Don't Tell Mama: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

{{quote|'''Sheriff:''' All right now, boys, that's enough. Kid Rock, that's not like you. And Joe C., would your mama want you stretching out that sweatshirt like that?

 

{{quote|'''Jade:''' Doesn't she know Valmont is a thief?

 

Everyone knows that [[Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas]]. And since that's the case, a lot of bad men, whether they might be gangsters, [[Career Killers]], [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]]s, [[Hitman with a Heart|Hitmen With A Heart]], [[Gentleman Thief|Gentleman Thieves]] or [[Anti-Hero|Anti Heroes]] in a morally questionable job will try to do their utmost to keep their mothers from knowing what it is they ''really'' do. This can even extend to getting enemies to join in on [[The Masquerade]] in order to keep her blissfully unaware.

 

Often requires at least some [[Parental Obliviousness]] in order to work. Most characters that engage in this do so because they desperately crave hearing those magic words "[[So Proud of You|I'm so proud of you]]" and don't want to make it go away.

{{examples}}

* There's a variation in ''[[Code Geass]]'', where Lelouch tries to keep his alter ego secret from his sister.

* [[Anti-Villain]] variation in [[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]], where the Wolkenritter keep their gathering Linker Cores to complete the Book of Darkness and save Hayate's life a secret from Hayate, knowing that she would not approve. She eventually finds out about what they were doing during the final battle; the Wolkenritter apologize, and Hayate forgives them.

** Though that's probably more for practical reasons than emotional ones. His father ''is'' the chief of police, after all.

 

* In the original ''[[Sin City]]'' comic, Marv visits his mother's apartment to pick up the handgun he stored under his childhood bed. When his noise wakes her up he tells her some lies to reassure her about himself and why he's there that night.

** Also, Becky from ''The Big Fat Kill'' gives this as part of her reason for {{spoiler|selling out the rest of the girls of Old Town to the mob}}.

** And [[Retcon|when she died the first time]] she revealed that she'd known for quite some time, and was very proud of him.

 

* In ''[[Constant Temptation]]'' Mello, Matt, and Near find themselves in a position where [[Accidental Pervert|they have to confess to spying]] on [[Parental Substitute|L and Light]]. They don't want L to know about it, even if it means facing Kira's wrath:

{{quote|'''Near:''' Are we sure we want to do this?

'''Mello:''' It's not like you to have doubts.

'''Near:''' I don't usually face such definite trouble.

'''Near:''' [[This Is Gonna Suck|Light.]] }}

 

* Heavy subversion in ''[[American Gangster]]''. Frank Lucas spends the whole film treating his mother like an unwitting [[Innocent Bystander]], but towards the end of the movie she tells him that she never asked him where all the family's prosperity came from just so that she wouldn't have to listen to him lie to her. Furthermore, she goes on a near [[Hannibal Lecture]] about he's responsible for all the other members of his family being in the drug trade, because they never would have gotten into it if not for him. However she says that all of them, including her, will walk out on him if he does something as suicidally dumb as declare war on the cops, which was exactly what Frank was planning to do at the moment.

* In ''[[Rush Hour]]'', Detective Carter gets certain information from his criminal cousin by threatening to arrest him, thus notifying their Aunt Bootsie about his dealings.

* Inverted at the end of the first [[Spider-Man]] film. "Peter... don't tell Harry." It takes an actor of Willem Defoe's caliber to do all the things the Green Goblin did in that film and still make that last request a [[Tear Jerker]] - and it's doubly poignant when you realize that Peter honored that request. Led to [[Poor Communication Kills]] in the following two movies.

 

* In ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'', when Hermione finds the Weasley Twins testing out their home-made joke candies on younger students, Hermione demands that they stop. They taunt her by saying "Or what? You'll put us in detention?" Hermione coldly responds with "No. I'll write your mother." This scares the Twins so badly that they immediately comply, an action that has never been seen before or since.

* Odd inversion: Peter Wiggin of [[Ender's Game]] and the '' Ender's Shadow'' sequels, rather than having to hide an evil secret, is reluctant to let his parents find out that he has a secret identity as the great [[The Chessmaster|Chess]][[Big Good|master]] named Locke. When he tells his parents, it turns out that they already knew; and as it happens, Bean and Sister Carlotta [[I Know You Know I Know|knew that Peter's parents knew before Peter knew it.]]

