Mama Didn't Raise No Criminal: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

It's not unusual for fiction to depict the effects crime can have on the criminal's family. This trope is about when the criminal's family reacts with either disbelief, disavowal of responsibility, or, if they're hedging their bets, both.

When confronted with evidence of serious wrongdoing, they often go through [[Five Stages of Grief|predictable emotional processes]], most prominently denial. Denial as a psychological phenomenon can manifest in many forms.

Even if these reactions apply only temporarily, they count. People change, and few people in fiction or real life remain in denial their whole life.

 

 

 

 

== Anime and Manga ==

** Even more so in the film, where {{spoiler|he survives to see irrefutable proof of Light being Kira: his gloating over L's death, followed by an attempt to kill Soichiro himself.}}

 

 

== Film ==

* The 2009 Korean film ''[[MOTHER]]'' is about a mother's attempt to exonerate her son, who has been convicted of murdering a teenage girl based on shoddy evidence. It turns out {{spoiler|he actually did kill her}}.

 

== Literature ==

* In the Inspector Montalbano mystery series, Montalbano has a childhood friend Gege who grew up to be a drug dealer and pimp, with whom he retained a sort of friendship even after they embarked on very different careers. Gege is killed by gangsters in the second novel, and Montalbano goes to console his older sister, who taught both of them as children. The narration describes how the two reminisce about Gege being a lovable mischievous scamp as a child, but no stories are told of any of his life after adolescence. It's not clear how much his sister knew about his criminal life, but she obviously had some idea, especially because she had poor health and Gege would [[Pet the Dog|use his funds to afford surgery for her]].

* [[We Need to Talk About Kevin]] is told entirely from the perspective of the mother of a school shooter. Naturally, she struggles with her conscience - [[Playing With|''did'' she raise him to be a criminal]]?

* Bryony in ''Outcast of [[Redwall]]'' refuses to believe her adopted son Veil is growing up to be a psychopath ([[In the Blood|he gets it from his birth father]]) until it's too late.

* In the Japanese novel ''Kokuhaku'' ("Confessions") and its film adaptation, Student B's (Naoki's) mother is like this, absolutely refusing to believe her son had any role in the death of Moriguchi's daughter. {{spoiler|It's revealed he is the one who really killed her; he threw her into the pool to drown, as he desperately wanted Watanabe/Student A to be his friend.}}

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* ''[[The Shield]]'' included an episode where the characters arrest a teenage vandal. Her mother arrives at the police station and harangues the officers about what a perfect angel her child is, until they open the door and the child is in the process of vandalising their interview room. Cue [[Crowning Moment of Funny]].

* In ''[[Wiseguy]]'', Vinnie's mother thinks he is a criminal, when he's actually working undercover for the Organized Crime Bureau. {{spoiler|She eventually finds out the truth... but then worries that he's gradually becoming more and more like the criminals around him.}}

** In a season one episode, Gideon brutally deconstructs this trope with a father who continually makes excuses for his serial killer son.

** Also appears in another episode of season one where a mother easily accepts that her son's murders aren't her fault. {{spoiler|It was her fault, but it wasn't her son's murders. She was the killer.}}

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

* ''[[Dick Tracy]]'' has frequently addressed the problems that go with being the innocent relative of a criminal. One of the most notable examples is Junior's first girlfriend Model Jones, who was overwhelmingly ashamed of her crook brother and alcoholic parents. In the end, she was {{spoiler|accidentally shot and killed by her own brother during a fight with the cops.}}

 

== Radio ==

* [[Neal Boortz]] is annoyed by this trope so much, he will preemptively suggest that the family will say such a thing when covering stories on criminals.

 

 

== Video Games ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Parental Issues]]

[[Category:Drama Tropes]]

[[Category:Family Tropes]]

[[Category:Truth in Television]]

[[Category:Crime and Punishment Tropes]]