasting."<br />

[[Beat Panel|*beat*]]<br />

'''Fighter:''': "Black Mage? Get up and yell at me. Black Mage. '''''Get up'''''. Please..." }}

* Played with in a very disturbing way by the ''[[The Perry Bible Fellowship]]'' in [http://cookingschoolnews.com/?cid=PBF152-Scorpy_the_Forest_Friend.gif this strip].

{{quote|"Only one round, and Rockie's already tired"}}

* Done in a similar fashion in [http://www.amazingsuperpowers.com/2008/05/im-flying/ this strip] of ''[[Amazing Super Powers]]''. }}

* Vul'Re to the Mother in ''[http://www.catalyst.spiderforest.com/ Catalyst]'': "Wake up. Please, wake up..."

* In ''[[Something *Positive]]'': {{spoiler|Faye's death. Justified since she died in her sleep and Fred doesn't realize at first that she is dead. It takes him (and the readers) a few panels to realize the sad truth.}}

* ''[[Strays]]'': [https://web.archive.org/web/20110830134138/http://www.straysonline.com/comic/163.htm A grown man's initial reaction after he killed a woman.] Then, such is his [[It's All About Me|momumentalmonumental narcissism]] that the death's thwarting him stuns nimhim.

* ''[[The Onion]]'' article "[https://web.archive.org/web/20100223081026/http://www.theonion.com/content/news/daddy_put_in_bye_bye_box Daddy Put In Bye Bye Box]". Written as a newspaper article from the child's point of view.

{{quote|"According to family sources, Daddy, 36, can't play ''Chutes and Ladders'' tonight, but he loved Ryan and his little sister, Rebecca, very, very much, and nothing is ever going to change that."}}

* The ''[[Zero Punctuation]]'' review of ''[[Batman: Arkham Asylum]]'' portrays [[Batman]] accidentally pouncing on a cat, who is then surrounded by kittens.

{{quote|'''Albert:''': DUDE! CUT IT OUT NOW! [[ThisPunctuated! IsFor! SpartaEmphasis!|WAKE! THE HELL! UP!]]}}

* From the ''[[SCP Foundation]]'', an interview with [http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-1073 SCP-1073], a sapient colony of microbes (who thus have no experience with individual death):

* In [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7mUjssn86h4 this YouTube video] a girl is begging her friend to wake up after he is killed in unknown circumstances, but it's all in vain.

* ''[[Once Upon a Forest]]'' had Cornelius sing a SONG with the title of the trope to his niece when she was injured trying to save her parents from the poisonous gas.

** The series mocked this trope in "Woodland Critter Christmas" when Stan kills a mountain lion. Turns out [[Monster Is a Mommy]], and the adorable cubs come out and utter the familiar line. Don't worry, she comes [[Back Fromfrom the Dead]].

* Ralph Bakshi's ''[[Wizards]]'' jams this one, [[They Killed Kenny]], [[Not Dead Yet]], this one again, and [[They Killed Kenny]] ''again'' into one short scene for one of the Evil Wizard's Mooks in the major battle scene when his buddy is shot.

* Hilariously subverted in [[Chuck Jones]]' ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' short [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cugri2hBqxA ''A Bear For Punishment''], when Junyer Bear attemptattempts to give his dear old Dad a shave with a jagged straight razor.

* In [[Disney|Disney's]]'s ''[[Beauty and the Beast]]'', Belle begs that the Beast doesn't leave her after his [[Disney Death]].

* Played for laughs in the Al Brodax-produced ''[[Popeye]]'' cartoon "''Ballet De Spinach"'', where Olive coerces Popeye to be her partner in a dance recital practice. Olive tiptoes to a rose lying on the floor and gently entreats "Wake up, little rosebud...wake up." When she tells Popeye to do it, he stomps over and yells "Hey, bud...wakes up!!"

* Grimly humorous example from ''Thinning the Herd'' (which is basically a [[Darwin Awards]] [[Follow the Leader]]): someone died, and was left there for ''months'' because his sons believed he was just resting. (Insert your own ''[[Monty Python]]'' reference here).

* [https://web.archive.org/web/20131013233613/http://www.chinasmack.com/2010/pictures/shenzhen-son-refuses-to-believe-father-is-dead.html This man from Shenzhen, China, whose father suddenly died.]

[[Category:TearDepressing JerkerTropes]]

[[Category:PleaseTear WakeJerker UpTropes]]