Bathos: Difference between revisions

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It has its origins in poetry, where lofty prose would be followed with an anticlimax of sorts. It later evolved to cover any instance where the serious is mixed with the surreal or commonplace in order to provide humor.

{{examples}}

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

 

* ''[[The Host (2006 film)|The Host]]'' revels in this. The main characters rolling around on the floor and crying together at a funeral is either the saddest scene in the movie, or the funniest, or both. Another dramatic and climactic scene is "ruined" when it turns out that {{spoiler|the gun they were going to use to kill the monster is empty.}}

* In ''[[The Incredibles]]'', the superfamily is rushing to save Metroville from a rampaging robot. Along the way they do what ''every'' family does on a long car trip: start bickering.

{{quote|'''Dash:''' Are we there yet?

 

* An example of the trope that predates Pope's coining of the term comes from John Dryden in ''Albion and Albanius'', where he writes:

{{quote|"The cave of Proteus rises out of the sea, it consists of several arches of rock work, adorned with mother of pearl, coral, and abundance of shells of various kinds. Through the arches is seen the sea, and parts of Dover pier."}}

* Pope himself used this trope deliberately in the mock-heroic poem ''[[The Rape of the Lock]]'':

* [[Douglas Adams]] was quite fond of this trope. From ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'':

{{quote|Why are people born? Why do they die? And why do they spend much of the intervening time wearing digital watches?}}

{{quote|I don’t know why I named him what I named him. He was all curled up in a blanket on my back seat. And I looked at him and it just came out. I called him, “Catfish.” I swear he raised up from the blanket and acknowledged. Then he severely fouled the blanket and my back seat.}}

* Common throughout ''[[The Dresden Files]]''. Top prize probably goes to asking a {{spoiler|faerie hit-''thing''}} for a donut.

'''Harry''': Nay, but with sprinkles 'pon it, and frosting of white. }}

* While arguably having its moments of [[Narm]] also, ''[[Stationery Voyagers]]'' is not above intentionally including some dark humor by its juxtaposing of a serious situation with a [[Large Ham]]. Cindy has a [[Bond One-Liner]] in "Night of the Whiteout" that especially qualifies:

{{quote|"Happy Thanksgiving...[[Fantastic Slurs|turkey's]] [[Crosses the Line Twice|in the oven]]!"}}

* Golding's ''[[Lord of the Flies]]'' invokes this intentionally at the end when {{spoiler|the British Navy comes to rescue the children}}, in order to draw a comparison between learned civilised behaviour and the children's natural amorality.

 

* ''[[One Foot in the Grave]]'': Nearly every episode, a serious conversation was interrupted with something completely ludicrous, such as finding a wig in a loaf of bread, or Victor discovering that a workman planted a Yucca plant actually ''in'' the downstairs toilet.

* ''[[Firefly]]'' delved into this from time to time. In "War Stories," Mal and Wash have a very domestic argument while being tortured, much to the bemusement of the torturer. In this particular example, Mal was ''deliberately'' antagonizing Wash to keep him from breaking.

'''Wilfred:''' ...Lucky coincidence! }}

 

* At one point during Triple H and The Undertaker's match at Wrestlemania 27, they send themselves flying into [[Michael Cole|Michael Cole's]] little cubicle that he calls the "Cole Mine". Despite the serious tone that a match involving Undertaker would usually have, seeing Cole's property go to pieces makes you laugh just a little.

* Causing Bathos is a favorite of many wrestling fanbases, especially WWE fans. The crowd is as much a part of the show as anything in Wrestling.

 

* In ''[[Okami]]'' during the {{spoiler|second (of three)}} battle with Orochi. {{spoiler|Nagi}} tries to look awesome, but it's hard to take him seriously when he's [[Wholesome Crossdresser|dressed in women's clothing]]... and even harder when he falls flat on his face jumping into battle.

* The ''player'' can intentionally create Bathos in ''[[Resonance of Fate]]''. Thanks to its [[Virtual Paper Doll]]-like clothing and accessories, you can have your characters wearing almost clown-like attire during the most serious of scenes.

** You can extend that to any game where you can put on joke costumes, and the costumes show during cutscenes.

* Because ''[[The Secret of Monkey Island]]'' was originally planned as a serious game, all of the artwork is highly realistic and gritty. When the devs decided instead to go for comedy, providing both hilarious dialogue and absurd situations (such as the famous case of crossing a chasm by means of a rubber-chicken-with-a-pulley-in-the-middle, lovingly drawn in the highest style 8 bit graphics had to offer), this contrasted with the game's appearance to heighten the humour potential. The sequel continued in this style, but then creator Ron Gilbert left the company, and the games since have used a more overtly cartoony style. Fans are hotly divided over which is best.

 

* ''[[Homestuck]]'' uses this very frequently, often in conjunction with [[Mood Whiplash]]. John makes a dramatic and somewhat [[Mind Screw]]-y discovery about his and his best friends' parentage—and then he uses the event to reenact the ending scene of [[Con Air|one of his favorite movies]]. Scenes of well-loved characters dying are accompanied by shots of the dead body landing on a pile of bike horns, or references to [[Sweet Bro and Hella Jeff|an intentionally-bad comic-within-the-comic]], or simply a blunt [[Unsound Effect]] "DEAD".

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

* This trope is what drives most of ''[[The Venture Brothers]]''.

* The [[Memetic Mutation|infamous]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=joLrldtZtRA pea scene] from ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]''. [[It Makes Sense in Context]].

** In "It's About Time," Twilight Sparkle's dead-serious proclamation of incoming doom comes close to being ignored due to the Groucho Marx glasses she's wearing due to a collision with a metric ton of party-supplies