Calling the Old Man Out: Difference between revisions
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''But somehow I couldn't help but have my doubts''
'''Cause I'd seen my older brothers crawl back in the house''
''Each time they called the old man out"''
|'''[[Garth Brooks]]''' [[Trope Namer|names a trope]]}}
Did [[Parental Abandonment|Mom and/or Dad leave you without an explanation]], only to pop up years later expecting hugs and kisses? Are even YOU tired of listening to your [[Freudian Excuse]]? Is endlessly sucking up to the [["Well Done, Son" Guy]] for a tiny crumb of respect really starting to get on your nerves?
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Right. Time to take a page from [[Oedipus Complex|Oedipus Rex]] and [["The Reason You Suck" Speech|let your parental figure know how you REALLY feel]].
It's time to '''Call
You see this trope whenever a child figure (who is most often actually fully adult in age, but in rare cases may still be a child or teenager) goes into full-on confrontational mode with a parent figure they feel has severely wronged them. "Child" and "parent" can be fairly loose
Also, for this trope to come into play, the parental figure must actually have transgressed, or the child figure must have good reason to believe the transgression has happened. If the child figure is not at least somewhat justified in their accusations, it's not Calling The Old Man
Bonus points are awarded if the child is able to (correctly) point out that they have managed not to repeat the parental mistakes with their own offspring. Might be subverted if they have tragically repeated exactly the same mistakes with their own offspring. Of course, the parent [[Evil Parents Want Good Kids|may be happy]] [[Daddy's Little Villain|either way]].
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Sometimes, the writer may not want the child figure to be the one actually doing the calling out. Maybe they want to keep the child figure Really Nice, [[Love Martyr|so nice they won't even yell at an abusive parent.]] Maybe they want to show that the child figure is still so thoroughly whipped by the abusive parent that they are still incapable of facing them. Maybe the child is hoping that Daddy may still turn out to be good after all, despite the abuse and is therefore holding back on giving him the what-for. Maybe they feel that the accusation will seem less whiny if an outsider delivers it, thereby validating the abuse in the eyes of a third person. In such a case, someone who loves the child figure may step in and deliver the calling out vicariously -- "How dare you treat your child like that, you monster!" Spouses, boyfriends/girlfriends, aunts/uncles, mentors, best friends, or possibly even older siblings may step in and take on this job for someone unwilling or unable to do it for themselves.
The actual results of [[Calling
Just out of fairness, it should be mentioned that good old Oedipus himself is not truly an example of this trope, as he did not know he was killing his father when it happened, and was not intentionally doing it as revenge for his father spiking his feet and leaving him to die on a hillside as a baby; Oedipus killed the old man for ''[[Disproportionate Retribution|cutting him off in traffic]]''.
Compare [[Rage Against the Mentor]].
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Death Note]]'' inverted. Matsuda, who looked up to Soichiro, calls out the guy's son on his indirect father-killing.
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'''Light''': My dad? You mean Soichiro Yagami? That's right, Matsuda! In this world, all those honest people like him fight for justice, they always lose! You want a world where people like that are made to be fools?! I know you understand, so kill the others! SHOOT THEM!!
'''Matsuda''': You led your own father to his death. And now that he's gone, you call him a fool?! }}
* In ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni Kai]]'', Satoko Houjou pulls off one of these during Minagoroshi-hen, despite being terrified of the old man in question. It took all of Keiichi's [[Screw Destiny|fate-crushing oratory skills]] and all of Hinamizawa backing her up, but Satoko finds the courage to oppose her abusive uncle and ask for the help she so desperately needs. Doubles as one of the series' biggest [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Crowning Moments of Awesome]], to boot.
** ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]'' has a rather horrific one of these in its fourth arc. {{spoiler|[[Creepy Child|Maria]], as a full-fledged witch, finally gets revenge on her abusive mother, Rosa. In between each round of bringing her back from the dead and killing her again in inventively horrible ways, the two of them are yelling about how much they hate each other and accusing each other of ruining their lives.}}
* In ''[[UFO Robo Grendizer]]'' (one of the ''[[Mazinger Z]]'' sequels), Rubina, daughter of [[Big Bad]] King Vega, calls her father out TWICE in the same episode (and it was quite awesome): The first time she -rightly- accused him from lying to her -about her fiancé's fate-, and bluntly states finding out that lie had turned her life upside down. And later she told him his wars to conquer other planets were stupid and they just should find another world to settle on.
* [[Averted Trope|Despite]]
** The manga version, on the other hand,
*** He does
** Shinji calls the old man out spectacularly in ''[[Rebuild of Evangelion]]'' by thrashing NERV HQ after {{spoiler|the Dummy Plug that Gendou ordered activated nearly kills Asuka.}} Repercussions come after, but Shinji didn't regret his actions, not after that.
*** And then Gendo calls ''him'' out for it.
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* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'': Judai first calls Manjyome's [[Promotion to Parent|older brothers]] on the way they mistreat and disrespect him, and Manjyome later finally gives them what they have coming in a duel.
* [[Dark Magical Girl|Fate Testarossa]] in ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'', after years of abuse by her mother [[Mad Scientist]] Precia, {{spoiler|subverts this when instead of calling her mother out, she tries to redeem her to the very end. Instead, Nanoha and Lindy Harlaown are the ones to call her out. Psycho lady is so far gone that she just shakes their insults off and commits suicide with the [[People Jars|jar]] containing the dead body of little Alicia, the daughter Fate was supposed to [[Replacement Goldfish|replace]]}}.
* Although Ranma and Genma from ''[[Ranma ½
** In a rather surprising instance, ''Kasumi'', [[The Pollyanna|of all people]], gets angry enough to [[Beware the Nice Ones|yell at Genma and demand explanations]] for [[What Were You Thinking?|why he took Ranma to a place as dangerous as Jusenkyo]].
*** Of course, this is Kasumi from Volume One, Chapter Two of the manga. [[Flanderization|This is before she became the girl that can only say "Oh My" that is so common in fanfics and later parts of the manga and anime]].
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*** Also revived in the anime, when the Principal goes back home to attend Kodachi's school conferences instead of Kuno, whos had to raise his little sister himself ever since Daddy left. Kuno, no matter how he can't get along with Kodachi ''and'' how she actually is a [[Daddy's Girl]], refuses to just take it and again challenges his dad. Again, Kuno wins.
** Noticeable in how these two episodes are among the very few times when Kuno, nornally a [[Jerkass]] [[Ted Baxter]] [[The Chew Toy|who's hated even by the plot]], [[Jerkass Has a Point|comes out favorably]]. [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Very much.]]
* In ''[[Digimon Savers]]'', Touma calls his father Franz out {{spoiler|for never standing up to his [[Evil Matriarch|grandmother]] for him, for further endangering his half-sister Relena's life, and for being manipulated by the [[Manipulative Bastard]] Kurata.}}
* Ryuunosuke in ''[[Urusei Yatsura]]'' does this to her father on a regular basis. Considering that he's raised her all her life as a boy and goes to great lengths to keep her away from anything feminine, this is somewhat understandable.
* ''[[Code Geass]]'': The whole point of Lelouch's rebellion is to call his [[Social Darwinist]] Old Man [[The Emperor]] out. And after he fails epically at the first attempt, he starts it all over again in the second season.
** However, when he does finally get to call out the Emperor ({{spoiler|and his own mother!}}) in person, it becomes one of his many [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|moments of pure awesome]].
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*** In the Suzaku of the Counterattack manga, Genbu does the opposite; {{spoiler|he schemes with the Emperor to eliminate the remaining Japanese officials who supported continuing the war. Suzaku overhears it and ends up killing his father}}. In the Knightmare of Nunnally adaptation, this is averted. {{spoiler|C.C. kills Genbu when he's about to kill Lelouch}}.
* Near the end of ''[[Princess Tutu]]'', Rue {{spoiler|rebels against the Raven--who had raised her after he kidnapped her as a child--by saving Mytho from him and shouting at him "[[You're Not My Father|You're not my father!]]" Later, Mytho and Rue deliver the final blow to the Raven together.}}
*
* In ''[[Narutaru]]'', Akira Sakura eventually calls out her father, who is heavily implied to have sexually abused her when she was younger, by {{spoiler|stabbing him to death}}. This is a [[Shrinking Violet]] we're talking about here, by the way.
