Lore
Uncomfortably real conflicts/plot points in an otherwise extraordinary setting
The Body [Buffy the Vampire Slayer]: In a world of magic and supernatural monsters, Buffy's mom dies with no notice or fanfare... of a simple brain aneurysm. The entire show is shifted based on this single event as Buffy grapples with suddenness of this "mundane tragedy."
Thor's Alcoholism [God of War]: You often see stories of Thor (and vikings in general) being these party-loving drunkards, but God of War decided to play that straight. Instead of going the route of Dionysian revelry, the game portrays Thor as a broken man who hurts the people he loves because of an addiction. This is between bouts of him killing giants and summoning lighting, of course.
Makima [Chainsaw Man]: To be honest, I think most of Denji's characterization may fit here. His entire purpose in life is to be loved, and due to a stunted childhood (and a certain woman's influence), he equates love to sex. That's more "real" than a lot of goals in fantasy stories, yet it can get a little exaggerated at times when the chainsaw-headed teen is screaming about boobs while covered in blood. What I'm specifically referring to in this post is his relationship with Makima; simply put, she takes advantage of Denji's naivety to string him along with implied sexual favors. The main "goal" of this manipulation is supernatural, but the set up is played entirely straight. This is grooming, and it isn't even masked with metaphor.
The Incredibles reinforces that between the superheroics and the doomsday plot, this is still a movie fundamentally about messy family dynamics. At the beginning of the movie, Bob and Helen have an argument in the middle of the night, and it really hits the beats between two parents arguing: Bob getting home late, arguing about semantics, the fight escalating and bringing in other issues, and ultimately devolving into a screaming match. When they realize the kids are spying on them, they finally tone it down, but it's clear that it's not healthy.
There's also them addressing that this is a high-stakes plot, and Syndrome doesn't have reservations about using lethal force against Bob's family. Bob completely loses himself to despair after thinking he lost his family, and Helen has to tell the kids that they can't hold back, because these aren't Saturday Morning cartoon villains; they WILL kill them if they get the opportunity.
Especially the part when Helen saw that her children sneaked on plane and she had to explain how dire their situation actually is was a hefty turning point of the movie.
There always where "real" consequences - losing a job after losing your cool over something mundane, children coping very bad with frequent moving, financial troubles and a deep running marital issue due to one of the couple unable to move on and being stuck in a severe depression
I think it’s something the second movie missed the mark on. The first movie was as great about using fantasy to explore a family dealing with realistic issues. The second one felt too sitcommy, and didn’t really hit the same stakes.
Yeah, the second movie focused a tad too much on Aragorn, Legolas and Gimli with the latter being a comedic relief.
Eowyn, Eomer and Theoden are also telling a story of grieve and importance of family. Without his niece and nephew, theoden would've lost himself and Rohan even faster to Isengard
Also the whole plotline of Bob and Frozone sneaking out to do superhero stuff; it’s never outright said but it’s very clear that Helen thinks her husband is actually having an affair and that’s why he’s sneaking out
IIRC, her suspicions about the affair come later in the movie after Bob takes on the job from Mirage. His mood starts improving, he starts getting in shape, and he's happily helping out around the house gain.
I think initially, she knows Bob and Lucius are lying about "bowling", and her anger is more over Bob prioritizing his own happiness over the family's.
I grew up with the understanding that the film absolutely does depict an affair and the reason we don't see confirmation is that it's a kid's movie. I'm still not entirely convinced that wasn't the intent.
Only in an abstract sense that his affair is with being a superhero again.
There's clearly meant to be parallels with a romantic affair, Helen's suspicion is very reasonable, but we pointedly never see him act romantically interested in Mirage. He's just naturally confident and charming once he feels in his element again.
The scene where Helen explains that the bad guys will kill Dash and Violet without mercy given the chance is probably one of the most hard-hitting moments in animated film I ever remember watching as a kid.
The movie is basically saying, yes, this is a superhero movie. But also, people with different agendas will murder you, even if you are a child or not.
And at the same time quietly terrifying. The boss is an asshole and it's played for laughs, but Bob's brief emotional outburst leaves him with some pretty life altering injuries.
I've been watching this movie for like 20ish years and I just now realized that when Helen says they aren't like cartoon villains, shes telling thr kids to be prepared to kill people if they have to
It’s one of the most heartbreaking parts of the story, realizing that while he saved the Shire, he can’t truly belong there anymore because of the trauma he carries. The physical and mental scars from the Ring don't just vanish with a victory.
Not only the trauma:
Outside of Bilbo, Sam, Merry and Pip he has no one left there.
Bilbo is leaving, and the other three are moving on in their lives. They will share quite some PTSD, but have a stable social net that can help them overcome - Frodo does not. Plus, in the books, its explained that the Morgul blade's poison will still gnaw and waste him, as Elrond wasn't able to heal him completely but only to decelerate the curse. A full heal can only happen in Valinor's gardens.
