History Main / AloneInACrowd

** Except in this case it's a bit of a subversion, considering that he's walking through the crowd because his mission is over and the world is now a place where he can live like anyone else

* Played with in the opening to the first ''Anime/{{Hell Girl}}'' season. Near the end of it, we see a greyed-out, bustling crowd, with the Hell Girl herself in the middle of the crush, staring in full color at the camera. Possibly used in this case to highlight that Ai is not part of this world, and as such literally alone in the crowd.
* The day after [[spoiler:Mami's death]] in ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', Madoka feels like she's in a foreign country, surrounded by strangers. Sayaka agrees, and explains that it's because [[TheMasquerade no one else knows what happened]]. The visual version of the trope is used a few times, such as at [[spoiler:Sayaka's funeral]].

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* The final shot of Creator/FritzLang film ''Film/ScarletStreet'' shows Chris, who has gotten away with murder but is now homeless and wracked with guilt, shuffling down a crowded city sidewalk. Then the other people fade away, and Chris is shuffling down the street alone.
* Another final shot: in Joseph Mankiewicz's adaptation of ''Film/TheQuietAmerican'' (1958), protagonist Thomas Fowler (played by Creator/MichaelRedgrave) is a broken man, having been rejected by the woman he loves and wracked with guilt for having [[spoiler: instigated the death of an American man who was his rival in love - [[PyrrhicVictory all for nothing]]]]. He rejects an offer to go the church for solace and instead walks away dejectedly through a crowded Vietnamese street, where he is eventually lost from view.
* In ''Film/{{Cavalcade}}'', the main character finds out that her son has been killed in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI just as the bells toll announcing the armistice that ended the war. She staggers out of her house and wanders through the joyful crowds, dazed with grief.
* The central theme of 1928 silent classic ''Film/TheCrowd'', in which the protagonist discovers how indifferent The Crowd is when his life falls apart.

* Bruce Willis does it in ''Film/{{Unbreakable}}'' -- slight variation in that he's deliberately expecting people to bump into him in order to [[spoiler:trigger his newly discovered DetectEvil power.]]
* ''Film/{{Equilibrium}}'': John Preston after he goes off his emotion-suppressing meds. Probably many of the sense offenders as well, but the movie doesn't focus on them.

* The opening sequence of the remake of ''Film/{{Bedazzled 2000}}''.
* In ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'', right before Rose attempts suicide, she's sitting at the table in the lobby, narrating, but her body doesn't move. This has less to do with a shocking revelation, and more to do with her feeling that if she screamed, no one would hear, or even care.

* ''Film/TaxiDriver'' - "Loneliness has followed me my whole life, everywhere. In bars, and cars, sidewalks, stores, everywhere. There's no escape. I'm god's lonely man."
* A DiscussedTrope in ''Film/SeparateTables''. Ann is portrayed as a sexy seductress (she's played by Rita Hayworth!) but she admits to John that she is terrified of growing old alone, and she doesn't have any friends.
--> '''Ann''': Being alone in a crowd is worse. It's more painful, more frightening.
* DiscussedTrope in ''Film/{{Lonesome}}'', which is about two single, lonely people who live in the teeming mass of humanity that is Manhattan.
--> '''Jim''': It's funny how lonesome a fella can be, especially with a million people around him.
* ''Film/{{Army}}'': Dramatically so, when a weeping, desperate Maka is trying to find her son as he marches away--while everyone else in the crowd is waving flags, giddy with patriotic enthusiasm.
* ''Film/ManOfIron'': Winkel is thrown out of Solidarity headquarters, the movement having discovered that he was sent to infiltrate them by the government. He walks out in a daze, alone in the triumphal crowd of people leaving the shipyard after the Gdansk agreement was signed.

* In ''Literature/AGameOfThrones'', Tyrion's isolation because of his dwarfism is emphasized as he walks through his father's war camp:
-->The Lannister camp sprawled for miles between the river and the kingsroad. In amongst the men and the horses and the trees, it was easy to get lost, and Tyrion did. He passed a dozen great pavilions and a hundred cookfires [...] No one looked at him. No one spoke to him. No one paid him any mind. He was surrounded by men sworn to House Lannister, a vast host twenty thousand strong, and yet he was alone.

* The second ''Literature/AlexRider'' book reintroduces us to the main character with this trope.
* In ''The Return'', one of the last books in the ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' series, [[ActionGirl Rachel]] at one point walks through the hallway of her school - a setting that has not been featured in several books as the war has taken an increasingly grim turn - and reflects that she no longer feels like she belongs there at all and can't even pretend to anymore. Sure enough, she has a breakdown in class a chapter later and flees the school. [[spoiler:This is the last time school is visited, as in the next book the Animorphs all become fugitives and have to go into hiding.]]

