The Last DJ: Difference between revisions

Contrast [[Limited Advancement Opportunities]], where characters never advance in their position because that would force the writing team to separate the cast. The exact opposite of [[Kicked Upstairs]], where an unwanted and incompetent person ''is'' promoted, to get them away from the real work so they can no longer screw things up. See also [[Bothering by the Book]] and [[Screw the Money, I Have Rules]]. Also compare [[Bunny Ears Lawyer]], where the traits that would hold back a Last DJ get overlooked on account of how much of an asset the character is otherwise. Will very frequently overlap with [[Knight in Sour Armor]]. Music wise it overlaps with [[Music Is Politics]].

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== Anime and Manga ==

* One ''[[Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex]]'' episode features Marcelo Jarti, a popular South American war hero, revolutionary, and [[Grey and Grey Morality|drug kingpin]] who spends half his time dodging assassination attempts from the US and Britain because he refuses to go along with their plans for South American politics. {{spoiler|Turns out that he was actually put in a machine that made copies of him and the original died a while ago. It isn't made clear whether he chose this or not.}}

* Kenzo Tenma in ''[[Monster (manga)|Monster]]'' ultimately counts as an aversion. It looks like he is being set up for this when he chooses to treat an injured child instead of the Mayor, who dies while being treated by less talented surgeons, but then his superiors died mysteriously, {{spoiler|at the hands of the very psychopathic child Tenma had treated}} leaving Tenma clear to advance his career. After that he does choose to play it straight and leaves the better job to follow what he feels is a moral obligation.

* ''[[Legend of Galactic Heroes]]'' - Yang Wen-Li is the greatest military genius to be born since [[Genghis Khan]] conquered Eurasia, is [[Honor Before Reason|loyal to a fault]] toward his country and politically savvy enough to know what [[The Federation|the Free Planets Alliance]] should do to ensure its perenity and prosperity for a few generation at least and probably the nicest guy of [[The Verse]]. Because of this, ''a lot'' of corrupt officials in the alliance fear and hate him, knowing that he would easily beat them should he decide to quit the army and run against them in an election. Fortunately {{spoiler|for his rival Reinhart von Lohengram, Yang is so devoid of ambition that he pass every opportunity to gain political power, unwittingly giving Reinhart the opportunity to conquer the Free Planet Alliance}}

* Kotetsu from ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]'' is an idealistic hero who thinks that saving people is more important than scoring points...or [[Hero Insurance|worrying about collateral damage]]. His lack of respect from his [[Executive Meddling|superiors]], his [[Butt Monkey|peers]], and the [[Unpopular Popular Character|general public]] is a [[Running Gag]] in the first season!

== Comic Books ==

* ''[[Preacher (Comic Book)]]'':

** Minor character Colonel Holden. His response to [[Big Bad|Herr Starr]] when Starr chews him out and tells him to shut up and follow orders if he ever wants to get promoted past colonel is the very essence of this trope.

* ''[[The Losers]]'' has supporting character Agent Stegler, a CIA agent who is an experienced field agent that has been [[Reassigned to Antarctica|reassigned to a desk job]] that he hates due to his unpopular opinions on what the agency should be doing, and his objection to young agents doing crappy work and just using their jobs as a networking opportunity to get in with corrupt private companies. (At one point some younger agents even ask why Stegler seems to be unable to get the point that his reassignment was an obvious attempt to get him to resign).

* John Hartigan, the last honest cop in ''[[Sin City]]''. Until he is framed and sent to prison for refusing to let the son of a senator rape a little girl.

== Film ==

* ''[[Star Wars]]'' series - Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn was allegedly never chosen to join the Jedi Council because of his unorthodox views, and his questioning of/refusal to just go along with the council's views and decisions.

** He ends up (by complex means) becoming ''Yoda's master''.

** The [[Tron|first film]] had the same for Walter Gibbs, who was essentially locked out of his own company for protesting Dillinger's shoddy treatments of programmers and [[Information Wants to Be Free|lockdown of data through the system.]] His counterpart, Dumont, was almost a literal case, operating the last free I/O Tower on the System in defiance of Master Control.