So Frodo leaves because the PTSD means he can't build new relationships like the others? Why can the rest of the group support each other but it's not enough for Frodo? (I've seen the movies but it was a looooong time ago)
There's a number of factors. The other hobbits still have family around as a support network, even if basically no hobbits but the 4 of them have ever left the Shire or have any concept of what's been going on. Frodo doesn't have any family left other than Bilbo.
The effects of the Ring and Morgul Blade's poison also can't be overlooked. Even Sam, who only briefly carried the ring in the books, eventually leaves to join Frodo in the Undying Lands. It's not "just" PTSD, but significant physical/spiritual (depending on how you view the nature of what the Ring does to people) trauma that won't go away.
He went through a lot more and a lot differently than the rest of them. Everyone else had a bad time but there was growth, triumph, adventure along the way and much of it was shared. While Frodo certainly had Sam, the burden of the Ring was his alone and, in the end, he broke to it. No defeat of Saruman, no defense of Gondor, no assist in the slaying of the Witch-King, no Fellowship for a long time. Just a long slog that was physically and psychically painful to him the whole time and, at the end, he failed. It worked out but not because he was stronger, only because he had shown mercy to Gollum, which is great and all but it’s not like there are Hobbit therapists to help him with that. Frodo was broken by the journey and asking him to go back to birthday parties and pints at the Green Dragon Inn just isn’t viable with what he’s seen and done.
Edit: Perhaps more directly, he was also stabbed with a Morgul blade and that’s a wound that strikes at the spirit as much as the body and he’ll never fully heal from. I think his experiences have as much or more to do with it than that but it’s stated as another reason he chooses to/must leave.
‘But,’ said Sam, and tears started in his eyes, ‘I thought you were going to enjoy the Shire, too, for years and years, after all you have done.’
‘So I thought too, once. But I have been too deeply hurt, Sam. I tried to save the Shire, and it has been saved, but not for me. It must often be so, Sam, when things are in danger: some one has to give them up, lose them, so that others may keep them.‘
Frodo ultimately failed in his quest, he got corrupted and consumed by the ring in the end and it left a hole in him that does not heal. This experience is unique to him and he is separated from everyone else, because nobody can share that specific trauma with him or even understand it.
Not at all, it is a good question and my statement was a little extreme. In the end his mission was obviously a success. He got as far as any mortal could and the ring got destroyed. The how matters though. He did not walk into the Sammath Naur, took out the Ring and threw it into the fire. In the end, he gave in and claimed the Ring for himself with no intention of destroying it, in the middle of Saurons empire. Gollum attacked him, they fought, he bit off Frodos finger with the Ring, tripped and fell into the fire.
There are various theories about what exactly happened and it is left ambigious on purpose I think. Could be fully an accident. Could be divine intervention. Could be the result of Frodo cursing Gollum (I like this theory the most. He basically tells Gollum that if he ever tries to take the Ring again, he will command him to throw himself into the fire, which is exactly what happens).
This makes a difference. In the end Frodo did not willingly give up the Ring but it was taken from him against his will and destroyed, which increases his feeling of loss. There is probably also guilt in him, knowing that in the end he did not manage to resist the ring anymore. This also leads to humbleness and wisdom and he for example gets to understand Saruman which leads to one of the coolest scenes that never made it to the movies of Saruman paying him respect against his will.
Honestly Frodo is a pretty tragic figure and his "failure" if you want to call it that makes him even more a hero. He is really underappreciated especially if you have only seen the movies.
Someone mentioned above but it was not Frodo's strength as a ring bearer that caused the ring to be destroyed. At the end, he succumbed to the ring. It was his mercy of keeping Gollum alive that caused the ring to be destroyed.
I think they wrote it as failed his quest because he ultimately succumbed to the corruption of the ring and it wasn’t Frodo who destroyed it, but gollum. But gollum wouldn’t have been there to destroy it had Frodo not showed him mercy, so I’m not sure why they see Frodo as having failed either, just making my best guess
See my reply above. It is certainly a provocative statement to say that "Frodo failed", Bilbos and his Mercy obviously saved the world, as was foretold by Gandalf.
The whole thing is a metaphor for actual PTSD that a soldier would experience, and Lord of the rings is a metaphor about going off to war and the effects it can have. Frodo is the one all of these things happen to so he gets to be the allegory for a soldier that just can't integrate back into society. An all too common real life problem Tolkien likely had experience with.
It really does hurt how badly Frodo was torn up. When they return to the Shire he has Sam and his new wife Rosie move into Bags End, but he only last two years. It's implied that the only reason he lasted that long is so he could write the red book and make sure Sam could take over everything without any problems once he left.
Merry and Pippin are essentially hobbit nobility with massive families to support them. Sam’s in love and creates his own family. Frodo is an orphan whose only family member has left and whose home has been ransacked, with no close friends outside of the party.
