No Party Like a Donner Party/Playing With


 * Basic Trope: In a situation where it comes to a Sadistic Choice between cannibalism and starving to death, cannibalism is the choice made.
 * Played Straight: The Tropers are lost in the wilderness, and are running out of supplies. As they die off, rather than being buried, the corpses are eaten by those still alive.
 * Exaggerated: The Tropers are actively killing each other off for food.
 * Inverted: The Tropers have enough rations to live on and/or can live off the land (i.e. gathering roots, leaves, seeds, berries, and mushrooms that they know are safe, and/or hunting small animals like rabbits)
 * The Tropers are eating each other for reasons not directly related to survival instincts.
 * Justified: Given a choice between eating human flesh and dying of starvation, survival instincts have taken precedence over human morals and taboos or emotions.
 * Subverted: The Tropers resolve to make their rations last as long as possible, and see what edible items are around them in the wilderness.
 * Double Subverted: But then the rations run out, and food sources are limited in the surrounding wilderness, and survival instincts take over.
 * Deconstructed: They may feel bad about it, especially if the people they're contemplating consuming are their friends and/or relatives, and may be regarded as outcasts if and when they get back to civilization.
 * Also, eventually, this food source will run out too.
 * Reconstructed: The Tropers learn wilderness survival, and try to avoid getting into situations where they'd be lost without any supplies in the first place.
 * Parodied: Eventually, the women gather around and trade gossip...and recipes for Roast Hubby, Braised Bratty Teenage Daughter, and Grilled Grandpa.
 * Meat-O-Vision
 * Lampshaded: "I say we Just Eat Gilligan."
 * Averted: See "Reconstructed"
 * Enforced: Rule of Drama
 * Invoked: See "Double Subverted"
 * Defied: The Tropers decide that cannibalism is still a Moral Event Horizon crossover, no matter how bad their circumstances are. No one is killed for food, and the corpses are buried, not eaten.
 * Discussed: "If you and your mom were ever stranded on Far Side Island with no food, would you eat her?"
 * Conversed: "No way. I'd live off the coconuts and try to catch some fish instead."
 * Played For Laughs: See "Parodied"
 * Played For Drama: Almost always is.

Let's bring a few friends back to the trope for lunch, eh? There's No Party Like a Donner Party, after all.