Five Stages of Grief: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

Dr. Elisabeth Kübler-Ross, a famed Swiss psychiatrist, noticed that many of her patients who had recently suffered a loss of some sort go through as many as five stages of grief. This became well-known in pop culture as the [[wikipedia:Kubler-Ross model|Kübler-Ross model]], and it contains the following stages:

 

 

{{examples}}

* In [[Wham! Episode|episodes 18 and 19]] of ''[[Code Geass]] R2'', Lelouch was going through this when {{spoiler|Nunnally was presumably killed during the FLEIJA explosion}}.

* Simon from ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]'' goes through all of these (except bargaining) after Kamina's death.

* [[Played for Laughs]] in [[K-On!]], when Mio goes through these stages as she is forced to play Romeo for the school festival.

* Momo Hinamori from [[Bleach]] goes ''hard'' through the first stage, Denial, after {{spoiler|Aizen stabs her to near death and betrays the Soul Society}}, [[Break the Cutie|which completely shatters the poor girl's view of her whole world]].

* Much like the ''Neon Genesis Evangelion'' example above, it can be said that the three main characters of ''[[Berserk]]'' all represent some stage of grief and how they deal with it, since they've all been through a ridiculous [[Trauma Conga Line]] for us to deduce this:

{{quote|Guts: '''Anger''', Denial, Depression

** None of them have quite grappled with acceptance yet.

 

* ''Fallen Son'', a 5-issue limited series, dealt with the death of [[Captain America (comics)]] by going through each of the five stages with a different Marvel character. Wolverine experiences denial; the Avengers go through anger; Hawkeye attempts to bargain Cap back; Spider-Man falls into despair, and Iron Man leads all of the Marvel superheroes in accepting that he's really dead.

* Issues 2-6 of the ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'' comics go through the stages in order.

* In a Donald Duck-story where Scrooge loses all his money in a tornado, he starts going through this, with the nephews lamp-shading: 'Now he's going through the five stages of loss'. Scrooge goes through denial, (no, the money can't be gone!) anger, (*cursing the tornado*) bargaining, (please, please give me my money back!) despair (*crying*), but just as the nephews says that the final stage is acceptance, Scrooge goes straight back denial, that the money is not lost forever, and that he will find them again. {{spoiler|He was right. The story, however, was so full of unlikely events [[Don Rosa]] decided to disregard it while working on [[The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck]]}}.

* In ''[[All Fall Down]]'', it's the central theme of the book.

 

 

** This is also worked into a [[Shout-Out]] to Bob Fosse's previous film ''Lenny'', as Scheider (like Fosse) is the director of a movie about a [[Lenny Bruce]]-like comic who acts out the five stages.

* In ''The Rundown'', Beck (The Rock) mentions something similar to the five stages.

* Referenced (as "seven stages of grief") in ''[[Look Both Ways (film)|Look Both Ways]]'' by Meryl, who asks Nick, "What's the point in knowing where you're up to if you've still got to go through it anyway?"

 

* The sixth-season premiere of ''[[Frasier]]'' sees him going through the stages after being fired from his famed radio job, each one indicated by the show's signature title cards. The episode ends with Niles saying he thinks his divorce is going to go smoothly. Followed by the title card Denial.

* The 5th-season ''[[Scrubs]]'' episode "My Five Stages" has J.D. and Dr. Cox going through the stages over the death of Mrs. Wilk.

** In "The Family of Blood", John Smith learns that his life is a lie and must give up everything to become the Doctor again. Also a [[Tear Jerker]].

* On ''[[Law & Order|Law and Order]]'', after Mike Logan's partner is murdered, his grief counseller Olivet tells him that he's going through the stages.

* The two-hour (or two-part, depending) 6th season premiere of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' is named after stage 3, a direct reference to dealing with Buffy's death in the previous season finale. Specifically, the gang offering the gods a dangerous, painful, [[Black Magic]] sacrifice in exchange for Buffy's life.

** [[Played for Laughs]] in "Intervention" when the Scoobies believe Buffy is dealing with her grief over her mother's death by boinking evil vampire Spike; actually he was screwing a [[Sex Bot]] that Spike has had built to resemble Buffy.

