Suicide Is Painless: Difference between revisions

See also [[Nothing Left to Do But Die]].

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* In the first few minutes of the first episode of ''[[Serial Experiments Lain]]'', Chisa Yomoda jumps to her death after dramatically taking off her glasses and hanging off the railing for a moment. It also succeeds in setting the tone for the rest of the series. When she shows up later in the series, she complains that dying ''really hurts.'' Yeah, it's that kind of show.

* Shiba from ''[[Zombie Loan]]'' did the same thing just because he was bored with life, and wound up being the undead [[Big Bad]] of a [[Story Arc]].

* This is [[Really Seven Hundred Years Old|Maiza's]] reasoning for approaching Firo and [[I Cannot Self-Terminate|asking the kid to kill him]] (more specifically, he's both [[Seen It All]] and finally received closure over his [[Dead Little Sister|Dead Little Brother]]) at the end of the first arc of ''[[Baccano (Light Novel)|Baccano]]!''. Firo's response is to nod, smile...and then give a number of entirely bullshit reasons for why he [[Two Thousand One|can't do that, Dave]], before admitting that he really just doesn't want to lose his mentor.

 

 

* An early story in ''[[The Sandman (Comic Book)|The Sandman]]'' features an old DCU superhero, Element Girl, who has come to loathe her immortality, and quotes the song at the top of the page directly in begging Death to help her die.

* This is why Dracula tries to kill Ben Franklin II, and later [[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja (Webcomic)|Dr McNinja]], in order to send them ahead in to the afterlife as scouts before trying it out himself.

* Eric lets Funboy, [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|one of the thugs he returned from the dead to kill]], die from a massive, self-inflicted drug overdose as a reward for being cooperative in ''[[The Crow]].'' (Not so much in the movie.)

 

== Film ==

* The quintessential example is probably the Japanese movie ''[[Suicide Club]]'' which features, among other things, the image of fifty-four schoolgirls from eighteen schools linking hands and smiling before jumping onto train tracks to their deaths. ''In the first minutes of the movie.''

* The movie ''[[Flatliners]]'' is entirely based around this concept and the people who intentionally enter a death-like state.

* In ''[[Inception (Film)|Inception]]'', {{spoiler|Mal invokes this trope after she loses her mind in Limbo, and attempts to get Cobb to either do the same or be framed for her death}}.

 

 

* [[H. Beam Piper]] wrote a story titled "Last Enemy," about a culture that had accepted reincarnation as a scientifically proven fact. As a result, they'd developed a rather ''different'' attitude toward death -- it was, at worst, a (temporary) inconvenience; often enough, it was a social event. "Evidently when the Akor-Neb people get tired of their current reincarnation they invite in their friends, throw a big party, and then do themselves in in an atmosphere of general conviviality."

* Cruelly subverted in Dostoyevsky's ''The Possessed''; sympathetic (if batshit insane) nihilist Kirillov, [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] and [[Anti-Villain]], wants to kill himself for his own philosophical reasons, and wants his suicide to be a serene, noble apotheosis. Everything is prepared, and he has been anxiously waiting for the right moment since ''years''. However, when the time comes he hesitates. [[Complete Monster]] Petr Stepanovic, who needs his death for his own diabolical schemes, tries to kill him, and fails; Kirillov, humiliated and disgusted for his own cowardice, finally shoots himself. It's worth noting that his death basically allows Petr Stepanovic to pull a [[Karma Houdini]].

* Since everyone has [[Resurrective Immortality]], "suiciding" is a frequently-used way to get a new body in ''[[Biting the Sun]]''.

 

 

* In the ''[[House (TV)|House]]'' episode "97 Seconds", House sticks a knife in an electrical socket so he can have a near-death experience and prove there is no afterlife after one patient claims his experience was proof and mocks House's skepticism as a lack of a similar experience. Besides being just plain weird, it's also very out of character for a man who already ''has'' had two near-death experiences. At least he sent a page to a fellow doctor to make sure he'd be revived. [[Too Spicy for Yog-Sothoth|Hell probably would have sent him back anyway]].

* ''[[Life On Mars]]'': The famous -- and famously controversial -- series finale had Sam [[All Just a Dream|waking up in the real world]] and going back to his old job... only to realize that the world of 2008 is lifeless compared to the 1973 of the mind, and then to calmly get up, excuse himself from a meeting, and [http://youtube.com/watch?v=aOEfvMMcw_A take a flying leap] from the roof of the police station in an attempt to get back. He seems to succeed.

* {{spoiler|Moriarty}} follows this trope in the Series Two finale of ''[[Sherlock (TV)|Sherlock]]''.

 

 

* [[Truth in Television]]: The suicide note left by the actor George Sanders attributed his actions to simple boredom.

** As did [[Hunter S Thompson]] in his famous suicide note (titled "Football Season Is Over"):

{{quote| "Be well, but don't sing. Kill, but don't write verses. Poison, but don't dance. Burn cities, but don't play the lyre. This is the last friendly bit of guidance you will ever get from Petronius, the arbiter of elegance."}}

* It's well documented that many people who commit suicide after being depressed for a long period of time often seem to be at peace right before killing themselves, because making the decision gives them a sense of finality. The result is that those left behind are often shocked, especially if the person suddenly appeared to be getting better before their death.

 

== Webcomics ==

* In the Brie Meighsaton House arc of ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'', the house is haunted by several ghosts, including a former owner who was tormented by the other ghosts until driven to suicide. He didn't commit suicide to escape the ghosts - he did it so he could become a ghost himself, able to physically punish them for what they've done.

* Bashful, in the side arcs of ''[[Jack (Webcomic)|Jack]]'': "I think that's why I'm [in Hell]. My parents didn't want me to have any fun, and I was gonna have to marry some boring snotty chick when we both turned eighteen. So I found a way out!" Apparently he drove a car off a cliff. He looks back on the incident fondly, as he merely considers it an adventure/extreme sport. Unfortunately, as he's recently revealed, he did this while his fiancée was also in the car, which is why he's in Hell.

** Lita kills herself knowing that suicide is a guaranteed ticket to Hell, for the sake of hunting down her father and killing him (again). {{spoiler|She doesn't know he's now the [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of the Sin of Lust.}}

* Tnemrot has Angel, who would [http://www.tnemrot.com/?p=44 rather be killed] than return to her master.

 

== Western Animation ==

* Bender from ''[[Futurama]]'', while trying to kill himself in a suicide booth in the first episode, seems very blasé about it. Of course, he's also the [[Robot Buddy]], and considering what else he's survived (an ax to the back, being flattened like a pancake, and being buried for over 1,000 years, among other things) it might not have actually worked anyway...

** Suicide booths have a "Quick and painless" setting. Heck, just the existence of suicide booths.