* ''[[Bunny Drop]]'''s Daikichi calls out his ''entire family'' after each and every one of them are either unable or unwilling to take in his grandfather's illegitimate daughter Rin (age 6) by telling them that she'll grow into a much better adult than any of them, then asking Rin if she wants to come live with him.
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** Considerably earlier, we have his chewing out and literally calling out Tsunade as a drunken coward unworthy of the title of Hokage after Sarutobi dies. As the whole reason he and Jiraiya found her was that she was supposed to be his new boss, this would have to count. {{spoiler|Admittedly, she does smack him around in the fight, but he makes her go beyond her boast of doing it with but a single finger. Naruto's a master of taking every victory he can.}}
** As of episode 546, {{spoiler|it's [http://www.mangareader.net/naruto/546/16 Gaara]'s turn to call out his [[Abusive Parents|abusive father]], recently revived via Edo-Tensei.}}
* In [[Oishinbo]] the main character and his father are rivals and the relationship is not pretty.
* ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]''. Seina, the leader of the A12 terrorist group, spares Andrei Kalinin because he [[A Father to His Men|reminds her of her own surrogate father]], a former mercenary who trained the group of delinquent youths in survival and warfare, but who failed to prepare them to live in a Japan at peace. Her dying words as she's cradled in Kalinin's arms are "You speak like you know everything. I hate you. You make me sick." It's obvious who she's really referring to.
* The second major arc in [[Fairy Tail]], dealing with the rival guild Phantom, was set in motion by Lucy's father. Lucy doesn't get to do much during this arc and instead spends most of the time being depressed about how she's causing them problems. After the end of the arc, she decides to go home... whereupon she tells him to go to hell and stop interfering with her life and her new family or they're going to declare war on him.
* In ''[[Oban Star Racers]]'', after Don Wei tells Molly that he knows that she's really his daughter, Eva, she unloads on him for abandoning her at a boarding school for most of her childhood (without so much as a letter) and not even recognizing her when she first joined the team.
* In ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]'' (especially the manga version), Miaka Yuuki's [[Education Mama|very strict single mother]] is screaming at her for "seeing a guy" instead of studying for high-school entrance exams (after reading and misinterpreting Miaka's diary.) In the manga, Miaka screams back at Yuuki-san about how she can't possibly pass the exams despite studying hard, and that [["Well Done, Son" Guy|she's tired of playing her mother's agenda to get her praise]], and that it's not fair of her mom to criticize her for being interested in a guy {{spoiler|Tamahome}} when her mother is seeing someone herself. Yuuki-san responds with an [[Armor-Piercing Slap]], causing Miaka to run away and go inside the Book. When she return to Tokyo after the first part of her adventures, after some tense moment her mom apologizes to her.
* In the second part of ''[[Kaleido Star]]'', [[Fiery Redhead|Rosetta Passel]] wants to join the Kaleido
* Subverted in an early episode of ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]''. Flint presents himself upon his son Brock after having abandoned him and his nine siblings some time ago, and tells him he's going to take care of them again. Brock approaches Flint while he braces himself, preparing for the worst, when Brock gives him...a needle and cloth. Brock then proceeds to [[The Long List|list all the tasks his father has to do daily]] to care for the children, while Flint struggles to take notes of them all. Afterward, Brock is free to leave with Ash and Misty.
** Not so much subversion as letting the facts slam Flint for him..
* In ''[[Virgin
* In ''[[One Piece]]'', one of Whitebeard's allies Squardo {{spoiler|stabs Whitebeard and angrily calls him out for selling out his allies to the Marines, which was a lie that Akainu made up.}} His bitter resentment towards Ace's father (who had eliminated his crew, leaving him the sole survivor) and discovering just who Ace's father was also led to the calling out.
** In Chapter 620 of the manga, Sanji angrily confronts Jinbe over the fact that he (Jinbe) was responsible for letting [[Complete Monster|Arlong]] run loose in East Blue, which led to Nami's [[Dark and Troubled Past]]. Jinbe doesn't try to deny it, and apologizes for Nami's anguish even as he reveals the series of incidents that led up to Arlong's actions.
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== Comic Books ==
* ''[[Invincible]]'' calls his father out for lying to him and for {{spoiler|the whole "[[Take Over the World|world domination]]" bit}}. They eventually come to blows and they wreck a few continents in the ensuing, bloody brawl. {{spoiler|It later turns out that said Calling Out ended up in the old man's [[Heel Face Turn]]}}.
* This is the entire driving motivation for Jesse Custer in ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)|Preacher]]'', except instead of calling out his father, he wants to call out [[Rage Against the Heavens|the Father of all Creation]].
** It's true that the overall [[Rage Against the Heavens]] plot of ''Preacher'' fits this trope, but long before the end of the series there's another example of it. Jesse had a great, happy childhood until he was around six or maybe even younger, when Jesse's father was killed in front of his eyes [[Big Screwed-Up Family|by Jesse's uncle Jody]]. Jody raised Jesse brutally for the rest of his childhood, also taking Jesse's mother aside to shoot her and using horrific child abuse. All this is revealed in the third or fourth story arc of the series, and by the end of it {{spoiler|Jesse has finally killed Jody and everyone else on that side of the family responsible for his misery}}.
* ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'': Scott Summers' father was abducted by aliens when he and his brother were fairly young; when Dad showed up many years later, Scott vented his displeasure that a) he hadn't bothered to come back and look for them earlier, despite having plenty of opportunity, and b) he'd become a ruthless [[Space Pirates|space pirate]] in the interim. The [[X-Men (animation)|animated series]] used a similar storyline, with even more shouting on Scott's part.
* In ''[[Astonishing X-Men]]'' Cyclops "fires" Professor X after he finds out that Xavier knew the whole time that the Danger Room had become sentient, and that he continued to use her (and keep the secret to himself).
* Happens with [[Conflict Ball|distressing]] and [[Aesop Amnesia|perfectly typical]] regularity to [[I Work Alone|Batman]]. The ones doing the calling out tend to be Nightwing and
* In a recent ''[[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]'' story "American Son" Harry Osborn finally does this to his father [[Norman Osborn]] (aka Green Goblin, aka Iron Patriot, aka Worst Father in Comics).
* Rose Wilson aka Ravager does this to her father Deathstroke every time they meet. She never really got over the whole " injecting me with [[Psycho Serum]] and shoving a piece of radioactive Kryptonite into my eye socket" thing that Deathstroke pulled the last time she trusted him. That, and he's an amoral and ruthless mercenary who inevitably ruins the people close to him. In ''[[Blackest Night]]'', after circumstances force them to fight side by side again, Rose calls him out one last time. While Rose acknowledges that part of her will always love him because he is her father (and ''only'' for that reason), she never wants to see him again. Rose also swears that if Slade {{spoiler|tries to track down Rose's [[Missing Mom]]}} she ''will'' kill him.
* Captain Cold, one of [[The Flash]]'s staunchest foes, had a violent confrontation with his father after the old man had been abducted by the New Rogues. To teach everybody a lesson, Cold and his team {{spoiler|searched for the impostors, trouncing each with their own weapons}} until Cold found his father in a meat locker. He proceeded to call him out for every indignity he had ever visited upon the family. The old man, clearly not impressed, shot back with his own opinions on how weak Cold and his mother were for not taking it. Cold, furious but unable to kill him, asked fellow Rogue Heat Wave to incinerate him.
==
* ''[[Past Sins]]'' has a heartwrenching scene that plays with this trope...
* In ''[http://percyjacksonfanfiction.wikia.com/wiki/Nine_Months Nine Months]'', April does this to her mother, Artemis.
* The ''[[Treasure Planet]]'' fanfiction [http://Perpetual-Sketch.deviantart.com/art/Picking-up-the-Pieces-59685538
* ''[[Naruto]]'' fan fictions often have a habit of calling out {{spoiler|Naruto's father on sealing the Kyuubi into him}}, Naruto's mother depending on if they see her as alive or dead, and {{spoiler|Naruto's erstwhile godfather, Jiraiya}}, who failed to carry out his duties as guardian for twelve years. Results vary from heartfelt reunions to permanent shattering of familial bonds depending on the author's inclination.