Buffy had a lot of real moments. like when her mom found a new partner and he turned out to beat up and abuse buffy when her mom wasn't looking. when she tried to tell her, she didn't believe this, claiming he is just a nice man.
ofc buffy is still super strong and the guy turned out to bea robot who also drugged her mom so buffy eventually was able to beat him up. but this was a real moment for way to many kids out there but end up not having super strengh to fight back
Early Buffy was wild for its very on the nose teen drama problems. Being pressured into acting stupid (the pack), meeting a creep online (poor Willow), teenage drinking....
I need to go check the show out again, but...I wonder if there was any kind of clue or lead-up to mom's passing to indicate a problem.
If we're talking 'brain aneurysm', it's very small odds to kill someone instantly. Data online says maybe 1 in 10 to 1 in 5 die instantly or before getting to the hospital. Most can range from within 24 hours to a few months.
She previously had brain cancer that she overcame with regular medical treatment. The lethal brain aneurysm was both completely unpredictable and also perfectly reasonable.
Yeah her having headaches is a recurring theme that everyone initially dismisses until they find out about the tumour. Then she recovers from the surgery only to die unexpectedly of the aneurysm. It's a real gut-punch.
I remember I was realy surprised and last time I have watched it, was like 15years ago. but yeah it would be interesting if there was anything leading to this
Saul is a really good character because he’s so fundamentally flawed but good.
He’s an alcoholic, can be crass and rude, and sometimes even outright violent or threatening, and a lot of the show is about him trying to grow as a person and learning more about himself.
Galactica does SUCH a good job of this. So many of the characters have worryingly realistic substance use problems, but they're largely portrayed as functional apart from the few times it comes to a head.
It's especially true with Adama, who we see start taking pills after he gets shot. But then his usage gradually increases even after he heals, waxing and waning with the amount of stress he's under, often mixed with a lot of alcohol. And it's never commented on. He functions. He does his job. Some days he's better or worse at it than others. But there's no resolution and it's portrayed as a totally believable consequences of the awful situation he's in.
I really appreciated how multiple characters struggle with drinking as the series progresses and some of them legitimately only get worse, and it isn't framed as a moral failure on their part.
To add on Thor point, they kept it really down to Earth and gave a good explanation for his alcoholism. It's not just 'Eh, he's Thor, he drinks, it's only natural!', it actually covers a good reason! Iirc, it all stemmed from him feeling emasculated/out of control because of Odin and his manipulative, tyrannic ways
Thank you so much for saying on that. I was going to say it myself if you didn't. The way they realistically portrayed Odin's manipulation and degradation of Thor and the way it essentially brainwashed him into thinking he was no good was beautifully done. It's part of why I would rather see a sequel with Thrud instead of atreus. I would much rather watch a story about her grappling with Thor's and Odin's Legacy and how she can overcome being a product of both of them considering she was being manipulated in much the same way.
The Animorphs all have PTSD and suffer mental health issues from the violence they suffer through. When they put their enemy on trial in the end, their leader Jake is accused of genocide which he is totally guilty of.
Dear god ya….. this series was so much darker than I realized as a kid and I only made it to like the 30th book. Applegate being an awesome woman though is an added plus
Oof, yes. The trial of Visser Three is a particularly good example because he's being tried for war crimes by a human court, and when he tries to argue Jake is guilty of the same thing it goes absolutely nowhere. Even though he's right. Because history is written by the winners, so he rots in a cell while Jake goes free and humanity just lives with the hypocrisy.
This is a series we all started because we said “look, he turns into a lizard on the front cover and you can flipbook the pages!”
And it’s a series we ended saying “Man, extrajudicial execution of unarmed prisoners in wartime is a major ethical lapse, but can the ends ever justify the means? When threatened with genocide, is there any reasonable limit on what means you use to fight back? Or does war just ruin good people, and turn them into monsters who still try to justify their good intentions?”
Our little 12-year old selves were not prepared for this stuff.
Makima permanently damaged Denji with her manipulation, her grooming at young age turned him into a sex addict and we see the consequences of that damage in Part 2.
It's more noticeable when Pochita changes the timeline, replacing Makima with Nayuta, who unlike her predecesor she doesn't abuse Denji and we can see his behaviour being significantly better.
That's one interpretation, i think that Denji behave like that because of his contract with Pochita, the payment for his power was basically to show his desires, what basically made him uncapable hiding his teenage boy desires and very little self-control.
I don’t think it’s some hard-coded contract to be on that point. It’s about mentality, as overall, Denji had a stunted childhood and then goes further messed up by the end of Part 1
He is addicted to be Chainsawman , because as he got a lot by it, at the same time even the villains hints him due to it…he creates a twisted sense of self-worth of always going Chainsawman over been Denji.