* In ''[[The Thorn Birds]]'' (though not the better-known film adaptation), protagonist Meggie's oldest brother Frank runs away from home when she's a girl, after having a fight with their father. {{spoiler|Said fight revealed that Frank was actually the son of a different man.}} Years later, their mother, who doted on Frank, happens to find a newspaper in which an article announces his conviction for a terrible crime. Frank's only comment to the press was "Don't tell my mother."

* [[Artemis Fowl]] really doesn't want his mother to know he's turned to a life of crime in order to sustain his family and continue the search for his [[Disappeared Dad]], even if she does suspect he takes after his father in this aspect.

 

* On [[The Wire]] Omar Little becomes enraged at rival gangsters after they violate the Sunday truce and blow his cover to his elderly grandmother.

{{quote|'''Omar Little''': I damn near got that woman killed, yo. Y'all should've seen me in Sinai Hospital while they stitching her up, lying about why somebody wanna shoot me down the street. That woman think I work in a cafeteria.

'''Kimmy''': The airport? Why the airport?

'''Omar Little''': 'Cause I know she ain't gonna never go down there to go dining, that's why! Hey, yo, Kimmy, this ain't funny, yo! That woman raised me! }}

* A running gag on ''[[Hill Street Blues]]'' was Belker constantly booking the same criminal for various minor offenses and the criminal always giving him a fake name. This went on for years, until the criminal was accidentally caught in the crossfire of a gunfight he had nothing to do with. He was mortally wounded and asked Belker to call his mother, finally giving Belker his real name. Belker did so, telling the criminal's mother that her son had been a fine, upstanding citizen.

* In one episode of ''[[Brimstone (TV series)|Brimstone]]'', Zeke finds out that Gilbert Jax, the guy who raped his wife, is one of the [[Complete Monster|113 souls that escaped from Hell]] and that he has to find and send back. He also finds out that Jax has started with his old pattern again. He finds out that Jax is living with mother again, and tracks him to the mother's house. There he encounters the mother and talks to her, although he doesn't have the heart to tell her the truth about her son. Jax returns home at that point, and screams that "Getting my mother involved in this is low, Stone". Zeke defeats Jax, but afterwards still doesn't have the heart to tell his mother the truth, and lets her believe that he sent her son back to Heaven instead of Hell.

* One ''[[The Man from U.N.C.L.E.]]'' episode had two brothers, feuding THRUSH middle managers, concealing both the feud and the nature of their employment from Mama ... until she turned out to be the THRUSH supervisor who showed up to inspect their operation.

 

* ''[[Cabaret]]'' is the [[Trope Namer]]: the so-titled number features Sally Bowles, decked out in a [[Naughty Nuns|Naughty Nun]] outfit, singing about how her mother thinks that she's a real nun at a convent in France while she's really living up the seedy life. The trope itself is not actually invoked in the story however, merely in the performance of the song.

 

* Subversion: Tony's mom in ''[[Grand Theft Auto]] Liberty City Stories''. She knows and approves of his job, and even puts a contract on him when she's dissatisfied with his advancement.

* ''SWAT 4.'' The serial killer in the second mission sometimes reacts to being handcuffed with this phrase.

* Invoked in Simcopter; one of the phrases the player can shout at criminals to distract them is, "Does your mother know what you're doing?"

* ''[[Dead Rising]]'': "{{spoiler|Don't tell Jessie about this}}".

* ''Haze'': After you fatally wound {{spoiler|Duvall}}, he apparently realizes, for the first time, all the atrocities he's committed while being high on nectar. His final words?

{{quote|Shane...please...[[Tear Jerker|don't tell my mom]]...}}

 

* Drakken's mom was probably the single funniest thing in ''[[Kim Possible]]'', one of the reasons for this being that she ''completely believes'' he is a radio talk show host. This despite the fact that he studied robotics, not psychiatry. Then again, anyone ''would'' want to cover up the fact that their world domination schemes were foiled by teenagers.

* Tohru's mom in ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures]]'' is unaware that her son is working as a thug for Valmont and not knowing that the latter is a [[Diabolical Mastermind]].

* ''[[The Simpsons]]'' provides the page quote. When they went to Florida during Spring Break, the local sheriff was disappointed with Joe C. (the foul mouthed little person who toured with Kid Rock). A parody as much as anything, given the utterly inconsequential matter.

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:The Parent Trope]]

[[Category:Family Tropes]]

[[Category:Crime and Punishment Tropes]]