"Well Done, Son" Guy: Difference between revisions

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* In ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'', Shinji Ikari is desperate for any kind of approval from his father Gendō. (What's arguable is whether Gendō knows, and if so, whether he cares. {{spoiler|In the movie ''[[End of Evangelion]]'', it is revealed that Gendō may actually have cared about Shinji, at least as much as [[Magnificent Bastard|someone like him]] is able -- but may also have been ''as afraid of his own son as Shinji was of him''. His last words before his head gets chomped are basically "sorry [for all that crap I put you through], Shinji."}})

** Gendo does praise Shinji once -- ''just once''—over the phone. "Good work, Shinji." That one tidbit of approval is still ringing in Shinji's ears episodes later.

* In [[Umi no Misaki]], Shizuku puts her all into being a proper cape maiden to try to get her ''mom'' - a previous cape maiden - to approve of her.

* A [[One Piece|younger Luffy]] wanted to be friends with Ace, the older kid living with him, {{spoiler|and Ace's friend Sabo,}} who found him to be a weak, annoying crybaby, and lead him into tons of deadly situations to escape him, but he kept coming back. Eventually, Luffy shows how tough he really is, and they become brothers.

 

== Fan Works ==

* Again from [[Pixar]], Remy from ''[[Ratatouille]]'' tries his best to show his father that he can be a chef and get along with humans, despite both these things seeming impossible due to them being rats.

* In ''[[Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs]]'', Flint wants his father's approval, and {{spoiler|finally gets it with the help of a monkey translator. Revealing he was always proud of his son, he was just unable to say it}}.

 

== Films -- Live-Action ==

 

== Literature ==

** Also, to some extent, Ron Weasley. He's always been [[Overshadowed by Awesome|overshadowed by his brothers]] and simply wants to be set apart, and earn the recognition of his parents. However, the Weasley family is an extremely loving one, so while he doesn't necessarily feel "special" in their eyes, he does know that he's loved.

** Also Draco Malfoy, although more so in the films than in the books. Draco obviously worships his father and is constantly trying to live up to his considerable reputation.

** This is also a huge issue of Barney's, as multiple episodes show, most notably 'Showdown' and 'Cleaning House', and he doesn't even know who his father is.

** He has now met his father, and after getting radically worse, he may actually be getting better.

** The show also features the less common mother-daughter variant of this trope, when Kara Thrace goes to see her mother {{spoiler|after earning her commission as a Colonial officer - the first in her family to do so - only to be berated for not graduating higher in her class}}. The fact that her mother was frequently abusive during her childhood in the belief that Kara had a [[Because Destiny Says So|"special destiny"]] means their relationship was already....''strained'', [[It Got Worse|to say the least of it]].

* ''[[Gossip Girl]]''s Chuck Bass.

* ''[[Batman (TV series)|Batman]]''. Legs in "The Greatest Mother of them All"/"Ma Parker."

 

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* The ''[[Ace Attorney]] Investigations'' game focusing on Miles Edgeworth shows that this is most likely true for Franziska. In the fourth case, 13-year-old Franziska competes with Miles, presumably to receive her father's attention. Considering he barely seems to acknowledge her skills compared to Miles, this explains a lot about how caught up she was in Manfred's worldview.

* ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]'' has Eva Ushiromiya, towards [[Abusive Parents|her father Kinzo]]. [[Drunk with Power|This]] [[Cain and Abel|causes]] [[Kill'Em All|problems]].

* In ''[[Katawa Shoujo]]'', it is very strongly implied that Shizune Hakamichi's [[Spirited Competitor]] personality stems largely from a desire to earn the approval of her [[Jerkass]] [[Abusive Dad]] Jigoro. Unfortunately, he seems to view most of her accomplishments, including her position as [[Student Council President]], with contempt.

 

** Nale also feels this way to his [[Evil Overlord]] father. Nale wants to prove that he can be even better [[Big Bad]] material than the old man, and he wants him to acknowledge that.

* In ''[[Endstone]]'', [http://endstone.net/2009/02/21/issue-1-page-4/ Cole stole her mother's Endstone to attempt to win her father's love.]

* In ''[[The Specialists]]'', [http://thespecialistscomic.com/page-85/ Henry]. He's a jerk, a bigot and a Casanova Wannabe—but you still feel sorry for him.

 

** Goliath and Angela get a moment of this when he finally acknowledges her as his daughter - not because he hadn't approved of her, but because gargoyles in his clan traditionally didn't keep track of their own offspring, and he really doesn't like abandoning or changing 'the gargoyle way'.

*** Not to mention that he doesn't want her focusing on her [[Fantastic Racism]]-fueled biological ''mother''...

** Don't forget poor Grim! He pretended to become a country rock star just to please his father, only to discover later that his father would have preferred having the Grim Reaper for a son (and, of course, now will not believe Grim to be the Reaper).

* In ''[[The Simpsons]]'', it's been often implied through flashbacks and certain episodes that Homer very much had a relationship like this with his father Abe, which would explain why Homer has such a numb and uncaring sentiment towards his dad now during Abe's old age. This was particularly looked at in the episode "Grandpa vs. Sexual Inadequacy".