History Main / GenerationalTrauma

* ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'': Beatrice Sugarman is an absolutely abysmal mother to Bojack, neglecting him and making him feel worthless and talentless. Most of it can be blamed on her father's warped and awful worldviews. Joseph Sugarman has his wife [[spoiler:lobotomized in order to repress the trauma of her son's death]], burns all of Beatrice's things upon learning she has scarlet fever, and constantly sews fear into her over becoming fat and ugly. ** As a result of her reckless parenting, neglect and hedonistic lifestyle, Bojack himself would pass the trauma onto his TV daughter Sarah Lynn by teaching her that [[AttentionWhore attention of any variety will earn her love]]. Additionally, he [[spoiler:encouraged her drug and alcohol addictions which led to her overdosing under his watch. He even went as far as to ''sleep with her'' (when she was 30).]]

* ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'': Beatrice Sugarman is an absolutely abysmal mother to Bojack, neglecting him and making him feel worthless and talentless. Most of it can be blamed on her father's warped and awful worldviews. Joseph Sugarman has his wife [[spoiler:lobotomized in order to repress the trauma of her son's death]], burns all of Beatrice's things upon learning she has scarlet fever, and constantly sews fear into her over becoming fat and ugly.

* ''Series/RussianDoll'': Nadia is a troubled woman with self-destructive tendencies who ends up in a GroundhogDayLoop after dying on her 36th birthday. In the process of getting out of the loop, she's forced the confront the impact that her mother's mental illness and suicide had on her life. In the first season, it's hinted that all these issues ultimately stem from her grandparents' trauma and paranoia after [[GenocideSurvivor surviving the Holocaust]]. This is elaborated on further in the second season when Nadia is able to time travel by taking over her mother's and grandmother's bodies. She desperately tries to alter to past to change her family's fate, [[spoiler:only to realize that her actions created a StableTimeLoop]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Coco}}'': Miguel aspires to be a musician but is strictly forbidden to by Abuela Elena who hates music with a passion. The reason is that her mother, Mamá Coco, and grandmother, Mamá Imelda, were abandoned by the latter's husband when he became a musician, went on tour, and never came back. This started the family tradition of avoiding anything music related. When Miguel is transported to the Land of the Dead, he frantically tries to find his idol Ernesto de la Cruz -- whom he also believes to be his great-grandfather -- and get a blessing to become a musician.

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': The Witch Hunts of the Middle Ages and the Salem Trials have left the wizarding community very wary of associating with muggles --hence, the Statue Of Secrecy. This gets mixed up with the superiority prejudice already existing. Not only muggles are seen as lower beings but also as brutish and narrow-minded. As a consequence, muggle-borns (muggle parents) and half-bloods (one magical parent) are systematically discriminated against. Although the latter to a lesser extent. The blood superiority rhetoric gets perpetuated mostly by the pureblood families, causing quite an inequality gap. Two of the nastiest dark wizards (aka terrorists) share this belief too and are intent on enslaving or genociding muggles, which proves to be the main conflict of the saga and explains several of the character's actions and the consequences they suffer. On the purebloods side, both Regulus Black and Draco Malfoy proudly spout the narrative but are in for a rude awakening when they start serving the most radical branch. The former dies and the latter is sent on an impossible mission to punish his father. Meanwhile, Neville is believed to be a squib as a kid, so his relatives force him into dangerous situations in the hopes of triggering accidental magic. Muggleborns like Lily Evans and Hermione Granger are called mudbloods and treated with disdain --both (the former only implied) endeavor to shut them all by being brilliant witches on their own. Half-bloods are generally in better standing unless they are sorted into Slytherin. If one of their parents is a muggle, then it's possible they were not told about the wizarding world by their spouse or they disdain magic. Examples of this are Dean Thomas and Severus Snape.

* ''Art/MarriageALaMode'': The {{paintings}} criticize the then tendency of the upper class to marry out of financial interest and not out of love, and house this negatively impacts everyone involved. The Earl of Squanderfield has been unwise with his family fortune, so he betroths his son to the daughter of a rich, corrupt merchant. It's implied that the son looks down on his fiancée, which combined with the hedonistic lifestyle he learned from his father -- hence, the bankruptcy -- leads to him having frequenting brothels and contracting syphilis. Likewise, the merchant's daughter shares her father's lack of scruples. Seeing the sorry state her husband is in, she decides to engage in a more sexually rewarding extramarital affair with an AmoralAttorney. Consequently, both spouses neglect their daughter, leaving her to be raised by their servants. In the end, it all ends in tragedy, as their mutual unfaithfulness causes them to orphan the little girl, who herself inherited her father's syphilis, implying that the cycle will continue again in a more destructive form.