* In ''Series/{{Smallville}}'', Clark is this when he sees [[spoiler:Lana and Lex]] hugging.
* The ''Series/ShokojoSera'' episode "A Sad Farewell" is a good example - after [[spoiler:leaving the Seminary]], Sara walks around the streets of London in a daze.
* In the first episode of ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'', J.D. struggles to cope with his first day as a doctor, rubbing his temples while blurred, fast-motion people swarm around him. Happens again in "My TCW", J.D. wanders despondently down a hallway surrounded by busy hospital staff as he narrates how it's important to hold on to the relationships you have and laments how awful it feels to be alone - and providing the page quote.
* In the pilot of ''Series/VeronicaMars'', Veronica sits at the lunch table, reading a book, as the entire student body moves around her in fast-forward. This isn't exactly the same, however, as Veronica has already ''been'' jaded [[spoiler:by the death of her best friend, disgrace of her father, and her own date-rape]], she has simply accepted her status as a loner. And then the new kid sits down beside her...
* In the ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' season 7 premiere, after Tony believes that Ziva is dead, he is shown at his desk [[HeroicBSOD just sitting there in shock]], the rest of the world whirling at a fast pace around him.
* Happens in the AMC series ''Rubicon'', in the first episode. The protagonist is in a diner and sees on the TV that the train his father-in-law was on was involved in a deadly crash. He then walks out onto the street in a daze, amidst a crowd of people.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'', at the end of the episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E2TheEndOfTheWorld "The End of the World"]]. After the Sun expands to swallow the Earth in the year five-billion and change, the Ninth Doctor takes Rose back to an ordinary, bustling city street in her own time. The two of them stand there for some time, with the Doctor explaining how he's now the LastOfHisKind. They don't join the flow of the crowd until Rose decides they need to get some chips.
* The opening titles of British comedy series ''Series/{{Rev}}''.
* KoreanSeries use this camera shot alot, especially two people standing a distance apart, unmoving while crowds of people walk by.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'' episode called "To See the Invisible Man". The protagonist is sentenced to be "invisible" for a year (really just aggressively ignored by everyone), and so spends most of the episode with people moving around him as if he wasn't there.
* ''Series/{{Homeland}}'' literalizes the trope to chilling effect during an episode in series 1, when Dana Brody fast-forwards a video she took of her father during a visit to Gettysburg -- and shows him standing ''completely still'' as the crowd blurs around him.

* The cover for Avril Lavigne's album "Let Go."

--> ''I live in silence, where no one knows my name''
--> ''I live in silence, where no one speaks my name''
--> ''I love my silence, I love my peace within the void''
--> ''I love my silence, far away from every voice''
* Home by Michael Buble is a combo with this and the world weary traveler.
* Music/CityAndColour's "Hello, I'm In Delaware"

-->''In the crowd alone''
-->''And every second passing reminds me I'm not home''
* All the Love in the World by Music/NineInchNails.
-->''Hiding in the crowd I'm all alone.''
-->''No one's heard a single word I've said.''
-->''They don't sound as good outside my head.''
-->''It looks as though the past is here to stay.''
-->''I've become a million miles a- Why do you get all the love in the world?''
* The Invisible Man by Music/{{Marillion}}
-->''I shout my name in the public places''
-->''No one seems to notice''
-->''No one understands''
-->''I stand perfectly still''
-->''In the middle of the road''
-->''I hold my nerve''
-->''I hold my nerve''
-->''Hold my nerve''
-->''But the cars don't swerve''
* Have You Ever, by The Offspring:
-->''Have you ever been at someplace''\\
''Recognizing everybody's face''\\
''Until you realized that there was no one there you knew''
* Mentioned in "Million Miles" by Music/{{Reamonn}}:
-->''To walk this streets without you, I hate being on my own''
-->''So many souls around you, but it never feels like home''
* Used to describe depression in ‘Tears of a Clown’ by Music/{{IronMaiden}}
-->''All alone in a crowded room''
-->''He tries to force a smile''
-->''The smile it beamed, or so it seemed''
* The Music/{{ABBA}} song "Super Trouper" takes its name from the massive spotlights that are used to isolate the singer while she performs on stage, which in turn act as a metaphor for her loneliness and isolation despite performing in front of thousands of people.

[[folder:Theater]]

* Summed up in Theatre/{{Spamalot}} with the song "I'm All Alone".

* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' - Despite the Reaper's Game taking place in the oh-so-crowded district of Shibuya, the players of the game are alone in the crowd-- non-players can't see them, can't hear them, and definitely can't help them.
* The [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbJjAJnODck animated intro]] for Hanako's route in ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo'' has her standing alone in a fast-forwarded crowd. And then, subverted: she notices Hisao is also there, and the rest of the crowd vanishes as they walk towards each other.

* In ''Webcomic/FatedFeather'', in the seventh chapter, Laryk stands silently while Hawke fights Kaanis and the others watch [[spoiler:because Hawke had just cast her out of the crew]].

* [[http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20061216 This strip ]] of Webcomic/GirlGenius, shortly after [[spoiler:Lars]] dies from [[TakingTheBullet jumping in front of an attack meant for Agatha]]. While the battle continues to rage around her, [[PaintingTheMedium it's all washed out and out-of-focus]] as she kneels over [[spoiler:his]] body in stunned shock.
* In ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=2723 the poor unhappy elephant is ignored at the party.]]
* In ''Webcomic/RedsPlanet'', [[http://www.redsplanet.com/comic/rp/ch03/chapter-three-30-31/ Red is alone while the aliens pair off and tell each other about the abduction.]]

* Referenced verbatim in the obscure cartoon ''WesternAnimation/CaptainStar''. "Limbs" Jones, who has nine heads with independent personalities, is upset because he is alone. TheCaptain points out that he has nine heads, and Scarlet replies "One ''can'' get lonely in a crowd".
* In the ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'' episode "Island Adventure", being stranded on an island with Sadie & Steven causes Lars to break down crying, and he asks Sadie "Do you ever feel lonely even when you're with people?"

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* ''Series/DoctorWho'', during episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E2TheEndOfTheWorld "The End of the World"]], has the Ninth Doctor return to modern-day Earth and stand in a crowd of bustling city folk, lamenting the destruction of Gallifrey at the end of the Time War. Averted in that the Doctor is ''not'' alone: Rose is right there to comfort him.

* In JohnCWright's ''Literature/CountToATrillion'' Menelaus goes to a [[DancesAndBalls ball]] after Blackie rouses him, and he feels this.

* ''Anime/NinetyOneDays'': In part of the opening credits sequence Avilio is walking down the sidewalk as crowds of people pass him in fast-forward, and a short distance away he sees his slain parents and little brother walking together at normal speed as if they were still alive. This isolation in a crowd represents how he is alienated from society and unable to move on with his life after the night they were murdered, while the memories that continue haunt him spur his quest for vengeance.

-->"I get lonesome sometimes. I get lonesome right in the middle of a crowd." --ElvisPresley

* In ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'', right before Rose attempts suicide, she's sitting at the table in the lobby, narrating, but her body doesn't move. This is less to do with a shocking revelation, and more to do with her feeling that if she screamed, no one would hear, or even care.

All the Love in the World by Music/NineInchNails.

The Invisible Man by Music/{{Marillion}}

The Invisible Man by {{Marillion}}

The Invisible Man by [[Marillion]]

The Invisible Man by Music/Marillion

Something has happened to TheHero. A shocking revelation, new information brought to light, revealing their [[BigBadFriend best friend]] is a [[EtTuBrute traitor]] or that nothing they did [[StatusQuoIsGod changed anything]] or maybe they can finally [[JadeColoredGlasses see the world the way it is]]. Or perhaps it's something even simpler, perhaps they just simply lose their [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids idealism]] and plunge into a contemplation of existential meaninglessness. Or maybe they're just feeling alone and unloved in the world. They don't go into a HeroicBSOD, they just simply stand there, as a crowd of people moves around them (sometimes in fast-forward, even further isolating them). They're simply AloneInACrowd. Sometimes known as "calm in a chaotic world" if the crowd moves in fast-forward.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse'', [[spoiler: being stranded on an island with Sadie & Steven causes Lars to break down crying & he asks Sadie "Do you ever feel lonely even when you're with people?"]]

* Another final shot: in Joseph Mankiewicz's adaptation of ''Film/TheQuietAmerican'' (1958), protagonist Thomas Fowler (Creator/MichaelRedgrave) is a broken man, having been rejected by the woman he loves and wracked with guilt for having [[spoiler: instigated the death of an American man who was his rival in love - [[PyrrhicVictory all for nothing]]. He rejects an offer to go the church for solace and instead walks away dejectedly through a crowded Vietnamese street, where he is eventually lost from view.