* ''[[Discworld]]''

** Captain Vimes in [[Discworld/Guards Guards|Guards Guards]] felt that he was in this situation. In his own words: "Every time he seemed to be getting anywhere he spoke his mind, or said the wrong thing. Usually at the same time."<br /><br />However, this has become inverted as the series progresses, as Vimes is repeatedly promoted and ennobled against his wishes, having to be coerced into accepting by the Patrician. Vetinari ''likes'' having a powerful person who won't play the game; it keeps the people who ''are'' playing it worried. The ultimate example is probably the end of ''[[Discworld/Feet of Clay|Feet of Clay]]'' where, much to Vimes's own bewilderment, Vetinari gives him a pay rise for upsetting everyone important in the city, and bursting into a council meeting with an axe. Vetinari muses in one book that having an authority figure who is so staunchly ''anti-''authoritarian is "practically zen".

* The titular knight of [[David Eddings]]' ''Sparhawk'' series originally held the hereditary position of Champion of the Royal House of Elenia... but when the king was corrupted by his [[Brother-Sister Incest|sister]] and a greedy [[Corrupt Church|Primate]], Sparhawk refused to just go along with things.<br /><br />After trying his best to beat the king back into shape (though not literally, or very successfully), he was forced to take on the position of glorified nursemaid for the young princess Ehlana, in hopes that he'd resign his position in humiliation. Instead, he proceeds to raise her into a [[The High Queen|brilliant ruler]]. Faced with that, the weak king finally caves to pressure from his sister/lover and his [[Treacherous Advisor]], and simply exiles Sparhawk from the kingdom, to the heretic-infested, dust-choked, sun-baked, desert land of Rendor.<br /><br />Much later, after the king has died and Ehlana ascended the throne, he is called back and more-or-less forced to [[Wife Husbandry|marry her]] - and her [[Deadly Decadent Court]] quickly finds that he is not only as incorruptible as ever, but now also on ''very'' friendly terms with the highest power in the kingdom. Not to mention well-armed and more than willing to prove it to anyone who impugns the honor of his wife, or himself. His father, also named Sparhawk, was the reason the weak king could not marry his sister/lover. The incorruptibility of the Sparhawk line is legendary.

* ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' - Lieutenant Karrin Murphy was transferred to Special Investigations specifically because she wouldn't shut up about inconvenient facts. {{spoiler|This also results in her getting demoted later, when her absence during an investigation got her in serious trouble.}} She couldn't exactly tell her boss she was helping a wizard {{spoiler|storm the Winter Queen's castle}} to rescue a teenage girl, now, could she?

* ''[[Snow Crash]]'' - Hiro Protagonist, last freelance hacker. He is aggressively sought after by at least one software firm willing to pay top dollar for his skills, but working for them would require wearing a tie and showing up to work in the morning. Hiro finds these conditions to be dealbreakers and remains unaffiliated.

* Harry Drinkwater from Allen Steele's ''Lunar Descent''. He obeys all FCC regulations to the letter, yet manages to get fired from every DJ position he's ever held.

{{quote|"Do you presume to question our authority?" Coram asked carefully.

"I question your authority to place our lives in jeopardy for circumstances which are outside our control, sir" Morgan replied. Coram sat back and nodded slowly as Morgan continued. "I do not pretend to understand all the ramifications of my inheritance, but His Majesty will assure you, I think, that I have a fair idea what justice is about. If you shut us out from the protection of our birthright, and force us to stand against full Deryni who are formally trained in the use of their powers, it may be that you decree our deaths. Surely we have done nothing to warrant that." }}

* Howard Roark in ''[[The Fountainhead]]'', which is essentially [[Objectivism|the whole point of the book]].

** John Galt from [[Atlas Shrugged]], by the same author. [[Ayn Rand]] seems to love this type of character.

* In the ''[[Elemental Logic]]'' series, [[Supreme Chef]] Garland deserted the Sainnite army because the General ordered him to cook badly, which he was completely unwilling to do.

* ''[[Treme]]'' has Davis, a quite literal embodiment of this trope. He gets fired from the last "real" DJ position at WOL for blessing their "soulless" post Katrina digs with a voodoo ritual. He then proceeds to make several different short careers out of refusing to keep his mouth shut.

* ''[[Scrubs]]'' has Dr. Cox, whose stubborn idealism makes him a near perfect example of this. In a very early episode, Dr. Cox is criticized for this by a former chief of medicine and mentor.