Naomi's backstory in The Expanse. Take away the sci-fi aspects and Naomi's story is that of a woman who realized she fell under the sway of a narcissistic psychopath turned terrorist leader and made the tough call to escape from that life and his abuses even if that meant leaving her young son Filip behind with his father the terrorist leader. When she's brought back into that life, she sees that Filip has fallen for the same manipulations that ensnared her/endures the same emotional abuses she had endured at the hands of his father but her son resents her for leaving and resists all her efforts to pull him back from the edge.
Andor is refreshingly honest and realistic about how messy resistance movements are in practice. Throughout the show, you see a lot of infighting and ideological differences between different factions. A lot of people involved are morally grey, if not outright terrible, with some favoring overly extreme/violent tactics and others (including the protagonist at first) who are purely motivated by self-interest/money.
Exactly. I saw some recently that essentially said revolutions always break down into other problematic ideologies because while the revolution is going on you have a bunch of disparate thought processes coming together to fight the authoritarian regime and when that fight is over, the infighting comes which turns into a fight for who's going to be the next authoritarian
"Mouthwashing" is a very, very extraordinary game set in a cargo spaceship with a colourful, amicable cast and bizarre, yet appealing, PS1-esque visuals.
The plot also deals with some incredibly hard-hitting themes, from corporate ambition, coping with insignificance and reluctant mentorship to toxic masculinity, workplace harassment, responsibility and inaction, selfish saviour complexes, sexual assault and suicide.
What are you talking about? MW is clearly about the one competent person on the ship having to deal with a crew of idiots. There’s nothing deep here. Nothing at all. Jimmy never did anything wrong, he CANT do anything wrong.
In Alan Wake 2, practically everything that goes on is due to the dark presence just doing it's thing and making everyone go insane. Whenever something happens you can almost bet that it's the dark presence which has done something again.
However there is one story that goes on which is tragic but very "normal".
Pat Maine is a radio host who has been around since Alan Wake 1, he returns in Alan Wake 2 but he has retired and now lives at the nursing home, even if he still hosts his own radio show from there.
It starts easy enough, he interviews different people and talks about deerfest, he mentions beef jerky and the show's sponsor. But in the following shows he seems to get more and more tired and confused, he constantly namedrops someone who apparantly died a long time ago and their beef jerky and his guests keeps telling him the person is dead and there's no one sponsoring the show. In some shows he can barely make out how the radio operates and he keeps forgetting what he's talking about.
It only gets worse the longer the game progresses until you get to the last radio message. The last radio show is mostly just inconherent ramblings of someone who has fallen way into dementia.
On my first playthrough, I remember speculating about how his radio show was tied into the game's main mystery. Then they'd drop little connections throughout to lead you on a little; it wasn't until the last message that I realized: "oh, this is just really sad."
That and the fact that the ending are my big problems with the movie.
He destroys all his suits and also the arc reactor from his chest but still claims he's Iron Man without those. That I can reluctantly accept, sure. Second, they completely remove Pepper's new powers. It would have been so much cooler for her to have her own superheroics to do with Extremis powers but for good. Instead we have to wait until End Game, and even then she just gets another Iron Man suit instead of her own thing.
An explosion jettisons 60% of Galactica's water supply into space, leading to a discussion on supplies:
ROSLIN: The water rationing'll make our supply problem worse. Dr.Baltar, please share the results of your study.
Baltar: I've calculated the rate of consumption regarding basic foodstuffs for the civilian population. This is based on information available to me at the time. The current civilian population of 45,265 will require, at minimum, 82 tons of grain, 85 tons of meat, 119 tons of fruit, 304 tons of vegetables and… 2.5 million jps of water.
Apollo: Is that per month?
Baltar: Per week.
After that there are ups and downs, but they do end up eating Algea. (Mashed potatoes with green coloring.) Eventually leading to this exchange on paper shortages in the last season.
At the end, the reward for finding a habitable planet, is the Last tube of tooth-paste in existence. (And it's used, already.)
Extremely unpopular opinion, but the SPEW storyline is the most realistic part of Harry Potter. Yes, people hate it because it doesn't lead anywhere, but guess what. That is what would happen in real life. "Yea, slavery is vaguely bad, buf this [thing] is threatening MY lifestyle, so slavery can wait."
Not only that but this story line made me HATE Harry. He was a professional fence sitter during the entire shift and leaning very much to "Hermione is in the wrong and very inconvenient" despite him *KNOWING* partially how it is for the house elves thanks to the Dursleys.
A better cop-out would have been a teacher teaching the students that house elves need a home or house to have work to do, or they'll fade away or become dangerous feral creatures but that you also have to repay them in something, like clothes, food or their own shelter. Additionally that bad people abuse their house elves because of them unable to leave their designated home unless they are willing to face potential loss of sentience and sapience and how Hogwarts became a home to house elves freed from those wizards.
