World of Snark: Difference between revisions

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{{trope}}
A type of comedy series cast where every character is either a [[Deadpan Snarker]] (who falsely believes him/herself to be the [[Only Sane Man]] completely [[Surrounded Byby Idiots]]) or, rarely, a [[Ditz]] of any kind. These shows usually lie far on the Cynical end of the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]], and most of their humor comes from the characters' reactions to what they perceive as their crappy lives and constant snarking matches.
 
This is not to say that this world is incapable of having genuine, tender moments. Half the cast may be jerks, but the rest may be [[Jerk Withwith a Heart of Gold|jerks with hearts of gold]].
 
{{examples}}
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== Anime And Manga ==
 
* ''[[Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru]]'' has a cast that is equal parts [[Cloudcuckoolander|Cloudcuckoolanders]]s and [[Deadpan Snarker|Deadpan Snarkers]]s, with a [[Genius Ditz]] main character.
* ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'' especially in the English dub, with the somewhat simplistic dialogue replaced with witty and sarcastic comments/insults. Especially Hiei and Yusuke, but also Kurama, Genkai, Shizuru, Kaito, Koenma, Jorge Saotome, Koto (when the idiocy around her gets too much, especially towards Chu and Jorge), Shishiwakamaru (in the final season, at least), Sniper, Atsuko, Toya (when he's not being stoic), hell even Kuwabara shows this very rarely.
** Also note, the snark doesn't stop with the heroes and their supporters. Some of the major villains such as Sensui and Sakyo had their moments.
* As the characters of ''[[Hayate the Combat Butler (Manga)|Hayate the Combat Butler]]'' [[Medium Awareness|know that they are in fact characters in a manga/anime]] it typically results in literally almost every character being sarcastic or witty if they have any lines at all. Nagi and Hinagiku tend towards snarking at villains and some of the more ridiculous weirdos that pop up, but the Student Council Rangers, Ayumu, Wataru, and even Maria all make remarks at the expense of the plot or craziness around them. Hayate himself probably takes the cake, especially in the manga where he is ''a lot'' more cynical than he usually appears and has had exasperated reactions to just about everything and everybody.
 
 
== Fanfiction ==
 
* ''[[Part Right, Half Wrong, a Third Crazy]]'', in its entirety. Even a ''lamp'' manages to be a [[Deadpan Snarker]], due to everyone being some form of [[Cloudcuckoolander]] as well as sarcastic.
* ''[[Uninvited Guests (Fanfic)|Uninvited Guests]]'', thanks to all the ''[[Crack Fic|absurdly nonsensical events]]'' that happens all the time, even the most unlikely characters, like [[Blood Knight|Ken]][[Hot-Blooded|pachi]], snarks at some point.
* [[Harry Potter and Thethe Methods of Rationality]] [[Up to Eleven|to the extreme]].
* In ''[[Of Love and Bunnies]]'', the characters are all former [[Power Rangers]], and they snark to take attention away from [[Weirdness Magnet|the strangeness of their lives]].
 
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* ''[[The Social Network]]'', and many other things written by [[Aaron Sorkin]].
* Anything written by [[Kevin Smith]].
* ''[[Easy A (Film)|Easy A]]''.
* ''[[Star Wars]]'' and its Expanded Universe. A scary accurate rule of thumb is the more snarky someone is, the more important they'll be.
* ''[[North Byby Northwest]]''
* ''[[The Thin Man (Filmfilm)|The Thin Man]]'' series. Really, a majority of the comedy from the [[Studio System]] era, and a good deal of the mystery and suspense, falls into this trope.
* ''[[Kiss Kiss Bang Bang]]'' and ''[[The Last Boy Scout]]'', because of Shane Black.
* The [[Marvel Cinematic Universe]] is wall-to-wall snark, so it's amazing that putting all the heroes together under the directorship of [[Joss Whedon]] in ''[[The Avengers (Filmfilm)|The Avengers]]'' doesn't lead to people having snark overdoses in the cinema.
{{quote| ''[[Graceful Loser|If it's all the same to you]], [[I Need a Freaking Drink|I think I'll have that drink now.]]''}}
** The next movie on the docket for the MCU? ''[[Iron Man (Filmfilm)|Iron Man]] 3'', written and directed by [[Lethal Weapon (Film)|Shane]] [[Kiss Kiss Bang Bang|Black]]. The snark is about to get cranked [[Up to Eleven]].
* ''1776''
 
