Germanic Depressives: Difference between revisions

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[[File:germancupcake_3345.jpg|link=The Colbert Report|~~right~~|The cupcake will bring him no joy. A Klondike Bar, however...]]

[[File:germancupcake_3345.jpg|link=The Colbert Report|frame|The cupcake will bring him no joy. A Klondike Bar, however...]]

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== [[Anime]]/[[Manga]] ==

* ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]''. Germany, of course. The thing is, this trope originates with Prussia's disciplined military culture that dominates perceptions of Germans, but Prussia himself represents this by being a fiercely [[Hot Blooded]] warrior, so not depressive at all, even though he's the origin of the trope.

* ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]''. Germany, of course. The thing is, this trope originates with Prussia's disciplined military culture that dominates perceptions of Germans, but Prussia himself represents this by being a fiercely [[Hot-Blooded]] warrior, so not depressive at all, even though he's the origin of the trope.

** The comic also acknowledges that south Germans are supposed to nice and jolly (they gave us Oktoberfest), but Austria is even ''stricter'' than Germany, if more refined and aristocratic.

* Signum of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'', while not an actual German, [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture|comes from an alien culture that uses a lot of]] [[Gratuitous German]]. She's the very image of a true soldier, which is why her new partner {{spoiler|Agito}} finds her to be an utter drag. The [[Fourth Wall Mail Slot]] had Fate advising her to "relax" when she asked for tips on how to be "buddy-like" with her partner. A bit of a problem since Signum ''hates'' to be relaxed.

** In the first A's Sound Stage, Hayate, after noticing Signum initially decline her invitation to go to the public baths with her, Shamal and Vita, asks Signum if she still isn't used to the idea of spending time with her mistress. Hayate ultimately gets Signum to come along by essentially saying that it should be okay for her if her mistress says it is.

** The ''[[Magical Record Lyrical Nanoha Force|FORCE]]'' manga is giving her [[Worf Had the Flu|good]] [[Near Death Experience|reasons]] to be serious and depressive.

** The ''[[Magical Record Lyrical Nanoha Force|FORCE]]'' manga is giving her [[Worf Had the Flu|good]] [[Near-Death Experience|reasons]] to be serious and depressive.

* [[From Eroica With Love|Klaus von dem Eberbach]] - to the tenth degree. Hates disorder, doesn't know how to relax (literally), uptight, conservative, and always clad in a suit - Klaus can send the stress levels of a room soaring just by walking in. Interestingly though, he's the only German to conform to [[National Stereotypes|his national stereotype]] in a series rife with them: his German underlings include a [[Wholesome Crossdresser|sweet natured transvestite]] somewhat prone to hysterics, a beleaguered second in command, a goofy third in command and an earnest rookie.

* In ''[[Cyborg 009]]'', the German Cyborg Albert Heinrich/004 is given one of the most tragic backstories as an [[East Germany]] escapé who loses his fiancée and has his body half-torn in their escape, is reconstructed as a ''heavily'' armored Cyborg by Black Ghost, and then is put into a coma for many years. Though he (thankfully) doesn't reach [[Wangst]] levels, he often remarks on how everything has changed for him and shows deep worry [[Cybernetics Eat Your Soul|about how much of a human he truly is]] [[What Measure Is a Non-Human?|due to all his implants]].

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== [[Comic Books]] ==

* [[X Men|Kurt Wagner]] was intended to be an aversion of this and the [[Darker and Edgier]] [[Nineties Anti Hero]], a light-hearted Errol Flynn type. He was introduced as devout as any other lay Catholic simply to demonstrate his [[Dark Is Not Evil|demonism was only skin-deep]] and to heighten the injustice of the religious superstition against him. However, through [[The Dark Age of Comic Books]] he became more of a [[Sad Clown]], then as [[Wangst|Wangsty]] as any X-Man. Recently he was killed outright and apparently replaced with a [[Darker and Edgier]] [[Alternate Universe]] version of himself. ''[[Sarcasm Mode|Yay.]]''

* [[X Men|Kurt Wagner]] was intended to be an aversion of this and the [[Darker and Edgier]] [[Nineties Anti-Hero]], a light-hearted Errol Flynn type. He was introduced as devout as any other lay Catholic simply to demonstrate his [[Dark Is Not Evil|demonism was only skin-deep]] and to heighten the injustice of the religious superstition against him. However, through [[The Dark Age of Comic Books]] he became more of a [[Sad Clown]], then as [[Wangst|Wangsty]] as any X-Man. Recently he was killed outright and apparently replaced with a [[Darker and Edgier]] [[Alternate Universe]] version of himself. ''[[Sarcasm Mode|Yay.]]''

== [[Film]] ==

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* Recurring characters The Nihilists from [[The Ronnie Johns Half Hour]] fit this trope to a T, always dressed in black, with stoic faces and never smiling. The more Unfunny they were, the funnier the sketch. One sketch had them leading an aerobics class at a gym, and, when asked to start the warm-ups, one of them replied, "My body is always cold." Other sketches have included them hosting a children's television show and a Seinfield parody of sorts.

