And That's Terrible: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

When the bad guy's acts are unquestionably evil, but the show's writers [[Viewers are Morons|feel the need]] to have characters say this out loud. Frequently a sign of a [[Designated Villain]].

 

 

If they're established as bad by an actual ''action'', see [[Kick the Dog]] and [[Moral Event Horizon]]. If this is used as ''most'' of what is supposed to make the villain bad, it's [[Offstage Villainy]]. [[You're Insane!]] can often be used as an alternative.

 

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* Onime no Kyo of ''[[Samurai Deeper Kyo]]'' kills people for fun. Of course, since he's the hero, every one of the villains in the series has to be called "You MONSTER!" at some point, [[Black and Gray Morality|just so we remember which of them is less bad]].

* A [[Gag Sub]] for ''[[Star Driver]]'' reminds its viewers, "Please do not imitate rapists!"

 

== Comic Books ==

 

== Films ==

* In ''[[Superman II]]'', Perry White informs Clark Kent that terrorists are threatening to destroy the Eiffel Tower (and [[Nuke'Em|much, much more]]).

'''Perry''': That's why they call them ''terrorists'', Kent. }}

* [[Kung Pow]] has this gem:

 

 

== Literature ==

* The writers of the ''[[The Glove of Darth Vader|Glove Of Darth Vader]]'' series apparently felt [[The Empire]] was not [[Obviously Evil]] enough. Yes, the Empire from ''[[Star Wars]]''. The books dealt with this by taking the bad guys to sublime levels of [[Card-Carrying Villain|Card Carrying Villainy]]. ("I bid you Dark Greetings!") And not even that stopped the narration from constantly referring to them as evil.

** From the series itself:

And his wand snapped in two, [[Crowning Moment of Funny|which was sad]].'' }}

 

== Live Action TV ==

* ''[[Law and Order Special Victims Unit]]'' tends to do this whenever kiddie porn peddlers are involved. One episode featured a convicted pedophile set up a "safe" website for pedophiles to get their fill: [[Loophole Abuse|pictures of underaged children, fully dressed, not in any sexual situations]]. The show tried to sell us that this was bad by having him post a picture of one of the detective's children, causing him to snap and attack him. Not that it was exactly "good", either.

** You'd think {{spoiler|The Master turning everyone on Earth into a copy of himself}} in "The End of Time" was evil enough without {{spoiler|referring to them as [[Godwin's Law|"The Master Race."]]}}

'''DiNozzo:''': That is correct. And many, many more bad things, because you're a very bad man. }}

* An ''[[All That]]'' sketch has Miss Fingerly continually catching one of her students cheating on a test in various ways. The first time it happens, she yells out, "That's cheating, which is bad!"

 

== Music ==

* [[Supertramp|Crime of the Century]] tells you that the people committing said crime (raping the universe) have gone from bad to worse.

* From the song 'Chuck Al Hashib', "and one day/without being provoked/he killed bob (and that ain't right)"

* The opening number of Batboy the Musical

''and that was wrong!'' }}

* In Christy Moore's "Don't Forget Your Shovel", he rants briefly about the number of Irish migrants in London who will be unable to make it back home, and concludes, "I think that's terrible."

* In [[Pink Floyd]]'s "The Trial", the judge says that the defendant is charged for "showing feelings of an almost human nature", and says "this will not do."

 

== Pro Wrestling ==

* Annoyingly common, especially during long matches with occasional lulls. In part this is because the commentators have anywhere from between five to thirty minutes (and, in the case of Iron Man Matches, ''sixty'' minutes) of time to fill, but another reason is that, in the context of [[Kayfabe]], the commentators are fictional characters as well, and they view the matches as [[This Is Reality|actual athletic contests]] and [[Stupid Good|take it for granted]] that all participants, faces and heels alike, will [[Let's Fight Like Gentlemen|play by the rules]].