* This occurs in the ''[[
* There are a few ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' fics that had Gohan calling out his father for constantly leaving. Like [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4825209/1/No_More_Forgiveness ''No More Forgiveness'' by The Masked Otaku].
* Averted in a CMOH for ''[[DC Nation]]''. Connor Hawke [http://jla-watchtower.livejournal.com/539464.html discovers the pictures and birth announcement] that proved Ollie knew about him. He's not exactly pleased about the knowledge that Ollie had never made effort to find him, and while Ollie braces for the chewing out...
{{quote|'''Connor:''' ''"If I'd found this when I was a boy at the ashram, I would never have partnered up with you. If I had found this when I was the only Green Arrow, then I would have been
* Almost every ''Evangelion'' fanfiction where Shinji has a spine.
* The ''[[My Little Pony:
* Subverted in ''[[The Basalt City Chronicles]]''. In Daniel Clydesdale's backstory, he was utterly different from his father and ran away from home at 13 because Theodore (the father) wanted Dan to be part of the Clydesdale political legacy, while Dan was always itching for a fight. When they meet up again, Daniel's in Juvie. When he hears his father has come to visit, the kid's ready to let
* Ember does this to Terrador in the ''[[Spyro Madness Saga]]''. After Terrador puts her through hell and completely destroys her life, up to and including kidnapping her before she even sees her children, Ember has a chance to kill him, [[
* In the ''[[Katawa Shoujo]]'' fic ''Lilly Epilogue (Good Ending): Family Matters'', Akira reminds her father that he had left her and Lilly to fend for themselves in Japan when he and their mother had moved to Scotland, when he tries to persuade Lilly to return to Scotland, resulting in an argument. {{spoiler|After a little while, even ''Lilly'' gets in on it, as she is infuriated by her father insulting Hisao and Hanako, and at the peak of her anger, yells "YOU HARDLY RAISED ME AT ALL, [[Precision F-Strike|YOU BASTARD]]!!" before ordering him out of her apartment. She later reconciles with him, though}}.
* No few ''[[Harry Potter]]'' fics featuring an evil or manipulative Dumbledore give Harry the chance to verbally tear him down -- even more than the canon instance found at the end of ''Order of the Phoenix''.
== Film ==
* A subplot of the well-cast film ''[[The Quick and the Dead]]''. Leonardo diCaprio's [[The Gunfighter Wannabe|young, confident gunslinger]] spends most of his time in a gunfighting tournament provoking his father (Gene Hackman) into a duel. Hackman asks diCaprio not to duel him, but when diCaprio refuses to back down, Hackman shoots him down immediately.
* In ''[[Moulin Rouge
* A somewhat <s>[[Kick the Dog]]</s>[[Kick the Son of a Bitch]] example is found in the end of ''[[Kiss Kiss Bang Bang]]'', where a father in his deathbed is slapped around and insulted by Gay Perry for sexually molesting his daughter. Harry at the end justifies this by saying, "Don't worry, he was creepy."
* For a female example, Christina Ricci's character Rae in ''[[Black Snake Moan]]'' calls out her mom in the middle of a Quick Stop over her mother willfully ignoring years of sexual abuse. This leads to a full out brawl in the middle of the store aisles.
* Dr. Ruth in ''[[Scanners]]'' doesn't get this treatment until after he's dead. Once Cameron learns that [[Luke, I Am Your Father|Dr. Ruth was his father]] who had him kept as a street-wandering pariah his whole life, he is horrified, and does nothing to defend Ruth from the insults of [[Big Bad]] Darryl Revok ("That was ''Daddy''."). And when the inevitable [[Not So Different]] moment comes up, it's not Revok comparing himself to Cameron; it's Cameron comparing Revok to Ruth. And Revok is [[Berserk Button|outraged]].
* In Peter Jackson's ''[[Braindead]]'', Lionel finally stands up to his manipulative, possessive mother. Unfortunately he's waited until she's turned into a gigantic monstrosity, but he's still properly equipped to take her down the old-fashioned way.
* In ''[[The General's Daughter (film)|The
** Subverted by Brenner in an offhand comment when questioned if he likes his own father.
{{quote|''My father was a drunk, a gambler, and a womanizer. I
* Joshua in ''[[Little Odessa]]'' does this several times to his father, with escalating hostility and violence. The reasons are numerous: his father is a strict, belt-wielding figure, harsh on his younger son and even harsher on the elder (for good reasons, though). Moreover, he cheats on his wife. However, Joshua is definitely not the victimized party: he was banished from home for being a hitman and not due to some insignificant offense.
* Used in ''[[The Addams Family]]'' with Fester/Gordon after his {{spoiler|fake}} mother pushes him just a little too far...
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* John Prentice (Sidney Poitier) delivers a scathing speech to his father in one of the only dramatic scenes in the comedy ''[[Guess Who's Coming to Dinner]]?''
{{quote|"You listen to me. You say you don't want to tell me how to live my life. So what do you think you've been doing? You tell me what rights I've got or haven't got, and what I owe to you for what you've done for me. Let me tell you something: I owe you nothing!"}}
* In ''[[City Slickers]]'' Mitch (Billy Crystal) asks his buddies Ed (Bruno Kirby) and Phil (Daniel Stern) to describe "the best day and the worst day in your life". Ed recalled when stood up to his father, a serial adulterer:
{{quote|'''Ed Furillo:''' I'm 14 and my mother and father are fighting again... y'know, because she caught him again. Caught him... This time the girl drove by the house to pick him up. And I finally realized, he wasn't just cheating on my mother, he was cheating us. So I told him, I said, "You're bad to us. We don't love you. I'll take care of my mother and my sister. We don't need you any more." And he made like he was gonna hit me, but I didn't budge. And he turned around and he left. He never bothered us again. Well, I took care of my mother and my sister from that day on. That's my best day.
'''Phil Berquist:''' What was your worst day?
'''Ed Furillo:''' Same day. }}
* While not ''always'' featured, this trope is nonetheless still a given in any [[Lifetime Movie of the Week]] (although many non-Lifetime TV movies have done this as well).
* The whole issue of
* In the book ''[[James and the Giant Peach]]'', James's Aunt Sponge and Aunt Spiker were run over by the peach and killed. In the movie however, they catch up to James when he finally makes it to New York City. James is alone, no idea where is friends are, and the townspeople who witnessed his arrival are too flabbergasted by what's going on to do anything but stand there and watch, yet he tells his [[Evil Matriarch|evil aunts]] that he won't be going back home with them because he's where he wants to be and wants nothing more to do with them or their abusive ways. They retaliate by attempting to [[Axe Crazy|attack him with axes]] only for [[True Companions|the bugs whom James has grown to consider family]] [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|to descend from the sky and help James deliver much overdue justice to Spiker and Sponge.]] This troper found this to be a much more satisfying way to see them go down.
* ''[[The Hairy Bird]]'': Abby, to Page Singer. After Page announces that the school is going coed, the girls rebel, but Page wants Abby to take charge of them, at which point Abby tells her off.
* In the [[Adam Sandler]] comedy ''[[The Waterboy]]'', Bobby Boucher finally stands up to [[My Beloved Smother|his overprotective Mama]]:
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'''Bobby:''' Everything's the devil to you, Mama! Well, I like school! And I like football! And I'm gonna keep doin' them both because they make me feel good!
(''Bobby grabs his things and walks to the door'')
'''Bobby:''' [[And Another Thing|And by the way, Mama. Alligators are ornery 'cause of their "Medulla Oblongata"!]]
(''Bobby slams the door behind him, but he opens it a few seconds later'')
'''Bobby:''' (''almost in tears'') [[Crowning Moment of Funny|And I like Vicki, and she likes me! And she showed me her boobies, and I like them too!]]
(''Bobby slams the door for the last time'') }}
* [[The Paper Chase (film)|''The Paper Chase'']]: "You... are a son of a ''bitch'', Kingsfield!"
== Literature ==
* Carmen in ''[[The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants]]''. Her dad definitely deserved it, seeing as {{spoiler|he didn't tell her he was engaged, living with his fiancée and her two kids, and getting married that August}} before she came to spend the summer with him for the first time since the separation.
* William de Worde does this to his father at the end of the ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''The Truth''.
