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Acceptable Hard Luck Targets (view source)

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== Examples ==
* Kill Moves from ''[[Everybody Hates Chris]]''.
* [[Bum Reviews (Web Video)|Chester A. Bum.]]
* The "Crazy Cat Lady" from [[The Simpsons]].
 
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== Examples ==
== [[Literature]] ==
* The treatment of albinism in fiction is startlingly harsh. The condition seems to have been declared officially creepy with ''[[Moby- Dick]]''. There are no ordinary people who happen to be albino; instead there are an assortment of insidious operatives and psychotic killers. There is a sense of albinos [[Disability Superpower|having some kind of otherworldly powers]], when all they can really claim is poor vision and susceptibility to skin cancer. And, of course, there's the [[White-Haired Pretty Boy]].
* Played with in ''[[The Princess Bride (Literaturenovel)|The Princess Bride]]''. The Albino in that really only takes care of the Zoo of Death.
* In [[The Da Vinci Code]], it seems like Silas is this. Turns out, {{spoiler|that's ''exactly'' what he is.}}
 
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'''People with [[Speech Impediment|speech impediments]]'''
 
Common speech problems such as the lisp, stutter, pronunciation of "r" as "w", or even funny accents, are still regularly used for comic effect. This can even extend all the way up to damaged vocal cords requiring the use of an external electronic voicebox, or complete loss of speech, which usually results in jokes about people having to [[Talking Withwith Signs|write down everything they say]]. Most [[Looney Tunes]] characters had "[[Elmuh Fudd Syndwome|amusing]]" speech impediments, but the classic examples have to be Michael Palin's portrayal of Pontius Pilate in ''[[Monty PythonsPython's Life of Brian]]'', and Peter Cook's Impressive Clergyman in ''[[The Princess Bride (Filmfilm)|The Princess Bride]]''.
 
== Examples ==
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* Spoiler alert! In the movie ''[[Chinatown]]'' directed by Roman Polanski. Used and then subverted. A Japanese gardener refers to the "grasses" but the detective (along with the audience) only identifies the gardener's bad grammar and so dismisses him as a humourous red herring with nothing valuable to offer. Later, the detective returns and comes to realizes an essential clue from the gardener who wasn't saying "grasses" but "glasses". The error wasn't in grammar but in pronunciation: the 'r' and 'l' being commonly mispronounced by those Japanese who attempt to speak English. Shame on the detective for being so quick to dismiss an unsophisticated foreigner, eh?
* Another Michael Palin example, in ''[[A Fish Called Wanda]]'', in which his character stutters like crazy, but only the villain makes fun of him for it. Palin based this aspect of the character partially on his father, who had a stammer. There now exists, in London, the Michael Palin Institute for Stammering Children.
* The Roman emperor Claudius stuttered due to cerebral palsy, and in ''[[I, Claudius]],'' his family is presented as very cruel because of the way they shun him for this. He is able to overcome this impediment through a lot of training, although he continues to pretend to stutter prior to becoming emperor to preserve his public image as [[Obfuscating Stupidity|"poor Claudius"]].
* Worth noting that the actor who played the stuttering public attorney in ''[[My Cousin Vinny]]'' actually had a speech impediment in real life for years and only recently beat it before signing up for the role. He thought of his character having a speech impediment as a "sick joke."
* Subverted in ''[[PansPan's Labyrinth]]'', in which {{spoiler|the character who stutters is told that he will not be tortured if he can count to three without stuttering. He can't, and is tortured.}}
* Played with in M*A*S*H, when a wounded soldier with a bad stutter treated as an idiot by his commanding officer. However, the normally snobbish and rude Charles was very sympathetic and mentions that many very intelligent people also had stutters, at the end of the episode it was revealed that Charles's sister also has a stutter.
 
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== [[Web Animation]] ==
* Going off on that, '''people with funny accents''', like ''[[Homestar Runner (Web Animation)|Homestar Runner]]'''s Coach Z or Zoidberg from ''[[Futurama]]''.
 
