History Main / SurvivorshipBias

* Possibly the reason for the popular understanding of elves as always good, wise and perfect. In ''Literature/Tolkien'sLegendarium'' (which is more or less the OG high fantasy work), there were elves who made huge mistakes and/or were terrible jerks, but they seem to have managed to get themselves all killed way before ''Literature/TheLordoftheRings'' and far less people know about the other works comprising the cycle.

* Possibly the reason for the popular understanding of elves as always good, wise and perfect. In ''Literature/Tolkien's Legendarium'' (which is more or less the OG high fantasywork), there were elves who made huge mistakes and/or were terrible jerks, but they seem to have managed to get themselves all killed way before ''Literature/The Lord of the Rings'' and far less people know about the other works comprising the cycle.

* Possibly the reason for the popular understanding of elves as always good, wise and perfect. In Tolkien's Legendarium (which popularised them and a whole lot of other fantasy tropes), there were elves who made hugge mistakes and/or were terrible jerks, but they seem to have mostly gotten themselves killed way before The Lord of the Rings, which is the author's most popular work.

'''Take care before listing "Aversions" or "Subversions".''' On the one hand, while any story where EverybodyDies seems like an aversion, it depends on several factors, like:

!! Tropes which rely on this often:

!! Played With:

!! Examples

[[folder: Film]]
* Zig-zagged in ''Film/{{Psycho}}''. While the DecoyProtagonist [[ItWasHisSled dies early in the film]], after the story continues on, the narrative shifts its emotional investment to the surviving characters and VillainProtagonist.

* Averted in the 1932 film ''Film/TheSignOfTheCross'', directed by Creator/CecilBDeMille. All the Christians die, as well as the male lead. All the named antagonists live and prosper (due to being actual historical people who died later).

** ''Film/ThePianist'': Deconstructed. Szpilman knows what fate awaits his family and many others, and has massive SurvivorsGuilt.
** Averted in Creator/JerryLewis's notorious unreleased Holocaust film ''Film/TheDayTheClownCried''. At the end, the eponymous clown dies, along with everyone he tried to help.

* In ''Film/{{Gravity}}'', Ryan Stone is one out of two astronauts to survive the opening scenes, but she remains the central focus of the film even before George Clooney's character dies.

* ''Literature/TheLittleMatchGirl'' is an aversion of the RagsToRiches variant. It's about a poor girl who tries to make money selling matches in the middle of winter, and ends up freezing to death.

[[folder:LiveActionTelevision]]

* Discussed on ''Series/AdamRuinsEverything'', when a young man decides he doesn't really need college, since he can just drop out and become a successful entrepreneur like Bill Gates. Adam points out that success stories like that are a rarity, and that only 1% of jobs are given to people without ''at least'' a bachelor's degree. He further explains that Bill Gates ''already'' had several advantages that most people do not (and don't mention when discussing his success). Namely, he came from a wealthy family, who could afford to send him to a prestigious prep school, which had access to a then-state-of-the-art computer that most schools (and homes) did not. He had classes on how to use and create programs for that computer, so he already had ''lots'' of experience with computer programming (again, something that not a lot of people had back in [[TheEighties the early 80's]]). ''And'', while it's true that he didn't complete his bachelor's degree, he also never ''officially'' dropped out of school. (Just took an extended break.) Even if he ''had'', he'd still be able to go back on his wealthy (and supportive) parents' dime if his business plans hadn't worked out the way they did.

* There have been some real life stories of people stuck in the ocean being pushed to safety by a FriendlyPlayfulDolphin. However, we don't know if the dolphin was trying to save them or (more likely) just being playful, as [[FridgeHorror anyone who got pushed further OUT to sea by dolphins drowned and can't tell us.]]

