"Well Done, Son" Guy/Playing With
Basic Trope: A character who desperately wants the approval of another - most often his father.
- Straight: Bob tries his hardest to gain the approval of Al, his incredibly distant father.
- Exaggerated: Bob does everything in his power to gain Al's approval, when he barely registers on Al's radar.
- Justified: Bob wants Al to love him.
- Bob's mom Dahlia died when he was very young, so to him Al is the only parent he has, even if Al is a Jerkass.
- Inverted: Al tries his hardest to gain the approval of Bob, his incredibly distant son
- Alternatively, Bob, a total Jerkass teenager, tries his hardest to piss off his formerly-proud dad Al.
- Doubly alternatively, Bob receives respect and praise from Al, who is a horrible man Bob despises, making the praise little more than a cruel mockery to him.
- Al is trying to force Bob to do things his way, but Bob won't follow along.
- Bob is Calling the Old Man Out.
- Subverted: Al tells Bob that he didn't need to do anything to gain his approval - which confuses Bob, as he started doing things to improve his life for his own sake.
- Double Subverted: However, as Bob really analyzed his behavior, he realized that subconsciously, he did do those things because that's what Al wanted.
- Parodied: The workaholic or working-class son Bob tries to win the approval of his high-culture or art-focused father Al. (A good example is a Monty Python sketch called Working-Class Playwright.)
- Deconstructed: Al dies without ostensibly letting Bob know that he loved him. This tears Bob up inside and causes him to lash out at everyone and everything.
- Alternatively, Al lets Bob know that he really doesn't care about him, which warps Bob psychologically.
- Alternatively: After had for so long tried to gain Al's approval, Bob becomes more bitter and bitter about his father. When the day comes that Al finally express his approval, it's too late for Bob and instead of satisfaction Bob feels bitterness and even spite for the approval.
- Reconstructed: Bob eventually comes to terms with his relationship with Al - he decides that raising him was a pretty good way to show love, even if he didn't say it all the time.
- The Jerkass Al got his comeuppance from someone outside the family, and he finally see that when everyone left him, Bob is the only one who still revere him. Al Took a Level In Kindness.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Averted: Either Al is open with his approval of Bob, or Bob feels no need to prove himself.
- Enforced: Bob doesn't feel he needs to win Al's approval, but a third-party insists he must.
- Lampshaded: "Why is it that no matter what I do he'll never say 'I love you' or 'I'm proud of you'?"
- Invoked: Al's father was like that with him, and he credits the emotional distance for allowing him to succeed. So, he does the same thing with Bob.
- Exploited: Al is a Jerkass who deliberately maintains a facade of emotional distance so Bob will do things for him.
- Defied: "Ah, screw it. I'm proud of you, son."
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
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