History Main / WhileRomeBurns

* ''Film/BatmanForever'': Considering that Edward Nygma hasn't been publicly exposed as the Riddler, there's the appearance that he's doing this when his launch party is invaded by Two-Face and his goons.
* ''Film/BatmanReturns'' has a few instances:
** When the Red Triangle gang is doing their initial rage of terror, Batman is quite calm walking through the carnage, as are some of the people in the background.
** As his Red Triangle Gang riots in the streets mere blocks away, Gotham City mayoral candidate Oswald Cobblepot (a.k.a. the Penguin) goes for a stroll in Gotham Plaza. Batman eventually makes his way to the plaza and demands to know what Oswald is up to. "Touring the riot scene. Gravely assessing the devastation," Oswald replies with [[SarcasmMode mock seriousness]].
** Batman trying to appeal to Catwoman to put down the taser at the end of the film has this effect, considering that radioactive waste is spewing all around the sewer, mayhem is going on outside, and the Penguin is about to croak.

* The opening cutscene of ''VideoGame/StarCraftI: Brood War'' features a marine who is saved by another marine with a rocket launcher. The rocket launcher marine is black, wears sunglasses, has football face-stripes on and is rocking back and forth to rock music. When the marine he saved asks where the air support is, he calmly points to the battlecruiser hovering overhead (which the other dude [[NoPeripheralVision somehow missed]]). At the end of the scene, the battlecruiser takes off, and the marine seals his suit with a reflective gold face-covering. The scene ends with a pull back from the two marines as [[BolivianArmyEnding an impossible number of Zerg units overruns them]]. The black Marine jamming out during a battle is possibly a ShoutOut to ''Film/ApocalypseNow''.

** This cutscene is given a CallBack during a FlashBack scene in ''VideoGame/StarCraftII'', when Raynor remembers the day Sarah Kerrigan was abandoned. Faintly audible for a few seconds, Arcturus Mengsk is listening to ''the same record'' that the admirals were listening to when they gave the order for their ship to leave.
** And it then gets a ''second'' CallBack later on, when Raynor boards Valerian Mengsk's ship, and Valerian is listening to a cover of that record while Raynor tears through his ship and busts into his cabin. However, this time it's subverted, as the ship isn't hovering over a colony being eaten by the Zerg and Valerian manages to de-escalate and negotiate Raynor into ''not'' shooting anyone else.

*** In South Clock Town, the carpenters will continue to build their scaffolding even as the moon comes closer and closer. Tragically subverted on the third night, as all of the carpenters except the boss flee the city, leaving the boss to scream in disgust. If the player speaks to him as Deku Link, he apologizes for being unable to finish work and wishes he could make the moon go away.
** This is how the Kinstone subquests can come across, in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap''. Monsters to defeat? Dungeons to explore? Not now, there are Kinstones to be fused! Link can even do one with the King, as ''Zelda is frozen as a statue and Vaati is on the loose'', and all the King says is "You want to fuse Kinstones at a grave time like this? Very well!"

* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', you can stumble upon a bizarre building owned by a Russian ex-mercenary named Dukov. All he does all day is party, drink, get high, and have sex with his two "party girls". He seems completely ambivalent to the fact that they are in the middle of a hilariously dangerous city full of mutants, and the only reason his whores stick around and put up with him in the first place is for self-preservation, though one of them asks you for a safe escort out. Of course, Dukov is old, and likely both out of practice and drunk off his ass, so he's easy enough for you to kill. It helps that he wears pajamas.

* ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEmfMte3L4A&t=1m21s In the Season 2 First Look Scene]], Armand and Louis are casually flirting while there's carnage and property destruction nearby. It was Armand who unleashed his coven of vampires on the de la Croix family and their guests, and since he doesn't partake in the feeding frenzy (his reply to a curious Louis is "I am now where I most want to be"), it seems Armand selected the large estate as a hunting site to distract his coven and Claudia so that he can have some private time with his new LoveInterest.

* ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gEmfMte3L4A&t=1m21s In the Season 2 First Look Scene]], Armand and Louis are casually flirting while there's carnage and property destruction nearby. It was Armand who unleashed his coven of vampires on the de la Croix family and their guests, and since he doesn't join the feeding frenzy (his reply to a curious Louis is "I am now where I most want to be"), it seems Armand selected the large estate as a hunting site to distract his coven and Claudia so that he can have some private time with his new LoveInterest.

* In ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'' episode "The Human Factor", commander Ellis Grover sabotages the colonization project he was in charge of [[DespairEventHorizon after finding out his superiors started a nuclear war that killed off most of humanity, including his family]]. This is ''after'' he spent the entire episode trying to stop his RobotBuddy Link from doing the exact same thing out of the belief that HumansAreBastards. Having come to agree with Link in the end, he reactivates him. When Link notes that Grover's sabotage leaves them with about two hours before the base is destroyed, Grover decides they might as well play one last game of chess. They spend the last scene setting up the chessboard while the base and all hopes of humanity's survival fall apart around them.
* In the final episode of ''Series/KamenRiderOOO'', Kosei Kougami indulges in his hobby of singing "Happy Birthday" and baking birthday cakes while the city outside is gradually being devoured by a monstrous construct out to absorb everything, and the building he's in grows increasingly damaged.
* While ''Series/{{Rome}}'' doesn't burn, there's an orgy in Cleopatra's throne room as the army of Octavian closes in, and an emissary demands unconditional surrender. Cleopatra pleads with Antony to flee or come up with some clever military trick.
-->'''Antony:''' I'm not a fucking magician. Look around us, woman. Whores, hermaphrodites, and lickspittles. This is our only now.
* Aptly present in the ITV miniseries ''The Great Fire'', in which King Charles's courtiers and mistresses carry on with their fun and games while London burns.

* ''Series/FoylesWar'': One BodyOfTheWeek takes Detective Foyle to a resort where English IdleRich are riding out World War 2 in leisure, with plenty of luxury food that contravenes rationing rules. Foyle, a WWI veteran whose son is an enlisted pilot, is deeply unimpressed with the frivolity.
* In ''Series/BattlestarGalactica1978'', with the refugee fleet facing food shortages to the point of starvation, Captain Apollo investigates a report that food is being hoarded on the luxury ship, ''The Rising Star''. Sure enough, Apollo and Boomer discover Sire Uri and his cronies gorging on an abundant supply heedless of the starvation looming amongst the fleet. Captain Apollo is not having any of that and instantly orders all the munchies confiscated for redistribution as far as they will go.

* A rather chilling scene in Franchise/TheDCU miniseries ''ComicBook/FiftyTwo'': In Superman's absence (due to power failure), ComicBook/LexLuthor has [[VillainWithGoodPublicity started a program to give ordinary people superpowers]], and soon Metropolis is swarming with self-styled superheroes. But Luthor becomes obsessed with a new hero, Supernova, and to call him out, on the stroke of midnight on New Year's Eve, during a huge rally for the new "heroes," he switches their powers off. Luthor spends the next few moments waiting for Supernova's arrival chatting casually on a cell phone as hundreds of helpless people fall out of the sky and onto the pavement. The funniest part is when one of them is about to fall on top of him while he's on the phone. He excuses himself, walks out of the spot and continues talking as the guy plummets just behind him.
* ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'': while [[spoiler: millions of people are dying from a monster in downtown New York, Ozymandias, its creator, enjoys a nice dinner. The arrival of the heroes hardly deters him.]]