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** ''[[The Belgariad]]'' isn't a comedy or very cynical, but you're lucky to go two pages in the series without two characters snarking at each other or nothing in particular.
** The same holds true for ''[[The Elenium]]''.
* The ''[[Artemis Fowl (Literature)|Artemis Fowl]]'' series. To the extent that, if a character isn't snarky, they're either insignificant or incompetent. Usually both.
* ''[[Dragaera]]'', especially the Vlad novels. Pretty much every character is either a [[Deadpan Snarker]] or someone who [[First-Person Smartass|Vlad]] can make snarky comments about.<ref>Of course, given that they're [[Literary Agent Hypothesis|presented as transcripts of narrated recordings]] and Vlad is a known [[Unreliable Narrator]], it's possible he's just projecting.</ref>
* ''[[Percy Jackson]]'' The powers that demigods and gods are born with must include snarkiness, because well, they are. Even the chapter titles are snarky!
* The ''[[Nightside]]'' series is chock full of snarkers, as it's set in what's probably the most jaded place on Earth.
* ''[[Harry Potter]]''. There's Snape, McGonagall and Phineas for the starters. Much humour, especially in the later books, comes from the characters snarking each other. In the core trio of Ron, Hermione and Harry, snark is passed around like a hot potato.
* The ''[[Skulduggery Pleasant (Literature)|Skulduggery Pleasant]]'' series has three kinds of dialogue: Exposition, snark, and [[Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs|snarky exposition]].
* Most of [[Terry Pratchett|Pratchett's]] work is this trope.
* Frequent in ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' since the main character is a massive [[Deadpan Snarker]] and almost every other character has at least a few snarky moments. Even [[Knight in Shining Armor|Michael]] gets a moment or two, particularly when borrowing [[The Nicknamer|Harry]]'s name for the Denarians.
* The [[PGP. WodehouseG. (Creator)Wodehouse|Wodehouse]] [[The Verse|'verse]] fits the bill nicely. Much snark is had at the expense of [[Upperclass Twit|Upper Class TwitsTwit]]--manys—many of whom can, in fact, [[Hidden Depths|be pretty snarky themselves]].
 
