History Main / LivingIsMoreThanSurviving

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In ''VideoGame/IWasATeenageExocolonist'', Marz and Nomi are bored with just trying to survive on Vertumna and believe that there should be entertainment facilities, so that colonists who aspire to have creative jobs can make their life worth living on the hostile alien planet.
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[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Anime/{{Princess Mononoke}}: Creator/{{Studio Ghibli}} goes out of its way to show how Lady Eboshi and her people industrialize for the survival of themselves and their economy. As the GreenAesop progresses, it subverts the idea of living InHarmonyWithNature as good, pointing out that greed and exploitation from a need for survival are a completely natural part of the food chain, but to transcend one's own nature by seeing with eyes not clouded by hatred is vastly superior to mere survival.
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As a DoubleAesop, it often overlaps with GreenAesop, but instead of promoting being InHarmonyWithNature or CapitalismIsBad, this trope allows a balance of concepts like SurvivalOfTheFittest and NatureIsNotNice to promote that living above your natural impulses and instincts to protect the environment or [[GoodCapitalismBadCapitalism live an honest life]] is superior to merely being part of the food chain. This stems back to how humans are called ''Homo sapiens'' for good reason: every creature on the world, including humans, have the instinct to survive, but only humans (other sapient species in speculative fiction notwithstanding) can think beyond survival -- that is, comfort, wealth, expression, and many more.

This stems back to how humans are called ''Homo sapiens'' for good reason: every creature on the world, including humans, have the instinct to survive, but only humans (other sapient species in speculative fiction notwithstanding) can think beyond survival -- that is, comfort, wealth, expression, and many more.

* The finale of ''WesternAnimation/TheGhostOfMollyMcGee'' has this moral as Scratch finds out that he isn’t really a ghost, he’s the wraith of a gloomy man named Todd Mortenson and that he spent his whole life being fearful of death that he never experienced life with an old friend of his, Adria. With some encouragement from Molly, he returns to his body and begins living life.

* In ''VideoGame/IWasATeenageExocolonist'', Marz and Nomi are bored with just trying to survive on Vertumna and believe that there should be entertainment facilities, so that colonists with aspire to have creative jobs can make their life worth living on the hostile alien planet.

* This is the whole point of "co-existing with the virus" doctrine when dealing with the COVID-19 Pandemic in mid-2021 and onwards. Given on how the "Zero Covid Policy" would be realistically ineffective at best, or would result in an economic collapse at worst, they decided to shift to a policy of vaccinating people and wearing masks while maintaining semblance to everyday life in order to sustain economic balance and allow people to have some kind of normal existence after prolonged isolation.

* An interesting case comes from an aphorism of Creator/FriedrichNietzsche. "To live is to suffer. To survive is to find some meaning to the suffering." While the sentence flips around the meaning of both words, making it Surviving Is More Than Living, it is very much this same notion expressed : there is more to existence than suffering, and finding something that makes it "worth it" is central to living a fullfilling life, in contrast to simply trying to minimize the pain.

This stems back to how humans are called "homo sapiens" for good reason: every creature on the world, including humans, have the instinct to survive, but only humans (other sapient species in speculative fiction notwithstanding) can think beyond survival - that is, comfort, wealth, expression, and many more.

* ''Film/MadMax2TheRoadWarrior''. [[WastelandElder Papagallo]] offers this to Max while trying to persuade him to stay and help the settlement. He can take his vehicle and leave but would end up little different from the Marauders besieging them. Or he can stay and join a community and build a future for himself. Tragically Max is so burnt out from [[Film/MadMax losing his family]] [[NoPlaceForMeHere he refuses to take up the offer]] even after circumstances force him to help out anyway.

See also WeHaveBecomeComplacent and DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife. Compare {{Social Darwinist}}s, who make "survival of the fittest" their credo. Contrast NothingLeftToDoButDie. A MotivationalLie may be used to instill this in someone. BewareTheLiving or anybody who follows this creed but is TooDumbToLive.

See also WeHaveBecomeComplacent and DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife. Compare {{Social Darwinist}}s, who make "survival of the fittest" their credo. Contrast NothingLeftToDoButDie. A MotivationalLie may be used to instill this in someone.

* ''WebAnimation/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicCinematicUniverse'': [[ComicBook/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicZayne Carrick and Jarael]] have gone to hiding on Nar Shaddaa from the Sith that have been hunting down the Jedi all over the galaxy. They initially attempt to not get involved in [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords Meetra Surik's business]] in ''Episode VI: Knights and the Darkness Pt. I'', but Zayne eventually decides his conscience can't stand living in the shadows so he can survive while he can use his gifts to do good. After a talk with Jarael about if their current life is life at all, [[NeutralNoLonger they both come out of hiding and assist Surik]].

This {{Aesop}} comes when at least one character begins to realize that all their community's focus on survival is producing a life that means nothing beyond giving into their fears or sloth. Instead, the characters realize that they have to have more in their lives, something to live or work for. This puts them in conflict with the others who refuse to change and demand the dissenters fall back in line and re-enter their shell. This will climax with the heroes saying something like "No, I'm tired of surviving where the only thing waiting for us is death, I want [[WorthLivingFor something to live for!]]"

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/StationEleven'': The Traveling Symphony's motto is "Survival is Insufficient". They travel around Lake Michigan performing Shakespeare for post-apocalyptic towns because they believe in the transformative power of art following disaster.
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* This is the dilemma many people with depression and other serious mental illnesses face, believing that the best they can hope for is simply survival without actually enjoying life. Helping them see beyond that is a major part of recovery.

* This is the whole point of "co-existing with the virus" doctrine when dealing with the COVID-19 Pandemic in mid-2021 and onwards. Given on how the "Zero Covid Policy" would be realistically ineffective at best, or would result in an economic collapse at worst, they decided to shift to a policy of vaccinating people and wearing masks while maintaining semblance to everyday life in order to sustain economic balance.