** In ''ComicBook/ThePunisher: Last Days'', during the Final Incursion, the Kingpin decides to invite a bunch of other supervillains to drink with him and quietly watch all their various enemies die on the frontlines of the cosmic war before they themselves are wiped from existence. [[spoiler: Given the comicbook that this happens in, no prize for guessing that Frank Castle ruins the party by killing the attendees.]]
** In ''ComicBook/{{Wolverines}}'', [[spoiler: upon finding out that plan she was following from her dead lover Destiny was supposed to revive Wolverine, and not Destiny herself, Mystique throws a fit and refuses to complete the plan, deciding she would rather ''let the entire universe be destroyed'' if it meant reviving Wolverine instead of Destiny.]]
* ComicBook/UltimateMarvel

** ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'': Earth is about to be blown up, and indeed the entire ''solar system'' with it, but Herr Kleiser doesn't care. All he wants, all he's wanted since WWII, is to best Captain America and have him say "I surrender, Herr Kleiser. Make it quick". [[HeroicSecondWind Good luck with that]].

* Zigzagged in ''Fanfic/ShadowchasersCyberCommander'' The fic takes place in Neo Domino City, chronologically at the same time the Dark Signer Arc of the canon series. Right after the Arcadia Building is destroyed by the Earthbound Gods, Mistle and all the Neo Domino Shadowchasers except Shichiro are watching old episodes of ''Film/TheThreeStooges'' on basic cable. (And when Shichiro tells them how foolish it is, Ember says, "Not only that, it's an episode with Shemp in it." However, it quickly made apparent that they're all ''very'' frightened and are doing it to stay calm.
* In ''Fanfic/TheWeaverOption'' as the Imperium and daemons devastate [[spoiler:Commorragh]], a heavily-injured [[spoiler:Asbrudael Vect]] climbs the tallest tower still standing and enjoys a bottle of wine while watching the destruction.

* The Disney version of ''WesternAnimation/{{The Hunchback of Notre Dame|Disney}}'' has an almost literal version of this; "while Paris burns" to be precise. Frollo threatens to burn down all of Paris and manages to burn down a considerable portion of it, but while Quasimodo and the gargoyles are looking out at the fire, they're discussing (and eventually singing about) whether or not Quasimodo might have a chance with Esmeralda after all.
-->'''Hugo''': Paris, the city of lovers, is glowing this evening. True, that's because it's on fire but still, there's l'amour.

* ''Film/BatmanBegins'': A couple instances:
** When the Red Triangle gang is doing their initial rage of terror, Batman is quite calm walking through the carnage as are some of the people in the background.
* Batman trying to appeal to Catwoman at the end of the woman to put down the taser has this effect, considering radioactive waste is spewing all around the sewer, mayhem is going on outside, and the Penguin is about to croak.
* ''Film/BatmanForever'': Considering Edward Nygma hasn't been publicly exposed as the Riddler, there's the appearance that he's doing this when his launch party is invaded by Two-Face and his goons.

