History Main / GettingEatenIsHarmless

* Subverted in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan''. The inside of a Titan's stomach is just a pouch half-filled with liquid that doesn't seem to be corrosive, but that does ''not'' make them harmless. For one, an unfortunate victim that arrives in there alive is often not whole, as Titans tend to bite their prey at least once before swallowing. Secondly, the inside of a Titan's body is so hot, it's presumably enough to if not outright boil the victim alive, at least cause heatstroke, and drowning from passing out in the fluids. And finally, Titans never stop eating if they can help it, so being hit by falling corpses is not implausible.

* In ''Film/MenInBlack2'', Serleena accidently flies her ship into the giant worm Jeff's mouth. She not only gets swallowed, but is chewed up by a whole gullet's worth of teeth, yet she survives and manages to infect Jeff and kill him from the inside. Granted she's a plant alien who previously regenerated [[FromASingleCell from a single bud]].

* In Myth/ClassicalMythology five of the original Olympians, Hestia Demeter Hera, Hades and Poseidon, were eaten by their father the Titan Kronos as soon as they were born. Years latter the sixth and youngest Olympian, Zeus, who had been raised in secret and so avoided sharing their fate, slipped Kronos an ipecac that resulted in the latter vomiting up Zeus' older siblings, who were of course no worse for wear. Justified in the fact that they were gods so the stomach was essentially a prison.

* In ClassicalMythology five of the original Olympians, Hestia Demeter Hera, Hades and Poseidon, were eaten by their father the Titan Kronos as soon as they were born. Years latter the sixth and youngest Olympian, Zeus, who had been raised in secret and so avoided sharing their fate, slipped Kronos an ipecac that resulted in the latter vomiting up Zeus' older siblings, who were of course no worse for wear. Justified in the fact that they were gods so the stomach was essentially a prison.

* In the ''Literature/KnownSpace'' short story "Safe at Any Speed", [[spoiler:the protagonist]] gets swallowed by a giant pterodactyl and comes out perfectly unhurt. This is justified in-universe by the character being from a race who have evolved to be extraordinarily lucky.

In real life, stomachs are designed to break down food and are full of stomach acids and digestive enzymes meaning that most people would only survive inside it for a few minutes at best. However in fiction stomachs are often just fleshy [[BagOfHolding bags of holding]] or prisons for those who wind up inside them. So being EatenAlive is not nearly as perilous as one might assume. Once what or whoever ate a character spits them out or gets destroyed said character will be able to go about their life as if nothing happened.

[[folder: Fan Fiction]]

* Two species of the ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gastric-brooding_frog Rheobatrachus]]'' genus of frogs had[[note]]The gastric-brooding frog has been unfortunately driven to extinction within merely a decade of being formally described in 1973.[[/note]] the unique trait of incubating larval offspring within the mother's stomach (as in, the mother actually '''swallows''' the eggs or newly hatched larva), which is made possible by the eggs being coated in a special substance that induces the stomach to turn off the production of hydrochloric acid, and the larva themselves producing the same substance after hatching from said eggs.

* ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'': in the final season, Jack and the last remaining daughter of Aku are eaten by a giant beast. Its insides are a whole ecosystem, and Jack has to try multiple ways to reach the blowhole to escape.

* A number of plant species actually ''benefit'' from this trope, as having their fruits' fleshy outer tissue digested by an animal is the only way for their seeds to germinate from said animal's feces.

* A number of plant species actually ''require'' this trope for their seeds, as having their fruits' outer fleshy tissue digested by an animal is the only way for their seeds to germinate from said animal's feces.

Sometimes this is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] by the person only being inside their predator's stomach for a brief period before being released, actually having the requisite level of SuperToughness and/or HealingFactor to avoid harm (at least for far longer than [[{{Muggles}} your average non-superpowered human]] would), or whatever ate them having a slow metabolism, but often times most of these {{Hand Wave}}s aren't even mentioned.

* ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'': When fighting an enormous tentacled creature with nigh-impervious skin, Drax leaps down its throat to try to cut it open from the inside. This fails completely because its skin is just as thick from the inside, but after it's killed, Drax emerges from it unharmed. Justifiable because Drax is that badass.

