Because You Can Cope: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

* Twisted version in ''[[Gravitation]]'' - Shuichi demands that Yuki stay in the relationship for ''him'', since, although Yuki is coughing blood due to stress (allegedly due to Shuichi's presence in his life), it won't kill him - but Shuichi claims he will die without Yuki. Could be [[What the Hell, Hero?]] moment for Shuichi, but Yuki's own [[Jerkass]] tendencies and the fact that his illness isn't actually Shuichi's fault are mitigating factors.

 

* Katie, the mother in ''[[A Tree Grows in Brooklyn]]'', pays for her son Neely's education and not her academic daughter Francie's. She justifies this by saying that Francie will fight to achieve her dreams, whereas Neely won't. Francie doesn't buy it, and it cements Neely's position as his mother's favourite (which she made no secret of earlier in the book). Francie sums it up:

{{quote|'''Francie''': "You fix everything for him and tell me I can find a way myself." }}

* In the "Rizzoli" series, the titular character's mother has spent years blatantly favoring her son Frankie while ignoring her daughter Jane. Suddenly, in one book, this is [[retcon]]ned into her mother always knowing that Jane was the strong and capable one who didn't need her mother's constant attention while Frank was the weakling who need coddling. A later book takes this even further—when her husband leaves her for another woman and her son takes ''his'' side, she finally realizes the error she made with her bias.

 

* In ''[[Malcolm in the Middle]]'', Malcolm spends an episode teaching Reese the value of hard work and studying and helps him write a passing paper for a class. When the paper gets an "F" the boys, who do not see how they can get Reese to perform any better, cheat and have Malcolm take one of Reese's tests for him. This one gets an "F" as well and this is when they realize that [[The Cuckoolander Was Right|Reese's teacher really is out to get him and is deliberately failing him]]. When Lois threatens to use this information to force the teacher to pass Reese he points out this will get Malcolm in trouble. Lois cites this trope as her justification, to Malcolm's own shock:

{{quote|'''Lois:''' You don't think I'd sacrifice this one? Let me explain something to you. I would sell Malcolm down the river in a heartbeat to save Reese. Malcolm's gonna be fine no matter what happens. Maybe he'll have to go to junior college or start off blue collar, but he'll work his way up to management eventually. Reese is the one who needs saving.}}

** Which makes it not really a betrayal. Mal could cope better than Wash, and they all knew it. Zoe unapologetically (and understandably) cared more about Wash than Mal, and everybody but Wash knew it. Then there's the fact that they did come back and get Mal as soon as they could get a rescue party together. She probably acted exactly as they all expected, and Mal didn't seem to have the least problem with her decisions.

* One episode of ''[[Everwood]]'' has Andy treating a boy for various injuries. It turns out these are being caused by his severely autistic younger brother, which the older brother has been trying to keep secret from their mother. Andy gives their mother information on a special boarding school for disabled children, and is surprised when she instead sends her other son away so that he can be safe while she continues to care for her autistic son. Given that the older son seemed even more self-sacrificing than she was, the traditional angst of this trope would hopefully be avoided.

 

* In ''[[Dragon Age]]'', the [[Heroic Sacrifice]] variation appears in Leliana's Song. {{spoiler|Tug pulls a "Because I can cope", getting himself tortured rather than Sketch. Tragically, he overestimates his own toughness.}}

* Meta example: The role of [[An Adventurer Is You|a "Tank" in most RPG games]]. He's built to take damage, so the player just lets the enemies beat him up while focusing on protecting the [[Squishy Wizard]] and [[Glass Cannon]] characters.

* The Sentinel role in ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'' is this trope invoked intentionally. The designated tank provokes the enemies to attack him so that the other characters can attack or heal; as a bonus, the Sentinel gets abilities that allow him to guard, guard ''and'' heal, guard and ''counterattack''...the ideal Sentinel not only can cope, but becomes much ''better'' at coping when in the role. The Sentinel also grants a bonus to everyone else's defense while active.

* In ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'', [[Cynical Mentor|Kriea]] is clearly [[Training from Hell|working under this philosophy.]]

** And then Marche {{spoiler|cripples Doned again by destroying Ivalice, thus returning things to ''exactly'' as they were before, although the characters affected by this accepted it}}. FFTA's plot is repeatedly a source of [[Internet Backdraft]].

 

* On ''[[American Dad]],'' Francine is hurt when she discovers that her parents are leaving all their money to her sister. At first she assumes that it's because she was adopted, when really it's because her sister is a [[The Ditz|ditzy]] [[Asian Airhead]] whom they feel needs it more.

* As seen below in the [[Real Life]] section, in ''[[Daria]]'', Quinn gets a cash reward from her father for getting an A on ''one'' major homework project. Daria, the much smarter of the two, ''immediately'' calls him out on it for it being a [[Double Standard]], even implying that it would demotivate her since her consistent high grades garner no such rewards.

 

* Can happen with real siblings, though more commonly in less vicious version. Like if one kid is worse at school, they'll get rewarded for accomplishing what the other sibling accomplishes all the time.

* Sadly, this mindset can and does hide instances of child abuse, at the hands of a relative or close friend. If one ''can'' cope, then one ''should'', so there's no need to make a fuss about those bruises or that stream of insults and profanity; bruises happen all the time! and you know what they say about "sticks and stones..." Because peer pressure etc., can make it so hard to step outside this attitude, a common result would be for a child to be traumatized well past any sane human tolerances without considering their situation to be unjust in any manner.