Turn the Other Cheek: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

Not to be confused with [[Too Kinky to Torture]], this is actually a form of retribution/[[Forgiveness]]. A character returns cruelty not with anger but with kindness and shows themselves to be the most philanthropic idealist imaginable.

When it works, this is one of the few (if not, the only) things that can stop the [[Cycle of Revenge]].

 

 

Subversion: A hero who makes the villain believe they have faith in the good in anyone, including villain, while keeping an emergency plan in case they err in this.

 

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

* In ''[[Bleach]]'', Orihime heals and revives the two Arrancar girls (Lolly and Menoly) who seconds ago bullied her for ''stealing Aizen's attention'', after getting brutally mauled by Grimmjow. Brutally subverted that both girls are very much [[Ungrateful Bastard|Ungrateful Bitches]] and still tries to attack Orihime out of jealousy.

* Keitaro in ''[[Love Hina]]'' seems to do this a lot to all the girls (except Shinobu of course). In fact it might be fairly common in Unwanted Harem shows.

* Belldandy of ''[[Mang/Ah My Goddess|Ah My Goddess]]'' of course does this a lot.

* Much of ''[[Naruto]]'''s plot ends up like this. {{spoiler|Konoha ninja kills Nagato's parents, who wreaks his revenge on Konoha, and is then hunted down by Naruto... who ends up understanding the whole mess and decides not to kill him back, preventing a [[Cycle of Revenge]].}} He commits suicide anyway by {{spoiler|bringing everyone he killed back to life}}.

* In [[One Piece]], Luffy's first fight against Bellamy. The second fight, taking place after Bellamy attacks and robs people Luffy had befriended, [[Curb Stomp Battle|is another matter]].

 

== [[Film]] ==

== [[Literature]] ==

* [[Older Than Feudalism]]:

** Another explanation of "turn the other cheek": if a man considered someone to be inferior and he decided to strike him, he'd use the back of his hand; if he considered him equal, he'd use his palm. Basically Jesus was saying that if someone gave you a backhander, turn the other cheek to force him to use his palm.

** There is also the interpretation that offering someone the chance to slap you again is a way of showing them that the original insult didn't work, and the slapper has failed in his attempt to embarrass the slappee. As this is usually the fastest way to take the wind out of a bully's sails, turning the other cheek is probably a much better idea than slapping back. Certain Christians interpret this as an endorsement of nonviolent resistance (i.e. civil disobedience).

* ''Arthur of the Britons'' had a monk attempting to convert the Celts to Christianity who did this literally to one of the warlords.

* ''[[Harry Potter]]'' of course! After being bullied and berated all his school life by Draco Malfoy, [[Chronic Hero Syndrome|Harry proceeds to save his arch-rival]] when he was about to be burned to death in the Room of Requirement. Harry saves Dudley's life at the beginning of the fifth book. It doesn't even endear him to the Dursleys because they don't understand what happened and naturally blame Harry. {{spoiler|Much later, it's revealed that Dudley, at least, is properly grateful.}}

* It didn't work in a [[Harry Turtledove]] story where Britain had been conquered and after some tough fighting the Germans had defeated the British Army in India. Non-violent protest proved not to work so well when attempted with an occupying power whose officers are willing to order the machine gunning of your protest march and whose superior officers and government regard that as a fine method to deal with civil disturbance.

* The second variation is played with in [[Discworld]]'s Small Gods. When the god Om gets his powers back, he and Brutha have a minor disagreement over some new laws. Om comments on how he can simply blast Brutha into a little smear on the floor, and Brutha cheerfully agrees that he could, couldn't he? And how Brutha would have absolutely no way of defending himself, whatsoever. Om grumbles that it's not right for someone to use defenselessness as a defense.

* [http://www.101zenstories.com/index.php?story=44 This Zen parable] - a thief entered the house of a priest who was meditating and threatens him, the priest tells him where the money is, asks him to leave enough for the priest to pay taxes and makes sure the thief thanks him when he leaves. A few days later the thief is arrested, but when the police ask the priest to testify against him, the priest tells them that he gave the thief the money and the thief thanked him. The thief still goes to prison, but when his sentence is over he comes back to learn Zen under the priest.

 

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

** Most epically, when Simon and River reveal they know that Jayne tried to sell them out to the Alliance. Jayne was still probably recuperating from getting the crap scared out of him after Mal's threat to [[Thrown Out the Airlock|space]] him over the misdeed.

** The pilot episode has Mal selling his cargo to Patience, who [[Noodle Incident|shot him the last time they met]].

* The Doctor forgiving the Master at the end of the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "Last of the Time Lords".

** In [[The Movie]]: Grace forces the Doctor's [[The Nth Doctor|regeneration]] and tries to have him sent to a psych ward even though [[They Would Cut You Up|she knows he's not human]], Chang Lee walks off with the Doctor's personal effects and teams up with the Master (well, he was tricked, but still), and the Master [[Grand Theft Me|wants the Doctor's body]], and [[Foe Yay|not (just) in the good way]]. The Doctor trusts Grace anyway, and kisses her too, gives Chang Lee a bag of gold dust and some advice, and [[Save the Villain|tries to save the Master's life]].

* The Risans in ''[[Star Trek]]'' take this to a scary level. Based on one episode of ''[[Deep Space Nine]]'', terrorism is apparently okay to them so long as the terrorists are enjoying themselves.

* Byron the leader of the telepath community that moved onto ''[[Babylon 5]]'' used this against a group of anti-telepath bigots, ''asking'' one of them to repeatedly punch him in the face and then asking if it made him feel any better. It unnerved the bigots into leaving.

 

== Music ==

== Western Animation ==

* An episode of ''[[Moral Orel]]'' is titled "Turn the Other Cheek." After listening to a children's song with that title all night, Orel gets it in his head that he should turn the other cheek at every opportunity. The school bully beats Orel repeatedly until his father tells him that he should be doing the exact opposite. [[Hilarity Ensues]] again when Orel preemptively attacks at every possible threat of force, even when his best friend Doughty throws rock in Rock, Paper, Scissors.

* [[Jem]] often gets called out on this by some fans. Throughout the course of the series, The Misfits have put Jem and the Holograms in situations where where the latter group could have been killed, but Jerrica / Jem never calls the police (she likely had her reasons...).

** The one time Eric Raymond got arrested he was released the next day, citing that lawyers can practically do anything you pay them enough. Chances are even if Jem did have the Misfits arrested Eric would have them out in no time flat. What's more infuriating is that the one time they actually were arrested, in ''KJEM'', they weren't responsible.