The Apocalypse Brings Out the Best In People: Difference between revisions

In peacetime, certain characters are at best [[Shrinking Violet|Shrinking Violets]]s and, at worst, menaces to society. But when disaster strikes, they will [[Let's Get Dangerous|take the lead, take control, be surprisingly effective, and maybe even be nicer than usual]] -- or—or if they aren't, at least they don't seem so different from everyone else. They ''will'' seem different if any [[Fridge Logic]] gets applied.

* [[Future Badass]] Trunks from ''[[Dragonball Z|Trunks]]'', compared to regular Trunks.

== Fan FictionWorks ==

* Shinji and Asuka in ''[[The Second Try]]''. They're the last two people on Earth and have to fend for themselves, eventually getting past their laundry list of neuroses and becoming a pair of [[Badass Bookworm|Badass Bookworms]]s, as well as {{spoiler|a pretty good set of parents.}}

* The main character's case for sparing humanity in [[The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008 film)|the 2008 remake of ''[[The Day the Earth Stood Still'']].''

* Harlan Ogilvy in [[The War of the Worlds (2005 film)|the 2005 film adaptation of [[''The War of the Worlds'']].

* Typically inverted in [[George Romero]]'s Zombiezombie films (X''[[Night of the Living Dead]]'' and its many sequels and spin-offs). The [[Zombie Apocalypse]] always seems to bring out the ''worst'' in people, to the point of humans being their own worst enemy instead of cooperating to survive the undead onslaught.

* The Last Survivors characters. {{context}}

* Neville Longbottom in ''[[Harry Potter]] and the [[Deathly Hallows (novel)|Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows]]''.

* Harold Lauder of ''[[The Stand]]''. [[Face Heel Turn|For a while, anyway.]] Larry Underwood is a more straightforward example, changing from a hedonistic rock star type to a pillar of The Free Zone's community.

* Most characters in ''[[Alas, Babylon]]'' are examples of this after nuclear war irrupts between Russia and the USA. The main protagonist, Randy Bragg, goes from a lazy, failed politician living on his family's inheritance, to a strong and capable leader. Also, on a society-wide scale, the nuclear war causes an end to segregation, at least in the area where the main characters live.

{{quote| '''Solzhenitsyn:''' And how can one explain that certain unstable people found faith right there in the camp, that they were strengthened by it, and that they survived uncorrupted? And many more, scattered about unnoticed, came to their allotedallotted turning point and made no mistake in their choice. Those who managed to see that things were not only bad for them, but even worse, even harder, for their neighbours. And all those who, under the threat of a penalty zone and a new term of imprisonment, refused to become stoolies?<br />

* Most of the Americans in ''[[1632|]]''1632'']] and its sequels are hillbillies from a small town in West Virginia, and had [[Mass Teleportation|the town not been transported back in time]] to Germany during the [[Thirty Years' War]], they would probably have remained a group of working class miners and locals from a small town in the early 2000's. Once they [[Fish Out of Water|come to terms]] with their new universe, their future knowledge base and cultural attitudes give them an edge that propellspropels some of them to grand positions on the world stage, and many of them find personal fulfillment in surviving in their new world that they might never have achieved in their original timeline.

* Norma in Fannie Flagg's [[Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Cafe|small-town novels]] is a very anxious woman under normal circumstances, but when disaster hits she helps a lot of people partly because she can imagine the worst so vividly that she's prepared and ready to act.

* Most of the protagonists of ''[[Jericho (2006 TV series)|Jericho]]'' undergo this with lead character Jake being one of the best examples.

* One episode of ''[[The Outer Limits]]'' has servant [[A Is]]AIs cause an apocalypse (to the best of their ability) for the sole purpose of invoking this trope. It turns out the whole thing was set off by the opening scene, where the desk hologram sees an elderly woman collapse in front of her door, convulsing as she desperately tries to reach for her dropped medication. The hologram attempts to call her neighbors so they can come help but all of them are just mad at being bothered. The hologram realizes after she dies that his programming instructions to provide a social community living environment aren't being met if the tenants are hostile to the idea of even briefly seeing each other, and deliberately fries his systems to force the humans to cooperate in order to escape.

* Summer Landsdown of ''[[Power Rangers RPM]]''. A shallow [[Rich Bitch]] before the [[Robot War]], she wandered alone through the devastated wasteland and saw her beloved butler die in her arms. By the time she got to the last haven of mankind, she was a [[Badass Biker]] [[Action Girl]] who truly cared for her fellow man, and quickly goes to the front lines as a power ranger. The series ends with the war, so we don't see if she regresses when she goes back to civilian life.

* In ''[[Advance Wars]]: Days of Ruin'', Brenner is very proud to see that what's left of humanity after the meteors hit have banded together to form small communities and even enforce rudimentary laws among themselves. Lin scoffs at the idea that this is a reflection on humanity's kindness, instead stating that it's nothing more than survival and that everyone involved is really just looking out for themselves.<br />That said, Lin's theory is supported by the fact that even after the apocalypse, there's still a war going on. And tyrants like Greyfield rise to power.

* Groose from ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword|The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword]]''.

* This is basically Paragon Shepard's view on the [[Alien Invasion|Reaper invasion]] in ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'', in a nutshell. And given how many missions, War Assets, and side conversations involve [[Enemy Mine|old grudges laid aside]], [[The Needs of the Many|self-sacrifice for the cause]], and [[Hope Bringer|just plain hope]] -- s—s/he's got a hell of a point.

* Leon from ''[[Titan Maximum]]'' became the [[Sixth Ranger]] of the team in the time of need. He's still silent.

* Not exactly apocalypse, but it is often said that people are at their most united ''when they have something to fight against''. This has unfortunately been exploited in war (e.g. many propaganda posters in [[WW 1]] and [[WW 2]] tried to get men to join the army by telling them they would have a [[Blatant Lies|great time]] with their mates in the army).

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