Like You Were Dying: Difference between revisions

{{deathtrope}}

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]!'' lives off this trope ''as if it were to die!!''

** ''[[Harold and Maude]]'' - An [[Emo Teen]] who attends funerals and commits mock-suicide for fun gets into a relationship with a 79-year-old woman who is basically the septuagenarian equivalent of the [[Manic Pixie Dream Girl]]. {{spoiler|She kills herself for real in the end, but he still stops faking his suicides and starts actually living life.}}

** ''Dream With the Fishes'', where a morose voyeur is saved from suicide by a happy-go-lucky fellow that is terminally ill and wants help living out a few fantasies before meeting his maker.

** If we mean the same movie, then their original plan was just to go and see the Sea. Money just happened to appear bit later.

* In ''El juego de la verdad'', Ernesto is mistakenly told that he has three months to live. During a game of truth or dare, his friends convince him that he should do the things he's always wanted to do and assure him that they will go along with anything he says. The things he wants to do include skinnydipping and sleeping with his best friend's fiancee.

* The film ''[[Scent of a Woman]]'' does this trope in both directions. Colonel Slade teaches poor, outcast prep student Charlie that you don't have to lie down and let other people's expectations of you determine your life. Charlie teaches the blind, bitter Colonel that you don't always have to spit in people's faces to make yourself important, helping others and sticking to your principles accomplishes the same thing. The Colonel stays blind, but is a little less bitter and Charlie accepts that he'll never be one of the rich White kids at his school, and is okay with that.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* In one episode of ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'', Quark gets diagnosed with an incurable and frequently fatal syndrome by a doctor on Ferenginar. He auctions off his vacuum-desiccated remains in traditional Ferengi fashion before he dies, but then it is revealed that the diagnosis was incorrect.

** His initial response? "It means I get to sue Dr. (whoever) for malpractice!"

* ''The Big C'' has Laura Linney's professor character diagnosed with terminal cancer, deciding not to tell her family (to spare them misery), and spending her last few months taking life by the balls. The first season of the show then ''thoroughly'' deconstructs this trope, as her actions look extremely bizarre to her family and only widen existing riffs, while not really bringing her a lot of joy.

* During the third season of ''[[Supernatural]]'', Dean knew he was going to die, as at the end of season two, he {{spoiler|[[Deal with the Devil|sold his soul to a demon to save Sam's life]]}}, and ended up with a year to live. So, he spent most of the season living it up [[The Hedonist|whenever and however he could]]... at least until he got a taste of what would happen to him when he died, at which point he fought [[Incredibly Lame Pun|like Hell]] to survive. {{spoiler|He died anyway. [[Staying Alive|He got better]].}}

 

== Music ==

 

== Video Games ==

* In the Visual Novel ''Heart De Roommate'' {{spoiler|the main heroine Asumi and her [[Dead Little Sister|older sister]] both possess an incurable heart disease which will kill them before they hit their twentieth birthday, something that both girls understandably found depressing. The older sister finally realized the truth of this trope on her death bed, [[My Sibling Will Live Through Me|charging Asumi with living it]]. This is all revealed in an unlockable scene taking place after the events of the main plot. In it Asumi and the [[Player Character|PC]] are [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|reunited after nearly two years apart]]. Of course, said disease [[Bittersweet Ending|finally catches up with her; confining her to a hospital bed]] [[Your Days Are Numbered|for what seem to be the few remaining days in her already short life]], all in front of the [[Player Character|PC's]] eyes. This finally explains the main reason for her [[Jerkass]] "''Beauty of Youth''" obsessed [[Genki Girl]] attempts to get all the people she met to live their lives rather than mourn the things wrong with it.}}

** {{spoiler|The [[Player Character|PC]] asking her to [[Please Don't Leave Me|live for him]] and her renewed determination [[Power of Love|to do so for as long as she can]] moves it from firm [[Downer Ending]] territory into a more [[Bolivian Army Ending|open yet still tragic conclusion]].}}

* This happens to several characters in ''Tales of the Abyss,'' but some take it better than others...

* ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 4''. The protagonist is not only extremely old, {{spoiler|but has to commit suicide to save the world. He saves the world, is talked out of suicide at the last moment, and then attempts to leave to spent the six months he has left to live agonizing about how miserable his life was. Fortunately, his best friend visits him post-credits and says he'll be by the main character's side for the rest of his life, and promises he'll always remember how amazing he was.}}

 

== Web Comics ==

* ''[[The Simpsons]]'', of course, has mocked this a few times, most notably with Homer believing that he would die after eating an improperly prepared poisonous fish.

** In another episode Homer reads a self-help book that advises him to "Live each day like it was your last". [[Gilligan Cut|Cut]] to Homer sitting on the curb sobbing "I don't want to die!"

* In an episode of ''[[Arthur (animation)|Arthur]]'', D.W. and Binky [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lojX5sJ5AU0#t=04m09s each discover that they've eaten a "poisonous" green potato chip and become unlikely friends]. Cue a montage them bodyboarding in a lake, watching 4 July fireworks, carving jack-o-lanterns, and building a massive snow castle—apparently "dying" for the better part of a year.

{{quote|'''D.W.:''' "It's amazing what you can do in one day if you try real hard."}}