 
== Live Action TV ==
 
* ''[[M*A*S*H (TVtelevision)|Mash]]''. Even the blatant idiots get off a few good wisecracks, just not as many as Hawkeye and company.
* The main cast of the first four ''[[Star Trek (Franchise)|Star Trek]]'' series qualify, in a relatively restrained way, adding more to the "high-class" image of Starfleet and Trek humans than anything else.
* ''[[My Family]]''
* ''[[Married... Withwith Children (TV)|Married With Children]]''
* ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'': we have a protagonist who practically cannot exhale without snarking, we have his team who eventually learns to snark back at him (enabling [[Snark -to -Snark Combat|2-4 player snarkball ping pong matches]]), we have his best friend who normally is unsnarky but at times [[Not So Above It All|cannot resist it]], we have his boss who breathes sarcasm (possibly as a reaction to the snarking protagonist)...
* ''[[Arrested Development (TV series)|Arrested Development]]''
* ''[[Fawlty Towers]]''
* ''[[Red Dwarf (TV)|Red Dwarf]]''
* ''[[Veronica Mars]]''. It's easier to list who isn't a Deadpan Snarker, and the only main character on that list is a dog. The rest of the list is two minor recurring characters.
* Everything [[Joss Whedon]] has written, ever.
** ''[[Firefly (TV)|Firefly]]''
** ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)|Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''
** ''[[DoctorDr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (Web Video)|Dr. Horrible]]''
** ''[[Angel (TV)|Angel]]''
* ''[[Hogan's Heroes]]''. The only main characters who don't get to snark at least [[Once an Episode]] are Carter and Schultz, and even they get their chance at snark sometimes.
* ''[[Gilmore Girls]]''
* ''[[Wizards of Waverly Place]]''
* ''[[ICarly (TV)|I CarlyiCarly]]''
* ''[[Victorious (TV)|Victorious]]''
* ''[[Big Time Rush (TV)|Big Time Rush]]''
* ''[[That 70s Show (TV)|That '70s Show]]''
* The cast of ''[[Black AdderBlackadder]]'' changes every season, but it tends to be divided almost evenly between the snarkers (Blackadder, Melchett, and so on) and the people who are too dim to notice when they're being snarked at (such as Baldrick, George, Baldrick, Queen Elizabeth, and Baldrick).
** Did we mention Baldrick?
* ''[[The Middleman]]'' is an interesting example, as the title character himself is too earnest to be particularly snarky. Everyone else, on the other hand...
* ''[[Blake's Seven7|Blakes Seven]]'', set in a [[Crapsack World]] where snark is universal, having such uses as:
{{quote| distraction (anyone in need of a getaway; Vila)<br />
defence (anyone being held prisoner, tortured, shot at, etc; anyone dealing with Avon)<br />
coercion (snark-to-snark combat; Blake)<br />
everything (Avon) }}
** The more idealistic characters (Gan, Cally, Dayna, Blake) entered the series with a relatively low level of snark. Their snarkiness grew on a par with their cynicism, especially with Blake.
* ''[[Lost (TV)|Lost]]'' -- snark—snark is basically how everybody communicates in this show. If you look it up, basically every [[Wham! Line]] is snark.
* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'': Are there any non-snarky hunters? Demons? Angels? Apparently, all characters are either snarky or [[Comically Serious]].
* This turns up in ''[[Doctor Who]]'', since the main character snarks on a semi regular basis, and when he isn't doing it, he gets snarked at. Three, Six, Ten and Eleven are among the snarkier Doctors, while Tegan, Turlough, Captain Jack, Donna, Amy, Rory and River Song are among the snarkier companions.
* ''[[Seinfeld (TV)|Seinfeld]]''
* ''[[Curb Your Enthusiasm]]''
* ''[[The Big Bang Theory (TV)|The Big Bang Theory]]''
* ''[[Two and A Half Men]]''
* Basically everyone in ''[[Frasier (TV)|Frasier]]''. In their defense, they ''have'' to be this way: anyone who can't hold their own in a snark-off would get eviscerated by the Crane brothers, who are probably the deadpan world champions.
* ''[[Corner Gas]]''
* ''[[Sherlock (TV)|Sherlock]]''
* ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000 (TV)|Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'', where the main characters actually have to constantly snark in order to keep their sanity.
* ''[[The X -Files (TV)|The X Files]]'', starting with both protagonists and their boss.
 
 
== Newspaper Comics ==
* ''[[Garfield]]''. Mainly the title [[Cats Are Snarkers|cat]], but [[Butt Monkey|Jon]] (on the strip's early months), [[Deadpan Snarker|Dr. Liz Wilson]] (during the 1980's) and [[Silent Snarker|Odie]] (sometimes) have got plenty of it. Special mention goes to [http://garfield.nfshost.com/?s=scale the bathroom scale]{{Dead link}}.
 