--> "But enjoy our privileges while we can--there is but a short time left."
* ''Film/QuoVadis'': Pictured above is a poster from the 1913 Italian FilmOfTheBook. In the more recent 2001 Polish version, Nero is an Extra LargeHam.
* In the ''Film/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' remake, Tom Cruise's neighborhood mechanic ignores all the ominous signs of the impending alien invasion in order to rush-fix a Dodge minivan. He keeps ignoring the aliens while Tom Cruise steals that same minivan, up until they shoot him in the back with the death ray.
* Jenny from the film ''Film/DeepImpact'' ends up spending her time at home with her dad as a huge comet approaches the Earth. A minute later, as a huge wave is destroying New York, we see a man on a park bench quietly reading a newspaper just before he's swept away. One wonders what could have possibly been in the newspaper.
* The Australians in the ''Film/OnTheBeach'' while expecting the lethal radioactive clouds to arrive.
* ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'': The ship's architect Thomas Andrews, bandleader Wallace Hartley, and Captain Edward John Smith. Andrews stands in the first class lounge, calmly watching the clock tick away, Hartley and his band are playing a hymn, and Captain Smith remains at his post on the bridge all the while the ship sinks.
* The two ''[[Film/DawnOfTheDead1978 Dawn of the Dead]]'' movies are effectively this, they hide away in their own little paradise while the rest of the world is destroyed by the zombies.
** In [[Film/DawnOfTheDead2004 the 2004 remake]] a man starves to death just across the road while they're making lattes. They do try to send him food, [[spoiler:they just fail miserably and eventually the entire mall is overrun with zombies]].
** The original has another great example with the "Hunting Parties". While in [[Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968 its predecessor]] they are doing an effective, if indiscriminate job of clearing the countryside, by this point it is evident that they are likely going to fail, so what we see is a bunch of soldiers, cops, and assorted rednecks grilling, getting drunk, and doing their damnedest to enjoy their last hours of life.
* In ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy2005'', there is an old lady sitting at the street side table oblivious to or uninterested in what's going on around her while the world is being destroyed. This is Douglas Adams's mother. The director didn't give any acting directions to her or anybody else in the scene for what they were supposed to do, to simulate chaos, so she just sat there reading a newspaper.
* ''Film/ConAir'' depicts the [[StuffBlowingUp increasingly chaotic results]] of a bunch of convicts hijacking a prison transport plane. Toward the climax, while the plane is rapidly descending on the improvised landing strip in UsefulNotes/LasVegas and the surviving passengers flail about in a state of panic, Garland Greene sits unperturbed in his usual seat, cradling a Ken doll and singing "He's Got the Whole World In His Hands."
* ''Der Untergang'', or ''Film/{{Downfall}}'', features quite a few scenes of drunken revelry as high-ranking members of the Nazi party await the inevitable as the Allies close in on Berlin. In one scene, a dance party comes to a halt when an artillery shell blasts down a wall and fills the room with dust and smoke.
* In ''Film/MontyPythonsTheMeaningOfLife'', there is a scene where British officers calmly go about their business as African aboriginal warriors brutally slaughter the troops in camp.
* In ''Film/FightClub'' the ending scene features the main character [[spoiler: kissing his romantic interest while watching various skyscrapers explode and collapse to the ground throughout the city.]]
--> '''Narrator''': You met me at a very weird point in my life.
* ''Film/{{Metropolis}}'': The False Maria/Machine Woman eggs on the partygoers of Yoshiwara to take their revelry out into the streets after the power to the city goes out, and all of them blindly follow along, unaware their idol also just staged a workers' revolt underneath the city, and destroyed the power generators to begin with.
-->"Let's all watch the world go to the devil."
* ''Film/NicholasAndAlexandra'': Prince Yusupov sees more clearly than most people in UsefulNotes/TsaristRussia that the good times (for nobles, anyway) are going to [[UsefulNotes/RedOctober end real soon]], but that's not going to stop him from partying.
--> '''Yusupov''': You ministers never cease to amaze me. You think you are in control, but you are going to be swept away just like us princes. I am throwing a little soiree on Thursday, why not come? I cannot stop the revolution, but until it comes, let us have some fun. Even if it only for a few more days.

