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The Anti-Nihilist: Difference between revisions
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** Fate Averruncus appears to be growing into this as of late.
* In ''[[Madlax]]'', the eponymous heroine is a gun-for-hire in a civil war-torn country, yet this only makes her more appreciative of life and its small everyday joys; e.g. she visits her client and target ([[Suicide by Cop|same person]]) on the night before his assassination to comfort him. In the end, it is she (or {{spoiler|the part of Margaret corresponding to her}}) who defeats the [[Nietzsche Wannabe]] of a [[Big Bad]].
* Elmer C. Albatross of ''[[Baccano!]]'' has pretty much this exact outlook. The guy had a horrible childhood and as a result adopted this sort of unsettling [[Stepford Smiler]] personality and obsession with happiness. Basically, he feels the world sucks so much that it's important to be happy.
* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'''s Shinji Ikari grows into this trope at the end of [[The Movie|End Of Evangelion]]. With all the hell he's put through, and with the [[Mind Rape|horrifying]] [[Endofthe World As We Know It]], it would make sense that he would jump into the [[Despair Event Horizon]] and become an [[Omnicidal Maniac|omni]][[Suicidal Cosmic Temper Tantrum|cidal]] [[Nietzsche Wannabe]], especially when {{spoiler|Rei gives him control over the fate of humanity}}. Nevertheless, he {{spoiler|lets the [[Assimilation Plot]] fail, and}} chooses to live life as an individual. Based on how you interpret it, ''Evangelion'' itself is loaded with Existentialist themes, like Jean-Paul Sartre's "[[Hell Is Other People]]" (in ''Eva'', the so-called Absolute Terror Field surrounding all souls), but at the same time affirms that being alive and suffering are parts of life and that happiness can be achieved.
** Kaji also has very strong traits of it. He knows more about what's going on than almost anyone else, yet he's the only character who appears genuinely happy. During one very close battle against an angel that appears to be the final moments before the end of the world, he is watering the melon patch he is growing, with the battle being visible in the distance. If the world does not end on that day, then the melons need to be watered. If it does, then it won't matter what he is doing in the final moments anyway. Either way, he can't do anything to change what's going to happen in the next ten minutes.
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* [[First-Person Smartass|Christine]], the narrator of the novel ''[[Faction Paradox|Dead Romance]]'' thinks like this when she's dismissing one of her friend's uber-depressing, [[Wangst|Wangsty]] poetry:
{{quote|''What I'm getting at is that in a pointless, empty universe a good time is as meaningless as a bad time, so you might as well slap on a smile and get on with your life.''}}
* Professor Pangloss in [[Voltaire]]'s [[Candide]], who goes through Hell and back and comments on the weather.
* The narrator of [[Ted Chiang]]'s short story "Exhalation" is watching his universe wind down to equilibrium. Rather than despair, he implores future explorers to "contemplate the marvel that is existence and rejoice that you are able to do so. I feel I have the right to tell you this because, as I am inscribing these words, I am doing the same."
== Live Action TV ==
* Inherent to all of [[Joss Whedon]]'s work.
** ''[[Firefly]]'':
*** Mal fought for freedom and honor in [[The War of Earthly Aggression|The War Of Coreward Aggression]]. He lost, and has come to terms with that. But at the same time, he refuses to be a slave or a thug - even when the entire 'Verse insists that he has to obey a higher authority or act against his principles to survive, he remains Captain Malcolm Reynolds. And he aims to misbehave.
*** Simon also has something of a tendency toward this. He specifically states that acting morally means even more out in the black without an authority to impose it.
*** River recognizes that all meaning is "imbued" and thus there really is no "meaning" to begin with, River has a surprisingly positive outlook on life, and sees things in a very innocent way (i.e. the loaded gun everyone was freaking out about took the form of a harmless stick in her mind). Objects In Space is actually an exploration of these two character types, juxtaposing River against Jubal Early, who's definitely a [[Nietzsche Wannabe]]. Faced with the same realization as River, Jubal's response was to become a complete psychopath who tortured his puppy.
** [[Angel]] from [[Buffy]] once had the revelation that life has no purpose or meaning, thus making even the tiniest act of kindness an end in itself. Angel's [[Koan]]:
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* Usually, this is the Classical response of atheists, agnostics, deists, Epicureans and the like to accusations of nihilism. After all, if there's no god (or God is apathetic) who will give us a meaning in life. "The fact that we have only one life to live should make it all the more precious."
** Likewise, the only way to live on past your death is through others. [[The Power of Friendship|Might as well ensure that you can keep people smiling, even after you're gone.]]
** Indeed, many if not most atheists embrace this as their world view in place of any belief in a higher power or afterlife.
* [[Friedrich Nietzsche]]'s version of the Anti-Nihilist in particular is less of a "utilitarian" who works [[For Happiness]] and more of a "Let's [[The Ubermensch|live by our own rules]] while being [[wikipedia:Arete|awesome]], [[wikipedia:Virtus (virtue)|manly/virtuous]] and [[Magnificent Bastard|magnificent]] at it". It should also be noted that he pointed out that a way to make life suck a little less could be through charitable acts (note that he didn't say that it would make you happy, just feel less angsty/guilty/whatever)
* There might be older instances of this trope that couldn't be properly called Nihilists, since they predate the movement, but they should go through a Discussion first, so as not to dissolve the trope into meaninglessness.
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