* ''The Dana Carvey Show'' had two characters called [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin|"the Germans who say nice things."]] They [[All Germans Are Nazis|stood side by side at attention, shouting]] things like "EET VOS A PLEASURE BABYSITTING KEVIN" and "''MR. HOLLAND'S OPUS'' IS THE FEEL-GOOD MOVIE OF THE YEEEEEAR!"

* An example from Germany itself: ''[~~http://en.~~wikipedia~~.org/wiki/Bernd_das_Brot~~ Bernd das Brot]'' (Bernd the Bread), a (slightly) anthropomorphic loaf-of-bread puppet; supposedly only working in television due to a lack of other employment opportunities, always at the butt-end of practical jokes and stunts set up by the producers and his well-meaning colleagues (a sheep and a bush), instead of just being left alone to memorise the pattern of his wallpaper and expand his collection of the most boring railway track videos. Interestingly, this world-weary sufferer originated on a children's channel, with the nightly repeat of the sketches greatly expanding his adult fanbase. Following this he even became a topic for high-brow newspaper columns, with commentators linking his popularity to the over-the-top, [[Played for Laughs]] portrayal of his depression resonating with the German psyche.

* An example from Germany itself: ''[[wikipedia:Bernd das Brot|Bernd das Brot]]'' (Bernd the Bread), a (slightly) anthropomorphic loaf-of-bread puppet; supposedly only working in television due to a lack of other employment opportunities, always at the butt-end of practical jokes and stunts set up by the producers and his well-meaning colleagues (a sheep and a bush), instead of just being left alone to memorise the pattern of his wallpaper and expand his collection of the most boring railway track videos. Interestingly, this world-weary sufferer originated on a children's channel, with the nightly repeat of the sketches greatly expanding his adult fanbase. Following this he even became a topic for high-brow newspaper columns, with commentators linking his popularity to the over-the-top, [[Played for Laughs]] portrayal of his depression resonating with the German psyche.

** One interpretation is that Bernd's popularity stems from his claiming the right to be unhappy in the hyper-happy media-dominated world of today. A bit like a box-shaped [[Brave New World (Literature)|Savage]].

* [[The Colbert Report|Stephen Colbert]] demonstrated this with a bit about Germans and [http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/270726/april-13-2010/thought-for-food---mentally-ill-advertisers---german-cupcakes cupcakes] (Starts at 3:40-ish).

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* While ''[[Ace Attorney]]'''s Miles Edgeworth isn't German by birth, he has a German mentor (also an example of this trope) and spent much of his youth in Germany, so he qualifies. [[Whip It Good|Franziska von Karma]] is also an example.

* Johann Strauss from ''[[Quake IV (Video Game)|Quake IV]]''.

* ''[[Team Fortress 2 (Video Game)|Team Fortress 2]]'''s The Medic swaps constantly between 'cross and dour' to [[Four Eyes Zero Soul|'just plain crazy.']]

* ''[[Team Fortress 2 (Video Game)|Team Fortress 2]]'''s The Medic swaps constantly between 'cross and dour' to [[Four Eyes, Zero Soul|'just plain crazy.']]

** He seems fairly cheerful throughout "Meet the Medic", and a few of his [[Holler Button|voice clips]] are puns, but even more of them are complaining about his own team.

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== [[Real Life]] ==

* The fact that the [~~http://en.~~wikipedia~~.org/wiki/~~Schopenhauer founder] of [[Despair Event Horizon|philosophical pessimism]] was German probably doesn't help this trope much.

* The fact that the [[wikipedia:Schopenhauer|founder]] of [[Despair Event Horizon|philosophical pessimism]] was German probably doesn't help this trope much.

** For some strange reason, [~~http://en.~~wikipedia~~.org/wiki/Gottfried_Leibniz~~ the founder of philosophical optimism] (mentioned in ''[[Candide]]'') was German too.

** For some strange reason, [[wikipedia:Gottfried Leibniz|the founder of philosophical optimism]] (mentioned in ''[[Candide]]'') was German too.

* [[The Marx Brothers]]' parents were both Germans <ref> Technically their father was an Alsatian--no, [~~http://en.~~wikipedia~~.org/wiki/German_Shepherd_Dog~~ not that kind]--a Germanic culture now in French territory</ref>. Groucho originally played a Germanic accented character which he dropped just about WWI.

* [[The Marx Brothers]]' parents were both Germans <ref> Technically their father was an Alsatian--no, [[wikipedia:German Shepherd Dog|not that kind]]--a Germanic culture now in French territory</ref>. Groucho originally played a Germanic accented character which he dropped just about WWI.

* Disproved in Spike Milligan's war diaries with the anecdote that at a reunion many years later a German friend of one of the people came along and Spike discovered that they had been on opposite sides of the same hill in Italy in one engagement. The German quickly passed Spike a note which read "Sorry to have missed you during the war"...

* The world's largest [[Goth]] convention, Wave Gotik Treffen takes place in Leipzig, Germany.

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[[Category:Race Tropes]]

[[Category:Germanic Depressives]]

[[Category:Trope]]