Beard of Sorrow/Playing With

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Basic Trope: Male character grows a beard to signify he's depressed.

  • Straight: He lost someone close to him, and his Perma-Stubble grows out fully.
  • Exaggerated: After a particularly bad night, he has a beard the size of the rest of his face.
  • Downplayed: His Perma-Stubble only grows out slightly more.
  • Justified: "I'm just too depressed to shave in the morning. Are you happy?"
  • Inverted:
  • Subverted: "I'm not depressed. I just realized that my scar would be less distracting if I grew a beard over it."
  • Double Subverted: "I'm not depressed, I just thought I'd see what I look like with a beard." He's lying.
  • Parodied:
    • People in the series can tell any male's current emotional state just by examining the length of their beard.
    • Alternatively: a female character feels depressed one day and puts on a fake beard to show it.
  • Deconstructed: Growing a beard is part of the hero's collapse into outright catatonic stupor, leading to an extended narrative of the miserable life and eventual suicide of an undiagnosed sufferer of bipolar disorder.
  • Reconstructed: Growing out a beard is a deliberate reaction, a change of appearance that the hero chooses to signify his new mental state. He plans to shave it off if he's ready to feel good again.
  • Zig Zagged: The character grows out a beard because his Half-Identical Psychic-Linked Twin lost her boyfriend.
  • Averted: The character is female. Or, the character is male, but continues shaving as normal after the trauma.
  • Enforced: "The actor wanted to grow a beard and have more serious plotlines. We decided to mix the two."
  • Lampshaded: "Depressed, huh?" "How could you tell?" "You haven't shaved."
  • Invoked: He's stopped shaving because his Girlfriend in Canada "dumped him," "leaving" him single.
  • Defied: The character makes a conscious decision to keep up personal appearances despite his depression.
  • Discussed: "What did you expect, to find me sprawled on the couch in despair, not having shaved or washed for weeks? We only went on two dates."
  • Conversed: "Is this the episode where he starts growing the beard?" "Nope, that was the one where he lost his parents."

Grow a Beard of Sorrow.

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