39,327
edits
The Unfavourite: Difference between revisions
m
Mass update links
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) (Fixed image/caption markup, added example) |
m (Mass update links) |
||
Line 4:
{{quote|"Wrong kid died!"|'''Dewey's father,''' ''[[Walk Hard]]''}}
The nasty end of [[Parental Favoritism]]. Where there's an Alpha wolf, there's got to be an Omega. When there is a first banana, there is a second banana. This is the person in the family who can't get a break. For example, this is the child who's the big [[Why Couldn't You Be Different?|let-down]] to their parents, the daughter that was supposed to be a son (or vice-versa), the child the parents had by accident when they'd already decided they didn't need another mouth to feed. But all in all, this is basically the kid who is always getting the short-end of the stick.
A regular line that may be entailed with this is a variant of, "Honestly, (insert name), why can't ya be more like (insert favourite's name)?"
Line 10:
Frequently, being The Un-Favourite is a [[Freudian Excuse]] for a character who's a particularly pathetic loser. If the [[Parental Favoritism]] was garden variety (or even a product of his/her imagination), PG-rated [[Wangst]], this is probably being played for comedy, a weak excuse for being a failure. If the favoritism was particularly vicious, however, up to and including abuse, [[The Unfavourite]] becomes a more tragic character -- most probably [[The Woobie]]. Sometimes, however, the Unfavourite is almost suspiciously well-adjusted.
A variant is where The Un-Favourite is actually highly successful and [[The Dutiful Son|dutiful]], but can never get the [["Well Done, Son" Guy|approval of his parents]], simply because their sibling will always do "better" in their parents' eyes. ("Hey look, dad, I won the Nobel Prize for Physics!" "That's nothin' -- your brother won Employee of the Month at Shop 'n Go last April!"). The Un-favorite doesn't need to play second fiddle to an actual sibling, and can even be an only child. Un-favorites without a sibling are often unwanted or unexpected children and can even, in perhaps an extreme case, be passed over for the family pet.
The audience's attitude towards the un-favourite is often based on [[Age Appropriate Angst|what age the character is]]. There's a common perception that an adult character should really have gotten over this by now and moved on, even if the viewers/readers empathize with them. A child character, on the other hand, is likely to get the audience's unreserved support.
Line 18:
And Heaven help the poor kid if [[Too Good for This Sinful Earth|the favorite child is dead]]. (Possibly having received the status of "favorite" by dying.) See also [[You Should Have Died Instead]].
Can easily escalate into [[Cain and Abel]]. May be rooted in a [[Death By Childbirth]]. May cross over with [["Well Done, Son" Guy]] if [[The Unfavorite]] wants some recognition. If the favorite of the parents isn't even a member of their family, it's a case of [[Why Are You Not My Son]].
{{examples
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
Line 42:
*** Yes, but you have to remember they were babies at the time. Koji didn't know Koichi existed. It most likely they just that both parents just got a baby when they divorced
* Subverted in ''[[The Prince of Tennis]]''. Yuuta Fuji feels he's the unfavorite since his middle brother Shuusuke is talented, handsome and popular at their school, so he leaves and transfers into another school and its dorms. But that genuinely ''hurts'' Shuusuke, who [[Big Brother Instinct|really loves and cares for Yuuta]] and ''just didn't know'' what his brother was going through, becoming a huge [[Stepford Smiler]] out of the hurt he feels upon Yuuta abandoning him. {{spoiler|It'll take more than a year to reunite them.}}
* Subverted in ''[[Code Geass]]''. Lelouch Lemperouge spends a good portion of his life believing that not only are he and his sister Nunnally their father's unfavorites, but that their mother Marianne was too, since she was the only Imperial Wife to come from common origins; only much later on does he learn that {{spoiler|his parents practically fell in [[Love At First Sight]], and by extension, Lelouch and Nunnally were practically his favorite children. Further, they both wanted Lelouch to help them with their plan to make the world a better place... Only that, since both parents were [[Knight Templar Parent|Knight Templar Parents]] * and* [[Well
** Further subversion: The apparent golden child who is the Emperor's right hand man and direct heir? {{spoiler|The one man that Charles' seemed to actually fear, warning that the failure of his plan means that Schneizel's would now be in play.}}
* In ''[[Gundam 00]]'s'' second season, there's an unfavourite that doesn't even need a family {{spoiler|(they got killed by terrorists several years ago)}} to feel this way. {{spoiler|Lyle Dylandy thinks that several of the Celestial Being members expect him to be just like his deceased twin older brother, Neil "Lockon Stratos" Dylandy. Lyle doesn't like it, logically, so after taking up Neil's Lockon mantle he decides to downplay his own and ''considerable'' fighting and piloting skills to make himself look different from Neil. }}
Line 56:
* [[Neon Genesis Evangelion|Shinji]] gets this so damn much. Even taken by itself, his relationship with his father is defined by Gendo's neglect and a cold-blooded insistence that he pilot a walking death machine under horrible conditions. But aside from that, Gendo has Rei, whom he treats as a surrogate daughter. Shinji and Rei become friends, but the fact that his father likes her better clearly bothers him. While Shinji is hard-pressed to get his father to even glance at him, many characters note on how surprisingly caring Gendo is to Rei. Asuka even points out to Rei, "You're Commander Ikari's favorite, aren't you?" while Shinji is ''still in the room.'' In keeping with the typical rules for favorites, {{spoiler|Rei bears a close similarity to (and is a half-clone of and integral in the plan to revive) Gendo's dead wife Yui.}}
** In actuality, while Shinji is the unfavorite and Rei gets something resembling affection from Gendo, his real favorite is his wife, {{spoiler|and he's willing to (and planning on) using both of them to get her back.}} Rei seems totally aware that she's not really Gendo's favorite either, even correcting Asuka on the subject when she accuses her of it.
