Passive-Aggressive Kombat: Difference between revisions

[[File:katy keene costume put down 7023.jpg|link=Katy Keene|frame|Looks like the verbal claws are out.]]

 

 

Fighting doesn't have to involve shouting or anything physical. For some characters, sharp well placed words are all they need to duel. They can sound very reasonable, even gentle. It's still a knock-out, winner-take-all confrontation, just that the people involved are trying to remain composed and amicable.

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* Adale from ''[[The Good Witch of the West]]'' was noted, by her enemy whom she'd just beaten in this, to never be at a loss for words.

* Light and L's [[Gambit Pileup|battle of wits]] in ''[[Death Note]]'' in all it's [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|EPIC passive-aggressive glory.]] Later {{spoiler|Light and Near's.}}

* Anthy Himemiya of ''[[Revolutionary Girl Utena]]'' is a master at this, though it's also [[Deconstruction|deconstructed]] in that it's the only way she ''can'' fight back, having been {{spoiler|emotionally anesthetized by years of emotional and sexual manipulation by her [[Manipulative Bastard]] brother Akio}}.

 

== Comic Books ==

* ''[[Katy Keene]]'' has this, especially between Katy and Gloria.

* ''[[Millie the Model]]'' has Millie and Chili going at it.

 

== Film ==

{{quote|'''[[Straw Vulcan|Vulcan Council President]]''': Why did you come before this council today? Was it to satisfy your emotional need to rebel?

'''[[Half-Human Hybrid|Spock]]''': The only emotion I wish to convey is gratitude. Thank you, Ministers, for your consideration.

'''Spock''': Live long and prosper. }}

* This is used as the [[Take That Us|Jews' ultimate weapon]] in ''[[The Hebrew Hammer]]'', where Mordechai takes on the stereotypical [[Jewish Mother]] persona and runs with it.

** Someone once re-wrote ''Dirty Harry'' in the style of ''Pride and Prejudice.'' "Dirty" Harriet Bennett ends up telling Lady Catherine de Burgh "I have no objection, Madam, to your proceeding, since by doing so you shall render my day perfectly agreeable."

* A refrigerator is also the site of Passive Aggressive Kombat in ''[[The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul]]''... Dirk Gently does not want to open it before his housekeeper cleans it, and sets up elaborate, tiny traps in order to be able to tell if she has, one including a strand of hair. The refrigerator turns out to be so epic in its filth that {{spoiler|it spawns a horrible god-eating abomination when it's finally opened.}}

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* Since almost the entire premise is about medieval political intrigue, almost every scene in ''[[Game of Thrones]]'' oozes with this trope (when it's not [[Gorn|oozing with blood]], of course). Particularly, any scene with both [[Eunuchs Are Evil|Varys]] and [[Magnificent Bastard|Littlefinger]].

* Pretty much everyone in ''[[The Palace]]'' made use of this frequently.

 

== Tabletop Games ==

* ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade]]''. [[Deadly Decadent Court|The Camarilla]]. If you're not indulging in this, ''you're doing it wrong''.

* [[Exalted]] has rules for this, with emphasis on Combat. You can actually kill someone with a sufficiently sharp insult.

 

== Theatre ==

* The verbal battles between Beatrice and Benedick in [[Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Much Ado About Nothing]]'' practically define the trope.

* A frequent occurrence in the works of [[Harold Pinter]].

 

== Video Games ==

* Some of the cases in the ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' are this.

 

== Web Comics ==

* Rose and her mother fight this way (when they're not more aggressively fighting) in ''[[Homestuck]]''. [http://www.mspaintadventures.com/?s=6&p=002266 Their refrigerator is a good example of the nature of the feud] (goes on for several pages).

* In one arc of ''[[Bruno the Bandit]]'', Bruno encounters a gang of pirates who wield weaponized passive-aggressiveness. They do it with the help of magic rings that make other people unreasonably concerned about what the pirates think of them.

* Characters in ''[[Rumors of War]]'' use conversation as their primary mode of aggression.

 

== Web Original ==

* Name comes from ''[[Vision of Escaflowne Abridged]]'', which spoofed Hitomi's and Millerna's discussions in the real ''[[Vision of Escaflowne]]'' series, over who would get Allen. Basically, each fight [[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|started and ended with an announcer presenting them as intense, brutal fights]], even though the actual scenes were just them calmly lying and manipulating each other. The [[Running Gag]] first shows up [http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=bqieymT7z14#t=192s here at 2:56:].

* When [[Aeon Flux|Trevor]] isn't outright [[Hannibal Lecture|Hannibal Lecturing]] his audience or ''[[Ink City]]'' at large, he engages in this instead. [[GLaDOS]] and [[Pokémon|Mew]] are other regular combatants, and even [[Animaniacs|Yakko]] treads the thin line between this and [[Deadpan Snarker|Deadpan Snarking]].

 

== Western Animation ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Psychological Combat]]

[[Category:Dialogue]]

[[Category:Dirty Social Tricks]]

[[Category:Truth in Television]]