Adults Are Useless: Difference between revisions

But on a handful of drama shows, there's a real venom to it. ''[[Radio Free Roscoe]]'' is about a group of heroic teens who defy a tyrannical school administration. On a smaller scale, ''[[Degrassi the Next Generation]]'' has episodes where it is implied that stealing school property is no big deal, but it's disgraceful to inform on the thief.

 

 

 

 

This trope can occasionally be used in a more mature fashion to make an Aesop about growing up and realizing that adults are not all-powerful. This is especially common in military or war-themed shows and literature, where the point is that adults are ultimately unable to protect the younger generation. This version is, unfortunately, often [[Truth in Television]]. Another interpretation of this is merely that the adults who ''can'' help won't because the dilemma's solution (at least the obvious and often more exciting one) would pretty much wind up breaking several laws and safety codes. This can be especially true in a lot of shows involving the police or military; the ones who strictly adhere to code are always shown incompetent whereas the ones who break code are the competent ones.

 

Not to be confused with [[Humans Are Bastards]], which deals with ''everybody'' being violently like this.

 

== Anime & Manga ==

* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh GX]]'': Heavily [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] in Season 3, usually by Asuka and Kenzan, as the kids easily resign themselves to the fact that the adults have fallen apart and it's up to them to take charge. Principal Sameshima might also be a [[Deconstruction]], since from the start, having to repeatedly burden teenagers with the responsibility of saving the world truly causes him a great deal of guilt and inner-turmoil.

* Zigzagged in ''[[Detective Conan (Manga)|Detective Conan]]'' / ''[[Case Closed]]'',where many of the adults are worthless and the case is solved by an apparent six year old.

** However, note that Shinichi's father Yuusaku is just as good a detective as he is, if not even ''better''. He's only useless because he's simply almost never there and he'd rather continue writing about mysteries than solving them.

** Ultimately averted, though, by the fact that Conan is almost an adult himself (he just LOOKS like a kid).

{{quote| '''Nagisa''': "''Adults act like heroes but all they really want is to control us children.''"}}

* ''[[Alien Nine (Manga)|Alien Nine]]'' has a premise where all of the adults at an ''elementary'' school stay inside heavily armored rooms while sending ''their students'' to capture the ''aggressive aliens''.

* In ''[[FLCL (Anime)|FLCL]]'' most of the adults are literally more immature than the children in the story.

* Teachers in ''[[Iris Zero]]'' manga mostly [[Someone Elses Problem|don’t concern themselves with their students’ problems.]] They claim it’s impossible for [[Muggle|normal adult]] to comprehend things connected with [[Evil Eye|Irises.]] It goes as far as ignoring an [[Power Nullifier|event]] that leaves the student body in fear and Toru being heavily bullied due to his [[Un Sorcerer|lack of power.]]

 

== Fan Works ==

* ''[[Shining Pretty Cure (Fanfic)|Shining Pretty Cure]]''. The only adult who even ''suspects'' something might be going on is Ren, the friendly owner of the neighbourhood cafe.

* Lampshaded and then averted in ''[[Futari wa Pretty Cure Blue Moon (Fanfic)|Futari wa Pretty Cure Blue Moon]]''. Dawn''/''{{spoiler|Ogata Kirei''/''Cure Dawn}} notes that she's supposed to leave fighting evil to the thirteen-year-old title characters {{spoiler|because she's without her powers}}, but doesn't seem to be very happy about it. Near the end of the series, she becomes an active combatant.

* This is the lesson Coira learns very young in ''[[White As Snow (Literature)|White As Snow]]''; her parents don't remember she exists, her nurse resents having to take care of her, and her nurse's replacement fails to give her what she really needs. Coira ends up practically raising herself and talks to none of them.

* ''[[Room One]]''by [[Andrew Clements]] (author of ''Frindle'') zigzags and plays with this. The hero reads mysteries, and when he encounters one, decides not to tell adults because in all the books he has read, they are useless or obstructive.

 

 

* ''[[Are You Afraid of the Dark]]'' featured the [[Cassandra Truth]] variety. Your parents will never believe your neighbors are vampires.

* Parents in ''[[Spellbinder]]'' nurture inexplicable reluctance to believe in their teenage children's stories about parallel words and intruders therefrom. However, once presented with undeniable proofs, they become much more competent.

** Subverted by Principal Franklin, who's competent, if ''overly'' lenient, and occasionally by Spencer. Spencer and Carly's grandfather, who only appeared in one episode, was almost freakishly competent.