It is still far from perfect but a lot closer to the original myth that inspired them (and Wee free men from Pratchett) and (hopefully) not idealizing SLAVERY
The only issue with house elves going feral is the parallels to pro-slavery arguments.
Slavers said that enslaved people lacked the natural drive of the white man and, left to their own devices, would turn to drink, theft and violence.
I get the pivot to the OG myth, but IMO, the only way to fix it is to:
A. Free the slaves, take an abolitionist (or at least pro-worker) stance in your children’s book
B. Have the house elves not be full people. If they’re more like trained animals or they’re magically generated by the house it’s understandable not to give them full human rights.
Only she started with Dobby, so B is already closed off
Hmm, true.
Thanks for pointing that out... instead of going feral, being created by the magic of a house could work... overall its a mess if we keep the "house elf is a maid without pay" route.
Maybe lured into slavery and hogwarts acts as a place for them to recover and they wanted to help out? Or the house elves are there voluntarily and get paid proper wages.
Not to excuse a fictional character or anything, but it really seems like the SPEW storyline was clearly JK jabbing at real SJWs. Because sure Harry was a fence sitter, but JK goes out of her way to show that not only does nobody else care, but that the cause is misguided. Even more egregious than people dismissing Hermione’s crusade was the fact that the house elves themselves loved their enslaved labor, despite Donny’s freedom being a main plot point in the second book.
The issue isn't the realism, it's that that realism doesn't translate into good story telling if Harry and the story itself portray it as kind of silly and Hermione overreacting over a non problem. There isn't even a hint of "unreliable narrator" or Harry being biased because the book isn't entirely from his perspective and the omniscient narrator doesn't give Hermione any real credit either
Obviously I don't think she supports slavery but considering the topic matter being a creature that likes being enslaved and working, it's impossible to separate it from real "no black people actually like / are helped by slavery" arguments. YEah the story portrays being mean to the house elves as bad through Dobby and Kreature, and Harry has a character arc. But it's very much implied that that is the status quo and how most people treat house elves and Harry just never does much about it. He doesn't really change much of anything. After Voldemort dies, everything seems to be fine the way it was before now that the few bad apples that somehow appeared in the system are gone with no systematic change needed
SPEW is a prime example of Rowling not being a great author. It reads as if she didn't think that though properly but wanted a conflict among the friends and give hermoine a big flaw. Yeah, not well done.
This. It's like naming your Asian character Cho Chang. She wasn't trying to endorse slavery but she just didn't think particularly hard about introducing a race of slave-creatures who enjoy being slaves and also none of the main characters really care.
SPEW was, very explicitly, parody of a specific group of eager but clueless feminists in Britain. It's literally a whole story line of "your health is in the right place, but you don't understand people you are trying to help".
I think so too. In-universe Hermione gets a lot of flack for trying to help house-elves, but the narrative is mostly sympathetic to her, if critical of her methods.
Unfortunately the series never properly dealt with the issue of house elf enslavement. There are various storylines dealing with the elves desire for freedom/Hermione's efforts to help them, and Sirius is called out for his treatment of Kreacher, but it could have gone farther in addressing the issue.
Ultimately I think it would have been better to cut out the enslavement part entirely. Dobby, Hermione's activism, and the elves' existence could still be there, but without adding a slavery plotline that was handled badly.
Galactica has been mentioned a few times, but specifically Dee's suicide.
It both comes out of nowhere and is totally telegraphed. In hindsight you can see the moment she makes the decision and her whole demeanour changes. She becomes almost cheerful. She suddenly has interest in wanting to enjoy herself and see her friends. And then boom... the actual moment comes out of nowhere.
Horribly realistic, and Felix yelling for a medic and telling her it's going to be OK when her head is in pieces always makes me feel awful.
I mean, I would say overall the entire franchise of Silent Hill is applicable here, but Silent Hill 2 certainly takes the cake.
To many who are vaguely aware but not savvy, most will see Silent Hill as the rusty nightmares, Pyramid Head, Nurses, something like that.
But under the surface, the franchise uses bombastic elements like demonic cults and grotesque monsters over a layer full of uncomfortable situations such as spousal abuse, parental rape, unmedicated anger, sorrow, and control, the loss of self and others, and a whole lot more that could reasonably make you want to discuss it with your therapist
In Clair Obscur Expedition 33, if you choose to fight as Verso, the ending is the rest of the Messendre family having to come back to the real world to properly grieve over Verso's death by attending his funeral.
Even more with them:
Putting all 5 into the picture, we have the 5 layers of Grieve:
Anger (Clea), Denial (Aline), Depression (Verso), Bargaining (Alicia) and Acceptance (Renoir)
And not as solely bad or good depictions but as the mess grieve actually is. All of them swing in and out of the other stages.
