abstract
| - Death sucks. That's why most people are afraid of it. Some people die of old age, or gradually succumb to one of a number of illnesses. When death comes, the lucky among us will go out peacefully with dignity. Some of us might go out fighting the good fight, saving the lives of some unfortunate person whom our consciences cannot ignore and force us to help. They'll all die "good deaths" (and in some cases, heroic deaths). This trope is not about those people. This trope is about the people who die in ways that are, to put it completely bluntly, ridiculous and embarassing. The manner of their demise are the things you read about on websites dedicated to the Darwin Awards. The kind of death that ends up the punchline of a joke told by a standup comedian who specializes in Black Comedy or Dead Baby Comedy. This is a somewhat Subjective Trope in that, while we might find the way a person joined the Choir Invisible to be humorous and worth a laugh, to the person's family it is a tragedy. The bereaved naturally think you cruel and inhuman for laughing at such a tragedy. And it is a tragedy... someone has died, after all. But that doesn't stop it from being funny, when you think about it. Sometimes overlaps with Cruel and Unusual Death when the death is not just embarassing, it's also horrific. (In fact, the whole point of many Cruel and Unusual Deaths is to completely humiliate the victim and tarnish his/her name forever.) Often overlaps with Death by Falling Over. See also Dropped a Bridge on Him. Contrast Dying Moment of Awesome, which may well be the exact opposite of this trope, as well as Great Way to Go, which is never combined with this trope. Examples of Undignified Death include:
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