* Played with in regards to Belarus of ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'', who ''thinks'' she's [[The Unfavourite]] of her older brother Russia because of their older sister Ukraine and Russia's subordinates, the Baltic brothers (Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia). This leaves the girl, well... [[Brother
** [[Romantic Runner Up|Canada]] might as well be invisible next to his brother [[Large Ham|America]].
*** And let's not even talk about Sealand.
Line 69:
* Sachiko in ''[[With the Light]]'' loves both of her children -- autistic Hikaru and his unafflicted little sister Kanon -- equally; it's her mother-in-law who plays unfavorites. Having Kanon to interact with and a hard time accepting the fact that Hikaru's not going to "get better" and be exactly like "normal" people means that she is more affectionate with the girl.
* In ''[[There Beyond the Beyond]]'', both of the kingdom's twin princes are named Virid Visette Viridian. The one who would eventually become the [[Axe Crazy|"Mad Prince"]] was left to be abused and forgotten in a cell, while his brother got to be doted on in the palace.
* ''[[Inuyasha]]'': Sesshoumaru feels that he's this. After finding out that his brother [[Half
* Seileiz, eldest of the three heirs to his country in ''[[Vampire Game]]'', is also by far his mother's most hated. {{spoiler|There are three reasons for this: he's adopted (as are his brothers), he's the [[Son of a Whore]], and he's the illegitimate son of the king. The queen was willing to put up with the first two, but having a reminder of her husband's refusal to sleep with her running around really pissed her off.}}
* In ''[[Nononono]]'' Nono's brother, Yuuta is like this. Both of them were trained by their ski-jumper dad to be ski-jumpers, hoping to go to the olympics. The problem is, Nono is the more talented of the two, but she can't go to the Olympics due to being a girl. Their father kept on pushing Yuuta to be as good as his sister.
Line 195:
* ''Jacob Have I Loved'' takes this to biblical proportions, as implied by the title. The protagonist is overshadowed by her twin sister from birth, first because of the latter's frail health, then because of her beauty and musical talent. The title comes in when she parallels herself to Esau, Jacob's older, less fortunate brother, and decides she must be ''God's'' UnFavorite.
* Subverted in ''[[Dragonlance]]'' because Raistlin Majere appears to be [[The Unfavorite]] of the universe while his twin brother Caramon is well-liked by damn near everyone he meets; really, though, people don't like Raistlin because he's a [[Jerkass]].
* Jochi in the ''[[Conqueror]]'' books is disdained by his father, Genghis Khan, due to [[
* ''[[Outbound Flight]]'' features a minor character who hates his Jedi sister because, since she wasn't around to do anything less-than-perfect, he was forced to endure an entire childhood of "[[Why Couldn't You Be Different?|Why couldn't you be more like your sister?]] I bet ''she'' never [INSERT CHILDHOOD HIJINK HERE]."
** Survivor's Quest has him, much older and as one of the main characters, realize that it wasn't quite like that.
* In their mother's eyes at least, Anna and Jesse are clearly Un-Favorites in comparison to [[Ill Girl]] Kate in ''[[My Sisters Keeper|My Sister's Keeper]]''. As Jesse says, he's the "lost cause," a guy that spends all his time in a filthy garage apartment doing drugs and drinking. The unfavoritism leads to {{spoiler|him becoming an arsonist and causing his fireman father quite a lot of grief.}} Anna, on the other hand, was only born to donate blood to Kate, who has leukemia. It's scary how her mother seems to think of her not in terms of who she is as a person, but as the sum of the parts that could be used to help Kate. Their father, on the other hand, seems to think of all of them equally, though of course because of Kate's condition he has to put the other two in the back seat from time - especially Jesse, who started consider himself "invisible" within the family, since Kate and Anna are often the center of attention whenever Kate's condition worsens.
Line 336:
* In ''[[The Lion in Winter]]'', Richard is Henry's Unfavorite. John is Eleanor's Unfavorite. Geoffrey, poor guy, is the Unfavorite to both.