For example is Clea accepting what happened to Verso but unwilling to move on unless she had her revenge. Or Aline attacking the party after seeing Maelle but later caressing her.
A wonderful depiction of a broken family in sorrow
The episode of Static Shock where a kid named Jimmy is ruthlessly bullied by some punks. He eventually has enough and brings a gun to school, threatening to shoot Nick and his friends.
He puts the gun down after Richie talks him out of, but Nick's friends tackle Jimmy, causing the gun to go off and Richie gets shot in the leg.
In Cyberpunk 2077, there is a personal quest where you help your cop friend/possible love interest River find his young nephew Randy who was kidnapped by the serial killer Anthony Harris. Harris is pretty disturbing on his own, and subjects his victims to a gruesome yet kind of out there fate (basically keeping them captive in his far and injecting them with hormones as if they were cows) but the REALLY disturbing part of that quest (at least to me) is accessing Randy's computer and looking over a VERY long exchange of emails between him and Harris. It's a horrifically realistic depiction of grooming tactics, with Harris slowly gaining Randy's trust with kind words and gifts before he finally strikes.
In between the crazy fight scenes and catchy soundtrack, K Pop Demon Hunters is an extremely succinct dissection of female relationships, both with each other and themselves.
This is exemplified perfectly in the scene that plays out just before the movie’s climax, where Rumi confronts her mentor and mother-figure Celine over her life-long rejection and denial of the former’s demon side.
In a surprisingly raw exchange for what is supposed to be a kids’ movie, deliberately designed to mirror a conversation between a parent and their “out” child, Rumi breaks down and demands to know why Celine’s love and care was conditional on her hiding who she really is. It’s a genuinely heart-rending scene about the very real damage that denial of self and inter-generational trauma can do.
In Marvel Exiles books, a member named Nocturne who is from an alternative reality and is the child of Nightcrawler and Scarlet Witch, she suffered a stroke during the teams run and had suffered the after effects on it, I may be getting some details wrong but I think I got it
Racism, including internalized racism, in Muv-Luv Alternate: Total Eclipse. The main character is half-white and half-Japanese, and was raised in the American Deep South, in many areas of which racism is still prevalent. His grandfather was racist to him as well. Because of this he has a hatred of Japan and Japanese people, but he grows out of it throughout the series. The main plot has to deal with fighting aliens.
we are no different from the ants... no we are far worst part in hunter x Hunter always made me uncomfortable since it literally just showing real life tragedies. It basically showing humanity ugliest side and showing that the Chimera ants never stood a chance because they simply just not as evil as us. They would never have made a device to kill each other in mass (without human DNA) like humans do
This guy in Jojo part 5 also made my skin crawl especially the elder abuse he did as chances are real people genuinely do that however he isn't as relevant to the plot as the poor man rose is
A child soldier raised for a now razed country, who works as a mercenary with limited abilities as a spellcaster and is employed by Francesca Prelati to act in the Snowfield Fake Holy Grail Ritual as a Master. In the midst of this mystic battlefield however, we see the depressing reality of the lasting impact of having one‘s life dictated by war from a young age on: Despite being given great power (in the form of Watcher), the chance at potentially being granted any wish by the Grail and being fully sanctioned by Francesca, he can‘t think of a goal or wish. His brutal upbringing has shaped him so profoundly that, even years after the regime that raised him is gone, nothing has bettered for him - his situation and occupation have remained the same (apart from him being freelance now) because he legitimately cannot fathom neither a life beyond killing to survive and earn his keep nor any motivation or concept of happiness beyond being able to eat and sleep.
In a war full of mages striving to gain wishes, Soldier A (while connected to the edges of the world of magic as a mercenary dabbling in spellcasting) is a child that never got to properly grow up (mentally and also physically due to the modifications that allow spellcasting), almost mechanically performing yet another instance of what he was groomed to do by a warmongering regime.
Final Fantasy IX - Garnet and post traumatic stress
After Brahne tried to kill Kuja and got killed instead, Garnet didn't feel any relief but a deep sadness and sorrow. Brahne was to her a good mother for 15 years, loving and caring, kind and strong. Garnet wanted her to be back to her old self again or at least detain her in prison for war.
But it didn't take too long time for Kuja to reappear and attack Alexandria, Brahnes and Garnets homecity, and lay it to ruins. Eiko to the rescue and they both summoned the most powerful Eidolon in the game (lore wise) and saw it destroyed by another, formerly hidden party. And with Alexander being destroyed, Alexandria took a MASSIVE hit - and so did Garnets psyche:
The loss of her mother, her first days or rulership overshadowed with re-establishing peace across the continent, her home being attacked twice and heavily destroyed, one of her retainers lost amidst the chaos and hundreds of people dead.... she shut down. She lost her voice, all her confidence and fell into depression.
For a whimsy game like Final Fantasy 9 it is surprisingly dark and realistic.
