All The Tropes

The Anti-Nihilist: Difference between revisions

Page Discussion

The Anti-Nihilist (view source)

Revision as of 17:33, 9 January 2014

28 bytes added ,  10 years ago
m
Mass update links
VisualWikitext
prefix>Import Bot
(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.TheAntiNihilist 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.TheAntiNihilist, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license)
 
m (Mass update links)
Line 1:
{{trope}}
{{quote|''There can't possibly be any meaning in this world. But isn't that wonderful in its own right? Because if there isn't any, we can find our own.''|A [[Moe]] [[Shell -Shocked Veteran]] from ''[[So Ra No wo To]]''}}
 
This is the sort of character that goes by doctrines along the lines of "Don't cling to pain. Don't expect happiness. Don't fear loss. Accept reality as it is. Enjoy the good. Endure the bad. Don't make a big deal out of anything. Be selfless, and unconditionally kind and just, without ever expecting a reward. We're all going to end up as piles of dust, so why not be nice to each other and get those pleasant fuzzies?"
Line 9:
Instead of angsting all the time about "[[Crapsack World|Life is hell,]] [[Downer Ending|we're all gonna die]] [[You Can't Fight Fate|and you can't fight fate,]] [[Put Them All Out of My Misery|thus we might as well start killing each other right now]]", this type thinks more like "Life is hell, we're all gonna die and you can't fight fate... [[You Are Not Alone|but why not make each others' lives worthwhile and enjoyable in the meantime?]]" [[The Anti Nihilist]] is usually a [[Knight in Sour Armor]] who knows how cynical the world is, but decides to stick to a particular value and make meaning out of it, despite knowing how utterly meaningless doing so is.
 
The Anti-Nihilist is very likely to adhere to a [[Utilitarianism]] morality, although this isn't a universal rule; there are Anti-Nihilists whose morality might border on self-made [[Blue and Orange Morality]] (see the philosophy of [[Friedrich Nietzsche]]). Expect this declaration of defying nihilism to be uttered as a form of [[Shut UP, Hannibal|shutting up nihilists']] [[Hannibal Lecture|lectures]] [[Despair Speech|on Despair]] and how [[Humans Are Morons]]. Thus, very likely to take form as a [[World of Cardboard Speech|World-of-Cardboard]]/[[Patrick Stewart Speech]].
 
 
Line 17:
 
See [[Useful Notes/Existentialism|Existentialism]] for the philosophy that encouraged living in Real Life as this character.
{{examples|Examples:}}
 
== Anime & Manga ==
 
* The main conflicts in ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' have shades of this, with the [[Hot Blooded]] protagonists representing this trope while their opponents appear to be [[Nietzsche Wannabe|Nietzsche Wannabes]] {{spoiler|[[Well -Intentioned Extremist|there's more to them than that]], but they're still ''very'' depressed people}}.
* [[Crazy Awesome|Jack Rakan]] from ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima (Manga)|Mahou Sensei Negima]]''.
{{quote| [http://www.mangareader.net/mahou-sensei-negima/316/5 Truth? Meaning? That crap ain't got nothing to do with my life!]}}
Line 30:
** 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.
* The character Panaru in episode three of ''[[Boogiepop Phantom]]'' is respected for having this philosophy and teaching it to others.
* {{spoiler|[[Shell -Shocked Veteran|Filicia Heideman]]}} from ''[[So Ra No wo To]]''. [[War Is Hell|The things she went through]] constantly haunt her. She concluded that, perhaps, life doesn't have any particular purpose, and made herself one in taking care of her new unit, even if it takes [[To Be Lawful or Good|commiting treason to stop a war.]] [[Les Yay|And, she has Rio.]]
* Makina from ''[[Shikabane Hime]]''. The final scene in the anime is of her repeatedly punching her archenemy Hokuto (a fellow fighting-zombie) in the face after all is lost: it's the first time she ascribes meaning to her existence.
{{quote| Makina: You're not an undead! You're alive! And so am I!}}
Line 61:
* Many [[Discworld]] books have this theme, especially ones focusing on Death and Sam Vimes. Pretty much reflects [[Terry Pratchett]]'s [[Real Life]] views.
* The books of ''[[His Dark Materials]]'' end up coming around to this theme, more or less, with a bit of a [[Fantastic Aesop]] courtesy of Dust. But it's former nun Mary Malone who first reaches the conclusion: that though once she felt that no God meant no purpose to the world, the need to keep Dust alive, that is, wisdom, curiosity, education, and kindness, gives the worlds purpose. In other words, "There is now!"
* [[FirstpersonFirst-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.
Line 128:
[[Category:Philosophy Tropes]]
[[Category:The Anti Nihilist]]
[[Category:Trope]][[Category:Pages with comment tags]]
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/532342"