History Main / BurnBabyBurn

** Ed and Al burn their house when they choose to leave.
** Another example would be when Mustang burns the paper which had [[spoiler: SELIM BRADLEY IS HOMUNCULUS]] on it.

* ''WebVideo/MarbleHornets'' starts out when Jay gets some [[CassetteCraze video tapes]] and instructions to burn them. He decided to post them on YouTube instead. A whole lot of JigsawPuzzlePlot and NightmareFuel later, we learn that [[spoiler:Alex actually ''did'' burn some of the tapes- judging from one that was still playable, probably the ones that showed him [[VillainProtagonist doing incriminating things]]]].

* In the ''{{Series/Emergency}}'' fic [[http://audreys-efanfic.freeservers.com/lostandfound.html "Lost and Found"]], John Gage is abducted and held captive by a deranged serial killer for 18 months. Tortured and mentally manipulated, John eventually feels he has no choice but to willingly play his captor's "game" to avoid being killed by the torture and dumped like the other victims. After his escape, he is depressed and humiliated by the fact that, among other things, he let himself be a subject in the guy's pornographic photos. He becomes desperate to destroy the photos, and despite not wanting Roy to know, Roy coaxes John into allowing him to come with. After John's injured leg stops him getting into the house, Roy goes in and gathers the photos, along with the photos of the other victims, and the two burn them in the fireplace. It brings peace to John, and both men know it will prevent the other victims' memories from being ruined should anyone else get the images.

* In the ''{{Series/Emergency}}'' fic [[http://audreys-efanfic.freeservers.com/lostandfound.html "Lost and Found"]], John Gage is abducted and held captive by a deranged serial killer for 18 months. Tortured and mentally manipulated, John eventually feels he has no choice but to willingly play his captor's "game" to avoid being killed by the torture and dumped like the other victims. After his escape, he is depressed and humiliated by the fact that he let himself be a subject in the guy's pornographic photos. He becomes desperate to destroy the photos, and despite not wanting Roy to know, Roy coaxes John into allowing him to come with. After John's injured leg stops him getting into the house, Roy goes in and gathers the photos, along with the photos of the other victims, and the two burn them in the fireplace. It brings peace to John, and both men know it will prevent the other victims' memories from being ruined should anyone else get the images.

* ''Film/TheLifeAndDeathOfPeterSellers'' showed PeterSellers burning his collection of everything from his previous movies just before making ''Being There''. It is unknown whether this actually happened or was just a fabrication of the story.
** According to the BBC documentary ''The PeterSellers Story - As He Filmed It'', he did burn many of his home movies near the end of his life. The documentary is compiled from what he didn't burn, and as he was a serious amateur photographer from the 1940s onward, there's hours upon hours that survived. In fact, some were recreated for that biopic!

* In the movie ''HardBoiled'', the police do this with the ID papers of cops who die in the line of duty (such as Tequila's partner from the opening shootout and [[spoiler:Alan at the end of the movie]]).
* [[Film/{{Highlander}} Conner MacLeod]] burns the home he shared with his mortal wife after burying her, leaving his clan sword beside the grave.

* ''{{Spaced}}'': In a shot similar to the funerals of Qui-Gon and Darth Vader in ''StarWars'', Tim burns all his Star Wars paraphernalia because he hates ThePhantomMenace so much.

* During the Second [[TheVietnamWar Vietnam war]], anti-war protestors and draft-dodgers in the American Union took to burning their draft cards. Doing so was soon made a felony under the law of the federal (central) government.

Compare BreakUpBonfire, BurnTheWitch and FieryCoverup. See also KillItWithFire.

* Contrary to popular belief, there weren't actually any mass bra burnings to demonstrate female emancipation from the restriction of male-designed, patriarchal undergarments.
* TheWarOf1812, where British forces burned down ''the White House''.

* In the film ''OBrotherWhereArtThou'', Everett casually tosses a newspaper on the nightly campfire, and as the front page burns away, it momentarily reveals [[ChekhovsGun]an article he would have been ''very'' interested in reading].

* {{Misery}} has [[IronWoobie Paul]] setting the finished manuscript of the novel [[{{Yandere}} Annie]] forced him to write on fire... and then takes it one step further by having Paul [[spoiler: [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome SHOVE THE BURNING MANUSCRIPT DOWN HER THROAT.]]]]

* In the two-part season 5 opener of ''{{The X-Files}}'', a man surveilling Agent Mulder's apartment from the next floor up realizes he has been found and tries to burn incriminating evidence, which doesn't work quite as planned.

* In the film ''OBrotherWhereArtThou'', Everett casually tosses a newspaper on the nightly campfire, and as the front page burns away, it momentarily reveals an article he would have been ''very'' interested in reading.

* In the opening episode of ''Series/{{UFO}}'', the main character Straker is introduced as a US Army colonel with a briefcase chained to his wrist, containing unseen evidence that he shows to a British government minister enroute to a conference. Their vehicle and escort is then attacked by a FlyingSaucer. Straker is thrown clear, and wakes up to see the evidence (a photograph of the same kind of flying saucer) burning up in front of him.

* In the opening episode of ''Series/{{UFO}}, the main character Straker is introduced as a US Army colonel with a briefcase chained to his wrist, containing unseen evidence that he shows to a British government minister enroute to a conference. Their vehicle and escort is then attacked by a FlyingSaucer. Straker is thrown clear, and wakes up to see the evidence (a photograph of the same kind of flying saucer) burning up in front of him.

* In ''KimPossible'', there is a scene in 'Stop Team Go' where Shego burns photo booth pictures of herself and Kim Possible with her green plasma.

* At the end of ''TheBigRedOne'' the squad burn a propaganda pamphlet to provide light so they can give first aid to a German sergeant LeeMarvin's character stabbed. The flame is shown consuming the words saying that Germany has just surrendered and the war is over.

* In ''TheTerminator'', Sarah Connor's picture burns in a symbolic manner in one of her dreams.

Compare BurnTheWitch and FieryCoverup. See also KillItWithFire.

-->"As far as I'm concerned"
-->"You're just another picture to burn!"

Compare to Main/ItsAllJunk. A VikingFuneral is this trope with someone's corpse.

* The biopic ''The Life and Death of Peter Sellers'' showed PeterSellers burning his collection of everything from his previous movies just before making ''Being There''. It is unknown whether this actually happened or was just a fabrication of the story.

* In the BlakeEdwards-directed comedy ''S.O.B.'', [[spoiler:Felix is shot by the police after brandishing a water pistol as if it were a real gun. His friends decide to steal his corpse, take it out to his boat, put it on a rowboat and set it on fire, as in a Viking Funeral, in celebration of his life and at least one of the movies he made ''Pagan Plunder''.]]

* In ''TheTerminator'', Sarah Connor's picture burns in a symbolic manner in one of Reese's dreams (or memories; it's hard to tell).
** Actually, it was Sarah's dream. She was dreaming about what Kyle's world must be like. ("It's pretty terrifying", she would say.)