Basic Trope: A character or group receives a show of support after a stroke of hard luck.
- Straight: Bob is thinking about killing himself, but Alice reminds him that she will always be by his side and love him.
- Exaggerated: Bob is thinking about killing himself, and his entire graduating class shows up to convince him to not do it.
- Downplayed: Bob is thinking about killing himself, but notices a family photo on the wall.
- Justified: Bob really isn't alone, and there are people that love and care for him.
- Inverted:
- Bob is shown or told that there is no one willing to support him. Therefore, he is alone.
- Alice believes that Bob is thinking about killing himself, but Bob reassures her that he is not alone and he will be fine.
- Subverted: Bob's friends do show up, but then they turn on him...
- Double Subverted: ...however, his best friend is still with him and is doubly motivated to help Bob through because she's the only one who can.
- Parodied: A mildly unhappy Bob is presented with a song and dance routine about him not being alone.
- Zig Zagged: Bob is totally alone in a physical sense, but the memories of his friends and loved ones serve to remind him that he'll never truly be alone, as they are always in his heart.
- Averted: A character remains completely solitary, or never needs to be shown the support of others.
- Enforced: The author is trying to hammer home the value of having other people to help sort oneself out.
- Lampshaded: "You seem to think you're in some sappy rom-com where nobody's alone and everything turns out just fine. You're not in that. This Is Reality. There's no third act make-up, there's no Power of Friendship ending, and there is no way that ANYONE cares about me after what I did to those people."
- Invoked: "In a Dysfunction Junction like this, a little help is how people like us get by, so we'd damn well better be ready to give it out."
- Exploited: Bob is an Attention Whore, and acts as miserable as possible to garner others' sympathy.
- Defied: Bob refuses to get help, believing that he will be stronger of mind if he makes it through without help. He distances himself from his friends in the meantime.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed:
Jay: "Ohhh, this is my favorite part!!"\\
Widge: "Let me guess, it's the part of the movie where the down-on-their-luck character gets encouraged by their friends and reminded that they're not alone?"
Jay: [gasp] "How did you KNOW???"
Widge: "That's your favorite part in EVERY movie."
Jay: [gasp] "How did you KNOW???"
Widge: "That's your favorite part in EVERY movie."
- Deconstructed:
- Bob has people who support and love him, but none of them are capable of helping him out in any practical way.
- Bob genuinely needs some alone time, but his friends mistakenly believe that he's incapable of handling things on his own and keep interrupting his introspection, alienating him from his friends and making things worse. They might even think Bob is incapable of doing even the smallest thing without their support, further worsening their relationship with him.
- Reconstructed: Fortunately, they find him a therapist who can. Meanwhile, their tacit support helps to take his mind off of suicidal thoughts.
Head to You Are Not Alone, and you'll find you never had to do it all by yourself.
