History Main / WorthlessYellowRocks

The characters of a story run across something very valuable. But, due to ignorance, stupidity or ValuesDissonance in its most literal application, they discard it as worthless junk. The audience groans in disbelief as earthly wealth beyond their wildest dreams is left lying on the floor (if not thoughtlessly trampled upon). Alternatively, while they might find some use for it that use is a [[MundaneUtility mundane, insultingly boring utility]] that is far below its actual value and capability.

Finding gold is the most common example of this trope: Though it has industrial applications as a highly corrosion-resistant electrical conductor and potential as a cheaper alternative to platinum catalysts, almost all of gold's value is due to its rarity (the pretty shine doesn't hurt either). And, in a disaster situation, gold would quickly prove to be worthless after all. This can lead to an ironic DeathByMaterialism situation for someone who's "smart" enough to figure out what those funny yellow rocks really are and won't abandon them when they really should be running for the door. Compare AllThatGlitters.

* ''Webcomic/PortSherry'': In "[[http://portsherry.com/comic/but-not-gold/ But not gold]]" a court alchemist is fired for not being able to turn lead i240301254nto gold. He is, however, able to turn lead into precious gemstones, but does not realize their worth.

[[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Also not to be confused with]] pyrite, also known as "fool's gold".

** In ''ComicBook/ReturnToPlainAwful'', the square-obsessed people of Plain Awful ''do'' become interested in money, but only for aesthetics, wanting to put it display like art in a museum. To add insult to injury, they chop a stack of bills in half to make the money more square!

* The African Wachati tribe from ''Film/AceVentura: When Nature Calls'' worship bats and live near a giant bat cave. Their most sacred bat gets stolen so Ace is on the case. [[spoiler:The stuffy British guy who hired Ace stole the bat to provoke tribal war. Once both tribes are wiped out, his mining company will move in and take over their lands which are rich in guano. This whole thing was about bat shit.]]

* ''Webcomic/PortSherry'': In "[[http://portsherry.com/comic/but-not-gold/ But not gold]]" a court alchemist is fired for not being able to turn lead into gold. He is, however, able to turn lead into precious gemstones, but does not realize their worth.

* In ''Film/MenInBlack'', diamonds are regarded by aliens like the Arquelians and The Bug as mere trinkets.

* The African Wachati tribe from ''Film/AceVentura: When Nature Calls'' worship bats and live near a giant bat cave. Their most sacred bat gets stolen so Ace is on the case. [[spoiler:The stuffy British guy who hired Ace is the one who stole the bat to provoke the Wachati into a war with a rival tribe. Once both tribes are wiped out, his mining company will move in and take over their lands which are rich in guano. This whole thing was about bat shit.]]

* Played with in the original ''Film/DawnOfTheDead1978''. When Roger and Peter find a bank in the mall, they stare at a cashbox full of mixed bills, then stare and smile at another cashbox full of wrapped $100 bills. Roger says, "You never know..." before they both fill their pockets with cash. [[spoiler: When the biker gang breaks into the mall, they loot the bank as well.]] ''Film/DayOfTheDead1985'' opens with a huge pile of cash blowing around in the wind as the main characters desperately try to find anyone alive in the area.

* ''Film/MenInBlack'':
** The Arquillian prince known as Rosenberg is a diamond merchant, but most of his species apparently thinks diamonds are only good for amusing children (or possibly ''candy''). It was mostly to emphasize how valuable the [[MacGuffin galaxy]] was.
** Same with Edgar the Cockroach, who, after opening the container he thought contained the galaxy, just dumped the diamonds all over the floor of the truck - and who later ransacked Rosenberg's jewelry store in search of the galaxy but didn't take any of the goods.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'':

** In ''ComicBook/SupermanTrueBrit'' (wherein Superman is British), Superman attempts to pay off all of Britain's national debt by creating bags full of diamond gems from coal by [[HollywoodScience squeezing it very hard]]. Of course, since, as is pointed out later by the [[DesignatedVillain villain]] of the story, diamond's value is based on its rarity, diamonds are now worthless and Superman's act was pointless, even counterproductive, because [[WhatTheHellHero they now don't have all the coal he made into diamonds]]. We then get a panel where a poor family attempts to fuel their potbelly stove with diamonds. To add insult to injury, they proceed to tax Superman for the diamonds that he did create, at the value they were during the time he created them (before they became worthless). It pretty much bankrupted him.

* In the opening sequence to ''Film/OperationCondor'', Creator/JackieChan sneaks into a small cave where diamonds line the walls and litter the floor and begins stuffing them in his bags. When found by a couple of the local tribesmen, they just shrug and wave him on, but when he tries to refill his canteen from the nearby stream...

* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', currency in the form of "Boondollars" are awarded to the players (the children and the trolls) for advancing on their echeladder and doing sidequests. It is pretty much regarded as worthless and considered "useless bullshit money" by Dave.

* In the 1965 ''Franchise/Godzilla'' film ''Film/InvasionOfAstroMonster'', gold is shown to be so common on Planet X that it's seen as a junk material and generally discarded. Water, on the other hand, is rare and extremely valuable, [[spoiler: and the natives of Planet X attempt to invade the Earth for it.]]

* In ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', Alfred uses an example of this to illustrate to Bruce Wayne why [[Characters/TheDarkKnightTrilogyTheJoker The Joker]] won't back down. Specifically, Alfred tells a story about his time in an unspecified army, when they found a bandit who had been stealing precious stones. Alfred says they tried finding the bandit by looking for anyone who had bought the stolen stones but never found anyone. Later on Alfred found a child playing with one of the stones: the bandit had been throwing them away, after stealing them ForTheEvulz. The scene [[{{Foreshadowing}} foreshadowed]] by Alfred's story is The Joker setting fire to an absurdly large pile of cash, which also counts. The Joker points out he has no interest in it as he can acquire things like homemade explosives and gasoline cheaply. Gasoline seems like an odd thing to say is cheap, considering its ever-rising price, until you realise it's unlikely [[BallisticDiscount he's going to pay for it]].

* In ''Film/BlackKnight2001'', Jamal finds himself in the Middle Ages but hasn't realized it yet. He befriends the disgraced knight Sir Knolte, mistakes him for a homeless person, and hands him a $20 bill as a gesture of kindness. After Jamal walks away, Knolte curiously looks the bill over and then uses it as fuel for his campfire.

* ''Film/{{Zombieland}}'' has a scene where the main characters play ''TabletopGame/{{Monopoly}}'' with actual money, now rendered worthless thanks to the ZombieApocalypse. Later in the scene, after recounting a sad story, Tallahassee blows his nose into some $100 bills.

* ''Film/TwentyEightDaysLater'':
** Early in the film Jim finds ''thousands'' of pound notes just billowing around in the deserted street, and naturally stops to scoop it all up. At this point he's just woken up from a coma, has no clue about the ZombieApocalypse, and hasn't learned that British money is worthless now.
** Later one of the survivors he meets tells the story of how his father tried and failed to bribe his way onto a plane, even in spite of the fact that nobody gave two tosses about money anymore.
---> I remember my dad had all this cash. He thought maybe we could buy our way onto a plane, even though cash was completely useless. [[OhCrap Ten thousand other people had the same idea]].

* ''Manga/FistOfTheNorthStar'': In the first scene, a gang of bandits assault a convoy, kill everybody, steal their food, water and fuel... and mock their victims because they also salvaged a briefcase full of cash, which in their post-apocalyptic world is completely worthless.

* From ''Film/TheDayTheEarthStoodStill1951'', Klaatu goes around with a pocketful of cut diamonds which function as small change on his planet; he tries to buy things with them on Earth, attracting the attention of the authorities.

* In one of the Weissmuller Literature/{{Tarzan}} films, Boy brings up some shiny yellow rocks from the bottom of a lake. Jane dismisses it with an, "Oh, that's gold," before throwing it away over her shoulder.
** {{Subverted|Trope}} in that Jane knows the worth of gold, but the family has no need for it in the jungle. Later, after [[spoiler: Boy is kidnapped and taken to America,]] Jane has Tarzan bring a coconut full of gold with them to New York to pay for clothes, a hotel room, etc.

* ''Film/{{Zombieland}}'' has a scene where the main characters play ''TabletopGame/{{Monopoly}}'' with actual money, now rendered worthless thanks to the ZombieApocalypse. Later in the scene, after recounting a sad story, Tallahassee blows his nose into some $100 bills.

* In the Creator/JohnWayne film ''Film/TheWarWagon'', Wayne's character makes a deal with a band of Indians to attack the titular wagon in order to steal the gold it carries. Part of the plan is to conceal the gold in a shipment of flour to carry it away. But at the end of the successful theft, the Indians double-cross Wayne and steal ''the flour'' since it's enough to feed their band for months. In the process, they toss the gold, much of which is in the form of dust and gets scattered. What's left has to be hidden because the thieves can't be caught openly carrying it in the wake of the theft. The "civilized" Indian working with Wayne thinks they're stupid for choosing flour over gold but in the end, they're the only ones who really come out ahead.