* ''Film/BatmanReturns'': As his Red Triangle Gang riots in the streets mere blocks away, Gotham City mayoral candidate Oswald Cobblepot (a.k.a. The Penguin) goes for a stroll in Gotham Plaza. Batman eventually makes his way to the plaza and demands to know what Oswald is up to. "Touring the riot scene. Gravely assessing the devastation," Oswald replies with [[SarcasmMode mock seriousness]].
* ''Film/ShaunOfTheDead'' plays it for laughs. [[SleptThroughTheApocalypse The protagonists are too inattentive to notice the zombie apocalypse has already started around them.]]
* In ''Film/MeanGirls'', after the female population of the school has descended into madness over the Burn Book, [[AlphaBitch Regina George]] stands at the top of the stairs and admires her handiwork as people run past and debris flies through the shot.
* In ''Film/FishStory'', a comet is on a direct collision course with earth. The full effect is somewhere from [[ApocalypseHow Societal Collapse to Total Extinction]] on a planetary scale. The streets are abandoned, people having fled to higher ground. On the other hand, there's a record store that isn't going to open itself, and so the proprietor goes about business as usual, insistent that everything will be fine. [[spoiler: He's right.]]
* ''Film/TheDayTheEarthCaughtFire'' (1961). Water rationing is imposed as the Earth hurls toward the Sun. At one point, the protagonist has to fight his way through a street full of teenagers high on drugs having a water fight. He eventually makes his way to the apartment of his LoveInterest, and they spend more quiet time together.
* ''Film/CarryOnUpTheKhyber'': When the Governor learns that the Residency is about to be attacked, he resolves to do nothing and instead holds a black tie dinner. The officers and ladies sit down to a fine dinner as the Residency is being shelled around them, completely ignoring the chaos going on. Only the chaplain Brother Belcher, who is the OnlySaneMan, comments on the destruction or takes any precautions.
* ''Film/TheAddamsFamily'': At the start of the Mamushka scene, Gomez proudly announces, among other things, "we danced the Mamushka while Nero fiddled".
* ''Film/LolaMontes'': King Ludwig is lounging around in his castle reading scenes from ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' to Lola while revolution is breaking out in Bavaria and rioters are rampaging in the streets outside. Finally his courtiers manage to get him to get up and flee for safety.

* As depicted in ''Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities'', Madam Defarge and the rest of the ''tricoteuses'' sit beside the guillotine and knit furiously while people are executed to show support for the Revolution and its Reign of Terror.
* ''Literature/TheMasqueOfTheRedDeath'': Prince Propero and his nobles shut themselves in a tower and hold a party in order to ride out the plague devastating their land. The whole point of the story is to give them a massively karmic death, a ''red'' death. The source tale, ''Literature/TheDecameron'', did not kill off the characters. It's just an excuse for a frame tale that shuts people in a room so they'll tell stories to pass the time.
* Stephen King's ''Literature/{{Cell}}'' has the 'Sprinters', people who steal the most expensive/fast looking vehicles they can find and drive them down the street after the ZombieApocalypse renders their owners either dead or insane. On the two occasions when specific Sprinters are mentioned, they manage to get themselves either injured [[TooDumbToLive or killed spectacularly]].

* Subverted in the Creator/KimNewman short story "[[Literature/DiogenesClub Soho Golem]]", in which an investigation into a supernatural gangland murder takes the heroes to a very decadent party being held by a local porn baron. However, while there's certainly plenty of hedonistic fun being had, it's not being had by any of the people who are potentially involved or are potential future victims of the killer -- all of whom, the heroes note, look very, ''very'' worried.

* In ''[[Literature/{{Twilight}} Eclipse]]'', Edward reads a newspaper article about how countless people are dying and disappearing in Seattle. He notes that it's the work of a newborn vampire...and then helps Bella fill out college applications. Later, when Alice finds out that an entire army of newborns is coming to kill Bella, she insists that they still go ahead with the graduation party she planned for Bella. It's arguable whether either of these were meant to be examples, however.

* Referenced in ''Literature/TheTrialsOfApollo'', wherein [[spoiler:[[BigBad Emperor Nero]] himself]] appears, and promptly [[ShownTheirWork points out how false this was]], even saying "Fiddles weren't even ''invented'' yet!" [[spoiler:Apollo notes that while that might be true and he might not have started said fire, he certainly didn't hesitate to take advantage of it]].
* ''Comrades of War'' by Creator/SvenHassel. In a luxurious restaurant constructed in an underground bunker, high-ranking officers and Nazi officials enjoy unrationed food and wine while a firestorm devastates Hamburg.
-->A lady pointed to the people who were laughing, drinking and dancing and whispered to her partner: "Don't they have any heart at all? Don't they know that a whole world is going to ruin, burnt to cinders by incendiary bombs?"
-->Her partner, an elderly SS officer, put a piece of juicy red meat into his mouth and took a sip of red wine. "Today the brain is more important than the heart, my dear. People without a heart have a bigger chance to survive."
* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' when whole [[spoiler:worlds]] are falling apart, Khepri is gathering all [[spoiler:remotely useful powered people]] and sees The Sleeper... sitting on a lawn chair idly reading a book. The fact that [[spoiler:she]] thought he was more trouble than he was worth has spawned endless theories.
* This is an ongoing theme in ''Literature/WatchersOfTheThrone'' - the High Lords current and previous keep trying to play political games and jockeying for power while the Imperium is burning down around them.