* In the ''[[That '70s Show]]'' episode "Grandma's Dead", when Red's mother dies, Kitty tells him about the five stages. Red says that he's got two stages: anger and drinking.

 

* In the [[Star Trek Expanded Universe]] novel ''I, Q'', the ''entire universe'' goes through these stages just prior to the supposed "Big Crunch". Subverted in that {{spoiler|Q's unwillingness to accept the end of the universe convinces its creator to keep it going.}}

** Also subverted because {{spoiler|None of it really happened; the realms representing each stage that the main characters pass through were set up by the Continuum to keep Q occupied, so he ''wouldn't'' try to stop it.}}

** However, he's stuck in Denial and Anger for much of Book Seven.

 

{{quote|'''Doctor:''' There are generally five stages. The first is denial...

'''B.D.:''' Son of a Bitch!

'''Doctor:''' Some skip straight to anger... }}

* When [[Peanuts|Charles Schulz]] died, [[Heart of the City]]'s title character displayed Shock, Denial, Anger, and Acceptance—with her responses for each being quotes from things ''Peanuts'' characters were well-known for saying, starting with "Aaughh!" and progressing to "*Sigh*" while sucking her thumb and holding a [[Security Blanket]].

 

 

* The five stages theme is used extensively in the [[Freeware Games|freeware]] [[Adventure Game]] ''[[Eternally Us]]''. Every scene in the game is based on one of the stages.

* The four stages of [[A.I. Is a Crapshoot|rampancy]] in the ''[[Marathon Trilogy|Marathon]]'' and ''[[Halo (series)|Halo]]'' series (Melancholia, Anger, Jealousy, Metastability) bear a strong resemblance to this.

* Quite an easy example to miss, but in the ''Alpha Protocol'' mission where you assault Konstantin Brayko's mission he'll go through the five stages of grief depending on when/if you choose to execute him in the conversation. Shoot him straight away and he'll barely have time to utter a "no..!", whereas if you execute right at the very end he'll go out with a joke.

 

* ''[[Neglected Mario Characters]]'' [http://www.smbhq.com/nc/nsdos9.html did this] during the [[Super Smash Stadium]] crossover as Fred coped with his (mistaken) belief that he ate his best friend, Bill, with Donez rattling off the stages. He threw in "Flatulence" as stage four just to mess with Fred.

* Parodied in [http://www.terrorisland.net/strips/158.html this] ''Terror Island'' strip: "The stages of grief don't work when you're trying to rush them."

* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' does a variation using similar stages in [http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=971207 this] strip.

* Attempted by Sam in ''[[Freefall]]'' but gets stuck on a repeating loop of anger and denial. [http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1000/fv00955.htm He's good at it.]

* ''[[Buttersafe]]'' shows us that the five stages can apply to [http://buttersafe.com/2010/05/20/the-five-stages/ anything].

 

* One [[That Guy With The Glasses|Little Miss Gamer]] video demonstrated these (in puppet form) when discovering that your favorite Xbox Live game has been canceled. {{spoiler|The fifth stage turns out to be "Obsession Brain Melt Gurrrrrr".}}

* The Five stage of Grief to anyone who can fight according to Killlyou: Punch it, kick it, stab it, shoot it, and kill it, preferably painfully.

 

* Parodied in a ''[[Robot Chicken]]'' sketch: A giraffe is stuck in a quicksand pit and experiences the stages in order. When he finally gets to acceptance, he hits bottom...with his head and neck still above ground.

{{quote|'''Hibbert:''' You can expect to go through five stages. The first is denial.

'''Homer:''' No way, because I'm not dying!

'''Homer:''' Well, we've all got to go sometime.

'''Hibbert:''' Mr. Simpson, your progress astounds me. }}

** Though in that one, she claims there are 7 Stages of Grief.

* Parodied on ''[[The Ren and Stimpy Show]]''. In the episode "Terminal Stimpy", Stimpy goes through the five stages after realizing he's on the last of his nine lives... except in "Bargaining", he ''literally'' bargains with Ren over antique furniture.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Hollywood Psych]]

[[Category:Psychology Tropes]]

[[Category:Sadness Tropes]]