Dean Bitterman: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

A [[Sadist Teacher]] in charge of an entire educational institution. This guy hates the protagonist and his friends with a passion. He has the entire institution with its long history and dignified reputation on his side. Its arbitrary and ancient rules exist chiefly for him to abuse in his vendetta.

If Dean Bitterman is temporarily taking the place of a more likable character, then he is starring in a [[Tyrant Takes the Helm]] story arc. The classic Dean Bitterman is found in colleges and universities. Sometimes he turns up at high schools.

 

{{examples}}

 

== Film ==

* Dean Vernon Wormer in ''[[Animal House]]''.

* Most teen comedies set in a college environment - including ''National Lampoon's [[Van Wilder]]'' and ''[[PCU]]'' - feature deans of this nature. How much these comedies merely rip off ''Animal House'' is up to the individual viewer

** ''[[Van Wilder]]'''s Professor McDoogle pretends to be one of these, but he's actually a [[Stern Teacher]] specialising in the [[Secret Test of Character]] - the only reason he was riding Van was to make him realise his potential.

* Principal Dick Vernon in ''[[The Breakfast Club]]''.

** It's deconstructed with him. He wants the students to respect him and the janitor reminds him why he got into the profession. Dick got into the career because of the respect from the students because of his job, summer vacations off, but he's just as vulnerable from his status as the kids are of theirs' in the school. With students like Bender he has to deal with, no wonder why he has to put on a facade.

* Appears with a twist in ''Old School'' - the Dean of the university in the movie is quite like this trope, but the reason he has such venomous spite towards the protagonists is because they bullied him when he was in college with them.

* Dean Richard Van Horne in ''[[Accepted]]'' is the polar opposite of Bartleby and his friends, as he discourages innovation and loosely regulated education. His personal belief is that a college's prestige is measured by how many applicants it rejects every year. Also, his motives for taking down the college have nothing to do with college honor or any of that. He just wants the property so he can demolish it and give his own school a gateway.

* Mr. Nolan from ''[[Dead Poets Society]]''.

* Averted by Dean Ulich of Adams College in ''[[Revenge of the Nerds]]''. He's a [[Reasonable Authority Figure]] but, being a nerd like the protagonists, he's bullied by the [[Jerk Jock]] head football coach, until he finally asserts his authority at the end of the film.

{{quote| '''President Carver Purcell''': By the way, you're fired.}}

* Sister Aloysius, played by Meryll Streep in the film ''[[Doubt]]'' certainly counts as one. The film involves her going against a friendly and likeable priest who may or may not be molesting his alter boys, which is contrasted by her dominating and tyranical control over the school. She is uncommonly harsh and controling of the student body which is uniformally afraid of her. Even her own teachers are controlled very tightly and appear very nervous and uneasy around her. When another nun confronts her about this, she merely smiles, shrugs, and replies, "That's the way it is." Even the priest she's rallying against accuses her of holding the school and parish back from "Progessive education and a welcoming church" in their final speech together.

** He also subverts this slightly when he uses his position to {{spoiler|prevent the torture and punishment of Ginny Weasley and Neville Longbottom for trying to steal the sword of Gryffindor. He ''officially'' punishes them, but he sends them out into the forest for detention with Hagrid, who would obviously not hurt them in any way. The other alternative would have been the Carrows who we're told use Crucio on their own students. This suggests that when he has the option, he gives the students mild, non-life-threatening punishments, while being unable to do much about the detentions that the Carrows give out personally}}.

** Of course, when [[Harry Potter (Franchise)/Characters|Dolores Umbridge]] was [[Tyrant Takes the Helm|in charge]] in the fifth book, the situation wasn't any better.

* Dr. Bledsoe from the [[Anvilicious]] ''Invisble Man''.

** According to Dahl, [[Truth in Television]].

* Every single adult (with, three exceptions) in ''The War Between the Pitiful Teachers and the Splendid Kids'' hates their students, which is unsurprising given that they all reside in a prison school for horrible teachers and smartass kids. {{spoiler|They win(!), but not completely.}}

 

== Live Action TV ==

** There is the implication that he isn't actually a teacher. And of course, he is somewhat redeemed by two things: first, the immortal line [[Crowning Moment of Funny|"Whoaa Summers! You drive like a SPAZZZZ"]], and telling the [[Scaled Up]] Mayor to [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|get the hell off his campus]].

* Vice Principal Gavin Price in ''[[Joan of Arcadia]]''. Semi-averted in that the literal [[Word of God]] notes that Price isn't actually evil, he just doesn't understand kids.

* [[Parker Lewis Can't Lose|Parker Lewis]] of course had one of those - Grace Musso. And even she's considered better than Dr. Norman Pankow, director of the neighbouring school.

* [[Rowan Atkinson]] as the headmaster in the "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZMoB6ms2mE Fatal Beatings]" sketch, and the roll call sketch, which had use of [[Punny Name|Punny Names]].

* Dr. Samuels on ''[[Head of the Class]]''.

* Ms Bitterman from ''[[Sonny With a Chance]]''.

* Dean Borak from ''[[Boy Meets World]]''. He was actually played by Paul Gleason, the same actor who played the above-mentioned Principal Vernon in ''[[The Breakfast Club]]''.

** Best of all, Dean Borak openly admitted that he was one of these: "Make no mistake about it, boys, I am a [[Lampshade Hanging|nasty]], [[Genre Savvy|nasty]] man."

 

 

== Video Games ==

** He was originally intended to be evil in development, however, but at some point, the creators decided to make him more of a clueless principal and given the right circumstances, a [[Reasonable Authority Figure]].

** By Persona2 ''Innocent Sin/Eternal Punishment'', he's still a douchebag.