** ''ComicBook/UltimateGalactusTrilogy'': Sure, Gah Lak Tus may have fired a missile at 99% of light speed directly to earth, but did anyone remembered to put some vodka on Tony's armor?
** ''ComicBook/TheUltimates'': Earth is about to blow up, but Herr Kleiser does not care. All he wants, all he wanted since WWII, is to best Captain America and have him say "I surrender, Herr Kleiser. Make it quick". [[HeroicSecondWind Good luck with that]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs 2020}}'': In the first episode of season 2 Nero plays an anachronistic fiddle while singing a MajorGeneralSong about himself, halfway through the Warners hijack the song, starting with pointing out that Rome is on fire.

-->-- '''Music/TomWaits''', "Earth Died Screaming" from the album ''Music/BoneMachine''

* ''Film/ConAir'' depicts the [[StuffBlowingUp increasingly chaotic results]] of a bunch of convicts hijacking a prison transport plane. Toward the climax, while the plane is rapidly descending on the improvised landing strip in UsefulNotes/LasVegas and the surviving passengers flail about in a state of panic, Steve Buscemi's character sits unperturbed in his usual seat, cradling a Ken doll and singing "He's Got the Whole World In His Hands."

* ''Film/{{Titanic 1997}}'': The ship's architect Thomas Andrews, bandleader Wallace Hartley, and Captain Edward John Smith. Andrews stands in the first class lounge, calmly watching the clock tick away, Hartley and his band are playing a hymn, and Captain Smith remains at his post on the bridge.

** In the Sadie's Story extras in ''VideoGame/Halo3ODST'', an overweight butcher stays in his store, happily trying to sell or outright give away his meat to refugees fleeing New Mombasa, though he's doing this so that people can have food while getting out of the city, and you can hear a woman thanking him profusely for giving her a number of kabobs. He also admits that he is extremely fat and would take up space on a bus or train that would be better spent on thinner people.

* Near the end of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'', there's a soldier patrolling and listening to his Walkman, totally oblivious to the fact that the entire facility he's in is getting destroyed in six minutes, give or take.

* The opening cutscene of ''VideoGame/StarcraftBroodWar'' features a marine who is saved by another marine with a rocket launcher. The rocket launcher marine is black, wears sunglasses, has football face-stripes on and is rocking back and forth to rock music. When the marine he saved asks where the air support is, he calmly points to the battlecruiser hovering overhead (which the other dude [[NoPeripheralVision somehow missed]]). At the end of the scene, the battlecruiser takes off, and the marine seals his suit with a reflective gold face-covering. The scene ends with a pull back from the two marines as [[BolivianArmyEnding an impossible number of Zerg units overruns them]]. The black Marine jamming out during a battle is possibly a ShoutOut to ''Film/ApocalypseNow''.

** This cutscene is given a CallBack during a FlashBack scene in ''VideoGame/StarcraftII'', when Raynor remembers the day Sarah Kerrigan was abandoned. Faintly audible for a few seconds, Arcturus Mengsk is listening to ''the same record'' that the admirals were listening to when they gave the order for their ship to leave.