* In the ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'' series, author J.K. Rowling allows Dumbledore to do the honors in calling out the Dursleys for their shabby and abusive treatment of Harry in the beginning of ''[[
** Harry himself throws a Grand Mal fit in Dumbledore's office at the end of ''[[
** And in ''[[
*** He also gets to call out {{spoiler|Dumbledore again, when they meet in Harry's [[It Makes Sense in Context|dreamworld limbo train station]]}}, towards the end of the book.
* In ''[[The Gunslinger]]'', Roland calls out Cort for the ritual coming-of-age challenge of every gunslinger. Due to a plot by Walter, Roland is only 14 when he issues the challenge. Walter expects Roland to be disgraced and exiled. Some creative thinking on Roland's part plays a key role in the outcome of the challenge.
* In ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'', the [[Butt Monkey|unfairly despised]] but worthy youngest son Tyrion Lannister finally tells off his father, Lord Tywin Lannister. And then {{spoiler|kills him. Tywin deserved it}}.
* In ''[[The Brothers Karamazov]]'', Dmitri Karamazov calls his father out and ends up beating ''the everliving crap'' out of him in a fit of rage. It's part [[MacGuffin|inheritance money]] and part [[Love Triangle]] which spurs him.
* In one of the ''[[Teenage Worrier]]'' books, Letty mistakenly believes her father is planning to leave his family for a male lover. She imagines confronting him in a humorous scenario, finishing with:
{{quote|And the great noble Hand of God will wag its finger at Dad and say "Look after your kids, punk."}}
* In the ''[[Jumper (novel)|Jumper]]'' novel, the [[Abusive Parents]] subplot culminates in an epic Calling Out. {{spoiler|Davy jumps his father to his mother's grave and then subjects him to a [[Hannibal Lecture]]. While using Daddy Dearest's whipping belt as a prop to emphasize just how horrific and wrong the abuse was}}.
* Not sure if this was included in ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]'', but Cao Pi (son of [[Magnificent Bastard]] Cao Cao) ordered one of his concubines (Zhen Ji, for those of you familiar with [[Dynasty Warriors]]) to commit suicide on the pretext that she was too jealous of his other wives. One day he takes his heir apparent (and Zhen Ji's son) out for a hunt and manages to bag himself a nice doe; in high spirits, he tells his son to capture the fawn as well, at which point the son answers: "You have already killed the mother; I see no need to murder its child as well".
* ''[[Prince Roger]]'', near the end of ''March Upcountry''. Prince Roger's father {{spoiler|tried to pull off a coup before Roger was born.}} Roger, unfortunately, looks [[Xerox Generation|almost identical]] to the man. {{spoiler|Worse}} {{spoiler|''no one''}} {{spoiler|ever told Roger what happened, or why his father was banished - or even why his mother seemed to hate and distrust him. The resulting spoiled-lonely-brat-who-wants-some-loving-attention behaviour did nothing to improve anyone's attitude towards him.}} And to top it all off, once he finally finds all this out...he can't even Call Out his mother for her actions, because she's several solar systems
* [[Mercedes Lackey]] does this one to a turn in ''[[Heralds of Valdemar|Magic's Pawn]]'': after losing his first love and acquiring a huge array of powers he doesn't really want, Vanyel is barely conscious but able to pull a mild [[Carrie]] on his abusive father, telekinetically pushing him around, knocking him down and saying, in essence, "How do ''you'' like it -- getting smacked around by someone bigger and stronger than you are?"
** The "calling the mentor out" version happens in ''Winds of Fate'', when Elspeth realizes that her companion Gwena is herding her, fat, dumb and happy, toward a [[Because Destiny Says So|Glorious Destiny]] while trying to foist Skif on her as an ideal mate. Her response, paraphrased: [[Screw Destiny]], stop manipulating me, and if you don't like it, you can go back to Haven without me! Gwena is so shocked at Elspeth's behavior that she actually acquiesces (more or less). It turns out pretty well for all involved.
* In ''[[Percy Jackson and The Olympians]]'', Luke is...very ticked with his father.
** And in ''The Last Olympian'', Percy does this to {{spoiler|all the gods, telling them they should accept all demigods (including checking in time and time on their children) and take
** Also in ''The Last Olympian'', {{spoiler|Hades}} calls out his father.
{{quote|"And if there is one thing we agree on - it's that you were a TERRIBLE father."}}
*** Leo does this to his dad,
* Mark does this to the Emperor, his biological father, when he finally meets him in the ''Third [[Book of Swords]]'' by Fred Saberhagen. Since the Emperor is really {{spoiler|[[Bluenose Bowdlerizer|God]]}}, it is not very surprising that His response is, in effect, when you're as old as I am and know as much as I do, you can question what I do and why I do it.
* ''[[Assassin Fantastic|Coin of the Realm]]'': Rosalind calls out her father, The Ruling Monarch and The Man Who Thought He Knew More About Everything Than Anyone Else, upon {{spoiler|assassinating her newly-wed husband ''at the wedding itself'', in front of everyone, and boldly claiming her prize as his new royal assassin.}}
* In ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' book ''Proven Guilty'', Carlos Ramirez pretty much confirms his brass-balls-itude by calling out the Merlin himself - the single most powerful wizard in the world - on how much of a hypocritical [[Jerkass]] of a bastard he's being. It's also done movingly by Molly, to her mother Charity.
** Harry himself calls out his de facto father, Ebenezar McCoy, several times in the series. {{spoiler|1=He later finds out that McCoy is his grandfather, making it "Calling the Even Older Man Out."}}
* ''[[I, Lucifer]]'' has many instances of Lucifer calling out ''[[God|"The Old Man"]]'' on a few of his perceived jerkass qualities and actions.
* [[Everworld|Senna Wales]], when she finally meets up with her mother during her [[Villain Episode]] book, ''Inside the Illusion.'' Apparently, she's been imagining the moment since she was a small child.
{{quote|'''Senna:''' How have I been? For the last ten years [[Parental Abandonment|after you dumped me off?]] How have I been, the only one like me stuck in a world full of [[Muggles|deaf, dumb, and blind fools?]] Fine, Mom. Fine. How have you been?!}}
* In [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[The Golden Oecumene|The Golden Transcedence]]'', Ungannis declares that [[Humans Are
* Inverted in ''[[Leven Thumps]]'' when resident [[Complete Monster]] {{spoiler|Elton}} calls out his son {{spoiler|Leven}} for {{spoiler|killing his wife Maria in childbirth}}. [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Then they fight.]] Afterwards, it's played straight as {{spoiler|Leven}} gets to call {{spoiler|Elton}} out.
* In the second ''[[Night Huntress]]'' book Cat tries to call her father out. Unfortunately vampire politics get in the way.
* While still a child, [[Jane Eyre]] eventually calls out her aunt and caretaker for being abusive and unfair towards her, and it actually seems to have some effect.
* In ''[[The Corrections]]'', all three of Alfred and Enid's children try to call them out on their various issues and problems. It does not take.
* The [[Star Trek Expanded Universe]] novel ''The Captain's Daughter'' has Admiral John "Blackjack" Harriman, father of ''Enterprise-B'' captain John Harriman, and heavily implied to be the reason such a young, inexperienced officer is in command of the ''Enterprise'', accompany his son's ship. He spends the entire time boasting about how he got his son such a prestigious command, complaining about James Kirk, and overriding the captain at critical moments. When Captain Harriman finally stands up to him, the admiral unloads on him, calling him names and saying he's worse than Kirk ever was, before sitting in the command chair. The captain's response is to [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|beam him to the brig.]]
* In [[The Last Unicorn]], Molly does this to the titular character. Double as a tear jerker:
Line 194:
{{quote|'''Jenna Heap:''' "And you are ''not'' my father. Dad is".}}
* ''[[Count and Countess]]'' tells the story of Vlad Tepes and Elizabeth Bathory, who, though living 100+ years apart, start writing to each other in childhood. At the start of the story, Vlad's father, Vlad II Drakul, has surrendered his three sons to the Ottoman Empire as war hostages. Vlad and his brothers endure unspeakable cruelty while there, and only Vlad survives it {{spoiler|seemingly}}. When Vlad escapes life as a [[Child Soldiers|Janissary]] and walks all the way home to Wallachia, he calls the old man out by {{spoiler|[[Patricide|murdering him]]}}.