 

== Stand Up Comedy ==

* Comedian Eugene Mirman often writes letters to companies he's mad at to read aloud on stage. A lot of the letters include a description of why he's mad, followed by "That's terrible." Things tend to get silly after that. ("Fleet Bank, you should be ashamed of all the things I made up that you would do.")

 

== Video Games ==

** Except, since the orcs turn out not to be so evil after all, that's sort of subverted.

*** Well, they WERE totally evil in Warcraft 1 & 2. Like, "working for and possessed by demons" evil. 3 just finally blurred the lines a bit, as much by dragging down humans with Arthas as by lifting orcs up with Thrall. But with the latest expansion of [[World of Warcraft]] they're finally playing with the morals again...

* This is Sigrun's entire role in ''[[Dragon Age]]: Awakening'', when she's not smugly antagonizing Justice with her pickpocketing.

* [[Dead to Rights]]: Jack just couldn't believe that the [[Big Bad]] was interested in {{spoiler|the large amounts of gold ore under the city}}.

* [[Final Fantasy]] loves doing this:

** In [[Final Fantasy VI]], you're constantly reminded how horrid Kefka's acts are, and how insane he is, nearly every time his name comes up.

* [[Suikoden II]] makes no secret of the fact that everyone hates Luca Blight and that he is a bloodthirsty, soulless monster.

* [[Suikoden V]] is the same way, except with the Godwin faction and Nether Gate.

 

== Webcomics ==

* [http://www.qwantz.com/index.php?comic=1790 This] ''Dinosaur Comics'' strip. And probably a lot more.

* [http://darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0599.html This] ''[[Darths and Droids]]'' comic uses it as part of a bit of [[Blatant Lies]].

 

== Web Original ==

 

== Western Animation ==

* Both justified and not in "Who Shot Mr. Burns, Part I", a summer cliffhanger on ''[[The Simpsons]]'' (the second part not being aired until a few months later) that gave [[Corrupt Corporate Executive|Charles Montgomery Burns]] as many [[Kick the Dog]] moments as possible (in one case quite literally) to create a situation in which [[Asshole Victim|practically everyone in Springfield would have a motive for shooting him]]. Burns has become obsessed with forcing the people of Springfield to rely only on nuclear power from his power plant, and when oil is discovered in the town, Burns buys up all the oil fields to preempt their exploitation by the townspeople. Then, to prevent everyone from using solar power - the one energy source that Burns cannot monopolize - Burns deploys an invention of his that effectively blocks out the sun, plunging Springfield into eternal night. Waylon Smithers, Burns's assistant, has reluctantly gone along until now, primarily out of respect and genuine admiration for Burns, but now tells his boss that his plan is "unconscionably fiendish." Burns promptly fires Smithers for insubordination, reducing the servant to a drunken wreck. He then goes to City Hall just to taunt the townspeople, many of whom are wielding guns at the meeting and some of whom have already threatened to kill him. As Burns [[Tempting Fate|crows that no one in Springfield has the courage to shoot him in the open]], the citizens stand up one by one and together deliver a drawn-out [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]], saying that Burns deserves to die and should go to Hell and so forth. (Ironically, after all this, the one who eventually shoots Burns in a darkened alley does so by accident: it's {{spoiler|Maggie Simpson}}.)

* In ''[[Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog]]'', Sonic says "[[Clueless Aesop|If someone tries to touch you in a place or in a way that makes you feel uncomfortable]], [[Memetic Mutation|that's no good!]]" Although, this ''was'' to [[Too Smart for Strangers|educate children]]. Children are not expected to know such things.

* From ''[[Fairly Oddparents]]'', ''Nectar of the Odds'':

'''Wanda:''' Which is bad. }}

* ''[[Static Shock]]'' plays this trope so straight it crosses over into [[So Bad It's Good]] territory on an episode dealing with the horrors of racism. No, really. ''Verbatim.''

