Jewish Mother/Playing With


 * Basic Trope: A woman who is usually, though not always, of Jewish descent, and is often overbearing, and tends to utilize nagging and guilt-trips.
 * Played Straight: Alice is a loving person and a great cook, but nags her children frequently, and sends them on guilt-trips frequently.
 * Exaggerated: Alice does all of the above, but with a Yiddish accent. She calls and emails her adult children (who are now living on their own) several times a day to "remind" them to do or be X, Y, and Z, and actually cries and threatens to kill herself in order to get her way.
 * Justified: Alice believes that guilt is the most lasting way to imprint morals on her kids (whom she feels need constant reminding), and sincerely wants her children to grow up to be the best they can be.
 * Exploited: Alice's son is being prepared to be a Rabbi. Of course his mother is pushy.
 * Inverted: Alice is not Jewish, possibly not even a mother, but still does the nagging and guilt thing.
 * Alice is a Jewish mother, but doesn't give a damn what her kids do or don't do.
 * Subverted: Alice doesn't typically nag or guilt trip.
 * Double Subverted: Except as a last resort.
 * Parodied: Alice reacts to her daughter's engagement to a "nice Jewish doctor" by asking what kind of doctor he is. When she learns he's "only" a family doctor, and not Director of Expensive Plastic Surgery at Beth Israel, Alice has a face-down-on-the-floor tantrum because her daughter is marrying a "no-good bum."
 * Deconstructed: Alice's nagging and guilt trips have a profound effect on her husband and children, and because they never seem to please her, no matter what they do, their relationship with Alice is strained, and they may even develop Mommy Issues. At the very least, the desire to please Alice all the time holds their development as people back.
 * Reconstructed: Alice learns to let the little things go, and that she can't control everything (and may not even want to.) She learns to love her family and friends exactly as they are.
 * Zig Zagged: Sometimes Alice is a My Beloved Smother, other times she's a cool mom.
 * Averted: Alice isn't Jewish, isn't a mother, and is a quiet Housewife
 * Enforced: The writer has Mommy Issues. Or is Jewish.
 * Lampshaded: "OK, OK, Mom! I'll be back on Friday! Oy, you're just like Jerry's mom from Seinfeld!"
 * Defied: Alice doesn't really believe in discipline, and doesn't believe in controlling her kids. She doesn't nag or guilt trip them.
 * Invoked: Alice (already something of a Tsundere) becomes a mother, and her passive-aggressive tendencies get Flanderized in the name of her children's well-being.
 * Discussed: "Honey, just because my mom is Jewish doesn't mean she'll be constantly humiliating you. Well, she probably will. If she ever calls you a shiksa, run."
 * Conversed: "Why is it that half of all sitcom characters seem to be Jewish?" "Well, if the characters ain't Jewish, you can't pull the whiny, guilt-tripping Jewish mother joke." "Ah."
 * Played For Laughs: Someone plays a sad tune on a violin as Alice tries (and fails) to lay on the guilt.
 * Played For Drama: See "Deconstructed"

Oh no, it's fine. I don't need anyone to guide me back to Jewish Mother. I'll just sit here in the dark.