History Main / ApocalypseAnarchy

-->'''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}:''' ''"He'll think twice before he steals his next toaster...!"''\\
'''ComicBook/{{Batman}}:''' ''"Possibly-- But then he'll steal it, anyway! The world might've ended tonight...and look how he chose to celebrate its survival!"''

* The UsefulNotes/Covid19Pandemic, while nowhere near an apocalypse-level event, was certainly treated as such by U.S. governments and media, especially those on the Left-ward side of the spectrum. Harsh lockdowns, schools and businesses forced to close, mandated injections of experimental vaccines, death tallies constantly ticking on the TV... it was a scene straight out of a dystopian movie. After a long period of people being unable to go to work, or school, or even their favorite recreation establishments, and surrounded by a steady climate of fear, tensions (and boredom) were running high. Then the death of George Floyd lit the match, and cities all around the nation exploded into riots, with widespread looting, vandalism, and arson. Entire city blocks went up in flames, and others essentially became no-police zones, too dangerous to quell the anarchy. Eventually things settled back down, but a tremendous amount of damage had been done in the meantime.

--> '''Phil:''' What if there were no tomorrow?\\
'''Gus:''' No tomorrow? That would mean there would be no consequences, there would be no hangovers. We could do whatever we wanted!\\
'''Phil:''' [thinking] That's true. We could do...whatever we wanted.

* [[AfterTheEnd The world has ALREADY ended]], and civilization is gone. All that's left are survivalist compounds, roving bands of brutal raiders, chaos and despair, [[Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar martial artists who can rend the flesh of the wicked with a single press of a pressure point]], gangs of [[BadassBiker badass bikers]] [[CoolBike and their motorbikes]], and [[Film/MadMax a lone anti-hero]] with a CoolCar.

* ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'' shows most of the United States gradually descending into this as the economy collapses and the [[OppressiveStatesOfAmerica tyrannical]] federal government loses control. In some places, there are militias or [=NGOs=] (though these are themselves not always nice people) who can take over in a ''relatively'' orderly manner -- e.g., the [[RightWingMilitiaFanatic Christian Marines]] in the Northeast or the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Landwehr]] in the Midwest -- but in others the chaos is complete, with (for example) Pennsylvania lapsing into utter anarchy.

* ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'': Inverted by V. He's trying to bring about the end of a fascist system by increasing the amount of disorder. He inspires the population to more acts of violence and vandalism, which causes the government to crack down, which leads to more uprising, and so on. The inversion comes from the fact that, for V, the anarchy was a means to an end; the fascist government was bad, the anarchy was ''worse'', but he believes it was a necessary step to achieve a truly happy ending with a "proper" government. It's telling that, as an agent of said anarchy, [[NoPlaceForMeThere he didn't feel that he was even worthy of said happy ending]].

* In ''ComicBook/ApocalypseNerd'', North Korea bombs Seattle, and while a "nerd camp" and a feminist commune seem to be weathering being cut off by the U.S. government in the Cascade mountains just fine, outside the camps, there are raving gangs of big city refugees and Native Americans looting small towns and other settlements of any useful supplies. The main character himself is forced to engage in it, to the point that he's a murderer several times over by the end, not all of which were in self-defence.
* Subverted in ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'' one-shot "The End" where Frank and a fellow prisoner named Paris leave an underground bunker under Sing-Sing after a global thermonuclear war.
--> Paris mentions something I'd forgotten; we've seen nothing living since we left the shelter. He was expecting continuity, humanity learning to adapt and overcome. A settlement. A sign.\\
Instead there's not even a rat or a bug.\\
You don't adapt, or overcome. You don't build a stockade to keep away the mutants, [[AuthorTract any more than you find yourself]] [[Creator/GarthEnnis reborn with superpowers.]]

* In ''Fanfic/AmbienceAFleetSymphony'', after the nukes finished falling, there was a second American Civil War that ended with several parts of the US seceding to form their own private sovereignties. Gangs and bandits rule much of the rest. The governments that survive, whether the Feds in America or elsewhere in the world, are little better than the rebels. Reawakening to this brave new world is what has soured many ship girls to the idea of being subordinate to humanity.

* ''Film/SeekingAFriendForTheEndOfTheWorld'': An asteroid is headed for earth and people are doing everything from heroin to hiring assassins to kill themselves.
* While it doesn't happen for the world, Phil Connors in ''Film/GroundhogDay'' [[DiscussedTrope discusses with a couple of guys]] what they would do if there was no tomorrow. Their enthusiastic answer is that they could do whatever they wanted, now with no consequences. Inspired by this, Phil decides he's going to live his GroundhogDayLoop in the most outlandish way possible[[note]]he still sticks only to being a nuisance through methods like JabbaTableManners, driving like a maniac and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking groundhog kidnapping]]. And even then [[VictoryIsBoring he gets bored soon]]. ''[[DrivenToSuicide Very]]'' bored.[[/note]]
--> '''Phil:''' What if there were no tomorrow?\\
'''Gus:''' No tomorrow? That would mean there would be no consequences, there would be no hangovers. We could do whatever we wanted!\\
'''Phil:''' [thinking] That's true. We could do...whatever we wanted.