* ''[[Futurama]]'' gives [[My Friends and Zoidberg|Zoidberg]] the wonderful "Your music is bad and you should feel bad!"

* ''[[Care Bears|Adventures in Care-a-Lot]]'' has the characters use a lot of [[That Makes Me Feel Angry|Feelings Talk]] to deliver the episode's [[Aesop]], so it's no wonder that [[Harmless Villain|Grizzle]] would get called out at least once in this manner.

** Including the disclaimers just opens the door to further controversy. What, exactly, is the message here? "Don't make fun of people who look different from you?" (When, frankly, that's what 50 percent of American humor is, anyway!) "Joking about people is fine, but make sure they're not racial minorities, because they're emotionally fragile and can't handle teasing?" Or is it just "Shooting someone in the face will not result in a blackface gag, so don't try it?"

** The visit to the Museum of Tolerance in "Death Camp of Tolerance," for one. The tour guide speaks to the group of adults and children [[Viewers are Morons|as if they're all five years old]].

** "That movie turns Jews into ''[[Shaped Like Itself|steereeuhtypes]]''! And stereotyping minorities is ''[[Hypocritical Humor|raaauung]]''!"

 

== Real Life ==

* Happens all the time in the Internet comments threads for news stories describing any sort of scandal or real-life villain. Every single poster will feel compelled to condemn the immoral action for fear of seeming insensitive, but it won't be long before the condemnations start to become redundant. When that happens, posters will just ramp up the vitriol, pumping the immorality up to [[Everyone Is Satan in Hell|satanic levels]] and clamoring for [[Disproportionate Retribution|ever-more draconian punishments]]. (Think of it as the cyber-era equivalent of "You ought to be horsewhipped!" or "Kill the umpire!")

* Message on A&W to-go cups:

* Related to this trope: [http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/wacky/black-cobra-gang-steal-cupcakes/story-e6frev20-1225841075058 Members of the Black Cobra gang stole one-hundred twenty boxes of cake in Denmark,] and the meme's very existence worked against their reputation.

** They took 120 boxes of cake. That's as many as twelve tens. And that's terrible.

* Armed forces network "commercials" regularly feature such obvious advice as "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ufh3ALD_cB4 Never shake your baby!]"

* The Catholic Church's 2009 apology for the 19th century excommunication of Australian <s>nun</s> Saint Mary MacKillop in revenge for reporting a paedophile priest: [http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/09/25/3021772.htm "On behalf of myself and the archdiocese I apologise to the sisters, especially to the sisters for what happened to them in the context of the excommunication when their lives and their community life was interrupted and they were virtually thrown out on the streets and that this was a terrible thing."]

* An MSNBC story ended with, "Now they will be without a grandmother, without a mother, and a man without a wife. And that's terrible."

* After learning how bad the Holocaust was while researching for her role ''[[Shining Through]]'', actress Melanie Griffith said in the ''New York Daily News'': "I didn't know that 6 million Jews were killed. That's a lot of people."

* At the end of Game 4 of the 2011 NBA 2nd round playoff series between the Lakers and Mavericks. The Lakers were about to be swept in 4 games and were clearly frustrated. Starting center Andrew Bynum threw a blatant elbow at Mavs guard J.J. Barea while in midair driving to the basket. Barea crumpled to the ground while Bynum was ejected and walked away to his locker room showing no remorse. ABC announcer Mike Tirico cried out "That is one of the biggest bush league things I've ever seen. That is TERRIBLE!" on the air during the aftermath.

* In game between the Minnesota Vikings and Green Bay Packers, wideout Randy Moss inflamed the rivalry by fake-mooning the Packers' crowd after a touchdown. Notoriously [[The Stoic|stoic]] announcer Joe Buck emoted, "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dmqGg6Ccvw That is a DISGUSTING act by Randy Moss!]"

 

[[Category:Pothole Magnet]]

[[Category:Bad Writing Index]]

[[Category:Trope Names From Memes]]