History Main / BurnBabyBurn

* In ''Literature/TheBridgeOfClay'' the Dunbar boys take their parents' bed out to an abandoned field behind their house (their mother is dead, their father has left them and they finally get to clearing their bedroom). Their first attempt is thwarted by strong westerly wind and risk of setting the whole field on fire and they finally do it a few years later, when it becomes even more symbolic.

* ''Series/FellowTravelers'': In the sixth episode, after Lucy Fuller reads without permission a letter that Tim Laughlin wrote to his former lover Hawkins Fuller, she burns it out of jealousy because she hates the fact that her husband loves a man more than her. As a consequence, Hawk never knew of the letter's existence.

* ''{{Series/Cracker}}''. Jane Penhaligon burns her clothes after she's been raped, causing Fitz (who's unaware of the reason) to quip that burning a bra is "a bit too [[TheSixties Sixties]]."

You've got some important paperwork to get rid of, and the paper shredder is not working. Or, well...it's just not symbolic enough, really. Because this paper is Very Special to you. Get the kerosene and the matches. It's time to build a fire.

TV Tropes would also like to apologize to any readers who now have "Disco Inferno" by The Trammps stuck in their heads and inform those that didn't that [[CentipedesDilemma they now do.]]

* ''Manga/GTOTheEarlyYears'': Ryuji decides he needs to let go of the past, and burns [[spoiler:the pictures of him and Ayumi that she gave him]].

* ''{{Series/Oz}}'': When Kareem Said finds himself [[WhereDaWhiteWomenAt falling in love with Tricia Ross]], he burns a picture of her in an attempt to kill that love. It doesn't work, and when knowledge of the affair becomes public knowledge among the black prison population he's ousted as head of the Muslims.

* A brief scene in Music/VanHalen's "Right Now" has this.
* ''Music/{{Rammstein}}'' spells this out in Benzin:
-->Willst du dich von etwas trennen,\\
dann musst du es verbrennen.\\
Willst du es nie wiedersehen?\\
Lass es schwimmen in Benzin!\\
[[labelnote:translation]]If you want to separate yourself from something, you must burn it. [If] you never want to see it again, let it swim in gasoline![[/labelnote]]

* In ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigations'', part of the reason for the fires in the last case was to destroy evidence of [[spoiler:a counterfeiting operation]].

* ''WebVideo/MarbleHornets'' starts out when Jay gets some [[CassetteCraze video tapes]] and instructions to burn them. He decided to post them on Website/YouTube instead. A whole lot of JigsawPuzzlePlot and NightmareFuel later, we learn that [[spoiler:Alex actually ''did'' burn some of the tapes- judging from one that was still playable, probably the ones that showed him [[VillainProtagonist doing incriminating things]]]].

* There's a parody of this in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' where the Librarian, who was transformed into an orangutan, tears out his page in every copy of his graduation yearbook he can find, leaving only the smell of bananas, so that the other wizards at Unseen University won't be tempted to look up his true name and turn him back into a human.

* In 2002, a Colorado forest ranger allegedly chose to burn some letters from an estranged husband despite a fire ban. The fire escaped the pit and resulted in the Hayman Fire, the largest forest fire in Colorado history at the time.

* Artists doing this when experiencing ArtistDisillusionment and/or CreatorBreakdown is TruthInTelevision- [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederic_Remington Frederic Remington]], known as one of America's historical great artists for his highly detailed and life-like sculptures and paintings of the WildWest, infamously built a bonfire and torched dozens of his oil paintings experimenting with impressionism and expressionism or featuring non-western subjects, because no one seemed to care about anything but his realistic paintings of Native Americans, horses, and cowboys. Ironically, [[PosthumousPopularityPotential years after his death]] surviving examples of his experimental paintings are highly sought after because they represent a more personal facet and unacknowledged depth to Remington's artistry, as opposed to the ([[Administrivia/TropesAreTools masterfully composed and executed]]) StrictlyFormula work he produced for public sale.