* In ''Film/MenInBlack2'', Serleena accidently flies her ship into the giant worm Jeff's mouth. She not only gets swallowed, but is chewed up by a whole gullet's worth of teeth, yet she survives and manages to infect Jeff and kill him from the inside.

* In some versions of ''Literature/LittleRedRidingHood'', the wolf is killed and the grandmother emerges from its stomach, fine.

Sometimes this is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] by the person only being inside their predator's stomach for a brief period before being released, actually having the requisite level of SuperToughness and/or HealingFactor to avoid harm (at least for far longer than a [[{{Muggles}} your average non-superpowered human]] would), or whatever ate them having a slow metabolism, but often times most of these {{Hand Wave}}s aren't even mentioned.

Sometimes this is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] by the person only being inside their predator's stomach for a brief period before being released or whatever ate them having a slow metabolism, but often times most of these {{Hand Wave}}s aren't even mentioned.

This trope is the reason why EatMe works as a combat tactic. Since the person will live long enough to kill it from the inside. If the thing that ate the character is a monster or creature and we get an internal shot it is often a RibcageStomach.

[[folder: Film]]

* ''WesternAnimation/FindingNemo'': Marlin and Dory are swallowed by a blue whale, and spend a while swimming and breathing in its saliva (though it turns out the whale had no intention of eating them; it was taking them to Sydney.)
* ''WesternAnimation/JonahAVeggieTalesMovie'': As in the original book, Jonah spends several days inside a whale, living atop a swallowed shipwreck floating in its stomach juices. Jonah emerges fine, aside from being bleached and smelling terrible.
* This happens in ''Disney/{{Pinocchio}}'' when Pinocchio and Jimminy Cricket (following Geppetto) are swallowed by Monstro the whale but are all perfectly fine and later manage to escape.

* MenInBlack and MenInBlack2 have a couple examples.
** In the first one, Kay purposely lets himself be ingested by the Edgar Bug in order to get his gun back. Once he blasts the bug in two from the inside he's no worse for wear, save for the truly massive mess he made.
** A more egregious example comes from the second one when Serleena accidently flies her ship into the giant worm Jeff's mouth. She not only gets swallowed, but is chewed up by a whole gullet's worth of teeth, yet she survives and manages to infect Jeff and kill him from the inside.

* Literature/{{Ringworld}}: In ''Safe at Any Speed'', [[spoiler:the protagonist]] gets swallowed by a giant pterodactyl and comes out perfectly unhurt.
* In Literature/{{Micro}} by Michael Crichton one of the characters, Karen, is eaten alive by a bird but manages to not be killed. Unlike most examples of this trope, it's justified by the fact that she was stuck in the bird's craw rather than its stomach, so she wasn't being digested yet.

** Sergeant Schlock, the resident BlobMonster, has voluntary control over his biochemistry and can [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2000-10-05 choose]] to digest someone he's eaten in minutes or just hold them. On the other hand, once he gets eaten by a carnivorous plant and neutralizes its' digestive juices [[http://www.schlockmercenary.com/2003-07-05 until it regurgitates him]].

* "WesternAnimation/{{Trollhunters}}": Jim, Toby, Blink and Arrrgh get into the innards of a giant troll. Even after introduing an extra spicy burrito to his belly only makes for a wild ride. But they emerge unscathed. More than once.
* In the Jaws WholePlotReference episode of JimmyNeutron Captain Betty, the Quint analog, is eaten by the giant turtle part way through the episode. However after Carl manages to shrink it down we see Captain Betty treading water, alive and well. He explains that the turtle spat him out at the last second as it was shrinking. This served not only to make the end happier, but kept Carl from possibly looking like he committed manslaughter by shrinking the turtle with the Captain still inside it.

* This happens in Disney/{{Pinocchio}} when Pinocchio and Jimmini Cricket (following Gepetto) are swallowed by Monstro the whale but are all perfectly fine and later manage to escape.

Examples:

[[/folder]]

* ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'': When fighting an enormous tentacled creature with nigh-impervious skin, Drax leaps down its throat to try to cut it open from the inside. This fails completely because its skin is just as thick from the inside, but after it's killed, Drax emerges from it unharmed. Justifiable because Drax is a BadAss.