* {{Invoked}} by Bane in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises''. He wants to show Batman how depraved his city can be, given the chance. Quite a few citizens step up to the plate, though it's implied the majority of them are the prisoners Bane released from Blackgate and armed for this exact purpose.
* ''Film/IndependenceDay'' features an upcoming alien invasion with a wide range of behaviour: panicking masses, looting, people trying to initiate contact, media covering the events, people awaiting more information, military calmly preparing for the worst, all of this portrayed in a surprisingly plausible way.

* ''Film/{{Threads}}'' follows a similar pattern to ''Film/TheDayAfter'', except in Britain instead of the central United States.
* In ''Film/TheRoad'' the world has descended into chaos. It's the law of the jungle.
* ''Film/TheSeventhSeal'' depicts a historical version of this during the Black Death. Lisa the blacksmith's wife runs away with her lover and passes herself off as "Lady Cunegunde"; some people go drinking and wenching, while others BurnTheWitch.
* ''Film/{{Evolution|2001}}'' goes with the first version, except it's more of a drunken frat party and one girl with a [[MustNotDieAVirgin "I Don't Want To Die A Virgin" placard,]] among other more adolescent displays of anarchy.
-->'''Harry:''' (on smoking again after he'd long quit) Not much of a point to clean living anymore.

* Played straight in ''Film/{{Battleship}}'', when news of the AlienInvasion spreads, there are riots happening in several parts of the world. Though the attack is only on Hawaii, there are people who believe that its the end of the world.
* In ''Film/{{Downfall}}'' during the Soviet offensive to Berlin numerous soldiers that are far enough from the ever closing frontline gleefully abandon their positions and get drunk and party away with [[ApatheticCitizens disconnected civilians]] while shells blast buildings into rubble and small arms fires echo through the streets. Another scenes shows a couple slicing a piece of meat from a dead horse while the battle rages around them.
* In ''Film/LeftBehind2014'': everybody seems to lose their shit when [[CaughtUpInTheRapture the Rapture]] takes place.
* In ''Film/TwentyYearsAfter'': There are no longer any modern governments due to the aftermath of the nuclear war and plague. There are only small settlements left.

* ''Film/TheDayTheEarthCaughtFire'': Water rationing is imposed as the Earth hurls toward the Sun. At one point, the protagonist has to fight his way through a street full of teenagers high on drugs having a water fight. He eventually makes his way to the apartment of his LoveInterest, and they spend a more quiet time together.
* ''Film/UltramanCosmosVsUltramanJusticeTheFinalBattle'': Early in the movie after Ultraman Cosmos is seemingly killed, and its revealed that Earth will be wiped out in 35 hours, the movie then cuts to a rock band celebrating doomsday in the streets of Tokyo.
* ''Film/RiotGirls'': With society's collapse, all that's left in a small town is a bunch of teenagers struggling for survival. One group of them are rich jocks who've become brutal overlords, the others poor scavengers.

* ''Literature/TheLastPoliceman'' has this as a framing device: a comet has been detected that ''will'' hit Earth and wipe out all life, without any possibility of survival. Society continues for about a month before people start to realize the futility, and subsequently everything starts breaking down. Jobs are abandoned, food starts to get scarce, and people start partying like it's the end of the world. In the midst of all this, someone is killed, and the protagonist, the titular last policeman, takes it upon himself to find the murderer, even as all his colleagues ask why he even bothers when everyone is going to die anyway.
* In the ''Literature/LeftBehind'' series book ''Glorious Appearing'', a good deal of humanity who have taken Nicolae Carpathia's "mark of loyalty" and worshiped his image is in a panic when they realize their finances went up in smoke with the destruction of New Babylon prior to the Lord's coming.

* ''Film/IndependenceDay'' featured an upcoming alien invasion with a wide range of behaviour: panicking masses, looting, people trying to initiate contact, media covering the events, people awaiting more information, military calmly preparing for the worst, all of this portrayed in a surprisingly plausible way.

* This trope, as well as the efforts to avert it and bring order back to the world, is a major part of the ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' universe. Starting in April 2052 and ending on October 23, 2077 the world is embroiled in the Resource Wars, a series of conflicts over [[PostPeakOil the last of the oil in the world]], starting between smaller states and eventually resulting in Europe and the Middle East falling apart when the oil fields eventually dry up. China and the United States (and an annexed Canada) become the last remaining stable powers and intense rivals, a rivalry that boils over into nuclear conflict that finishes off both. There is widespread anarchy shortly after the bombs fell and in the ensuing weeks. The Sierra Army Depot closes itself off from the outside world as the Vaults seal and the Enclave escape into shelters. Major cities such as Los Angeles, Washington D.C., and Mexico City are destroyed. Survivors eke out a living in the ruins. Las Vegas and the surrounding Mojave area are largely protected by Mr. House and while the bomb heading for Boston misses the city itself, it turns the area south of the urban center into a radioactive hotspot.

* ''ComicBook/VForVendetta'': Inverted by V. He's trying to bring about the end of a fascist system by increasing the amount of disorder. He inspires the population to more acts of violence and vandalism, which causes the government to crack down, which leads to more uprising, and so on. The inversion comes from the fact that, for V, the anarchy was a means to an end; the fascist government was bad, the anarchy was ''worse'', but he believes it was a necessary step to achieve a truly happy ending with a "proper" government. It's telling that, as an agent of said anarchy, he didn't feel that he was even worthy of said happy ending.