Fiction Isn't Fair: Difference between revisions

In works of fiction, characters tend to behave in a way that is largely exaggerated. However, sometimes the behavior of antagonists can fail to take into account laws, rules, and social conventions that exist in real life to prevent said behavior -- as well as simple logic. This is usually done to [[Rule of Drama|drive the story]], and won't always be [[Truth in Television|unheard of in real life]] (see also [[Some Anvils Need to Be Dropped]] and [[Reality Is Unrealistic]]), but the viewer is still left wondering why anyone would put up with this kind of nonsense, rather than going straight to the police and/or their lawyer (or, less idealistically, [[Talk to The Fist|just popping the offender in the mouth]]).

Employment Law is a complex and tricky area, so you have to wonder how some abusive bosses are able to [[George Jetson Job Security|fire employees that just happen to disagree with them]], and how some [[No Such Thing As HR|abusive employees]] have [[Ultimate Job Security|managed to keep their jobs for so long]]. This can get especially absurd in [[Mildly Military|public services like the military]].

Sometimes no one even [[Can't Argue With Elves|disagrees with certain outlandish claims of superiority]].

Compare [[Refuge in Audacity]], in which the reason the characters are able to get away with such blatantly outrageous behaviour is because, simply, their behaviour is ''too'' outrageous for anyone to believe. Compare also [[No Delays for The Wicked]], and [[Never My Fault]].

* ''[[Ranma ½ (Manga)|Ranma One Half]]'': The entire cast. Their regular actions include attempted murder and destruction of property, multiple characters engage in [[Social Services Does Not Exist|childrearing practices that could only qualify as child abuse]], and the school principal is loony beyond question (he has a hidden dungeon in his office among other things).

* From [[What an Idiot!]]: In ''[[Strawberry Panic (Light Novel)|Strawberry Panic]]'', sweet, shy, and cutesy Hikari has fallen in love with her older classmate Amane. However, as a result, she is being stalked, harassed, and almost sexually assaulted by a Psycho Lesbian duo who want to get Amane to join the Etoile Election by threatening to harm her. You'd expect Hikari and/or Amane to report these occurrences to either the school staff or the police.

* The villains in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh]]'' get away with hospitalization quite easily. [[The Abridged Series]] doesn't even bother to call it out after the second episode. In this case it probably had to do with the fact that few people are going to believe that [[Serious Business|playing a children's card game]] can hospitalize someone.

* In several episodes of ''[[Hell Girl (Anime)|Hell Girl]]'' the bad guy of the week would end up behind bars in five minutes if anybody involved acted in even vaguely rational manner. The cake goes to a teacher in the second season who started tormenting her student subtly in a manner that seems like bullying of another student, but then proceeds to trying to pour acid over the student, laughing maniacally!

* Happens in ''[[Code Geass (Anime)|Code Geass]]'' when Ohgi leads the Black Knights to betray Zero. The moral here is supposed to be that Zero failed to trust in his troops. It doesn't really work out when the Knights are ready to betray Zero, a leader who has brought them years of victory, after a 2 minute speech from Schneizel, someone known in universe as a massively untrustworthy [[Magnificent Bastard]].

* One plot point of C. S. Lewis' ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia|The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe]]'' that's always been plenty annoying for readers is that Edmund Pevensie is allocated the demeaning role of the "traitor" who has to perform a [[Heel Face Turn]], with many allegorical readings even going so far as to compare him to [[The Bible (Literature)|Judas Iscariot]]. In fact, a careful reading of the book makes clear that while, yes, Edmund's actions did amount to a betrayal of Aslan, outside of the context of the story Edmund never did anything wrong. Indeed, he's [[The Woobie|one of the more sympathetic and put-upon characters in the story]], being treated as ''persona non grata'' by his older brother and sister simply for being the youngest of the siblings (and, to their credit, they eventually do admit that they were cruel to him), of course the White Witch would seem a kindly figure to him! Why should he suspect that the White Witch is villainous when he's never been to Narnia, and how can anyone accuse him of betraying Aslan when he had never even met Aslan?

* The whole Tritter storyarc in ''[[House (TV)|House]]''.

* ''[[I Carly]]'': First, how the teachers at the school behave towards the students, but don't get into trouble. One example would be in "iHave My Principals" where one of the teachers gives Gibby a detention for '''being too Gibby''', and they introduce uniforms in about a day. And an elaborate surveillance system.

* Frequently used in ''[[Ozy and Millie (Webcomic)|Ozy and Millie]]''.

* On ''[[The Simpsons]]'' and ''[[Malcolm in The Middle]]'', rarely, if ever, do any school faculty or parents make any attempt to deal with the ubiquitous bullying in school, even when students are commonly sent to the hospital (yup, [[What the Hell, Hero?|the parents don't help either]]). Nobody cares about the scale of the bullying, even though in the real world this would cause a serious public relations problem--if the teachers and administrators don't care about the kids, they might care about the potential effect on their careers. (Granted, ''The Simpsons'' doesn't need to be realistic.)

** In addition, Vlad (through Jack) institutes several anti-ghost anti-teen measures, including a [[Fascists Bed Time|curfew]], "confiscating" any handheld technology, excessive surveillance, escorts for all teens, et cetera.

* Inverted in ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic (Animation)|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'', where it's usually the heroes, their family members, and their neighbors who do most of the things that buck social convention, cause massive property damage and endanger lives. Often without consequences beyond maybe having to make an apology and occasionally doing a few extra chores. Sometimes, they even get ''thanked'' after doing stuff like destroy a major social event.