* The ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'' "Meet the Team" videos have a few.
** In "Meet the Engineer", the Engineer is casually strumming his guitar and drinking beer [[TheTurretMaster while his turrets do all his fighting for him]].
** In "Meet the Heavy", there is a scene of the Heavy on Dustbowl [[BoisterousBruiser loudly yelling and laughing as he fires his minigun at the enemy team]]. This same scene is also in "Meet the Sandvich", only this time the Heavy just stands there munching on his Sandvich while the fighting happens around him.
** The first half of the Meet the Medic video is like this. While most of the team is getting utterly ''owned'', the Medic and the Heavy are back in the clinic cracking jokes and making [[ForScience comically bad]] medical decisions. Promptly subverted in the second half of the video, in which the result of those comically bad medical decisions solves the crisis rather handily.
** [[PlayingWithATrope Done very weirdly]] in the Meet the Pyro video. The Pyro is constantly in a [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness self-inflicted oblivious state]] of this, so while in real life he's slaughtering people by the dozens and razing entire villages to the ground on his own, in his mind he's giving children lollipops and blowing bubbles and making rainbows.

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': While Vale descends into chaos, Cinder Fall and Mercury Black are watching and taping the whole thing. Emerald seems at least regretful but Mercury and Cinder are enjoying it.

* ''Literature/TheMasqueOfTheRedDeath'': They shut themselves in a tower to avoid plague and hold a party. The whole point of the story is to give them a massively karmic death, a ''red'' death. The source tale, ''Literature/TheDecameron'', did not kill off the characters. It's just an excuse for a frame tale that shuts people in a room so they'll tell stories to pass the time.

* During UsefulNotes/SouthKorea's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinking_of_MV_Sewol MV Sewol Disaster,]] caused by a series of DisasterDominoes[[note]]including ignoring regulators' warnings that the ship was top-heavy and thus needed lots of ballast, [[HanlonsRazor making a haphazard sharp turn that in an area infamous for strong currents among other acts of crew incompetence,]] and the aforementioned disobedience of the regulators leading to the ship capsizing when making said sharp turn)[[/note]] witnesses testified that the crew, [[KarmicDeath of which many didn't survive]], [[ItsAllAboutMe were all "relaxing themselves"]] drinking beer [[http://www.reuters.com/article/us-southkorea-ferry-crew-idUSKBN0GY08E20140903 while waiting to be rescued.]] The surviving crew members then claimed that they were expecting that [[BystanderSyndrome it was the Coast Guard's job]] to rescue the passengers, and [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome this attitude led to]] the [[WhatASenselessWasteOfHumanLife deaths of 295 (not including 2 rescue divers) out of 476 passengers]], [[TearJerker including 250 students from the same school]] ([[AdultsAreUseless who the crew could have helped to safety]] because [[EpicFail the disaster happened at daytime]]). The Sewol disaster also saw the infamous "missing seven hours", during which then-President of South Korea Park Geun-Hye was uncontactable while the ship was sinking in real time. Because of the lack of information, various rumours spread along the lines of this trope, including the president receiving plastic surgery, having a love affair with a married man, or even taking part in a cultist ritual.[[note]]The revelations of her connections with Choi Soon-Sil didn't help the last one.[[/note]] [[http://www.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20180329000933 The latest theories]] say that she may have been ''sleeping'' during this time[[note]]Park Geun-Hye is known to have suffered from sleeping disorders, and documents have revealed massive purchases of sleeping pills by the presidential office[[/note]].

They're still reading a book, listening to music, [[JustForFun/TVTropesWillRuinYourLife browsing this site]], whatever. Maybe [[ApatheticCitizens they just don't care]]. Perhaps they [[DancinInTheRuins approve of what's going on]], or even [[BigBad masterminded it]] and are letting their EvilPlan come to fruition. On the other hand, maybe they figure that if they're going to die, they might as well [[FaceDeathWithDignity go out with quiet dignity]] rather than in a panic or with RageAgainstTheHeavens. If combined with DissonantSerenity it might have heroic or [[TheStoic stoic]] overtones.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs 2020}}'': Nero plays an anachronistic fiddle while singing a ModernMajorGeneralSong about himself, halfway through the Warners hijack the song, starting with pointing out that Rome is on fire.

