The Mad Hatter: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|''I don't suffer from insanity, I enjoy every minute of it.''|''A fridge magnet''}}

 

{{quote|'''Solomon Grundy:''' ''(to [[Lex Luthor]])'' You're crazy.

 

For a very long time, TV writers seemed to think that one of the universal signs of mental illness was a total inability to perceive one's self as acting oddly. It's tempting to have a mentally ill person utter such classic [[Mad Scientist]] lines as, "[[They Called Me Mad]], but I'm not mad, ''they're'' the ones that are mad!" And certainly, the near sociopathically quirky characters you find on the average [[Sitcom]] seem to think themselves perfectly ordinary. However, in the real world, some, but by no means all deeply disturbed individuals are like this.

Mostly characters who have become unhinged by an exceptional ordeal; rarely results from an organic disorder. Often a facet of the [[Waif Prophet]] or the [[Rabid Cop]]; and frequently a major character component of the [[Shell-Shocked Veteran]] and [[Badass Army|Special Forces]] military types.

 

 

Probably something of a convenience for the writer, as, just as is true of race and handicap, when it's the victim making light of their condition, it doesn't come off quite as insensitive.

 

----

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

* Jan Valentine of ''[[Hellsing]]'' fits the trope, sociopathically so. Despite being the loopy one compared to his brother, Luke, Jan is the superior soldier and sets off the fall of the Hellsing Organization for no real clear motivation except that he thinks it might be fun to do so. Commits magical seppuku while cackling.

** "He's just one man; dressed like a lunatic and armed to the teeth."

*** He also once described himself as "a certified, card-carrying, lock-me-up-throw-away-the-key looney!"

{{quote|'''Joker''': ''See, there were these two guys in a lunatic asylum... And one night, one night they decide they don't like living in an asylum any more. They decide they're going to escape! So, like, they get up onto the roof, and there, just across this narrow gap, they see the rooftops of the town, stretching away in the moonlight... Stretching away to freedom. Now the first guy, he jumps straight across with no problem. But his friend, his friend daren't make the leap. Y'see... Y'see, he's afraid of falling. So then the first guy has an idea... He says, hey! I have my flashlight with me. I'll shine it across the gap between the buildings. You can walk along the beam and join me! B-but the second guy just shakes his head. He suh- says... He says, Wh-what do you think I am? Crazy? You'd turn it off when I was halfway across!''

'''Batman cracks up laughing.''' }}

* ''[[Deadpool]]'' occasionally describes himself as an "addled moron", although it's never clear how much he's pretending to be stark staring mad and how much of it is ''actually'' being stark staring mad.

** An actual in-universe reasoning for the changes in "how" crazy Deadpool is: since his healing factor is out of control (his body is somewhat accurately described as "walking talking cancer") even his BRAIN is rewiring itself with some regularity. Of course, then there's the fact that he's one of the few that completely ignores the fourth wall; he may have learned about the fact that he's in a comic book and, while he loves it, he [[Gone Mad From the Revelation|may have been affected.]]

* ''[[The Creeper]]'', especially in his later versions where his insanity basically kept Ryder sane or was tempting and fun for him.

* Marv from ''[[Sin City]]'', who's aware he's borderline psychotic (and considers himself less clever than he really is). "I've got a condition. I get confused." He also worries about "turn(ing) into what they always said [he] was gonna turn into- a maniac, a psycho killer." In fact, when he uncovers the truth, he takes some time to find more evidence, just to be sure his mind isn't playing tricks on him.

* ''[[Johnny the Homicidal Maniac]]'' often wonders if he's really crazy. By series end, he pretty much seems to revel in it.

* Max from ''[[Sam and Max]]'' is very comfortable with his various mental issues, which mainly include [[Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny|the total absence of an attention span]] and [[The Sociopath|being a sociopath]] (with that exact word used), but [[Depending on the Writer|occasionally]] include nihilism, paranoia, hallucinations (both the [[Hearing Voices]] kind and the visual kind, although not in combination), codependency, [[Too Kinky to Torture|enjoying being hurt a suspicious amount]] - basically, he won the mental illness lottery. The other characters just accept this as part of who he is, especially Sam, and Max himself is generally upbeat and has tons of fun going on adventures, coming up with wild and wonderful ideas, and [[Lawful Stupid|torturing jaywalkers]].

* [[Arkham Asylum a Serious House On Serious Ground|Amadeus Arkham]] pities the poor shades confined to the Euclidean prison that is sanity.

** They then chase a time-travelling sofa, leading to Arthur happily reflecting on just how fast his slip into insanity was.

{{quote|''Arthur suddenly laughed with unexpected delight. For once his day was going entirely according to plan. Not half an hour ago he had decided to go mad, and now here he was, chasing a Chesterfield sofa across the fields of prehistoric Earth.''}}

* The lost explorer Gordon Willikers (get it?) from [[Daniel Pinkwater]]'s ''The Worms of Kukumlima'' frequently discusses or makes reference to his insanity. No one questions this even though he's quite lucid and isn't a great deal more eccentric than anyone else in the book. His insanity, therefore, comes across as a mix of an [[Informed Ability]] and a [[Running Gag]].

* In ''[[I Never Promised You A Rose Garden]]'', the inmates at the psychiatric hospital have rules about such things: the disturbed ward gets to refer to themselves as "crazy", "mad", etc.; the less disturbed patients may call themselves "cuckoo" or other euphemisms. (It's an autobiographical novel, by the way.)

'''Bloodnok''': ''What a splendid judge of character this fellow is.'' }}

 

** And by the good guys. [[State Sec|Inquisitors]] and other Imperial officials occasionally muse that to the average man, doing things like blowing up your own planet to stop the enemy from claiming it, or abandoning millions to die because they aren't worth the cost of life required to save them, are unfathomably evil acts. Yet those who know the true nature of the threats facing the Imperium realize that such atrocities make a chilly sort of sense. "The very existence of the human race is the prize for victory. Our sanity is the sacrifice we make to win that laurel."

* ''[[Genius: The Transgression]]'': The good Geniuses are the ones who know they're crazy. The ''bad'' Geniuses are the ones who think they're ''totally sane''.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

** Including the Alice in Wonderland quote, which takes on a darker meaning... {{spoiler|After all, Dave is mad!}}

* Coyote from ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'' shows some traits of this, along with being a god.

* Kisume in ''[[Touhou Nekokayou]]'', who implies that her entire species must be mad for opting to spend their lives in buckets.

 

== Web Original ==

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

** Not to mention Rampage from ''[[Beast Wars]]''. The quote speaks for itself:

{{quote|'''Rampage''': Is that fear you're feeling, Maximal? Mmm...yes. My spark, it feeds on terror. Let it grow! Let it consume your circuitry! Feel it! Yes, feel it! Feel the fear!}}

{{quote|'''Scared Underling:''' Sir... I'm afraid you've gone mad with power...

'''[[General Ripper]]:''' Of course I have! Have you ever tried going mad without power? It's boring. Nobody listens to ya. }}

{{quote|"They called me crazy, they called me insane, they called me loony! Boy, were they right!"}}

* [[Jackie Chan Adventures|The Monkey King]], once he stops being a pest, brings out the [[Ax Crazy]] and lowers [[Puppet Permutation|Puppet-Jackie]] into a woodchipper.

Monkey King: Haven't you noticed? I have a '''WEIRD''' sense of humour! }}

* Doctor Weird from ''[[Aqua Teen Hunger Force]]'', possibly. "It works! ''I'' am one can short of a six-pack!"

[[Category:Madness Tropes]]

[[Category:Characters As Device]]