Unintentionally Unsympathetic: Difference between revisions

** Asuka Langley Soryu is also in the same position but for a different reason. She is a [[Jerkass Woobie]] and if some fans feel sorry for her, others fans think she is an annoying and arrogant bitch.

* [[Values Dissonance|To a non-Japanese audience]], Momotaro from the [[Wartime Cartoon|World War II propaganda film]] ''Momotaro's Divine Sea Warriors'' comes off as a [[Complete Monster]] rallying [[Beware the Nice Ones|adorable]] [[Killer Rabbit|animals]] together to go to war and brutally kill British soldiers.

* [[Broken Base|For many viewers]], [[Working|Mahiru Inami]]. We're supposed to feel pity because [[Does Not Like Men|she can't help but punch any man that comes across]], but that's something really hard to sympathize with, especially as she doesn't seem to do much to fix it. She also gets a romance plot with the main guy that is supposed to be endearing, but fails because it just looks abusive (and when the guy complains about being punched, [[Abuse Is Okay When Its Female On Male|he's the one shown as the bad guy]]).

* ''[[Naruto]]'' falls into this sometimes as well. Sasuke seems to be meant to be seen as a morally gray character being led down the wrong path by his obsession with revenge, but to a number of fans his [[Chronic Backstabbing Disorder]], recent descent into mass murder of Samurai he could have easily defeated non-lethally, and callous disregard for how many people have to suffer for his own emotional satisfaction has caused a number of fans to consider him a [[Complete Monster]] that does not deserve Naruto's goodwill. Similarly, the [[Belated Backstory]] of the legendary "Salamander" Hanzo, the ninja against whom the Sannin won their titles by ''surviving'' a battle with him sets Hanzo up as a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] who lost sight of his goals but is honored in defeat by his rival as a man who strove for peace. [[You Keep Using That Word|By starting a lot of wars and turning his homeland into an unlivable hellhole that produced the most psychologically broken, defeated human beings in the series, just because he was arrogant enough to think his strength could unite the world.]] Most fans still consider Hanzo an utterly unsympathetic character whose violent death at Pain's hands was richly deserved, as his claim of good intentions didn't make him any less of a paranoid warmongering dictator.

 

 

== Film ==

* In the Christian propaganda film ''Rock: It's Your Decision'', the main character is meant to come off as a good Christian trying to steer clear from the "sins" of rock and roll and save others from it, but instead he comes off as a closed-minded and bigoted [[Jerkass]] to anyone who doesn't share the same values and interpretations of Christianity as the protagonist (and even then in some cases, as many Christians have no difficulty reconciling their faith and an enjoyment of secular entertainment).

 

 

== Literature ==

** The Cullens in general could count. They are held up as the epitome of generosity and goodness. Even so, they generally are cold and anti-social to anyone who isn't another vampire or Bella, they are hostile towards the werewolves even though some (for example, Alice) never even met the werewolves before, and they are perfectly fine with letting vampires that ''do'' drink human blood hang around the area. Apparently their desire to protect humans only counts as long as they themselves are killing, and so long as the human isn't Bella. Also, every one of them except for Carlisle has killed at least once in their past, and recollections of said murders are generally treated as embarrassing incidents that are swept aside.

* Pedro from ''[[Like Water for Chocolate]]''. He [[Settle for Sibling|only marries Rosaura de la Garza to be close to her sister Josefita aka Tita]] (who's stuck as [[The Dutiful Son|The Dutiful Daughter]]), heavily neglects Rosaura which furthers her increasing [[Jerkass|Jerkassery]] and ultimately destroys [[The Glorious War of Sisterly Rivalry|her and Tita's already shaky relationship]], causes poor Tita quite the misery as well (and [[What the Hell, Hero?|she doesn't forget to call him out on it]]), and years later {{spoiler|bullies and pressures Tita when [[Nice Guy]] Dr. Brown shows interest in her}}. (Not to mention, [[Parental Neglect|he barely seems to acknowledge]] ''his and Rosaura's children'' unless it's needed for the plot.) So, Pedro is supposed to be Tita's One True Love and the right guy for her... '''''why'''''?

 

== Live-Action TV ==

** On the same show, the death of Kate's brother did not carry the emotional weight it should have done thanks to Kate's refusal to utilize common sense in her repeated attempts to rescue him. The writers were going for "headstrong" and "impulsive" in their characterization of Kate -- unfortunately, all they really managed was "stupid." The ridiculous swinging between [[Wangst]] and trying to romance Robin didn't help her either.

*** And the cherry on top is the fact that Kate's brother was killed by Guy, resulting in a scene in which the audience has no reason to care about anyone involved.

* ''[[South Park]]'' parodies this numerous times. For instance, when Eric Cartman contracts HIV he constantly reminds people of it for sympathy, and any time something bad happens to Cartman, he attempts to milk sympathy and fails.

{{quote| '''Cartman''': I'm not just sure: I'm HIV positive.}}

** A weird inversion actually happens because of this. The time Avalanche ''did'' attempt a [[Heel Face Turn]], Scott doesn't buy it and proceeds to mistrust him. This is made out to be wrong of Scott, except, he '''is''' completely justified in mistrusting him: Lance was actually his biggest rival and ''had'' pulled crap on him and others before. While we (as the audience) knew that Lance ''was'' trying to [[Love Redeems|do good things for Kitty's sake]], Scott simply lacked such knowledge since Lance ''had'' given him reason to be antagonistic, and thus it's understandable to have him not trust Lance off the bat, and it would've been [[Out of Character]] otherwise.

** Ironically, when Quagmire called him out on everything in one episode, ''he'' became unintentionally unsympathetic, as many found it hypocritical for Quagmire to be saying these things to Brian and felt he had no right to. That his hatred for Brain got [[Flanderization|flanderized]] since then, with Brian coming out more sympathetic in their encounters, hasn't helped.