* ''[[Babylon 5]]'' has several cases that are at least alluded to. Dr. Stephen Franklin is the most orthodox one: when the war with the Minbari was going very, very badly for Earth, he and other xenobiologists were called on to create biological weapons to combat the Minbari. He refused, and destroyed his notes so no one else could use them, and promptly spent most of the war in a jail cell as a result. In the pilot, the station's initial [[Number Two]] describes being stuck in a position where the only way to get promoted was to pay for it, which she refused to do.

* The title character of ''[[Cyrano De Bergerac]]'', by Edmond Rostand, is quite possibly the ur-example of this trope, making it [[Older Than Radio]].

{{quote|''But what would I have to do? Cover myself with the protection of some powerful patron? Imitate the ivy that licks the bark of a tall tree while entwining itself around its trunk, and make my way upward by guile, rather than climbing by my own strength? No, thank you. ... [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|I may not rise very high, but I'll climb alone!]]''}}

** This trope is deconstructed in the play: Cyrano refuses Cardenal Richelieu (the most powerful man in France) patronage as a playwright because [[Executive Meddling|Richelieu could correct one of two of his lines]], [[Honor Before Reason|recriminates De Guiche his use of deception and spies in the war]], and [[Caustic Critic|stubbornly attacks all the phonies he encounters with his satirical letters]]. He never compromises. What destiny waits for the [[Last DJ]] in [[Real Life]]? He got the respect of his peers, but almost all of them died honorably at war. [[Reality Ensues|At the end of his life, Cyrano lives alone, unknown and in poverty. Besides is clearly implied that his numerous enemies were sick of him and arranged a cowardly assassination]]. Cyrano realizes that none of his works will ever be remembered except the one scene that was plagiarized by Moliere (who certainly was a genial playwright, but also he had to compromise a lot with his patrons to be allowed to play... and is a thieving author, but so it was Shakespeare!) and dies surrounded by only three friends (whom gladly would have helped him, [[Don't You Dare Pity Me!|but as Mother Margarita said, Cyrano certainly would not have let them do it)]].

== Video Games ==

* Captain Brenner/O'Brian from ''[[Advance Wars]]: Days of Ruin''.

* ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' - Going by the [[Flash Back]] scene in a recording sphere, [[Badass Longcoat|Auron]] could also fit into this before embarking on the pilgrimage with Braska. A promising [[Warrior Monk]] within the [[Corrupt Church|theocratic church]] and a true believer, Auron's career was blacklisted and at least one promotion that was meant for him went to others after he refused to marry the daughter of a high priest.

* Subverted and parodied in the ''[[Grand Theft Auto]]'' series -- [[GTA Radio|Lazlow]] ''thinks'' that he's this, but is really just an arrogant, [[Small Name, Big Ego|egotistical]] [[Jerkass]] who doesn't realize that he's no longer relevant, with most people treating him as a joke.

* Junichiro Tokuoka from the [[.hack]] franchise was an eccentric, almost-worshiped director for The World's Japanese localization. After The World hit the jackpot, he was discarded by CC Corp because of his behavior and how it conflicted with the executives.

== Western Animation ==

* The main reason Optimus Prime in ''[[Transformers Animated]]'' is stuck leading a glorified repair crew is that he won't kiss ass and toe the line like Sentinel Prime does. Most obviously presented when Prime refuses to cave in and lie about the presence of Decepticons on Earth, even though Sentinel threatens to have him locked away for "Inciting panic".

== Real Life ==

* [[Professional Wrestling|Pro wrestler]] "The American Dragon" [[Bryan Danielson]] has been very vocal and very adamant that he will never join the rosters of either [[WWE]] or TNA, due to the fact that he's completely uninterested in playing politics and absolutely refuses to change his wrestling style (which, incidentally, has [[Smark|Smarks]] referring to him as, quite possibly, the world's greatest wrestler and at least America's greatest). This basically left him as the king of the American independent wrestling scene -- which isn't saying much these days. He's now signed with the WWE, apparently due to mounting medical bills. But then in June 2010, he was let go, purportedly because he was ''too violent''.

** And now he's back with the WWE and seems to be on track toward becoming a main eventer of the company. Of course, that's probably because he's ''that damn good'' in the ring.