Operation: Jealousy: Difference between revisions

 

 

A specific type of [[Zany Scheme]]: Two characters, [[Alice and Bob]], are an [[Official Couple]]... or they would be, if Bob wasn't [[She Is Not My Girlfriend|so mired in the river of denial]] that he insists that the water flowing all around him is solid ground. Alice, who is not in denial and ''very'' aware of Bob's feelings, gets fed up with his refusal to [[Cannot Spit It Out|spit them out]] and takes matters into her own hands. Confronting him directly with the [[Subtext|evidence]] might cause him to run for the hills, so Alice gets into a faked or temporary relationship with [[The Beard|Convenient Charley]], to make Bob insanely [[Green-Eyed Monster|jealous]] enough to come clean first.

 

Very unlikely to be [[Truth in Television]] for anyone with serious feelings, as most people who believe they are in love try to ''avoid'' upsetting the people they think they're in love with. Also using people is a mean thing to do especially when the person doesn't know. Then again....

 

* It was also done in ''[[Sailor Moon Abridged]]'':

* Akira tries this with Kei in ''[[Special A]]'', and it backfires in the worst way. Not only can Tadashi see all the little clues (like Kei doing all he can to avoid physical contact with Akira) that show that the two are barely tolerating the other, he and Hikari end up ignoring their feeble attempts and just have a good time, making Akira and Kei the ones growing jealous.

* ''[[Ranma ½]]'': During her more manipulative moments in the manga, Akane has used [[The Rival|Ryoga]] in order to make [[Arranged Marriage|her fiancée]] jealous. Be it accepting a date or clinging to Ryoga's side, if it will ignite a fire in Ranma's eyes, she's probably done it. Ironic, since a lot of people consider Akane to be the more [[Tsundere]] of the two when it comes to accepting their feelings for each other.

** Sometimes, Ranma realizes what she's trying to do, but refuses to take the bait out of stubbornness.

** [[Somebody Doesn't Love Raymond|When Shampoo starts acting like she despises him,]] an upset Ranma acts cozy with Akane to make Shampoo jealous.

 

 

 

 

== Film ==

* In ''[[Gone with the Wind]],'' Scarlett marries a random man to make Ashley jealous. It doesn't work, mainly because Ashley wasn't really in love with her in the first place, and had already courted Melanie.

* In ''[[Sky High]]'', Layla started a fake relationship with [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]] Warren Peace in order to annoy Will. Warren, who thought Will was a prick, was happy to oblige, but ended up getting sick of Layla clinging to him and talking Will into asking her out.

'''Warren:''' You must've been a real jerk, because no matter what I do, I can't get them to stop talking to me. }}

* In ''[[The Thomas Crown Affair]]'', Thomas the [[Gentleman Thief]] likes Catherine the Hot Detective, but he doesn't know if he can trust her. So, he lets photos leak of him dating a supermodel to see if he gets a rise out of Catherine. It does. They hook up.

* The main characters of ''[[Drive Me Crazy]]'' form a fake relationship to make the people who dumped them jealous. Predictably, by the end of the film they can both have their respective love interest, but they no longer want them and have fallen for each other.

"Everyone." }}

 

== Literature ==

 

 

* ''[[Drake and Josh]]'':

'''Josh''': Not that smart. [[Lampshade Hanging|They've done it on every sitcom since the 1950s.]] }}

* On ''Chef!'', Savannah tried to attract Gareth by inventing a boyfriend. She sent herself flowers in the mail and everything. It was almost sad, but mostly hilarious.

* On ''[[Gossip Girl]]'' Blair brings home a British lord from her vacation in Europe to make Chuck jealous. Later on Chuck and Vanessa team up to make Blair and Nate jealous.

* Maddie on ''[[Jonathan Creek]]'' tried this to make Jonathan jealous; unfortunately, she was going on a blind date based on a photo which did not entirely match the goods, so to speak, and the guy ended up being several decades older than his photo and, personality-wise, "the bastard son of [[Forrest Gump]]." Needless to say, Jonathan not only clocked exactly what she was doing (and that it had gone badly wrong) but enjoyed himself enormously at her expense.

* Been done a couple of times on ''[[Glee]]'':

** Rachel said the main reason she agreed to date Puck was in the hopes that it would make his best friend Finn jealous - it worked a bit, to go by Finn's facial expressions during Puck's song performance to her.

* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''. Spike does this on a couple of occasions when Buffy rejects his advances. [[Played for Laughs]] when the girl Spike chats up turns out to be a [[Robot Girl]] who responds by [[Destination Defenestration|throwing Spike through a window]]. Played straight in "Hell's Bells" when Spike brings a [[Goth]] girlfriend to Anya's wedding after Buffy dumps him. Buffy acknowledges that she is hurt and Spike, no longer angry at her, just leaves quietly.

* ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'': Sheldon tries to ask Penny out in an attempt to make Amy jealous. Penny sees right through it and convinces him to just go tell Amy how he feels.

 

== Video Games ==

 

 

* In ''[[Treading Ground]]'', [[Wrong Genre Savvy]] Rose attempts this before her friend can explain this was ''not'' what she had in mind. It sinks her wrecked relationship even deeper.

* In [http://the-qlc.com/loserz/go/250 this strip] of ''[[Loserz]]'', one girl (name's Carla) ''thinks'' this is the case.

* In ''[[Misfile]]'', James and Cassiel are doing this to try and break up their exes Ash and Rumisel and reclaim them. Thanks to the main plot of the comic (Ash is a boy who was [[Gender Bender]]'d by cosmic screw-up, Rumisel's just pretending to date "her" to keep other guys away), it's extremely unlikely to succeed.

 

== Western Animation ==

* In ''[[American Dad]]'' episode "The Magnificent Steven", Roger enlists Hayley to pretend to be his girlfriend in order to make the girl at the liquor store, who he has a crush on, jealous. It horribly backfires when he falls in love with Hayley instead. In the end, it all turns out to be an elaborate plot to {{spoiler|win a T-shirt}}.

* Parodied twice on ''[[Family Guy]]''. The first time Stewie fell in love with a girl at day care and then held hands with another girl when he thought she was seeing someone else.

** The second time Brian wanted Jillian to notice him and Lauren Conrad suggests that he remind his ex how much she misses him. [[Wholesome Crossdresser|Stewie]] says the best way is by going on a date with a beautiful woman.

'''Stewie''':Whoa! You're angry at her, not me. No wonder you're alone. }}

* In ''[[Total Drama World Tour]]'', [[Clingy Jealous Girl|Courtney]] attempts to make her former love interest [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|Duncan]] jealous by flirting with [[The Chew Toy|Tyler]], then [[Magnificent Bastard|Alejandro]]. It doesn't work.

* The reason Pepper is dating Happy in ''[[Iron Man: Armored Adventures]]'' to get Tony's attention. For once it actually seems to work, as Tony seems to not like them together despite seeing it as an Operation Jealousy tactic, but never seems to act on it.

 

[[Category:Alice and Bob]]

[[Category:Envy and Jealousy Tropes]]