* ''Literature/TheFifthElephant'': Discussed in universe with Carrot saying that there had never been a documented wolf attack on people out in the wilds, and Gaspode replies that just means that all the people who did get attacked by wolves just never made it back to tell anyone. They both agree that that isn't very comforting, especially with all the wolf howls around.
* ''Literature/SmallGods'' recalls the prophecy of a god's high priest that this god's followers would defeat a rival religion and feast in it's temple. This prophecy came true and actually was made in advance. Only five minutes in advance, while the high priest and his mob of followers were right outside the temple, but still.

An even more troublesome version comes from movies BasedOnATrueStory. For example, if the overall story is about a terrible event like a disaster or plague, or an ongoing problem such as poverty or oppression, focusing only on people who survived or overcame the problem can lead to the audience impression that anyone could have done it if they had just tried a little harder. This bias often interacts with the Just World Fallacy (a [[LogicalFallacies Logical Fallacy]] that assumes good things happen to good people etc.) to create the implication that those who died were somehow morally inferior. This leads to various horror and slasher film tropes in which characters will presage their deaths by certain attitudes or actions, such as [[AssholeVictim having an abrasive personality]] or [[DeathBySex having premarital sex]].

* Averted in ''Film/AllQuietOnTheWesternFront'', every named protagonist dies by the end. It's justified since the film is based around an [[WarIsHell anti-war message]].

* ''Literature/TheFifthElephant'': Discussed in universe with Carrot saying that there had never been a documented wolf attack on people out in the wilds, and Gaspode replies that that just means that that all the people who did get attacked by wolves just never made it back to tell anyone. They both agree that that isn't very comforting, especially with all the wolf howls around.
* ''Literature/SmallGods'' recalls the prophecy of a god's high priest that this god's followers would defeat a rival relgion and feast in it's temple. This prophecy came true and actually was made in advance. Only five minutes in advance, while the high priest and his mob of followers were right outside the temple, but still.

* MiseryBuildsCharacter: A person, or noble group of people, who have grown to have some sort of virtue or wisdom because they survived the bad thing. In effect, making it a "good thing" to a degree. This relies upon oounting the people who are possibly improved through adversity (or at least rise above it) rather than the opposite.

* UsefulNotes/TheAmericanDream: The idealists emphasize finding your own noble destiny in America, while the cynics claim that your life won't improve at all.

* MiseryBuildsCharacter: A person, or noble group of people, who have grown to have some sort of virtue or wisdom because they survived the bad thing. In effect, making it a "good thing" to a degree.

* RagsToRiches: The story focuses on this character's journey from poverty to affluence, rather than the characters whose situation will not change.

* Averted in ''Film/AllQuietOnTheWesternFront'', every named protagonist dies by the end. It's justified since the film is based around an [[WarIsHell anti-war message.

* Similar to the above, an ApocalypticLog is an interesting interpretation of this trope when used inside of a story rather than as the story proper: it shows us the ''almost'' survivor we'd otherwise be focusing on, possibly even giving them scenes or flashbacks.
* HighHopesZeroTalent: One reason why someone might fail to achieve success is because they have the dream, but not the skills to make it happen.
* On works with PosthumousNarration, we may or may not know that the character is dead from the beginning, but the character still believes that he has a story worth telling (most probably in a "[[JacobMarleyWarning learn from what happened to me]], don't let it happen to you" kind of way).

* UsefulNotes/TheAmericanDream: Finding your own noble destiny in America, despite the millions of people whose lives don't improve at all.

* Averted in ''Film/AllQuietOnTheWesternFront'', every named protagonist dies by the end. It's justified since the film is based around an anti-war / WarIsHell message.

* Averted in the 1932 film ''The Sign of the Cross'', directed by Creator/CecilBDeMille. All the Christians die, as well as the male lead. All the named antagonists live and prosper (due to being actual historical people who died later).

* ''World Trade Center'' tells the true story of two Transit Authority cops who were buried in the rubble when the towers collapsed on 9/11 but miraculously survived. While the enormous tragedy around them is not downplayed, the focus is on their survival and the people who ended up rescuing them.

