Jerkass Realization: Difference between revisions

{{quote|'''Donkey''': "Whoa. Look at that. Who'd wanna live in a place like that?!"

'''Shrek''': "That would be my home"

 

A character is lecturing another character (usually a minor character or guest star) then somehow, either by someone else telling them the truth afterwards or the one they are lecturing breaking down and sobbing out the truth the character realizes that they have been a complete [[Jerkass]].

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[Naruto]]'' When Kakashi has Sasuke tied to a tree pre-time skip and is talking about bonds, Sasuke says something along the lines of "How would you feel", then Kakashi says all his loved ones are already dead. Admittedly Sasuke's ''[[Took a Level in Jerkass|later character]]'' outshines this little moment, still was a accidental Jerkass moment.

* ''[[School Days]]'': Say what you will about Matoko Ito, but he gets hit with his twice in the anime. {{spoiler|Though the second time it happens, he gets hit with a knife in the gut before he can actually make amends.}}

 

* In ''[[Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality]]'', Harry hears an [[I Have This Friend]] version of the Snape-Lily-James story by Snape, and draws perfectly reasonable conclusions from what little information he is given... expressing them very bluntly and completely and utterly hurting Snape's feelings. Harry isn't insensitive by all means, but this story taught him he should know exactly what he's talking about before recklessly flapping his mouth.

 

{{quote|'''Raiden:''' The fate of billions will depend upon you. Heh heh heh heh! ...sorry.}}

** Rare humorous Jerkass Realization.

{{quote|'''Donkey:''' I like that boulder, that is nice boulder.}}

** Another Shrek one is where Shrek mistakenly thinks Fiona is talking about him when she says "Big, stupid, ugly beast", he is very rude to her the following day. Donkey sets him straight later though.

 

** Probably was when Ron was craning his neck to get a look at the Longbottom's beds, then he is told of the Longbottom's ''[[Fate Worse Than Death|Conditon.]]''

** When Hermione is ''[[Soapbox Sadie|lecturing Harry again]]'' about his connection to Voldemort and makes the mistake of saying he likes it. Harry's [[Death Glare]] pretty much shuts her up and has her bending over backwards apologizing.

** The {{spoiler|Magical Maintenance man the trio forced to leave was there to be with his wife when she had to go up against Umbridge and the [[Fantastic Racism|Anti-Muggle trial]],}} cue Jerkass Realization.

** Slughorn is pretty much a vest wearing walking example of this trope.

* The novel ''How To Rock Braces and Glasses'' by Meg Haston is basically a book-long one of these for protagonist Kacey Simon. She's the [[Alpha Bitch]] of her school, but she genuinely believes that her [[Brutal Honesty]] is helpful and beneficial to those she uses it on. After losing her popularity due to the sudden acquisition of braces and glasses, she realizes that her fellow students mostly consider her a colossal [[Jerkass]] and sets out to change this fact by being nicer.

 

* ''[[Scrubs]]'' Quite a fan of these moments as well.

** {{spoiler|After JD's father passes away}}, JD gets mad at Cox, Cox narrowly averts this trope by getting mad at JD but immediately feeling like a Jerkass, {{spoiler|as he knows JD's father has died}}. Then Ted joins in the taunting of JD, Ted asks why are they clapping and Dr Cox says, " {{spoiler|His dad died}}, dammit...." Ted then immediately stops clapping. Ted, You're a Jerkass.

* In Episode 2x04 of ''[[Glee]]'', [[Mary Sue|Rachel Berry]] has a self-inflicted one of these when she finally realizes that her determination to win at everything and hog all the spotlight, all the time, has made her into a genuinely loathsome individual. She then spends the rest of the episode trying to lose at something so she can consider herself a good person again. Shame it doesn't last - by Episode 2x09 she's walking into class with her mouth taped up in protest over someone else being featured at Sectionals, and when her eternal rival Quinn Fabray hands her [[What the Hell, Hero?|an immensely satisfying talking-to]] about the selfish 'schoolgirl bubble' in which she lives her life in 2x15, all it inspires is a dreary self-justificatory whine set to music - but it was nice while it did...

 

* ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' Tidus realizes that his suggestions for what they could do after Yuna completes her pilgrimage are rather cruel when {{spoiler|it turns out that summoning the [[Summon Magic|final Aeon]] will kill her.}}

 

* Parodied in ''[[Ansem Retort]]''.

{{quote|'''Axel:''' We've faced worse than this. Remember when Disneyworld was destroyed?

'''Axel:''' Wow, we're [[Jerkass|assholes]]. }}

 

 

* ''[[Futurama]]'': When Fry is sent to the future and can't go on his date with Leela, for years she thinks he stood her up. Then she gets the Video Card that fell out of the time machine, many years later. She then realizes she has been mad at him her entire life and it wasn't his fault.

* ''[[The Ren and Stimpy Show]]'', "Stimpy's Fan Club": Ren becomes jealous of Stimpy getting all the fan mail, so when he finally gets one, he reads it to Stimpy to rub it in his face (even literally rubbing the letter in his face), all the while adding comments on how Stimpy is finished and how he is now the most loved. Then he gets to the end and realizes the letter is from Stimpy himself. Ren, you're a jerkass... and to drive the point home, he briefly turns into a person's ass.

* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', Nelson points at his reflection and delivers his trademark laugh. He then remarks, "Hey, that hurts. No wonder no-one came to my birthday party."

*** Played both ways, since Fluttershy first agrees to training out of guilt when a dejected Rainbow Dash submits to her refusal to take part.

** Done by almost the whole cast in "A Canterlot Wedding Part Two", after Twilight attempts to convince them Princess Cadence is evil, she is ignored and outright disowned by the rest of the reception. Ultimately Cadence {{spoiler|in reality, Queen Chrysalis in disguise}} reveals herself and prepares to take over Equestria, even going as far as to smugly tell off the ponies for ignoring Twilight and letting her plan go through, leading a solemn Applejack to apologize.

 

{{reflist}}