== Video Games ==
 
* ''[[Endless Frontier]]'' is a more lighthearted example. There's always somebody available to [[Lampshade Hanging|hang a sarcastic lampshade]] on the absurd levels of [[Fan Service]], [[Let's You and Him Fight|pointless violence]], and anime/RPG [[Cliché Storm|cliches]] present, but they all seem to enjoy living in their crazy little world(s).
* ''[[Dragon Age (Video Game)|Dragon Age]]'' is filled with a good deal of Deadpan Snarkers, particularly party members [[The Lancer|Alistair]] and [[Black Magician Girl|Morrigan]]. That is, whoever isn't a [[Large Ham]], [[The Woobie]] or a [[Complete Monster]] (though some of these cross together).
** It gets even more extreme in [[Dragon Age II (Video Game)|Dragon Age II]], where ''everyone'' is sarcastic, regardless of any other tropes they fit. Even [[Cloudcuckoolander|Merrill]] and [[Troubled but Cute|Fenris]] get in on the action occasionally.
* [[The Sims]]. Maybe not exactly a world full of [[Deadpan Snarker|Deadpan Snarkers]]s, everyone in the thing [[Speaking Simlish|speaks gibberish]], but near everything else is snarky, sarcastic or fuelled by [[Schadenfreude]].
** ''[[The Sims Medieval (Video Game)|The Sims Medieval]]'' is even snarkier. Active Hero Sims and Royal Advisors, especially, nearly always have something snarky or critical to say.
* In [[Golden Sun: Dark Dawn]], pretty much every major character except the [[Silent Protagonist]] gets in one or two snarky lines.
** And thanks to the emoticon responses, the [[Silent Protagonist]] can be played as a [[Silent Snarker]]. ''Yes.''
* Nearly every party member (except perhaps [[Dark Action Girl|Miranda]] and [[Straight Man|Jacob]]) in [[Mass Effect 2 (Video Game)|Mass Effect 2]] gets one or two snarky lines:
{{quote| '''Kasumi:''' {{spoiler|Trapped in a Reaper.}} Could be worse. Don't know how. ([[Beat]]) I guess it could be full of rats.}}
* The world of ''[[Kid Icarus: Uprising]]'' is very much a [[World of Snark]]. This is compounded with the game's [[No Fourth Wall|lack of a fourth wall]], since the characters will lampshade and snark about video game conventions.
 
 
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* ''[[Basic Instructions]]''
* ''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|Order of the Stick]]''
* ''[[Out There]]''
* The world of ''[[Antihero for Hire]]'' is rather silly, so every sane character has become a [[Deadpan Snarker]] as a coping mechanism.
* ''[[Questionable Content]]''
* ''[[Scary Go Round]]'' and ''[[Bad Machinery]]''
* ''[[Schlock Mercenary (Webcomic)|Schlock Mercenary]]''
* ''[[Something *Positive]]''
* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]''
* ''[[8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|Eight Bit Theater]]''
* ''[[Rumors of War]]'' straddles the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]], and its more cynical characters (read: the main cast) are pretty snarky.
* ''[[Homestuck]]''. Even ditzier characters like John and Feferi have their moments of snark, and the snark levels go through the roof when Rose, Dave and Kanaya are involved.
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== Web Original ==
* ''[[Donkey Kong Country]]'' site [[DK Vine]] used to contain the most bitter, sarcastic and unsocial people on the internet, thanks to eleven years of waiting for a new ''[[Donkey Kong Country]]'' game. The announcement of ''[[Donkey Kong Country Returns]]'' helped a lot.
* ''[[That Guy With theThe Glasses]]''
* ''[[Red vs. Blue]]''
* ''[[Cracked.com]]'' had a photoplastyPhotoplasty contest [http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_77_if-sarcasm-ruled-world/ If Sarcasm Ruled the World].
* [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation Zero Punctuation]
 
 
== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Archer]]'' exists in a world where even enemy secret agents are as likely to engage in [[Snark -to -Snark Combat]] as any other kind.
* Much of the [[Silver Age]] [[Warner Bros]] animation catered to this.
* ''[[The Simpsons]]'' can be this at times.
* ''[[South Park]]''. Even the people who are being [[The War On Straw|made fun of]] on the show are snarky.
* Even the [[Disney Animated Canon]] has some entries with this quality, namely ''[[Hercules (Disney1997 film)||Hercules]]'' and ''[[The Emperor's New Groove (Disney)|The Emperors New Groove]]''.
* ''[[Ben 10: Ultimate Alien (Animation)|Ben 10 Ultimate Alien]]'' has the main trio snarking at one another every episode.
* Teenage superhero teams often result in this. ''[[Teen Titans (Animationanimation)|Teen Titans]]'' and ''[[Young Justice (Animationanimation)|Young Justice]]'' are prime examples.
** Adult superhero teams can also have this, as evidenced by ''[[Justice League (Animationanimation)|Justice League]]'' and ''[[The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes (Animation)|The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes]]''.
* Everything in [[The Venture Bros]], whether it be human or otherwise, is prone to sarcasm.
 
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Oh Great a Snark Index]]
[[Category:World Of Snark{{PAGENAME}}]]