Children Are Innocent: Difference between revisions

* ''[[My Neighbor Totoro]]'': Satsuki and Mei, both

* ''[[Spirited Away]]'': Chihiro, while somewhat spoiled and whiney, intuitively realizes that her parents are trespassing when they eat the food of the gods.

** [[Captain Obvious Aesop|Duh.]]

* In ''[[Grave of the Fireflies]]'' Setsuko's innocence is used as a foil to highlight the cruelty of war.

* Averted in ''Kodomo no Jikan'' with nine year old main character Rin, who acts in a very sexual way towards her teacher.

* In ''[[Phantom Dreams]]'', when a Jaki kills a child for a spell, Tamaki is enraged.

{{quote|''Such a... small life... crushed.''}}

"Your Royal Highness."

"My Royal Highness! What's that? No, no, Lootie. I won't be called names. I don't like them. You told me once yourself it's only rude children that call names; and I'm sure Curdie wouldn't be rude. Curdie, my name's Irene."'' }}

* At this point this is the only thing keeping Eragon from ''[[The Inheritance Cycle]]'' from being a 'complete' asshole: he won't harm a child, he'll just consider it.

* In [[Bram Stoker]]'s ''[[Dracula (novel)|Dracula]]'', the vampire Lucy preys on children. Although she doesn't kill them, the children's innocent inability to understand that she was harming them—some even wish to meet her again—is particularly horrific.

 

=== [[Tabletop Games]] ===

 

=== [[Video Games]] ===

* The movie ''[[A.I.: Artificial Intelligence]]'' is built around this trope and its subversions.

** And—ironically—its commercial exploitation.

* Hob in ''[[RoboCop]] 2''.

* Played with in ''[[Enemy at the Gates]]''. Sacha hero-worships Vasili as, well, a war hero, but he's also actively working to help Vasili kill [[Cold Sniper|Major König]]. On the other hand, he has little to no idea just how dangerous a situation he's got himself into {{spoiler|and it winds up getting him killed.}} Given the fact that the kid's grown up in a war zone and has presumably lost his father to that war, his partial loss of innocence is quite understandable.

** This trope is still played semi-straight; children are immune to the Spectres, and can have special affinity to the Alethiometer, and have transforming daemons symbolizing their infinite potential - but one of the main themes of the books is that children have to grow up, and it's not a bad thing. One should also note that neither Will or Lyra take directly part in the war against the Authority; they don't share Lord Asriel's [[Rage Against the Heavens]] - they're just trying to survive. {{spoiler|They do end up killing the Authority, but it's not an act of violence; they didn't know who he was, and were trying to help him.}}

* ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]''. [[Sociopathic Hero|Arya Stark]] and [[Teens Are Monsters|Joffrey]] [[The Caligula|Baratheon]].

* Subverted in [[Stephen King]]'s [[IT]] with the kids who bully the protagonists, but Henry Bowers and Patrick Hockstetter are the most psychotic. For example, {{spoiler|Henry chases down Ben Hanscom, pins him to the ground with help of his fellow bullies, and proceeds to ''carve his name into Ben's stomach'' (fortunately he only gets as far as "H"). Patrick Hockstetter is a complete solipsist, but his world view is shaken when his baby brother is born and he loses some attention from his parents. This makes him afraid that his little brother may actually exist, so he smothers the infant with a pillow. No one ever finds out.}}

* Played with in [[Ray Bradbury]]'s ''The Small Assassin'', in which a mother becomes convinced that her newborn baby will ''kill'' her. {{spoiler|She's right. And the father too.}}

[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]

[[Category:Childrens Show Tropes]]