Abuse Mistake: Difference between revisions

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When [[Played for Laughs]], the mistake is almost always Type A, and quickly corrected. When [[Played for Drama]], however, a real victim might be denied help (Type B), a innocent person might get his life ruined with unfair accusations of abuse (Type A), or the designated "victim" (again Type A) gets stalked or outright oppressed by [[Unwanted Rescue|unwanted "rescuers"]]. These helpers might even go to great lengths [[Manufacturing Victims|trying to force her to "realize" that she's a victim of abuse]]. And no, not the actual abuse that ''they'' are subjecting her to.

See also [[Friendly War]], [[Casual Kink]], and [[Safe Sane and Consensual]] for non-abusive stuff that can be mistaken for abuse. Compare [[You Just Ruined the Shot]], for cases where the "victim" was an actor in a movie rather then a participant in a sexual game. Contrast [[Romanticized Abuse]] (with the subtropes [[Bastard Boyfriend]] and [[Bastard Girlfriend]]) as well as [[Abuse Is Okay When Its Female On Male]] for situations that are clearly abusive but the audience isn't really intended to care.

See also [[Friendly War]], [[Casual Kink]], and [[Safe, Sane, and Consensual]] for non-abusive stuff that can be mistaken for abuse. Compare [[You Just Ruined the Shot]], for cases where the "victim" was an actor in a movie rather then a participant in a sexual game. Contrast [[Romanticized Abuse]] (with the subtropes [[Bastard Boyfriend]] and [[Bastard Girlfriend]]) as well as [[Abuse Is Okay When Its Female On Male]] for situations that are clearly abusive but the audience isn't really intended to care.

'''Warning!''' Expect unmarked spoilers, since this trope is about situations being revealed to [[Not What It Looks Like|be different than what they looked like]].

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

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== [[Comic Books]] ==

* In one episode of Girls (a James Bond parody about a reluctant [[Marty Stu]] named Lester Girls), our hero rescues a man from getting tortured by a beautiful woman. However, the "victim" gets mad at him for ruining the scene. What first [[Wrong Genre Savvy|looked like]] the [[Bastard Girlfriend]] kind of [[Fan Service]] turned out to be simple [[Safe Sane and Consensual|consensual]] [[Casual Kink]].

* In one episode of Girls (a James Bond parody about a reluctant [[Marty Stu]] named Lester Girls), our hero rescues a man from getting tortured by a beautiful woman. However, the "victim" gets mad at him for ruining the scene. What first [[Wrong Genre Savvy|looked like]] the [[Bastard Girlfriend]] kind of [[Fan Service]] turned out to be simple [[Safe, Sane, and Consensual|consensual]] [[Casual Kink]].

* Type A is a Stock plot in [[Donald Duck]]: Donald gets a new job of responsibility, and starts to see abuse and attempted crimes everywhere he looks. Chaos ensues.

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* In ''[[GI Jane]]'', Jordan and her crew are out celebrating at a bar when she goes to use the restroom. As she washes her hands, another female customer pauses as she passes by and, spotting Jordan's badly bruised face, remarks "Ain't really none of my business, but I say 'leave the bastard'." before exiting, which causes Jordan to laugh. (The abuse really happened, but it was part of her special forces training.)

* ''[[God Bless America]]'': In several scenes, the audience is led to believe that someone is about to accuse Frank of mistreating Roxy. Disturbingly, nobody ever get this wrong idea, not even when this little girl is covered in blood and alone in a car at night with an old man who shares no family resemblance with her. When someone ''finally'' gets the idea that the girl might be abused, it's a creep who asks because he wants to join in.

* ''[[Titanic (Film)|Titanic]]'': When Rose try to commit suicide, [[Happily Failed Suicide|Jack talks her out of it]]. However... {{spoiler|then she slips, falling to her death. He manage to save her, but as he does so she's screaming for help. After he managed to drag her up to safety, some crewmen arrive and assume that he has assaulted her}}.

* ''[[Titanic (Film)|Titanic]]'': When Rose try to commit suicide, [[Happily-Failed Suicide|Jack talks her out of it]]. However... {{spoiler|then she slips, falling to her death. He manage to save her, but as he does so she's screaming for help. After he managed to drag her up to safety, some crewmen arrive and assume that he has assaulted her}}.

== [[Literature]] ==

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* An episode of ''[[American Dad (Animation)|American Dad]]'' had Francine repeatedly having actual accidents that are often used as excuses by abuse victims, i.e. falling down stairs, getting hit by an opening door, etc. Given Stan's aggressively macho personality, everyone assumes the worst.

** For bonus points, in those scenes Stan is wearing a sleeveless shirt. AKA [[Visual Pun|a "wifebeater"]].

* An early episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' ("Home Sweet Home-Dum-Diddly-Doodily") features Bart and Lisa getting placed into foster care when Lisa has no shoes (because bullies took them to play [[Keep Away]]) and Bart has a case of head lice, and a social worker is called to investigate. They find the house a mess (because Marge went with Homer to a day spa instead of her usual housework), Maggie drinking out of the dog's water bowl (because she could), Grampa [[Senior Sleep Cycle|asleep on the couch]], and [[Arson Murder and Jaywalking|the toilet paper hung in the "improper" overhand position.]] Marge and Homer didn't actually neglect the kids, but to the social workers, they looked like unfit parents, and had to take parenting classes in order to get their kids back from their foster parents, the Flanders family.

* An early episode of ''[[The Simpsons]]'' ("Home Sweet Home-Dum-Diddly-Doodily") features Bart and Lisa getting placed into foster care when Lisa has no shoes (because bullies took them to play [[Keep Away]]) and Bart has a case of head lice, and a social worker is called to investigate. They find the house a mess (because Marge went with Homer to a day spa instead of her usual housework), Maggie drinking out of the dog's water bowl (because she could), Grampa [[Senior Sleep Cycle|asleep on the couch]], and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|the toilet paper hung in the "improper" overhand position.]] Marge and Homer didn't actually neglect the kids, but to the social workers, they looked like unfit parents, and had to take parenting classes in order to get their kids back from their foster parents, the Flanders family.

== [[Real Life]] ==