* The title character of [[Sophocles]]' ''[[Electra (Theatre)|Electra]]'' is neglected and abused by her mother and step-father. She loathes them both and isn't terribly hesistant about letting it be known. Orestes is also the unfavourite, but has been in exile since childhood so it's not as obvious.
* In ''[[The Taming of the Shrew]]'', Baptista obviously prefers Bianca to Katerina. [[Alternate Character Interpretation|Either this is because of]] Katerina's [[Hair
Line 379:
* Liquid Snake, in the AU ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' fancomic series [http://zarla.deviantart.com/art/Les-Enfants-Terribles-38063076 "Les Enfants Terribles."] [http://zarla.deviantart.com/art/Les-Enfants-Terribles-14-96287462 Solidus gets this treatment too], but to a lesser extent.
** This also occurs in the webcomic ''[[The Last Days of Foxhound]]''. Hell it occured in the games as well.
* Black Mage from ''[[
** Red Mage too, although technically that was {{spoiler|entirely concocted and implanted in his mind by Thief}}.
* Riff from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' is the Unfavorite to his stepbrother (who is apparently his mother's new husband's son). When said stepbrother asks if he is better than Riff, his mother tells him that it's not nice to "rub it in". Riff is thus somewhat pleased, albeit humiliated, when Bun-bun and Kiki's attempt to stand in for him at a party with a mechanical look-alike fails and results in him getting disowned.
Line 400:
** Azula, Zuko's little sister, is also an example, at least in her own mind: "My own mother...thought I was a monster." She tries to laugh it off at the time, but this perception of her relationship with her mother {{spoiler|contributes heavily to her [[Villainous Breakdown]] in the series finale}}.
*** Except in her own mind {{spoiler|her perception of her mother says that she always loved Azula}}. And in an earlier flashback she told Zuko to play with Azula, so it's not like she thought Azula should be shunned.
**** Ursa ''did'' love Azula. She was simply concerned about her budding little sociopath of a daughter. We see nothing in her onscreen behavior that says she thought Azula was "a monster". Can't help but wonder where the kid got the idea. Perhaps Ozai told her a few stories about "what your mother said when you weren't around" so he could guarantee that he was Azula's [["Well Done, Son" Guy|Well Done Daughter Guy]]. Also, it's possible {{spoiler|that "perception" was saying what Azula wanted it to say, not what she believed the real Ursa actually ''would'' say}}, and she knew it, which is why she got so upset. [[Word of God]] pretty much confirms [[http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll305/Maylene-Autumn/Sozins<!-- 20Comet20Novel/scan0033.jpg this]] -->
** Ozai himself, father of both of the above, used to be this too. After his older brother Iroh's son died, his father ordered him to kill Zuko to let him know what it feels like. To put this into perspective, though, Fire Lord Azulon only ordered this after Ozai tried to use his nephew's death as an excuse to steal his brother's birthright, and after he openly scoffed at Iroh's grief for his lost son causing him to abandon the siege of Ba Sing Se. Still...ouch! Let's face it, [[Royally Screwed Up|that whole family is a mess.]]
*** Except for Ursa and Iroh. Zuko eventually matured and [[Calling the Old Man Out|said 'screw you' to Ozai.]]
Line 411:
** Further expanded in Fatherklok, where Pickles' father straight out calls him trash.
* Sometime between the original run of ''[[Family Guy]]'' and the [[Un Cancelled|current series]], Meg Griffin went from mildly ignored to outright hated by the rest of her family (caused in part by the running joke that Meg may or may not be the result of an affair Lois had behind Peter's back, which in turn cost her a chance to become an Olympic swimmer. Lampshaded in that the show itself has pointed out her unpopularity via doing an entire episode around the family being the subject of a reality tv show. In the episode, the people filming the Griffins point out that Meg is the least liked member of the family, resulting in her being replaced with an attractive actress. And this episode was ''before'' the [[Un Cancelled]] portion.
** You could go on for days about the [[Comedic Sociopathy]] Peter and Lois inflict on poor Meg. Lois in particular; she tried to steal Meg's boyfriend in one episode, couldn't even say "I love you" to the girl on her own wedding day, and ''tried to get her to kill herself''<ref>She left a bottle of sleeping pills and an [[Emily Dickenson]] book next to Meg and said "Whatever happens, happens" in a bored tone of voice</ref>. In one memorable episode, Meg [["The Reason You Suck" Speech|calls them and Chris out]] on how they treat her like shit despite being disgusting, horrible excuses for human beings...but then goes right back to being their punching bag after seeing that without her as a common "enemy", the family would collapse in on itself.
* [[Mad Scientist|Dr. Doofenshmirtz]] on ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]''. His mother preferred his younger brother Rodger, while his father preferred the family dog.
** It didn't help that [[Jerkass|his father]] named their dog, "Only Son."
Line 470:
[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]
[[Category:The Unfavourite]]
[[Category:Trope]][[Category:Pages with comment tags]]
| |||