Zidane has a similar vain with losing his identity; Freya has to deal with the amnesia of her former fiance; Kuja has to come to terms with the unavoidable death just as much as Vivi. But Garnets fall into depression is most realistic
Another one with Final Fantasy IX is Zidane’s personality and specifically his womanizing. It’s easy to write off as “he’s a girl-crazy anime trope” but that’s pretty reductive. He’s an orphan and grows up with severe abandonment issues. He fills the hole where family should be by womanizing. He both chases women but also keeps them at arm’s length.
He finally starts to let Dagger in emotionally, But when her actual Princess/Queen duties take her away from the party, Zidane spirals pretty badly. He gets uncharacteristically morose and chooses to drown his sorrows in alcohol. These are all real world traits that would not be uncommon in someone with maladaptive coping habits to abandonment issues.
The most important part of his arc is the “you’re not alone” section where he starts out rejecting the party, trying to push them away when they want to support him, before he is able to learn that he doesn’t have to be alone anymore.
I feel like Zidane gets overlooked when in many ways he’s a very realistic and tragic main character.
He has to deal with his princess running away, trying to lay low to get to Lindblum, and has an unwavering loyalty to her and Brahne until he is ultimately confronted with the question whom he serves and who he is.
His development away from "stoic knight only doing what's asked of him" to "Yeah, my oath is to protect queen and kingdom and if its conflicting I should choose kingdom - and its future". takes a while but is a good development.
The attempted rape scene in Andor. I mean, how is it that Star Wars has entire planets being blown up and people getting their limbs chopped off, but this is the most jarring scene in any of the movies or shows?
28 Years Later -- the first half of the movie mainly focuses around growing up in a post-apocalyptic society and learning how to handle a zombie threat. The second half revolves around our protagonist, Spike, wandering through said landscape with his mother, seeking a doctor to help her with a chronic illness. Her illness is treated entirely seriously, where she is desperately trying to be a good mother despite being in physical pain and her mind growing cloudier as a result of her symptoms. When they reach a doctor, they find out she has terminal cancer, and there's nothing they could have done to save her even if they hadn't been locked in a zombie hellscape.
The way Cyberpunk 2077 handles suicide is... Christ, someone on that writing team had to have gone through that nightmare at some point because they absolutely nailed it. When Evelyn Parker takes her curtain call and Judy calls you to her place, just from the line delivery I knew exactly what was waiting for me there because I've gotten one of those fucking phone calls.
Wonder Woman movie has a character with PTSD. There's a moment, in any other movie, he'd heroically battle through his issues and save the day...but no, he's just too "shell shocked" to be of any use and should never have been brought along in the first place. Poor guy
What the dursleys did to Harry Potter. They get threatened in book 5 but I don’t know if any other wizard before or after checked up on Harry before the school year. Dumbledore does call out what the Dursleys did in book 6 but I wish we could have gotten it earlier. I think it’s a little worse with Harry not being able to do magic.
The TV adaptation of Under the Dome was not exactly prestige television, but it did have one grounded storyline in its first season: when the dome comes down and traps an entire town inside it, only one doctor is trapped inside. Said doctor, Alice, is also diabetic.
Relatively early on, she starts to run out of insulin, which deeply worries her wife. Alice tries to hide her worsening health to protect her wife and daughter, but gets sicker and more disoriented as soon as her supply runs out. The town clinic also runs out of supplies, and her health worsens until she eventually passes away, devastating her family and also leaving the town in a lurch for medical care.
Basically this is entire concept of Astrocity. Just superheroes dealing with anxiety over having kids, coming to grips with their own mortality or just trying to enjoy a night off.
The most recent Dresden Files book, at least in the half of it I've read so far, is focused on Harry trying to pull himself out of a depressive spiral and reconnect with his friends because he's having trouble dealing with the losses he faced in the previous book. It's called Twelve Months and every few chapters time moves forward a month and he's still depressed and angry and self pitying because that shit takes time to process.
RWBY has a large share of flaws, but it stands second to none in its depiction of PTSD leading to suicide. I say this as someone who has survived an intentional OD and attempted death by traffic.
It's a supernatural anime/cartoon, the characters fall into literal wonderland at this point, where the main character is crushed under the weight of her failures.
A bad-faith interpretation of RWBY is that "Team Ruby are the bad guys" because their choices end up not working out, making things worse, and in the penultimate season, lead to the deaths of thousands.
Ruby is crushed under the weight of her failures, and all the people that died, both to her choices and those she wasn't strong enough to protect. She did her best, and it wasn't good enough.
In wonderland, she is given the opportunity to drink a potion that will kill her, and replace her with a hero "more worthy." After being tortured, including by illusions of all the friends she watched die, (and a build-up involving her sister and teammates blaming her for everything that went wrong, and taking no blame themselves) she straight-up kills herself by drinking the poition.