== [[Western Animation]] ==
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* An episode of ''[[Family Guy]]'' at one point featured Stewie having a recollection about a man with a cleft lip, who he referred to as a harelip - an offensive term for the condition.
** Not to mention Jake Tucker and his upside down face.
* Zuko from ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' (the main villain of Season 1) has a nasty burn scar on his face, which was given to him by [[Abusive Parents|his own father]]. {{spoiler|He does get a [[Heel Face Turn]] in Season 3, though.}}
** Zuko is an interesting example, as his scar doesn't prevent him from being [[Mr. Fanservice]].
 
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== Examples ==
== [[Film]] ==
* Uhura calls Kirk one in ''[[Star Trek (Filmfilm)|Star Trek]]'', although considering her talented ears, it may just have been an accurate descriptor.
 
== [[Literature]] ==
* Mentioned in ''[[Discworld (Literature)/Hogfather|Hogfather]]'', with the stupid thug Banjo who "looked as though he was living on invisible plankton".
** Who is, [[Subverted Trope|in fact,]] a sympathetic [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|- and surprisingly well-treated]] - character.
 
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== Examples ==
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Kelso on ''[[That Seventies70s Show]]'' was held back as a kid and kept it secret out of shame. It fits the role of Kelso as the group's resident idiot, and he takes some shots at him when they hear it. The main joke however is that he was old enough to legally buy beer for them and told nobody.
 
== [[Real Life]] ==
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== [[Video Games]] ==
* The protagonist and the main [[Love Interest]] in ''[[Clannad (Visual Novel)|Clannad]]'' were both held back a year. While one was held back for delinquency, the other was held back for illness.
** Likewise the Brain from ''[[Arthur (Animationanimation)|Arthur]]'' who was left back in ''kindergarten'' due to not being emotionally ready for first grade, although as his nickname suggests he ''is'' [[Child Prodigy|much smarter than most of his classmates]].
 
== [[Anime]] ==
* [[Cool Big Sis|Millay Ashford]] in ''[[Code Geass (Anime)|Code Geass]]'' deliberately held herself a back a year so she could be with her friends longer. She was unwilling to leave home and join the [[Real Life|real world]].
 
 
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== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Played with in the episode of ''[[CSI: Miami]]'', with Richard Speight Jr guest-starring as an intelligent guy who didn't get into a great college because his classmate stole the test, got a really high score and offset everything. The classmate then lorded it over him at a reunion.
* Played for laughs on the TV sitcom ''[[Community (TV)|Community]]'', set in a community college.
** The show lampshaded this in one episode where the main characters try to find a way to get Highschool Students attending the campus for college credits to stop making fun of them for being in a community college.
* In ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'', Sheldon looks down on Penny for attending (and dropping out of) a community college. Though in this case, it's less that the show itself attacks community colleges and more that Sheldon is an [[Insufferable Genius]] who looks down on everyone -Including his other friends and colleagues, many of whom have earned Masters and Doctorates from "proper" universities. None of the other characters seem to have a problem with it.
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Unless, of course, the character comes from a poor background, like Luanne Platter from ''[[King of the Hill]]'', where her going to Community College is celebrated by her family.
* Hayley on ''[[American Dad (Animation)|American Dad]]'' attends a community college, which is often the butt of some jokes ("I got a check-plus. That's like a C at Arizona State!").
 
 
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== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* An episode of ''[[What Would You Do (TV)|What Would You Do]]'' tested peoples' reactions to abuse by different sexes, by having two actors playing a couple alternate being abusive. When the man was the one yelling and being rough, more often than not people stepped in to stop it. When the woman was the abuser, most people did nothing -- in fact, several women who saw it happening looked satisfied, including one who did a little fist-pump after she passed them. When asked her about her reaction, she said [[Death Byby Woman Scorned|she assumed he had it coming]].
 
== [[Literature]] ==
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