-->'''Evelyn:''' I can't, Father. I'm no longer willing to do to my daughter what you did to me. How did you let me go? How on Earth did you do it so easily? [...] I spend most of her childhood praying she would not end up like me. But she turned out to be stubborn, aimless, a mess. Just like her mother. But now I see, it's okay to be a mess.

* ''Film/CrazyRichAsian'': Rachel faces conflict from Eleanor Young, her fiancé Nick's influential and overbearing mother, who refuses to accept her because she's too "American" and unfit to be part of the prestigious family. It's later revealed that Eleanor faced her own criticisms from her mother-in-law Shang Su Yi who also didn't approve of her because of her own background.

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'': Kiyotaka Ishimaru explains that his grandfather was once the Prime Minister of Japan. But after his involvement in a horrific scandal, he was forced to resign and the Ishimaru family name has been in disgrace ever since. To restore honor to his family name, Kiyotaka has placed all his time and energy into becoming a model student while refusing any opportunities of living like a regular teenager, thus tarnishing his social skills and leaving him without any friends.
[[/folder]]

** [[LegacyOfTheChosen The legacy of One For All]] can be considered an ongoing passage of generational trauma as many Past Holders gave up their lives and endured multiple hardships in the war against [[GreaterScopeVillain All For One]]. Examining the past three, [[TragicHero Nana Shimura]] had to give up her child to social services after losing her husband to the monster [[AllForNothing only to die by his hands a short time later]]. Her successor All Might was forced to train at an early age while becoming [[ChronicHeroSyndrome the best hero he can be]] to honor his master's sacrifice. And while he did create an Era of Peace, this ultimately resulted in a failing body and his friendships stifled. And when it was Izuku's time, not only did he have to deal with [[BlessedWithSuck breaking his body every time he uses One For All]] but he also picked up on the same self-sacrificing tendencies as All Might.
** [[BigBad Shigaraki Tomura's]] origin also counts after he's revealed to be [[spoiler:Nana Shimura's grandson. After Nana gave up her son (Kotaro) to child services, Kotaro developed a strong hatred for heroes and made a strict rule for his family to never bring up heroism in his household. He'd even go as far as to [[AbusiveParents beat his son Tenko (Shigaraki)]] who earnestly wanted to be a hero. But the ongoing abuse he endured mixed with the development of his Decay Quirk would result in [[PowerIncontinence Tenko killing everyone in his household, including his father]]. [[TraumaCongaLine This led to him becoming homeless, ignored by everyone around him,]] and then [[BadSamaritan groomed by All For One]] into becoming a Symbol of Fear to terrorize modern hero society]].

** ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'': The wars that left Earth devastated and prompted the development of the various space colonies left their legacy in the form of the Gundam Fight: instead of full-fledged wars that would wind up destroying the very planet they want to rule, the Space Colonies instead send representatives to fight in a tournament with the victor's colony becoming ruler of Earth until the next Gundam Fight. However, Master Asia's FaceHeelTurn is triggered by his realisation that the Gundam Fight is generally just as destructive as a full war since the Gundam Fighters representing their colonies are cutting edge with all sorts of powerful weapons and techniques, meaning any fights can wind up devastating the surrounding area. Likewise, Gundam Fighters are generally feared and hated by inhabitants of Earth who get caught up in their Fights.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Elemental}}'': All her life, Ember has been set up to inherit her father's convenience store even though she finds it very difficult to manage the shop because of her explosive temper. Later on, she learns from her parents that [[spoiler:Bernie lost his original store in Fire Land to a great storm and came to Element City to start a new life. But before he left, his own father refused to return a ceremonial bow and renounced him for his decisions]]. Realizing how much her father sacrificed to provide for her and her mother mixed with his failing health, Ember resigns herself to accepting ownership even if she isn't cut out for it.

* ''ComicBook/{{Maus}}'': It's on the surface about the memories of Holocaust survivor Vladek Spiegelman and his late wife Anja, but it also delves into what it was like for his son, author Art Spiegelman, to grow up as the son of two Holocaust survivors, and the mental health issues it caused in him, especially as he had to grow up in the shadow of an older brother who was killed by a relative. At one point, Vladek finds an old underground comic that Art published, "Prisoner of the Hell Planet", in which he vents his resentment and bitterness at his mother for dying of suicide three months after Art left a mental hospital, forcing him to deal with his father's grief and paranoia at a time when he was very poorly equipped to do so.

* ''FanFic/TheSunWillComeUpAndTheSeasonsWillChange'': The main conflict stems from generational trauma and abuse. Mary, the main protagonist, is abused by her mother Dana for being autistic. Dana was abused for years by Irene, her hyper-controlling misogynistic mother, for not wanting to be a perfect {{housewife}} à la TheFifties. Dana refuses to get help from the trauma of her abusive mother and ends up ruining several things in her life, including her relationship with the rest of her family.