== Live Action TV ==
* One [[Tear Jerker|moment]] from ''[[The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air]]'' pops up in "You cry, you lose" threads on forums more than possibly any other scene in TV history: Will's father deciding to abandon him once again, leading Uncle Phil to deal him a scathing remark before Will walks in. After his father leaves, Will vents his anger to Phil, calmly at first, before eventually breaking down into tears and hugging Phil as the episode ends--"How come he don't want me, man?"
* Sam and Dean Winchester spent about half a season calling out their father John for his various sins toward them on ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'', until eventually he died, [[Heroic Sacrifice|saving Dean's life in the process]]. Well, that's one way to make it up to the kid.
** Bobby gets a moment like this in "At Death's Door" {{spoiler|as part of his [[Dying Moment of Awesome]]}}. As he lies comatose from a gunshot in the previous episode, Bobby is forced to watch/relive many of his memories. Through this, we learn that his father was a total asshole who physically and emotionally [[Abusive Parents|abused]] Bobby and his mother {{spoiler|until young Bobby shot him in self-defense}}. Near the end of the episode, Bobby full interacts with a memory and confronts his father in a conversation that ends with the below (paraphrased) dialogue:
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* In a surprisingly serious moment in an otherwise pretty funny episode of a pretty funny series, Charlie of ''[[Two and A Half Men]]'', having been bugged all day by his mother to try and get him to tell her why he hates her, finally calls out his mother on how horrible she was to him and Alan and blames her for their father's death. Evelyn, true to character, acts as if Charlie is being a whiney brat and walks out.
* Rita in ''[[Dexter]]'' lets her mother have it after her mom moves in and starts rearranging her life.
* Lee Adama's closing speech at Baltar's trial on the new ''[[Battlestar Galactica
** Lee has called out his father ''several'' times - for example, he believed Adama was the main cause of the death of his brother Zak - pressuring him to become a Viper pilot despite his lack of aptitude. Lee also opposed his father on the issue of martial law to the point of being sent to the brig for it.
* Sawyer unknowingly does this for Locke's father in ''[[Lost]]'' which culminates in {{spoiler|Sawyer killing him}}. When Sawyer learns of this revelation, he finds out that's precisely why Locke wanted him to meet him since the man had done terrible wrongs of the same nature to the both of them.
** More recently, Sun has done this to her father, chewing him out for his treatment of her husband. She also informed him that she had bought a controlling share in his company. [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|It was awesome]].
* Comes up many, many,
* Lex Luthor does this to Lionel every other Sunday in ''[[Smallville]]''. Well, he did it before he {{spoiler|threw the old man out a window.}}
** The Voice of Jor-El's been called out a few times as well, both by Clark and by Jonathan on Clark's behalf.
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* In the last ever episode of ''[[The Fast Show]]'' Competitive Dad's father comes round for Christmas, and is an even worse bully than his son. In [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|a touching moment]] for a comedy sketch show, the grandson snaps and tells the old man off... only for his dad to start with the 'How dare you talk to my father like that' routine. A moment later when granddad has left he ''finally'' tells his son he loves him.
* Dinah does this to her mother, Black Canary, in ''[[Birds of Prey]]'' when she comes back and says she wants to "make things right."
* In an episode of HBO's ''[[True Blood]]'', Tara's alcoholic mother will not bail her our of jail after she had done the same thing for her many times before. "The first time I'm in trouble you turn your back on the one person whose stood by you. After all the times I cleaned you up? All the times you beat me, and stole my money? My whole life is shit because of you! You're not my mother. Get out my sight you evil bitch!" Tara's mom tries to say, "I love you." Tara won't have it. "No you don't. You never did."
* Subverted in ''[[The Sopranos]]'': After Tony finds out that mother {{spoiler|tried to have him killed}}, he goes to her retirement home to Call The Old Woman Out, only to find that {{spoiler|she's had a stress-induced stroke, and is probably unable to consciously hear any of his rage-fueled confrontation.}}
** This continues in later seasons, as Tony tries to call her out more than once about her {{spoiler|attempt at killing him, and the heaps of psychological abuse she's put on him and his family over the years. Each attempt never comes to any kind of definitive resolution of their issues}}. In the end, {{spoiler|she dies at the beginning of the third season, leaving Tony psychologically scarred with no clear picture or resolution of his feelings of his mother, and this affects him for years afterwards}}.
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* In ''[[Firefly]]'', Simon calls out his father on his callous disregard for River's abuse at the Academy.
* ''[[South of Nowhere]]'' has Spencer calling out Paula after the latter has spent too much time at the hospital (fueling speculation that she may actually be having an affair).
* In ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'', Bashir calls out his father for not only running away from his problems, but for {{spoiler|having him undergo an illegal genetic
* Not entirely sure that Gregory [[House (TV series)|House]] is physically capable of going a week ''without'' calling the parent(s) of a young patient insensitive, incompetent, overprotective, a [[Jerkass]] or any of a thousand other kinds of general idiot.
** When it came to calling out his own dad though, Greg did it when he was twelve, point-blank telling Daddy-House he wasn't his father. Greg half-deduced, half-convinced himself this was true after taking years of borderline-abuse of neglect. After this happened, his father didn't speak to him for months, and their relationship never improved before Daddy-House's death.
*** {{spoiler|He was right.}}
* On ''[[That '70s Show]]'', Eric gets a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] when he finally stands up to his overbearing father Red, who is particularly bitter over having sold his Corvette to raise money for what he thinks is his wife Kitty's pregnancy, only to realize he did it for nothing when Kitty's actually going through menopause. After Red snaps at Eric one too many times, Eric finally loses his temper and tears a strip off Red for whining about losing his Corvette, when Kitty is extremely upset and needs his support. Eric concludes by reminding Red of all the times he'd told Eric to "be a man", and then tells Red to practice what he preaches and "be a man" for his wife.
** Also, when Hyde's father comes back to town. Hyde eventually calls him out on abandoning him, but it's subverted when he readily acknowledges that he pulled a dick move. It ends with them calmly discussing it over a beer, then getting smashed.
* Hugo's [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] on ''[[The Vicar of Dibley]]'' is when, after being told by his emotionally and mentally abusive father David that if he marries Alice then "you will no longer be welcome in this house, you will no longer be my son, and as this will attests, you will have nothing!" he actually stands up to David (a rare feat for him), shoves the will back at him, and says, respectfully but coldly, "On the contrary, sir, I shall have everything in the world that I desire."
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'''Giles:''' What did I do?
'''Spike:''' There's always something. }}
** Later circumstantial evidence seems to indicate that Spike's first name is "Randy" (which, keep in mind, [[Unfortunate Names|means "horny" in British slang]]).
{{quote|'''Spike:''' I knew there was a reason I hated you!
'''Giles:''' Randy's...a family name, undoubtedly. }}
* On the ''[[Angel]]'' end, we have Connor, who spends most of season 4 doing this repeatedly to Angel.
* Done with a slight twist in one episode of ''[[M*A*S*H (television)|
* ''[[NCIS]]''- Cementing his status as [[Papa Wolf]] to his team, episode 7x12, "Flesh and Blood" features Gibbs calling out the elder Anthony DiNozzo, on Tony's behalf. Specifically for one incident, and implicitly for a lifetime of neglect.
{{quote|'''Papa DiNozzo''': We keep in touch.
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* ''[[Malcolm in the Middle]]''. Francis's final words to Lois before moving to Alaska were nothing short of hateful.
** Hal also berates his dad. It starts out with how his entire family is being horrible to Lois at his dad's party and and his dad is doing nothing about it. It then extends to how his dad doing nothing is a running theme; while his dad was always joking around with him, they never had an emotionally close relationship because of this. He goes on to list problems he had while growing up that were made worse because they were ignored (Interestingly, Hal himself ignored one of these same problems in Francis, Reese, and Malcolm just a few episodes before.).
* It's a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] for
{{quote|'''Eric:''' Please stop acting like you and I have any kind of relationship.
'''Will:''' You're right, I have a lot to make up for.