* TropeNamer: According to legend, Emperor UsefulNotes/{{Nero}} played the fiddle (or lute, or lyre) while Rome was burning down. Supposedly, his men actually helped ''set'' the fire. This story was more likely than not circulated by those who disliked/despised him. All actual evidence found suggests he wasn't even in the city at the time and quite possibly wouldn't have been in any position to help. It is quite certain that he didn't have a fiddle (as he's often portrayed in cartoons) since they weren't invented until a thousand years later. According to Tacitus, he rushed back to Rome when he heard of the fire and funded the relief effort, and while he may not have ''set'' the fire, there is little doubt that he benefited from it; the section of Rome that burned, Nero had had plans to raze it to build something. This fact probably contributed to the [[UsefulNotes/ConspiracyTheories suspicion that]] he [[MotiveEqualsConclusiveEvidence deliberately set the fire]].

* In a similar vein, many influencers and celebrities were ''heavily'' criticized for continuing to party and go to collaborative events during the pandemic, especially before a vaccine was available. While some influencers insisted they'd made sure everyone in attendance had tested negative for Covid, the partying was seen as being out-of-touch at ''best'', and downright selfish and dangerous at worst.

* The song "Dancing With Tears in My Eyes" from Ultravox is about a man driving home from work and hearing that a catastrophe (presumably a nuclear war) is on its way. He then goes home to his wife, they get drunk, make love to their favorite music and the last verse ends with "it's time, and I don't think we really care." [[LyricsVideoMismatch In the video]], the catastrophe turns out to be [[ArtisticLicenseNuclearPhysics a nuclear power plant]] GoingCritical.

* In ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', there is an old lady sitting at the street side table oblivious to or uninterested in what's going on around her while the world is being destroyed. This is Douglas Adams's mother. The director didn't give any acting directions to her or anybody else in the scene for what they were supposed to do, to simulate chaos, so she just sat there reading a newspaper.

* During the battle against the Colossus of Rhodes in ''Videogame/GodOfWarII'', Kratos ends up crashing through the ceiling of a bathhouse, where he finds [[FanserviceExtra two nameless, topless ladies]] who act notoriously nonchalant about the fact there is a raging battle on their city with a giant statue destroying everything on its wake. They also have no issue having a threesome with Kratos (the guy leading the invasion on their city) right there.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* In ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'', Tycho and Gabe are so addicted to ''Videogame/{{Titanfall}}'' that Gabe thinks that the game crashing is a ''good'' thing since he'd never be able to stop playing otherwise. Tycho's ''house is burning down around him'' and he still won't stop playing, though he hopes the game crashes soon. He is already on fire too.

* Zigzagged in the original ''Fanfic/{{Shadowchasers}}'' The fic takes place in Neo Domino City, chronologically at the same time the Dark Signer Arc of the canon series. Right after the Arcadia Building is destroyed by the Earthbound Gods, Mistle and all the Neo Domino Shadowchasers except Shichiro are watching old episodes of ''Film/TheThreeStooges'' on basic cable. (And when Shichiro tells them how foolish it is, Ember says, "Not only that, it's an episode with Shemp in it." However, it quickly made apparent that they're all ''very'' frightened and are doing it to stay calm.

* "Literature/TheMasqueOfTheRedDeath": They shut themselves in a tower to avoid plague and hold a party. The whole point of the story is to give them a massively karmic death, a ''red'' death. The source tale, ''Literature/TheDecameron'', did not kill off the characters. It's just an excuse for a frame tale that shuts people in a room so they'll tell stories to pass the time.

--->"''We shall greet the morning... together.''"