* ''Art/MarriageALaMode'': The {{paintings}} criticize the then tendency of the upper class to marry out of financial interest and not out of love, and house this negatively impacts everyone involved. The Earl of Squanderfield has been unwise with his family fortune, so he betroths his son to the daughter of a rich, corrupt merchant. It's implied that the son looks down on his fiancée, which combined with the hedonistic lifestyle he learned from his father -- hence, the bankruptcy -- leads to him having contracted an ETS and frequenting brothels. Likewise, the merchant's daughter shares her father's lack of scruples. Seeing the sorry state her husband is in, she decides to engage in a more sexually-rewarding extramarital affair with an AmoralAttorney. Consequently, both spouses neglect their daughter, leaving her to be raised by their servants. In the end, it all ends in tragedy, as their mutual unfaithfulness causes them to orphan the little girl.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Encanto}}'': Alma Madrigal is inadvertently abusive to her familia due to her DetrimentalDetermination, making them feel like their worth is tied entirely to how they can use their gifts in service to the community. [[MuggleBornOfMages Mirabel]] gets it the worst, [[FantasticAbleism being seen as a burden by Alma for not having a gift at all]]. The reasoning behind her harsh treatment is that the miracle [[spoiler:was born from the sacrifice of her husband's life, so Alma believes that she must protect it by being selfless with its many benefits, [[DramaticallyMissingThePoint not realizing that the miracle is literally just a gift, something given without expecting something else back in return, and not something they must earn it to deserve it]].]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Encanto}}'': Alma Madrigal is inadvertently abusive to her familia due to her DetrimentalDetermination, making them feel like their worth is tied entirely to how they can use their gifts in service to the community. [[MuggleBornOfMages Mirabel]] gets it the worst, [[FantasticAbleism being seen as a burden by Alma for not having a gift at all]]. The reasoning behind her harsh treatment is that the miracle [[spoiler:was born from the sacrifice of her husband's life, so Alma believes that she must protect it by being selfless with its many benefits, [[DramaticallyMissingThePoint not realizing that the miracle is literally just a gift, not something they must earn it to deserve it]].]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Encanto}}'': Alma Madrigal is inadvertently abusive to her familia due to her DetrimentalDetermination, making them feel like their worth is tied entirely to how they can use their gifts in service to the community. [[MuggleBornOfMages Mirabel]] gets it the worst, [[FantasticAbleism being seen as a burden by Alma for not having a gift at all]]. The reasoning behind her harsh treatment is that the miracle [[spoiler:was born from the sacrifice of her husband's life, so Alma believes that she must protect it by being selfless with its many benefits.]]

* This comes up occasionally in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', where it's noted that Homer's abusive treatment of Bart stems in part from his own father Abe's abusive treatment of him.

* ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'': Sun Yee is the Lee family's most revered ancestor. A widowed mother in times of war who was granted the Red Panda form by the gods so she could protect her village and daughters. For generations, the Red Panda was seen as a blessing, however, the advent of modern times and migration to Canada turned it into an "[[BlessedWithSuck inconvenience]]." Metaphorically, it can be seen as containing a warrior's soul inside one's genetic memory even if peaceful times render its destructiveness dangerous. This caused Grandmother Wu to teach her daughters and granddaughter that the Panda must be restrained at all costs. If you couple that with her overly strict and demanding parenting, then you get Ming-- a subservient, perfectionist daughter who feels as if she's not enough and that only family matters. Ming is a loving mother but unwittingly emulates Wu's child-rearing style and causes Mei to inherit her own insecurities. In Ming's case, the "repress the Panda" is even stronger, as her Red Panda form is truly gigantic and accidentally scarred her mother's face out of anger. That and her eventual breaking out with Wu prompt Ming to be an overprotective mother.

* ''Fanfic/TheBlackSheepDogFamily'' explores how the Black clan's BigScrewedUpFamily dynamics impacts the members at various levels. Sirius hates their parents because they constantly disapprove of his views, his friendships, etc., which conflict with their closed-minded and bigoted view of social status and blood purity, and has a chip on his shoulder because of his repressed upbringing. However, Orion and Walburga do love their wayward son despite their borderline abusive behaviour towards him, but due to their own dysfunctional upbringing, they are unable to express their love properly. Even Arcturus, Sirius's paternal grandfather, who is shown to be by far the worst abuser of the lot, is implied to have been a victim of a similar cycle, since Alphard described Arcturus's father (Orion's paternal grandfather) as someone with "ice in his veins in place of blood".