Acceptable Hard Luck Targets: Difference between revisions

'''[[Crazy Homeless People]]'''

* Kill Moves from ''[[Everybody Hates Chris]]''.

* [[Bum Reviews|Chester A. Bum.]]

Though with some luck this just might be heading for [[Discredited Trope]] status, though there's still a very long way to go yet. See [[Heroic Albino]]—compare how short is next to the [[Evil Albino]] one.

== [[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]].

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 with 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 Python's Life of Brian]]'', and Peter Cook's Impressive Clergyman in ''[[The Princess Bride (film)|The Princess Bride]]''.

== [[Film]] ==

* Foreign/unusual accents and dialects are also typically considered speech impediments, and therefore become subjects of mockery. Examples include Borat, Inspector Clouseau, Ricky Ricardo, "Fes," ''[[King of the Hill]]'''s "Boomhauer," etc.

Especially with the increase in the availability and use of plastic surgery, people who have noticeable disfigurements that are not actually disabling (or at least don't appear to be, regardless of whether they actually are) are subject to ridicule, if they're ever shown on television at all.

== [[Film]] ==

* ''[[Red Dragon]]'' was about a man teased all his life for his cleft palate, and [[Freudian Excuse|eventually driven]] to become a [[Serial Killer]]. However, the few chapters about his childhood make him extremely sympathetic.

The "swearing disease", despite the fact that swearing tics occur maybe ten percent of the cases.

* [[Western Animation]] In an episode of ''[[South Park]]'', Cartman encounters a child whose Tourette's causes him to swear, Cartman sees this as an opportunity to swear all he wants and use Tourette's as an excuse. Kyle sees through Cartman's ruse right away and sets out to disprove him. Other children are shown in the episode with different kinds of ticks that do not involve swearing.

** It's worth noting that the Tourette Syndrome Association called the episode "surprisingly well-researched" and were generally happy with the way people with Tourette's were portrayed in the episode.

It's ''always'' used to describe people who are dumb in some way. Admit it...you've heard it used to describe that [[Jerk Jock]] or that bigass Bully with more muscle than brain in high school, or those stupid customers who ask stupid questions. Some of us have to breathe through our mouth because we have a cold, sinus infection, the flu, or really bad allergies. (And we all know 90% of Allergy Medications don't work) OI!

== [[Film]] ==

* Uhura calls Kirk one in ''[[Star Trek (film)|Star Trek]]'', although considering her talented ears, it may just have been an accurate descriptor.

'''Amputees'''

== [[Real Life]] ==

* One particularly grating recent example being [http://www.nrc.nl/international/article2440740.ece/Disabled_poster_boy_banned_from_rail_stations Dutch Rail's refusal to display] posters that show one of Marc Quinn's ''Complete Marbles'' sculptures at railway stations across the country. Before you ask, no, it wasn't the nudity they objected to. To put matters into perspective, this is a company that will happily plaster [http://www.israbox.com/uploads/posts/2009-11/1257702410_anouk-for-bitter-or-worse-2009.jpg a close-up of a bloody face] across its billboards.

Especially ones that cause them to develop cold or flu - like symptoms from plants, animals, dust, etc. Like overweight people, their suffering and awkwardness is often just plain funny. It's often depicted as just one more indication that the character isn't Mr. or Miss Right for the protagonist. However, if a secondary protagonist is a [[Loser Protagonist|Loser]], an allergy sufferer rejected by [[The Hero]] may be his last hope for wedded bliss. There's also a tendency to give nebbishy characters allergies in order to reinforce their wimpiness.

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* Carl [[Meaningful Name|Wheezer]] from ''[[The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron]]''.

Commonly portrayed as a [[Jerkass]] Bully, being ''much'' bigger than the class, being ''incredibly'' stupid, and most fiction examples won't cover any potential examples for being held back (such as how they were held back because they spent too much of the school year in the hospital recovering from a severe illness or injury). They also are ''never'' shown as taking school seriously; frequently giving up and not even ''trying'' to do their schoolwork so they can catch up.

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

* Kelso on ''[[That '70s 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.

* And this despite the fact that many community colleges offer an excellent education with some even offering programs not available at the local universities.

== [[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.

By people who have not been to trade schools.

== [[Real Life]] ==

* Astronauts actually ''did'' get people understanding them, before [[wikipedia:Lisa Nowak|Lisa Nowak]] went after that woman her boyfriend was having an affair with.

== [[Manga]] ==

* Averted in ''[[Kinou Nani Tabeta]]'', the lawyer protagonist took a case in which a big guy is abused by his small girlfriend, it is portrayed realistically.

If someone finds a person unpleasant for any reason, it's not uncommon for the complainer to, while ranting about this person they find unpleasant, also throw in "[[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|Oh, and they also have a big nose/a weird chin/creepy eyebrows/chubby cheeks/are fat/too hairy/etc]]".

* ''Naruto'' has Gai and Lee, who are frequently made fun of for their large eyebrows and their oddly shaped eyes and lashes, in canon, fanon, and just the fandom in general. The jumpsuit, haircut and poses are all their own choices, though, so those don't count.