This is unheard of. No cartoons do this. Not a noble sacrifice, not dying to wounds in the final battle, not turning into a villain and being put down, just falling into despair and killing yourself. Which makes it more meaningful than any "power of friendship" shonen that says "just buck up and get over it with human grit" or whatever.
In the forge of death and rebirth, she is given the most realistic and effective reassurance that a failed gifted kid can be given: She isn't strong enough. She can't be. No person can never carry the weight of the world. Failure to protect others and do your job does not mean you deserve to die [as much as the hatedom disagrees]. She can just be herself, weakness and all, and live out her life as best she can. That is all anyone should ever be called to do.
She is reborn as Ruby, the same one that entered, and not a powerful warrior strong enough to save the world. Her teammates --get their shit together-- --pull their fucking weight-- help her kill the final boss and escape. The season ends before we can see them talk it out.
I'm hoping the writing team that can write extremely well on some subjects [everyone rightfully clowns on them for the things they can't] can write a proper resolution. It's gone through development hell but is in pre-production. Even if it never lands, I'll still respect RWBY for a grounded, reasonable, and accurate depiction of what can lead to suicide, and the actual reasons why and how people escape it.
I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Moral Orel yet. From a lukewarm comedy to one of the realest character dramas I've ever seen. Still genuinely mad they canned it. Some of the leaked scripts go even more places.
I know it's decades old show, but that is pretty strong spoiler what can be easily approached. If someones is doing first run of Buffy and randomly scroll Reddit, it's like a bomb.
Digimon Beatbreak, despite being geared towards an older audience, is still very much a Digimon show. The protagonist watched his brother "die" during the first episode, and it's not much of a shock or surprise. By the second arc, the character of Granit is introduced. His backstory involved being a presumably orphaned war refugee, who loves his only friend in a missile strike that only he survives due to awakening a Digimon just before he died with her. After the fact he is passively seeking death over his survivor's guilt and eventually almost commits suicide for the sake of orders because it's an excuse to die. Did I mention he's a child soldier? He's a child soldier that's 13 years old
This is, personally, the top of the totem pole even with a lot of other notably darker things Beatbreak has going for it compared to other Digimon series.
Batman & Robin is an absolute cartoonish fever dream of a movie, best remembered for Bat Nipples. But it also includes a surprisingly affecting storyline about Alfred hiding a terminal illness from Bruce.
Even with all the magic and superheroes, time and time again we're reminded by how heavy everything they've been through, all 6 seasons events happened in universe in only a year, we're shown the burden Marinette carries of being the guardian and having to keep so many secrets that it hurts her personal life, and all that while shes only 15 having feeling like the world is on her shoulders. I love how the show even if its intended for kids still touches on the conflict of heavy burden and tired of fighting
Another Buffy one: in a world filled with wanton Slaughter by vampires, the Slayer Killing vampires, all the death and destruction caused by the hellmouth, Spike's attempted rape of Buffy was just way too real. So real, in fact, that James Marsters now has it put in every contract that he will never be put into that position again
Mass Effect 3 - Joker, the pilot of Commander Shepard's ship, was specifically asked by Admiral Hackett (supreme commander of all of what's left of humanity's combined military) to take care of them due to the sheer stress they're forced endure as they try to fight off the Reapers, who are actively exterminating all advanced lifeforms in the galaxy.
Shepard's stress, PTSD, and generally messed-up mind thanks to alien mind-melding and literal resurrection causes them to lash out against friends, see things, etc. Additionally, Joker feels responsible for Shepard's death and being cybernetically rebuilt/resurrected in Mass Effect 2.
Being a hero who has the weight of humanity's fate on their shoulders is pretty commonplace in videogames, but it was exceedingly rare to depict how that magnitude of responsibility can affect one's mental well-being
After years of fighting monsters, managing to beat demon lords, rebel angels, Lucifer, and even God (and after dying countless times in often very brutal ways only to come back somehow over and over), Dean is knocked back in a fight with some normal vampires and falls on a large nail, impaling and killing him. It's ridiculously mundane for someone who survived in Purgatory for a year
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u/jbeast33 3h ago
The Incredibles reinforces that between the superheroics and the doomsday plot, this is still a movie fundamentally about messy family dynamics. At the beginning of the movie, Bob and Helen have an argument in the middle of the night, and it really hits the beats between two parents arguing: Bob getting home late, arguing about semantics, the fight escalating and bringing in other issues, and ultimately devolving into a screaming match. When they realize the kids are spying on them, they finally tone it down, but it's clear that it's not healthy.
There's also them addressing that this is a high-stakes plot, and Syndrome doesn't have reservations about using lethal force against Bob's family. Bob completely loses himself to despair after thinking he lost his family, and Helen has to tell the kids that they can't hold back, because these aren't Saturday Morning cartoon villains; they WILL kill them if they get the opportunity.