'''Eric:''' I'm sorry. The window for that closed somewhere between my twelfth birthday and my suicide attempt. Don't worry, I'm fine now. Going through all that without a father made me realize that I don't need one. }}
* ''[[The Magnificent Seven (TV series)|The Magnificent Seven]]'': Resident gambler and con man Ezra Standish does this the first time his
{{quote|'''Ezra''': You didn't raise me as well as a...as a stray cat raises a litter. You-you dumped me. Remember? At every aunt and uncle's house you could find. Unless, of course, you needed me... for a con. }}
* This happened in ''[[Glee]]'' - when Sue's mother shows up for her daughter's "wedding" and starts making all sorts of demands, Sue demands to know how she could just up and leave her daughters for years before coming back and trying to call the shots. And all the mother could say was "[[It's All About Me|Oh, you don't know how hard this has been on ''me'', the sacrifices I had to make for a life of adventure!]]".
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* In the first episode of the Seventh Season of ''[[Gene Simmons Family Jewels]]'', Sophie confronts her father, Gene, about how he was always with gorgeous scantly clad women and that it hurts her and family. She told him that she loves him but she doesn't have to talk to him.
* ''[[Doctor Who]]'' - Shows up in "The Idiot's Lantern" (the full exchange is on the quotes page). The son finally giving his dad the put-down he deserves encourages his mum to throw the dad out at the end of the episode.
* In the ''[[Beverly Hills, 90210]]'' sequel series, when Navid tells a school counselor that {{spoiler|an underage student from the school starred in one of his father's porn films, the police investigate his father}}. His father blames Navid for that, who retorts that his father broke the law.
* Inverted in a season 4 episode ''[[Sons of Anarchy]]'', when Opie's father Piney calls him out for {{spoiler|cheating on his wife}} by [[Moment of Awesome|punching him in the face]].
* On ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'', Arthur has called out Uther a time or two, although since Uther's the king, it didn't make a whole lot of difference. Morgana did this in a way as well after she found out the truth in season 3, and it ended with Uther in the dungeon.
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Where're you going? That's right, dad, walk away with your tiny little legs, you ''[[Precision F-Strike|FUCKIN' midget]]!'' }}
* Boyd Crowder {{spoiler|goes all [[Badass Preacher]] on his father by calling him out on how his drug peddling has ruined Harlan County}} in ''[[Justified (TV series)|Justified]]''.
* In the ''[[Game of Thrones]]''
== Mythology/Religion ==
* A recurring theme in [[Greek Mythology]]. Cronus does it to his father Uranus, as punishment for imprisoning his children, and Zeus does it to his father Cronus in turn, for doing his damnedest to [[I'm a Humanitarian|swallow all of his own children at birth]]. In both cases, it ends in a rather permanent [[Groin Attack]].
* Achilles does it to Agamemnon, the commander of the Greek forces at large, in ''[[Homer|The Iliad]]''. Agamemnon responds by taking Achilles' war prize, kicking off the plot.
* In the [[The Bible|Book of Job]], many terrible things (loses his family, gets sick, storms destroy his property, etc.) happen to Job causing him to wonder why God would allow all this evil to befall him which brings up the classic case of the Problem of Evil; an argument that states it is logically inconsistent for a perfectly good God to have created a universe with so many evil things in it like pain and sin. Job gets into a deep existential discussion with a few of his close friends regarding the nature of God and how He is good yet is strict against evil stating that Job's sin must have been what invoked God's wrath, Job despite the mystery of what has befallen him refuses to give up on God and cries out to him for an answer. God hearing this finally responds: "Where were you when I created the universe, and just what do you amount to that you can question My decisions?" God explains that as the creator of an entire universe His job is to keep the entire fabric of reality in balance, God must provide for His creations so that they can survive and He must work all things for good, some times even bad things like what has befallen Job can be worked for good. God would not expect a lowly human such as Job to comprehend the scope of His benevolence, mercy and justice, only God can see the bigger picture and understand the full significance of everything that happens in life and Job not having the same world view as His creator has no right to question God in how He achieves His aims. God is sovereign over the universe '''He''' created and everything happens for a reason, most importantly though God reminds Job that no matter what happens good or bad in everyday human life God is with us and there to help us. Job satisfied, but no less mystified, utters in awe of God's grandeur: "The Good Lord gives, and the Good Lord takes away." God rewards Job by giving him back everything that he lost twofold for staying faithful.
** He also gives a [[Shut UP, Hannibal]] to Job's "friends" by telling them to make a sacrifice, and ''Job'' (the one they'd been haranguing) would pray for them.
== Music ==
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* [[Dream Theater]]'s "Honor Thy Father" is pretty much exactly this. Directed towards a stepfather, but a pretty venomous rendition of the trope nonetheless.
** Drummer Mike Portnoy wrote this song about his stepfather. He explained, "I'm not very good at writing love songs, so I decided to write a HATE song!"
* [[The Mountain Goats]] song "Lion's Teeth" describes a terrifying confrontation with the singer's abusive stepfather, imagined as a literal lion.
** Never mind the song, pretty much the whole ''album'' is an example of
* [[Metallica]]'s "Dyers Eve" is mostly this, with both parents being called out.
* Reversed in [[Ayreon]]'s "Day 16: Loser" off "The Human Equation". Here we have the abusive, alchoholic, jerkass, complete monster of a father berating and calling out his own son while in the hospital. He goes on about how weak, helpless and pathetic his son is before leaving. The closest we get to a response is when the son's rage persona freaks out and screams at the father.
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* [[Nickelback]] ''Never Again'': "Father's a name you haven't earned yet / You're just a child with a temper / Haven't you heard you don't hit a lady / Kickin' your ass would be a pleasure."
** Not surprising, the wife busts a cap in her abusive husband.
* 3 Doors down. Sarah Yellin' at the whole family.
* [[Iron Maiden]]'s "Wrathchild".
* [[Korn]]'s "Daddy"
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* Martha Wainwright's "Bloody [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Motherfucking]] Asshole" is about her father Loudon Wainwright III.
* [[Death Cab for Cutie]]'s "Styrofoam Plates" consists entirely of a boy/young man calling his father out in the bitterest way imaginable ''at said father's funeral''. Naturally, averts [[Never Speak Ill of the Dead]].
* [[Demi Lovato]]'s song "For The Love Of a Daughter" is about her biological fathers drinking
* A bittersweet example is Martin Simpson's ''Never any good'', where the narrator is basically saying his dad was no use, but without those traits he'd have never been born
{{quote|You were never any good with money / couldn't even hold a job / not steady enough for the office / not hard enough for the hod ... If you'd have been a practical man / If you'd have been forewarned / you would have seen that it never would work / And I would have never been born}}
* [[James Durbin]]'s song "Screaming" has him calling out his parents for being "liars" because they said that his life would improve with time.
== Tabletop RPG ==
* The ''[[Horus Heresy]]'', where
** Well, it does a few people by halves, but only after the [[Chainsaw Good|chainswords]] have been shut down.
* Very common in a game of ''[[Bliss Stage]]'', where someone is almost certainly going to get sick of the Authority Figure's crap and tear them a new one.
== Theater ==
* [[Hamlet]], in his [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]], absolutely rips his mother to shreds for her quasi-incestuous ways.
{{quote|'''Hamlet:''' Now, mother, what's the matter?
'''Gertrude:''' Hamlet, thou hast thy father much offended.
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* In ''You Can't Take It With You,'' Tony tells off his father for giving up on the dreams of his youth, including being a trapeze artist and a saxophone player. Tony Sr. still has the sax in the back of his closet, though.
* At the end of ''Mrs. Warren's Profession'', Vivie Warren calls out her mother for not being very maternal and for her *ahem* ''profession''.
== Video Games ==
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* [[Inverted]] in ''[[Dragon Quest VIII]]'' by King Clavius and [[Prince Charmless|Prince Charmles]]. Having given his son every opportunity to grow into a good heir, only to watch the [[Entitled Bastard]] [[Screw the Rules, I Have Money|screw the rules]], he ''finally'' calls him out by publicly revealing {{spoiler|he knew all along that Charmles had ''bought'' his Argon Heart instead of finishing his [[Rite of Passage]], and had kept silent as a [[Secret Test of Character]]}} and declaring he had proven himself incapable of serving as heir.