* The extent that the adults in the Japanese drama [[Shokojo Sera]] simply lets the bullying and torment happen to [[The Woobie|poor Seira]] can be extremely frustrating to watch. They could be [[Sadist Teacher|downright evil and cruel]], like Mimura Chieko who runs the school. Or they could be [[The Fool|clueless and utterly incompetent]], like Mimura Emiko, sister of Chieko. Or sometimes they [[Kick the Dog|gleefully take advantage]] of Seira and Kaito and bully them around, like the chef and his wife. Or perhaps they could be like [[Hot Teacher|Aran Yukio]], a French teacher, who does want to help Seira, but lacks the power to really change anything. Not to mention he isn't around all the time at the school to help Seira.

* Every single ''Zelda'' game portrays Link as either a pre-teen child, or a mid-late teenager. An entire kingdom of guards, warriors, military, wizards, and sages, and it takes a kid (albeit one with a very special destiny) to save the day. Multiple times. And most times there's at least one NPC who dismisses him as a stupid kid who doesn't understand. The [[The Legend of Zelda (Video Game)|original game]] averts the trope only because there are a grand total of five characters ''in'' the game; ''[[The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess]]'' is possibly the only one to date where he's been treated with appropriate levels of respect by a larger cast.

** Slightly averted in that several games, Link (occasionally with Zelda's or others' help) is actually a contributor to or cause of {{spoiler|releasing Ganon back into the world by taking the Master Sword}}. He always fixes it by the end, so it's not quite the aversion it could be.

** This was at least justified in ''[[The Legend of Zelda the Minish Cap (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda the Minish Cap]]'', in which the Picori/Minish would only willingly appear to a child.

* A major theme in ''[[Final Fantasy VIII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VIII]]'': Adults start wars that get out of hand or [[Sealed Evil in A Can|lock the super-dictator in a box]] and throw their hands in the air when she inevitably gets out, and it's all left to the super-capable [[Child Soldiers|SeeDs]] to clean up the mess.

** Taken to extremes in the season 6 episode 'Child Abduction Isn't Funny' when the parents, in response to sensationalist news feels the only way to keep themselves from kidnapping their kids is to send them off into the wild. 4 days and a Mongolian invasion later, the parents think the kids have somehow become Mongolians and forgotten civilization. Kids are not amused.

*** "I know our parents have done some stupid crap before, but Jesus Christ."

*** The fact that the sanest person on South Park currently is Liane, the town whore, says a lot.

* ''[[Recess]]'' has been known to go in and out of this trope. Adults in the show tend to vary between the primary antagonist (at least for the episode) to recurring obstacle to often siding with the children. And nevertheless, they are frequently portrayed as being worthless. In a startling realistic scenario, Ms. Finster actually tells a bully to leave Gus alone only for him to flat out ignore it and she is nowhere to be seen for the rest of the episode. (And neither is [[The Dragon|Randall]], who you would ''think'' would find prime tattling material except for that ''he'' is afraid of them too.)

* In ''[[Storm Hawks (Animation)|Storm Hawks]]'', the entire free world is at risk of being overrun by a teenage supervillain... and the only people who can save the day are a bunch of plucky teen heroes. The only adults seen are either [[Miniature Senior Citizens|tiny elderly folk]] or [[Mooks|cannon fodder]].

** Plenty of other Sky Knight squadrons are seen, but they rarely end up being useful. It's partly because they tend to stick to their own terras, whereas the Storm Hawks have no ties to anyplace in particular and are free to roam the world and get into crazy adventures.

** Also averted with Starling, a Sky Knight who lost her squadron. Like the Storm Hawks, she seems to travel a lot.

* ''[[WITCH (Animation)|WITCH]]'' averts this trope by having many adult characters, most villains, constantly outsmarting and one-upping the heroes. Especially in the second season when some of the villains {{spoiler|are the previous Guardians, who have the same power-set as the heroes, but years more experience in using them, as well as being more powerful. The heroes must rely on their wits to even stand a chance.}}

*** The babies were also wandering around the entire store riding/pushing a shopping cart along, often threatened by falling plants and mean looking dogs. Did none of the other customers or employees take notice of this?

** The PBS show ''[[Arthur (Animation)|Arthur]]'' does a [[Take That]] to the ''Rugrats'' in one episode, where baby Kate is watching something similar to it, and questions where the parents are at. She switches the show to one like the ''Teletubbies'', which she approves of.

* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' half-averts this trope. The number of times the main characters have encountered useless, ineffectual or just plain stupid adults (Lao Bei Fong, General Fong) is about equal to the number of encounters with scarily competent and powerful adults (Iroh, King Bumi). Some are marginally useful, but rarely affect the plot directly (Hakoda, Piandao).

** In the third season, there are a number of useful adults, particularly during the Invasion. Most notably Sokka and Katara's father Hakoda, although Teo's [[Mad Scientist]] dad is also right behind him. The Boulder and the Hippo, along with Hugh and the Swamp Benders, also rank high. Naturally, {{spoiler|all of them are captured by the end of the episode to prevent them from stealing the spotlight any further}}.