* Do they survive long enough to tell an entire story? Or, in a non-death example, does their particular problem get highlighted over a large number of similar examples (aka "Rosa Parks" Syndrome[[note]]Rosa Parks was not the first or only Black person, or woman, to refuse to give up her seat. She, however, happened to be the right age, gender, background...and most importantly, [[ButNotTooBlack skin tone]]...to invoke media outcry[[/note]])?

SubTrope to the AnthropicPrinciple -- the idea that certain elements of a story have to be the way they are or there would ''be'' no story worth telling. SuperTrope to ProtagonistCenteredMorality. SisterTrope to ShaggyDogStory. Characters that understand the implications of this trope invoke SurvivorGuilt. Because the bias is almost inevitable when TheProtagonist trope is used, a DecoyProtagonist would be another way to play with this trope. Compare DeadToBeginWith, where since they "survived" as an undead or something else, this trope is still played straight.

* Discussed on ''Series/AdamRuinsEverything'', when a young man decides he doesn't really need college, since he can just drop out and become a successful entrepreneur like Bill Gates. Adam points out that success stories like that are a rarity, and that only 1% of jobs are given to people without ''at least'' a bachelor's degree. He further explains that Bill Gates ''already'' had several advantages that most people do not (and don't mention when discussing his success.) Namely, he came from a wealthy family, who could afford to send him to a prestigious prep school, which had access to a then-state-of-the-art computer that most schools (and homes) did not. He had classes on how to use and create programs for that computer, so he already had ''lots'' of experience with computer programming (again, something that not a lot of people had back in [[TheEighties the early 80's]]). ''And'', while it's true that he didn't complete his bachelor's degree, he also never ''officially'' dropped out of school. (Just took an extended break.) Even if he ''had'', he'd still be able to go back on his wealthy (and supportive) parents' dime if his business plans hadn't worked out the way they did.

* UsefulNotes/SteveJobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg all dropped out of college and founded trillion-dollar tech companies in their twenties, though when looking at the bigger picture, [[https://www.forbes.com/sites/abdoriani/2021/10/27/stats-show-the-ideal-startup-founder-is-not-who-you-may-think-they-are/?sh=4925c3d9485d more than 95%]] of founders of successful startups are college graduates, with the majority holding advanced degrees, and the success rate of startups increases dramatically with age.

* UsefulNotes/SteveJobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg all dropped out of college and founded trillion-dollar tech companies in their twenties, though in reality, [[https://www.forbes.com/sites/abdoriani/2021/10/27/stats-show-the-ideal-startup-founder-is-not-who-you-may-think-they-are/?sh=4925c3d9485d more than 95%]] of founders of successful startups are college graduates with the majority holding advanced degrees, and the success rate of startups increases dramatically with age.

** UsefulNotes/SteveJobs, Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg all dropped out of college and founded trillion-dollar tech companies in their twenties, though in reality, [[https://www.forbes.com/sites/abdoriani/2021/10/27/stats-show-the-ideal-startup-founder-is-not-who-you-may-think-they-are/?sh=4925c3d9485d more than 95%]] of founders of successful startups are college graduates with the majority holding advanced degrees, and the success rate of startups increases dramatically with age.

* UsefulNotes/VictimBlaming: If life doesn't go your way, it's ''your'' fault because you didn't work hard enough/lacked drive or willpower/used drugs or alcohol/had premarital sex/whatever.

* On works with PosthumousNarration, we may or may not know that the character is dead from the beginning, but the character still believes that he has a story worth telling (most probably in a "learn from what happened to me, don't let it happen to you" kind of way).

* HardWorkHardlyWorks: The character's survival is expected because they have a Gift on a certain skill that makes them important to the plot. If someone who has the same skill set because they worked all of their lives to gain it also appears, expect him to be either a RedShirt or (at best) TheMentor who will recognize the character's Gift before being bumped off. Works that avert this trope will instead place much importance on ''experience'', not "hard work" in general.

* MiseryBuildsCharacter: A person, or noble group of people, who have grown to have some sort of virtue or wisdom because they survived the bad thing. In effect, making it a "good thing" to a degree.