* The penultimate mission in ''[[Oni]]'' is something like this: Konoko raids the TCTF headquarters in an attempt to call out Griffin (her nearest thing to a father figure, save her {{spoiler|dead uncle}}, after years of systematically lying to her and using her, and ultimately trying to have her killed. Once he is cornered, the player is given a choice: {{spoiler|you can kill Griffin or let him live. If you choose the latter option, the fianl boss is much easier as a consequence, and Griffin redeems himself at the very end.}}
* Two of the "messenger quests" on ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'' have this trope, and a third has an arguable variant on it. The most literal one is Carth's {{spoiler|seems the son he thought dead has actually joined the Sith. Cue one awkward as hell moment in the Korriban academy with two hot-headed Onasis}}. Bastila's is a female version {{spoiler|her terminally-ill and rather ill-tempered mother on Tatooine needs help retrieving a data holocron made by Bastila's late father}}. The arguable one is Mission's, {{spoiler|as her deadbeat brother was the one who more or less raised her. She finds out it was ''his idea'' to abandon her at the age of twelve. Cue a lot of players wanting to kick the guy's blue butt into orbit!}}
* In ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', Jacob's personal mission has him learning that {{spoiler|after being promoted to acting captain and crash landing on a planet where the local flora leads to mental decay, his father eventually set up a [[Lord of the Flies]]-esque "paradise" for himself, killed off his fellow officers, made the women his personal harem and sabotaged attempts at outside contact.}} Jacob for his part is absolutely disgusted, no longer accepting the man before him as his father and depending on what Shepard recommends him will either {{spoiler|have him arrested by the Alliance, leave him to the survivors, or force him to commit suicide.}}
* Not necessarily calling the Old Man out, but the Old Woman out. In ''[[
* In ''[[Persona 2]]: Eternal Punishment'', you discover that Philemon {{spoiler|helped orchestrate the events of the series up to this point to test whether he or Nyarlathotep was truly the more powerful aspect of humanity. Events that involved creating an ill girl, the deaths of numerous people -- both innocent and not-so-innocent -- and an [[Earthshattering Kaboom]] before he offered the opportunity to perform a [[Cosmic Retcon]] that made that an alternate timeline. The game gives you the option of '''punching''' him for what he's helped put everyone through.}}
* ''[[Legacy of Kain
* Krista Sparks has this in her ''[[Twisted Metal]]: Head-On'' ending to her father, Calypso.
{{quote|'''Krista''': What's the problem? You didn't want to help me! You just want another contestant to kill all those innocent people! You destroy everything and run around like you own the world!}}
* In ''[[Fire Emblem Jugdral|Seisen no Keifu]]'', there are many examples:
** First Generation: Lex calls out his father, Langobalt, if you make them fight.
** Second Generation: If Levin is the father of {{spoiler|Phee and Sety}}, they call him out for abandoning their mother {{spoiler|Ferry}}. If Nanna's father is {{spoiler|Fin}}, she will also call him out on {{spoiler|letting her mother Lachesis leave Lester and try crossing for the Yied desert in search of her eldest son Delmud.}} And last, Altenna calls out her adoptive father Trabant {{spoiler|and mixes it with [[You Killed My Father|You Killed My Parents]].}}
** ''Thracia 776'': {{spoiler|Averted, as Mareeta isn't upset with her father Galzus, and in fact she's overjoyed to see him and manages to recruit him for the group. Justified as Galzus had saved her life before and tried to hide it, but she could see through him anyway.}}
* In ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'', if he's present, {{spoiler|Magus}} tells {{spoiler|Queen Zeal}} how pathetic she really is, and that killing her would be the merciful thing to do. {{spoiler|She doesn't know he's her son, though.}}
* In the manga version of ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'', Zelos tries this by {{spoiler|calling out Lloyd's father Kratos for betraying his own son and pushing all his problems onto him.}} It's not very effective as he receives the brush off and Zelos admits {{spoiler|he was channeling his anger at his own parents who would do the same thing to him and his hatred towards himself for having the same tendencies}}.
== Web Comics ==
* Roy does this several times over the course of ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'' to his father's ghost, most recently in [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0500.html comic 500]. Which ends up being a [[Playing with a Trope|variation]]: Roy only gets to, "You pathetic little--" before stopping himself, clming down, and calmly explaining that he won't be bullied by his father anymore.
** But he did it best in [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0293.html comic 293]
{{quote|'''Roy''': ''"Yeah? Well, I think there may be a flaw in your plan, Dad, because... Well, because screw you."''
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* Fairly early on in ''[[Sabrina Online]]'', Sabrina tells her [[My Beloved Smother|passive-aggressively controlling mother, Endora]], gently, but in no uncertain terms to quit trying to control her life or sooner or later, she'll find herself completely shut out of her life.
* In ''[[Flipside]]'', Crest lets his former mentor, Orransong, know exactly why he dropped out of Knights of La-Shoar training: because he saw Orransong strike his (Crest's) blind mother for daring to question the Knights' prohibition against magic (magic that could've restored her sight years ago). That he was expected to emulate and uphold that sort of behavior was too much for Crest, and he lets Orransong know it, in so many words.
* [[Achewood|Roast Beef]], after one insult too many from Grandma K, finally snaps at her [https://web.archive.org/web/20100618092104/http://m.assetbar.com/achewood/uua8GJgPW for being a control freak and leaves her to take care of herself.]
{{quote|'''Roast Beef''': ''"Old woman listen to me. You have forbidden me from pleasure since the day I was born. Now I pay for this house and I pay for your wine. So as of this day I am the LAW and I am the LASH do you hear me!"''}}
* Will Erixon of ''[[Fans]]'' has a confrontation with his abusive wife murdering father after he gets sprung from jail as part of a greater conspiracy against him and his friends. To add insult to injury, after Will beats the bastard into the ground, he gets shot full of bullets by FIB agents, and then his corpse gets pistol whipped by Will's girlfriend Shanna.
* Fred, who later becomes Monette's adoptive father, gives her derelict biological father a beautiful chewing out when the bastard shows up at the MacIntire residence for Thanksgiving and treats her terribly, in one arc of ''[[Something
** And then there's Jason's father. When he shows up again, Jason remains dumbstruck, untill his father says he finds some form of physical greeting appropriate for a 'long lost parent'. Jason immediately punches him.
* ''[[Dominic Deegan]]''. [https://web.archive.org/web/20151016015551/http://www.dominic-deegan.com/comics/20111205.gif Here,] Miranda Deegan calls '''''both''''' of her parents out for their behavior (and their attacks) on Donovan for him being her choice of a future husband.
* In ''[[The Dreamer]]'', Freddy Knolwlton does this in issue #8, stands up to his father and voices his own opinions about the war, and the eventual {{spoiler|burning of New York.}}
* [[Butt Monkey]] Syphile from ''[[Drowtales]]'' gets what possibly may be her one and only moment of awesome in her ''entire life'' when she finally tells Quain'tana what a [[Maternally Challenged|truly]] [[Abusive Parents|godawful mother]] she is. {{spoiler|Then she gets killed.}}
* In ''[[Goblin Hollow]]'' this occurs at Lily's family reunion with Ben and Lily's [[Fantastic Racism|grandfather]]. The old man [https://web.archive.org/web/20120525023734/http://www.rhjunior.com/GH/00336.html makes a threat to Ben] to "get out of the picture or else". But Ben indeed '''DOES''' call the old man out, [https://web.archive.org/web/20120525023123/http://www.rhjunior.com/GH/00337.html not once], [https://web.archive.org/web/20120525023101/http://www.rhjunior.com/GH/00338.html but twice], with Ben telling the old bigoted codger [https://web.archive.org/web/20120525023459/http://www.rhjunior.com/GH/00339.html that he won't tolerate him making threats].
{{quote|'''Ben:''' "When it comes to threats, don't bring a tomahawk to a shootout."}}
** In a totally unrelated story arc, Penny Feldspar (part-[[The Resenter|Resenter]], part-[[Perpetual Frowner]] was on her way to quietly go back to the car after a sermon from a [[Holier Than Thou]] [[Religious Stereotype]] named [[Incredibly Lame Pun|H. Lee Roller.]] Reverend Roller decides to [[The Gadfly|single Penny out]], [https://web.archive.org/web/20120525022919/http://www.rhjunior.com/GH/00347.html sniping at her]. Penny not only points out to the pompus priest that he '''CLEARLY''' [https://web.archive.org/web/20120508140713/http://www.rhjunior.com/GH/00348.html did not do the research], and points him out as a Jerkass for it.
