Blithe Spirit: Difference between revisions

 

[[The Complainer Is Always Wrong]] is an inverse of this trope. [[Manic Pixie Dream Girl]] is a subtrope that serves as a shaker-upper of one particular person. Contrast [[Fisher Kingdom]], which tends to eat these people and turn them into cogs (not usually literally).

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== Anime and Manga ==

* ''Majou Shoujotai''. Also known as ''[[Tweeny Witches]]'' or ''Magical Girl Squad Alice''

* In ''[[Simoun]]'', [[Spell My Name with an "S"|Aer/Ael/]][[Buffy-Speak|That blond girl with the]] [[Odango Hair]] [[Buffy-Speak|and the music box]] is this, to an insane degree. Coupled with her [[Genki Girl|endless enthusiasm]] and her total lack of tact, she causes no end of frustration (or, in some cases, bringing up terrible memories) to the more straight-laced Sybilla, particularly [[Tall, Dark and Bishoujo|Paraietta]] [[Spell My Name with an "S"|and Neviril/Neville/]][[Buffy-Speak|that pink-haired girl who doesn't smile]].

* Sometimes averted and sometimes played straight in ''[[Irresponsible Captain Tylor]]'': Tylor is made skipper of a starship, despite no training, no military or space experience, and a penchant for nonsensical and irresponsible schemes. On the other hand, he is given command of a [[Ragtag Bunch of Misfits]], half of whom are on the verge of mutiny anyway. Still, near the series' conclusion, one of Tylor's [[Obstructive Bureaucrat]] antagonists admits Tylor's adherence to this trope is the likely factor of his success.

 

== Film ==

* ''Pollyanna.''

* In ''[[You Can't Take It with You]]'' the entire Sycamore family has this effect on the stuffy Kirby family.

 

== Literature ==

* ''[[Cold Comfort Farm]]''

* John the Savage of ''[[Brave New World (novel)|Brave New World]]'' is this entirely. He protests against the loss of art, truth, and passion, despite the fact that for everyone else, it ''works.''

* Daisy in Henry James' story ''[[Daisy Miller]]'' is also just like this, the quirky American girl trying to shake things up in Europe. Except the European aristocrats don't lighten up, and things end tragically, to say the least, for Daisy.

* Pippa in the poem ''Pippa Passes'' by Robert Browning - a young girl in Asolo, Italy who strolls through the town (on her single annual day off from the factory) singing a song which influences the lives of all who hear her for the better.

** Which makes her married name all the more fitting.

 

* The Doctor in ''[[Doctor Who]]''. ''All the time.''

* In ''[[LazyTown]]'', Stephanie is theoretically responsible for helping to get everyone exercising again (at least, according to the theme). That she's just as likely to have the [[Idiot Ball|lazy ball]] in a given episode is apparently irrelevant.

* Fran Fine in [[The Nanny]] ''is'' this trope.

* Barney Stinson in ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'' ''thinks'' he's this trope, gracing his friends with his presence to guide them through life and make them "awesome" like him. He refuses to acknowledge the fact that his friends all actually consider him a walking, batshit insane, [[Your Approval Fills Me with Shame]] generator, and only indulge his ridiculous shenanigans out of loyalty to him (and on occasion, amusement).

 

== Video Games ==

* In [[Final Fantasy X]], Tidus fills this role in the world of Spira, questioning the current way of dealing with Sin and generally being an over anxious [[Fish Out of Water]]

 

* In ''[[Flipside]]'', this describes Maytag perfectly. In a fantasy setting with fairly standard levels of prejudice and bigotry, she's a free spirit who believes in [[Good Bad Girl|loving widely and unconditionally]], [[Be Yourself|complete freedom of expression]], and [[The Power of Friendship|total acceptance of herself and the people around her]]. In fact, she's so good at this that she is almost completely immune to [[Cold-Blooded Torture|torture]], due to accepting her pain rather than fighting it; and is uncommonly resistant to [[Charm Person|magical compulsion]], due to seeing the world so clearly. She also loves to [[Manic Pixie Dream Girl|help repressed people find themselves]].

* In ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' Torg plays this role when he's transported to the Dimension of Lame, being the only person there who doesn't epitomize [[Pure Is Not Good]]. When [[Demonic Invaders]] show up and starting eating people, the average Dimension of Lame citizen considers throwing food at them a monstrous overreaction. Then Torg shows up to organize a resistance movement and start hacking demons to pieces with his [[Cool Sword|magic, talking sword]].

 

== Western Animation ==

* ''[[Jimmy Two-Shoes]]'' is practically built around this trope. Jimmy is a textbook [[The Pollyanna|pollyanna]] in [[A Hell of a Time|Miseryville]], where he constantly tries to cheer people up despite the fact that [[Satan|Lucius]] wants everyone miserable.

* ''[[Santa Claus is Comin' to Town]]'' reveals that Santa Claus was this as a teenager. He avoided growing up in [[Crapsack World|Sombertown]] when he was adopted by toy-making elves who lived up the nearby mountain. When he finally made the climb down the mountain to hand out toys to Sombertown's citizens, he was stunned to find out that toys were illegal and instantly became a toy-delivering outlaw, [[Origin Story|explaining his habit of going down chimneys and hiding gifts in stockings]].

 

== Real Life ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Stock Aesops]]

[[Category:The Trickster]]

[[Category:This Index Is Not an Example]]

[[Category:Plots]]