History Main / PostHistoricalTrauma

* The 'baby Addison' episode on ''{{Series/Moonlighting}}''.

* On ''{{Series/NCIS}}'', Leroy Jethro Gibbs is also shown reacting to the facts of 9/11 several years after the fact, due to [[EasyAmnesia plot-related memory loss.]]

* This trope is the whole reason that ''War and Democide Never Again'' and its sequels even exist. The writer, R. J. Rummel, was a historian and political scientist whose specialty was totalitarian dictatorships which killed millions of innocents, and so he, in his old age, wrote a hypothetical WishFulfillment fantasy in which two time-travelers (transparently based on [[SelfInsertFic himself]] and [[WriteWhoYouKnow his wife]]) manage to prevent them all and turn the whole world peaceful and democratic. That said, since he wasn't a professional writer.

* Leeloo's history lesson in ''Film/TheFifthElement,'' after typing in 'war' and seeing a huge montage of images from UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne, UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo, UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar and so on.

* FishOutOfTemporalWater Johanna Sinclair in the [[http://community.livejournal.com/a_slight_glitch Unexpected Results]] had one when she found out about the [[LightNovel/TrinityBlood Armageddon]].

* This trope is the whole reason that ''War and Democide Never Again'' and its sequels even exist. The writer, R. J. Rummel, was a historian and political scientist whose specialty was totalitarian dictatorships which killed millions of innocents, and so he, in his old age, wrote a hypothetical WishFulfillment fantasy in which two time-travelers (transparently based on [[SelfInsertFic himself]] and [[WriteWhoYouKnow his wife]]) manage to prevent them all and turn the whole world peaceful and democratic. That said, since he wasn't a professional writer, [[SturgeonsLaw the books still aren't very good]].

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* In ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'', there is a video tape called Chapter Black which shows [[HumansAreBastards every evil action that humans have done]]. However, Chapter Black is meant to be seen in conjunction with Chapter White, a tape that showcases [[RousseauWasRight the best deeds of humanity]]. Watching Chapter Black on its own is enough to turn a FriendToAllLivingThings into a StrawNihilist.

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* In ''Film/TheReader'' Michael and his fellow students can't remember the last war and the atrocities committed due to their young age. One of the law students lashes out at the professor about how they (their parents generation) could have let UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust happen and do nothing about it.

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* On ''{{Series/NCIS}}'', Leroy Jethro Gibbs is also shown reacting to the facts of 9/11 several years after the fact, due to [[EasyAmnesia plot related memory loss.]]
** Gibbs' shock also has a very specific "We could have avoided all this" feeling, because as a government agent (even with a faulty memory) he knows that U.S. intelligence was watching Bin Laden throughout the 90's.
* The 1999 Creator/DisneyChannel movie ''Smart House'' has the titular house's [[AIIsACrapshoot malfunctioning AI]] trap the occupants "safely" within the house, with 20th century wars, riots, and whatnot as the rationale for doing so.

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* The Music/{{Rammstein}} song ''Deutschland'' is about the group wanting to love Germany but they can't ignore it's bloody, bloody history. The video showcases Germany's darkest historical moments in a satirical (but [[NightmareFuel nightmarish]], in true Rammstein style) fashion.

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This last one is especially thorny. The more sheltered, innocent, and good-natured TheCutie, the harder she will [[BreakTheCutie crash]] and [[HeroicBSOD burn]] when informed of humanities' many self-inflicted sins. It doesn't help that she's usually a LivingMacGuffin or BarrierMaiden whose good faith is central to beating the supreme evil.

* Leeloo's history lesson in ''Film/TheFifthElement,'' after typing in 'war' and seeing a huge montage of images from UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne, UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo, UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar and so on. To be fair, a lot of that stuff is pretty damn grim, and she'd had no knowledge of this prior.

* The 'baby Addison' episode on ''{{Series/Moonlighting}}''. To be fair, the innocent being told this was an ''unborn child''.

* Leeloo's history lesson in ''Film/TheFifthElement,'' after typing in 'war' and seeing a huge montage of images from UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne, UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo, UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar and so on. To be fair, a lot of that stuff is pretty damn grim.
* ''Film/GalaxyQuest'': When Jason tells Mathesar that they're actors while he's on the torture table, Mathesar is distraught. Their culture doesn't understand acting, nor did they even have a ''concept'' of lying or deceit before the BigBad started attacking them. Mathesar considers lying (and by extension acting) a huge betrayal, so Jason's admission is devastating. However, after the crew is successful, Mathesar thinks he was just kidding.
** It's more likely that Mathesar learned to lie himself to protect his crew from finding all this out for themselves.

There are events for which the SpearCarrier's "I bring ill tidings" does no justice. These are calamities so timelessly tragic, that all fiction struggles to portray their due gravity and pain. Things like: What do you tell a child when a [[ParentalAbandonment parent dies?]] Is there a right way to tell someone their spouse has been killed? How exactly do you tell the FriendToAllLivingThings she's part of a race that's [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters full of bastards]] who prove {{Rousseau|WasRight}} wrong?

This last one is especially thorny. The more sheltered, innocent, and good-natured TheCutie, the harder she will [[BreakTheCutie break]] and [[HeroicBSOD burn]] when informed of humanities' many self-inflicted sins. It doesn't help that she's usually the LivingMacGuffin or a BarrierMaiden whose good faith is central to beating the supreme evil.

Clever villains will use this as a demoralizing ploy on the heroes, surely UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans if the result is a more civilized (or ''extinct'') human race? Heroes who are especially shaken up by his StoryboardingTheApocalypse may even do a FaceHeelTurn. Inevitably, it's up to the MessianicArchetype to restore the shaken faith, usually with a hearty dose of ThePowerOfFriendship and a WhoopiEpiphanySpeech about how "The sins of the past can not be undone but for the good works we do today!"

Popular events to get traumatized with include but are by no means limited to: global environmental destruction, African poverty and genocides, the Crusades (the effect is lost somewhat, in comparison to others, if actual figures are used), UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar, [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarOne WWI]] and [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarTwo WWII]]. The [[NukeEm atomic bombings]] of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust, are particularly popular episodes from the latter conflict. Note that the way (high-)school history works is usually with short summaries and series of anecdotes, rarely explaining things in-depth or using actual (casualty, war-crime, etc) figures and statistics. Consequently, expect the "cool" events - like TheTokyoFireball or the UsefulNotes/AtomicBombingsOfHiroshimaAndNagasaki - to feature more prominently than (orders of magnitude) bloodier and gorier, but less spectacular, events like The UsefulNotes/SecondSinoJapaneseWar.

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* ''WebComic/ElGoonishShive'': Grace has a HeroicBSOD after learning about UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, especially since Hitler reminded her of [[BigBad Damien]].

->''"Try explaining [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler Hitler]] to a kid."''