Supernatural-Proof Father: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

You see, the father, as the head of the family and the most "sensible and grounded" member, is the last person to encounter (or admit encountering) these bizarre events. The children see them, the [[Haunted Heroine|wife/mother]] sees them, Hell, even the [[Animal Reaction Shot|family dog]] [[Evil-Detecting Dog|sees them.]] But the dad is always the last person to see and believe. Although it's debatable whether or not they're the least susceptible, or just plain [[Somebody Else's Problem|in denial]]. This is a depressingly common trope in "Haunted House" style stories, and may also be used by elder brothers/best (male) friends, etc.

== [[Film]] ==

* In ''[[The Amityville Horror]]'' George is the last person to believe the house is haunted, yet is probably the one most affected, barring the Priest of course who ends up getting cursed after being the house for all of 10 minutes.

* Genderflipped in ''[[The Shining]]''. Jack and his son are the only two to experience the hotel's evil haunting. Jack is slowly driven insane in part by his inability to tell his wife what's going on, and his son (being psychic) is getting bombarded with oh-so-horrible ghostly memories. His wife is quite firmly grounded in reality, and in fact proves to be more than Jack or the Hotel can readily handle even after he goes batty on her.

* In the [[Silent Hill]] movie, the main protagonist's husband believes that their daughter has simply gone insane, and tries as hard as he can to keep his wife from driving her to the titular town. This is a debatable example, because he might just be smart enough to realize that taking someone who yells the name of a place in her nightmares to that very place is a little like looking for a gas leak in a dark room with a match.

** It was hinted in ''[[Freddy vs. Jason]]'' (and even before that) that at least some of the parents, as well as certain members of the police department, knew that the new wave of teen deaths weren't a coincidence which, in turn, lead to the dream suppressant drug ''Hypnocil'' and a [[The Trope Without a Title|"Don't Say That Name" policy]].

* The film ''Audrey Rose'' concerns Ivy Templeton, a preteen girl tortured by horrific nightmares of dying in a car crash. When her parents are approached by a man named Elliot Hoover who claims that Ivy is the reincarnation of his dead daughter Audrey Rose (who died in a car crash at the exact moment of Ivy's birth), Ivy's father refuses to believe it. He holds fast to his belief even after the evidence becomes overwhelming enough to have convinced his wife, leading to serious tension between the two.

* ''[[Insidious]]'' cleverly plays with this trope, and deconstructs it. {{spoiler|The father was made to repress his memory of a ghost that's been haunting him when he was a kid. Also the son basically inherited his dads ability to astral project into the spirit world, or the ''further''}}.

* While not a father, Micah in ''[[Paranormal Activity]]'' refuses to believe that he and Katie are being haunted by a demon and before he takes it seriously he [[Too Dumb to Live|mocks and taunts it]].

* ''[[The Colour Out of Space]]'' by [[H.P. Lovecraft]], where the father is the last one in the Gardner family who is alive and relatively sane.

* In ''[[Peter Pan]]'' Mr. Darling's refusal to believe in the existence of Peter Pan (in spite of his wife's, and even his dog's, efforts to convince him otherwise) indirectly results in the departure of the children to Neverland. Afterwards, he even {{spoiler|sleeps in a kennel}} to atone for this.

 

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

* Completely averted in ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'', since the father is the one that finds the mother's body trapped on the ceiling, sees the ceiling light on fire, and then spends the rest of his life seeking out the demon that did it so he can avenge his wife. And he immerses himself in the supernatural and even raises his sons like soldiers to take over "the family business" when they grow up.

* In ''[[Round the Twist]]'', Tony Twist, father of the three kid protagonists, is the last to believe the ghost in the first episode is real. Despite continuing strange goings on in Port Niranda, he's also most prone to [[Arbitrary Scepticism]].

* In ''[[American Horror Story]]'' Ben takes much longer than the others to realize something is going on, despite this requiring some [[Selective Obliviousness]]. {{spoiler|After seeing Hayden killed and helping ''bury her'' and building a ''gazebo'' over her body, when he sees her ghost he decides she faked her death.}}

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* Subverted in ''[[Bleach]],'' where Isshin Kurosaki appears to be this at first, complaining about being the only member of his family not to see ghosts, then later turns out to be faking it, and, technically speaking, ''being'' a ghost in a fake body the whole time, or something. Point is, he's the ''source'' of their genetically heritable supernatural wackiness, and not an exception.

** And the Village Elder who always turns into quivering jelly when Guu is around.

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

 

== [[Real Life]] ==