People surviving being swallowed by giant creature.

[Chad32]

I'm watching a Let's Play where the main character has to go inside a giant snake to get something, and it made me think about all the stories where you have to go inside some creature, and you're able to survive. That's pretty much the opposite of what's supposed to happen when something gets swallowed.

Where do stories like this come from? Why do people make stories of someone being swallowed, and not promptly suffocating or dissolving in digestive fluids?

It's usually a metaphor for hitting rock bottom, so you can eventually rise above it, the way I understand it. TVtropes calls this trope "Getting Eaten is Harmless." At least, That's the way it usually goes, with one notable exception:





Although that was largely for thematic reasons itself.

That may be it. Or the Voraphilia, or something. I just figure there must be a reason for it to be a common theme in stories.