Narm: Difference between revisions

'''Narm''' is a moment that is supposed to be serious, but due to either over-sappiness, poor [[Special Effects Failure|execution]], excessive [[Melodrama]], or the sheer [[So Bad It's Good|absurdity of the situation]], the drama is lost to the point of surpassing "cheesy" and becoming unintentionally funny. (However, the humor can be extremely subjective, and mention of it may be responded to with a [[Dude, Not Funny]].) Either way, the gravity of the moment is squandered to the point of torpedoing the audience's emotional investment.

It is [[Trope Namer|named for]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiOKNggPh4Q the famous scene] in the last season of ''[[Six Feet Under]]'', where the main character Nate suffers a brain embolism. He suddenly grabs his right arm and repeats "Numb arm." (at this moment the scene is still genuinely creepy), but then it quickly degenerates into "N'arm! N'armNarm!" beforewhile he comically rolls up his eyes before he snorts and drops to the floor. Even though this was the climax of a highly-acclaimed show, fans and critics overwhelmingly found the scene to be funny.

Were you to discuss this phenomenon in a scholarly work or literary circles, the word you would probably use is "[[Bathosbathos]]"., Thoughthough all the implications of the technical term do not match up exactly (Bathosbathos can be intentionally invoked for humor, for one). If you're talking to non-tropers and don't want to have to make fun of the unintentional [[Black Humor|comedy]] of brain embolisms, [[All the Tropes Will Ruin Your Vocabulary|that's probably the word you want to use]].

Narm often stems from a failed attempt to pull off a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]], a [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]] or a [[Tear Jerker]]. Alternatively, a good performance in a bad movie will evoke Narm because the actor [[Took the Bad Film Seriously]]. Anything that falls under [[Wangst]] and [[Deus Angst Machina]] runs the risk of falling under Narm, as what is ''intended'' to be angsty and dramatic can instead come across as over-the-top ridiculous and absurd. In subtitled [[Anime]], Narms are often created through the use of [[Gratuitous English|badly used English]], with [[Totally Radical]] dialog in general being another rich source of Narm. In dubbed anime, NarmsNarm areis more likely to result from the combination of a budding [[William Shatner]] reading an overly-literal translation.

[[Large Ham]]s are vulnerable to this trope. See also [[Nightmare Retardant]] and many cases of [[Snark Bait]], as well as [[Fetish Retardant]] for erotica (of which [[IKEA Erotica|the Swedish home furnishings variety]] is a particularly good source of Narm). [[I Thought It Meant|Not to be confused with]] [[The Vietnam War|'Nam]], or the [[Babylon 5|Narn]], or [[Sesame Street|OMMM-NOM]]-[[Team Fortress 2|NOM-NOM]]. Also not to be confused with the [[Pushing Daisies|National Area for Retired Mills]], [http://www.narm.org North American Registry for Midwives] or the [http://www.narm.com National Association of Recording Merchandisers.].

Contrast with [[Narm Charm]], where somehow, the drama still works. Keep in mind that '''Narm''' is subjective, as one person's [[So Bad It's Good|cheese]] is another person's [[Narm Charm|charm]]. However, Narm is ''not'' when something simply falls flat or "doesn't work"; this is not a page for simply [[Complaining About Shows You Don't Like|complaining about scenes you didn't like]].

A number of examples of '''Narm''' become [[Memetic Mutation|memes]].