Shrunken Organ: Difference between revisions

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Or maybe his head wasn't screwed on just right. <br />

But I think that the best reason of all <br />

May have been that his heart was two sizes too small."|''[[How the Grinch Stole Christmas (~~Literature~~)|How the Grinch Stole Christmas]]'', [[Dr. Seuss]]}}

May have been that his heart was two sizes too small."|''[[How the Grinch Stole Christmas (novel)|How the Grinch Stole Christmas]]'', [[Dr. Seuss]]}}

In [[Western Animation]], [[Anime]], and [[Comics]] it is common to sum up behavioral problems or character flaws as being the direct result of some greatly underdeveloped organ in a character's body. Maybe said character [[How the Grinch Stole Christmas (~~Literature~~)|has a heart that is too small]] and thus cannot properly love or maybe their brain resembles the size of a golf ball and thus lacks normal intelligence. Of course, having an organ this small in [[Real Life]] would [[You Fail Biology Forever|cause serious complications for most of these characters]], so this trope is very often [[Played for Laughs]].

In [[Western Animation]], [[Anime]], and [[Comics]] it is common to sum up behavioral problems or character flaws as being the direct result of some greatly underdeveloped organ in a character's body. Maybe said character [[How the Grinch Stole Christmas (novel)|has a heart that is too small]] and thus cannot properly love or maybe their brain resembles the size of a golf ball and thus lacks normal intelligence. Of course, having an organ this small in [[Real Life]] would [[You Fail Biology Forever|cause serious complications for most of these characters]], so this trope is very often [[Played for Laughs]].

That being said, there are numerous examples of this trope being played seriously as well, typically in the [[Medical Drama]] or [[Soap Opera]] realm. While cases of super-small organs in those works are still [[You Fail Biology Forever|factually inaccurate]], they are at least portrayed in a semi-realistic sense. For example, this trope could be invoked by a character born with some form of congenital heart defect where their heart is too small and will cause their death unless a replacement is found.

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== Literature ==

* Inverted in Sonia Levittin's ''The Cure''--the protagonist has a brain that by our standards would be average, but is significantly larger than is normal in [[Dystopia|his society]]. This is treated as a birth defect, hopefully curable.

* ''[[How the Grinch Stole Christmas (~~Literature~~)|How the Grinch Stole Christmas]]'': The eponymous Grinch is portrayed as having a heart that is far too small to feel love properly.

* ''[[How the Grinch Stole Christmas (novel)|How the Grinch Stole Christmas]]'': The eponymous Grinch is portrayed as having a heart that is far too small to feel love properly.

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* ''[[South Park]]'': The boys go to Afganistan and Cartman ends up in a tussle with Osama Bin Laden, during which Cartman pulls Bin Laden's pants down to show...nothing. Cartman pulls out several magnifying glasses until he finally gets enough magnification to show Bin Laden's very tiny penis, which is implied as the reason why he blew up the World Trade Center.

* ''[[Fairly Oddparents]]'': In one episode Timmy swaps brains with an ordinary dog. His brain is noticably the smaller of the two.

* In ''[[~~Dexters~~ Laboratory]]'', Dexter decides to put a genius-level brain (...[[Nightmare Fuel|we don't know whose]]) in his sister Dee Dee's head. He needed a pair of tweezers to remove her old one.

* In ''[[Dexter's Laboratory]]'', Dexter decides to put a genius-level brain (...[[Nightmare Fuel|we don't know whose]]) in his sister Dee Dee's head. He needed a pair of tweezers to remove her old one.

* In an episode of ''[[Cow and Chicken ~~(Animation)~~|I.M. Weasel]]'', Weasel and Baboon get in an accident which causes their brains to fall out. Weasel has a huge brain and Baboon has a tiny brain, both disproportionate to their respective head. Understandably, [[Freaky Friday Flip|the doctors get them mixed up]].

* In an episode of ''[[Cow and Chicken|I.M. Weasel]]'', Weasel and Baboon get in an accident which causes their brains to fall out. Weasel has a huge brain and Baboon has a tiny brain, both disproportionate to their respective head. Understandably, [[Freaky Friday Flip|the doctors get them mixed up]].

* One episode of [[~~Spongebob~~ SquarePants]] sees Squidward break his "laugh box" (an organ he thought he made up), which had to be removed. The doctor remarks that it's the most dried-up, underused laugh box he's ever seen; it's in a jar the size of a salt shaker. Inversely, Spongebob has a laugh box so ''big'' that he was able to donate half of it to Squidward while still retaining the capacity to do some laughing of his own.

* One episode of [[SpongeBob SquarePants]] sees Squidward break his "laugh box" (an organ he thought he made up), which had to be removed. The doctor remarks that it's the most dried-up, underused laugh box he's ever seen; it's in a jar the size of a salt shaker. Inversely, Spongebob has a laugh box so ''big'' that he was able to donate half of it to Squidward while still retaining the capacity to do some laughing of his own.