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

* When the New Bloodline drove Tokyo to its knees in ''[[Majin Tantei Nougami Neuro]]'' , it was [[Da Chief]] Naohiro Usui (who up to this point was a complete dick) who lead the police and Tokyo to band together to resist him.

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

 

 

 

== Fan Fiction ==

 

 

* Maruti from ''[[The Return of Hanuman]]'' is considered a naughty kid in the village. But when Rahu and Ketu {{spoiler|and the volcano monster}} tries to destruct the village, Maruti turns into Hanuman to beat them up. Because Hanuman is a Hindu God, all of the villagers worshipped him.

* The title character of ''[[Shaun of the Dead]]'', in part [[I Know Mortal Kombat|due to his familiarity]] with [[Survival Horror]] games.

* Typically inverted in George Romero's Zombie films (X of the Dead). 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.

 

* 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.

* S.M. Stirling's ''[[Emberverse]]'' series revolves around this. While it contains a very tragic portrayal of what would happen to society if all modern technology stopped working, quite a few genuinely "good" people rally survivors to them and keep them organized and safe under extraordinary circumstances.

* In Alexandr Solzhenitsyn's history ''[[The Gulag Archipelago]]'', a massive compilation of the horrors perpetrated by the Soviet Union upon its own people, there is a small amount of space given to the optimistic attitude that even the personal apocalypse of being arrested and sent to a work camp can still bring out ''good'' in people. Most prisoners relinquished their morals when they entered the camp and instead took up the aim of 'surviving at any price,' even if that price meant stealing the small daily bread allotted to another suffering prisoner. But there were indeed some people who avoided falling into this trap of despair and evil:

{{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 alloted 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 />

'''Solzhenitsyn:''' As soon as you have renounced that aim of 'surviving at any price,' and gone where the calm and simple people go--then imprisonment begins to transform your former character in an astonishing way. To transform it in a direction most unexpected of you. And it would seem that in this situation feelings of malice, the disturbance of being oppressed, aimless hate, irritability, and nervousness ought to multiply. But you yourself do not notice how, with the impalpable flow of time, slavery nurtures in you the offshoots of contradictory feelings.... You are ascending. }}

* Norma in Fannie Flagg's 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.

** On a related note {{spoiler|First Lord Octavian said the Vord invasion was the best thing to happen to Alera, by forging alliances with long-term enemies}}

 

* Most of the protagonists of ''[[Jericho]]'' undergo this with lead character Jake being one of the best examples.

* G'Kar of ''[[Babylon 5]]'' was an arrogant jerk when his people, the Narn, were on top. When the Centauri (aided by the Shadows) conquered and brutally oppressed the Narn homeworld, he evolved into a leader, a hero, and eventually, a prophet. Quiet Centauri aide Vir also discovered his inner hero after the conquest of Narn, using his position to smuggle a number of Narn to safety.

* One episode of ''[[The Outer Limits]]'' has servant [[A Is]] 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.

* Lampshaded by Alistair in ''[[Dragon Age]]'': ''"You know, one good thing about [[Zombie Apocalypse|the Blight]] is how it brings people together."'' Right after he was once again dragged into other people's petty feuds.

* 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/he's got a hell of a point.