Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: A character gets someone out of a Heroic BSOD by slapping them.

  • Straight: Danny has a breakdown, so Julia slaps him in the face to bring him to his senses.
  • Exaggerated: Julia gives Danny a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to snap him out of his Heroic BSOD.
  • Justified: Danny is being incredibly Wangsty, and this is the only way to get through to him.
  • Inverted:
    • Julia hugs Danny and tells him it'll be okay.
    • Alternatively, Julia slaps Danny while he's calm. It makes him angry.
    • Alternatively, Danny calms himself down by slapping Julia.
  • Subverted:
    • Julia marches angrily up to Danny, as if she's about to hit him. Then her face softens, and she gently consoles him instead.
    • Alternately, Julia slaps Danny, but that only pushes him even further into his breakdown.
  • Double Subverted:
    • She tells him she's going to get something that will help, and leaves. A few moments later she returns with a glass of cold water, splashes it all over him, and yells at him to get a grip.
    • So Julia slaps Danny again and it brought him to his senses.
  • Parodied: Danny hits back. He and Julia get into a fistfight.
  • Deconstructed:
  • Reconstructed: The suicide attempt fails, and Julia, determined to make amends, stops being harsh with him and instead helps him to overcome his problems. This results in Character Development for both.
  • Zig Zagged: Julia's mostly nice to Danny, helping him through his problems, but when things get really bad she resorts to this.
  • Averted: Danny snaps out of his BSOD by himself.
  • Enforced: "Julia's not the type to put up with Wangst, so it'd be in character for her to react like this."
  • Lampshaded: "Thanks, I needed that."
  • Invoked: Hit Me Dammit
  • Exploited: ???
  • Defied: ???
  • Discussed: "I know he was being whiny, but you didn't have to hit him like that!"
  • Conversed: ???

Back to Get a Hold of Yourself, Man! AND SNAP OUT OF IT!

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