** Though it goes [https://web.archive.org/web/20120522002218/http://www.rhjunior.com/GH/00349.html badly] for her immediately afterwards with a [[Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!|slap]] and a [[You Are Grounded|grounding]], her case is [https://web.archive.org/web/20120525023536/http://www.rhjunior.com/GH/00351.html somewhat justified], [https://web.archive.org/web/20120522002539/http://www.rhjunior.com/GH/00352.html considering her back-story].
** Also to note, Penny [https://web.archive.org/web/20120524062514/http://www.rhjunior.com/GH/00200.html (in an earlier story arc)] calls out a Libby [https://web.archive.org/web/20120507215857/http://www.rhjunior.com/GH/00201.html Wiccan-wannabee], and an equally-Libby yet [https://web.archive.org/web/20120524063254/http://www.rhjunior.com/GH/00202.html loud-mouthed Latter-Day], each for starting trouble at the Goblin Hollow Arcade.
* Mistress Sixx calls the old ''lady'' out in [http://collar6.com/2011/collar-6-243 this page] from ''[[Collar 6]]''.
* In ''[[Misfile]]'', Emily gets chewed out royally by [[My Beloved Smother|her beloved smother]] for running away, and her friend Molly returns the favor (as she'd be leaving town soon anyway) while defending her.
* In ''[[Endstone]]'', [http://endstone.net/2009/11/23/issue-2-webpage-29/ Cole greets Jon] with a punch because he used her against her own mother and caused her to be alone in the world.
== Web Original ==
* Firestorm's defining character trait seems to be that he hates his father Napalm in [[Less Than Three Comics|LessThanThee Comics']] ''Brat Pack''. Firestorm has to be held back from attacking Napalm when he finds out they have to work together.
* [[The Nostalgia Chick]]'s (not Lindsay's) real father is a distant alcoholic who never gave her any love. She gets him back by gushing over manly overprotective Disney fathers like [[The Lion King|Mufasa]] and [[The Little Mermaid|Triton]].
* ''[[I'm a Marvel And I'm a DC]]''{{'}}s version of [[The Unfavorite|Harry Osborn]] seems to be [["Well Done, Son" Guy|less angsty]] and more bitter than in most incarnations; he's only ever [[The Voice|heard]] when arguing with [[Norman Osborn|his father]] from off-screen.
== Western Animation ==
* In the ''[[King of the Hill]]'' episode "Death Picks Cotton", Peggy Hill finally gets to chew out her father-in-law, Cotton, for how much of a complete jerk he's been to his son (Hank) for all of his life. The kicker? She waits until he's on his deathbed to let him have it. (And then, as soon as she's done, Cotton '''dies'''.)
** However, as part of her speech Peggy made the repeated point that she hoped Cotton would live to see the hell he created for himself. Cotton's last words are, "Do ya now?" Cotton dying on the spot was probably his last act of spite to Peggy.
*** [[Xanatos Gambit|Either he actually does live alone (note Didi and GH are nowhere to be seen) or he finally kicks the bucket (which he did.) Either way, he was screwed.]] Well played, Peggy, well played.
*** Hank was usually pretty good at rolling with Cotton's punches, but there were still a few times Cotton pushed him too far. In one instance Hank warns him that if he insults his mower (or his mother) one more time, he's no longer welcome in his house. In another, Hank snaps and outright tells Cotton that he hates him (which Cotton reacts poorly too).
* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'': Katara loudly vents her pain and frustration at her father for leaving her and her brother behind to fight in the war; Hakoda, loving father that he is, takes it like a man, expresses his regret and asks her forgiveness, which she finally gives to him.
** Toph calls out ''both'' parents in her debut episode, telling them (politely) that she likes being a fighter and is tired of them overprotecting her. Unfortunately, her father decides this means she needs to be protected even ''more''.
** [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|The most epic scene]] of
* ''[[Legion of Super-Heroes (TV series)|Legion of Super Heroes]]'': Timber Wolf was calling out his [[Evilutionary Biologist|father]] twice in the series, the first time where he confronts him in the lab after the Legion helped restore his humanity (also counts as his [[Moment of Awesome|CMOA]]), was when he points out that his father wasn't a [[Abusive Parents|good parent]] to him and destroys his lab, the second time {{spoiler|he was [[Brainwashed and Crazy]]}} and was confronting him at a science convention in front of a huge audience, where he accuses him of manipulating people around him and experimenting on sentient beings as well as destroying their lives and families. {{spoiler|This time he makes himself into a [[Self-Made Orphan]] kills him or rather his clone}}
* ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures]]'' has Jackie's Hyde side doing this in one episode.
{{quote|'''Dark Jackie''': Pull your tongue out of your mouth and wring out the spit.
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* The [[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]' Raven got in on the act, too, in her CMOA for the final act of "The End, Part 3." Anything else would be Spoileriffic.
** Unless you read the comic it was based on, then you already know how it goes.
* In the Disney film ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney film)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]],'' Quasimodo gives an [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RH5toJXxrcE&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Ecracked%2Ecom%2Farticle%5F16795%5Fp2%2Ehtml&feature=player_embedded incredible speech] to Frollo, the churchman who raised him.
{{quote|'''Frollo:''' Now- now, l-listen to me, Quasimodo-
'''Quasimodo:''' No, ''you listen''! All my life you've told me that the world is a dark, cruel place! But now I see that the only thing dark and cruel about it is ''people like you''!!! }}
* As mentioned above, the '90s Animated ''[[X-Men (animation)|X-Men]]'' series condensed and distilled Cyclops' resentment of Corsair (originally a 3-issue-long storyline) into one [[Tear Jerker]] of a rant to a shamefaced Corsair, even as he helps him escape a crooked Shi'Ar cop.
** Let's not forget the time Magneto got called out by Wanda and Pietro, while they're kept as prisoners alongside Beast and Professor X. [[Tear Jerker|Yeah, that scene was just as sad as the former one]].
* Possibly, the final reaction of Timmy toward his parents near the end of the episode ''Freaks a Greeks'' in ''[[The Fairly
** Also in The ''[[Fairly Oddparents]]'' movie ''Wishology'', Timmy Turner directs this, combined with [[What the Hell, Hero?]], at both Jorgen Von Strangle and Turbo Thunder about always attacking the Darkness because it looked "scary", not because it did anything. Keep in mind that both Turbo and Jorgen are at least thousands of years old, making it kind of calling the ''really'' old men out.
* In ''[[American Dragon: Jake Long]]'', Jake gets fed up with his job after two years of endless mind-numbing training and threats, repeatedly getting grounded by his father (who isn't in on [[The Masquerade]] and thinks he's just been goofing
* [[Finding Nemo|Nemo]] has done this to his [[Overprotective Dad]] Marlin.
* Five words, just five magical words: [[The Lion King|You. Will. Never. Be. Mufasa]].
* ''[[Metalocalypse]]'' plays with this trope in season 1. The Bandmates are forced to deal with their overbearing parents/guardians who force them to spend quality time with them. When the band is confronted with the idea of a Family Album, they angrily state that they are the most brutal band in the world, and that their parents know nothing about being brutal. Suddenly, the trope becomes an [[Inversion]] and all the parents berate their kids for taking them for granted.
{{quote|'''Grandma Murderface''' "You little bastards think you know about brutal? Let me tell you something, there is nothing NOTHING in this world more brutal than raising a child!"}}
* In ''[[Tangled]]'', once Rapunzel is dragged back from Corona and realizes she's the lost princess, she calls Mother Gothel out on stealing her and claiming to protect her when she was using her all along.
* In ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]],'' [["Well Done, Son" Guy|Harry]] actually throws [[Norman Osborn|his father]] across the room in "The Uncertainty Principle," screaming that it was his fault that he took [[Psycho Serum|Globulin Green]] and {{spoiler|became the Green Goblin}}. Harry doesn't go much farther with it, though, because Norman actually listens to him and starts acting like a decent father for once. {{spoiler|Or at least, [[The Chessmaster|he seems to be]]}}...
* ''[[Family Guy]]'': In "Seahorse Seashell Party", [[Butt Monkey|Meg]] finally blows up at her family during a hurricane. While [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing|Lois]] gets attacked pretty hard, [[Psychopathic Manchild|Peter]] gets the brunt of it. What she essentially says is that Lois is a callous jerk and Peter is a self-centered failure of a man.
{{reflist}}
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