You Bastard: Difference between revisions

So you're reading or playing, and enjoying away, and then [[Mood Whiplash|suddenly]] something happens to make you question how right you are to enjoy this socially unacceptable behavior. Perhaps the characters start musing about what kind of warped mindset would possibly enjoy this. Or maybe they just outright [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|smash through the fourth wall]] and tell you exactly what they think of you.

 

 

And you're left to wonder in shame. Or, more likely, [[Mind Screw|confusion]].

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[Battle Royale]]'' did this in the manga. In the final volume, {{spoiler|the main character writes a letter telling the reader that the evil things in the volume exist only because the reader, and those like him, are evil enough to be interested in it.}}

** This was only done in the English translation, as [[Pragmatic Adaptation|it would have been too expensive]] to include the lyrics to "Born to Run" by [[Bruce Springsteen]]

* [[Lady Snowblood]]: there's a bit of exposition on the scientific theories of the late 18th century, where one guy suggests that the Japanese should start having children with Europeans and generally open up to the Western world. The narration goes on to ponder on if this had happened, maybe Japan wouldn't have become the jingoistic nation uit was, avoiding its expansionist policies and involvement in WWII... and you, the reader, wouldn't be holding this book right now.

 

* ''[[The Joker]]'', of all people, pulls one on Gotham City (and by extension the reader) by showing up during a game show and threatening to inflict Japanese-game-show levels (and beyond) of sadism on the participants. The entire time this is happening, we keep cutting away to the production crew, whose reactions run the gamut between "oh my God, this is horrible" to "keep rolling, the ratings will be awesome". Joker dicks with his terrified victims, but [[Poke the Poodle|he does little worse than a pie to the face]]. After he's done, he lectures his unseen audience about their expectations - and broadcasts the producer's money-grubbing reaction. He even declares it "the most fun he ever had ''without'' killing anyone", because of all the sheer terror he got to laugh at with the contestants thinking they were going to die and screwing people over through his actions.

** The Joker does this often; while he's undeniably crazy and cruel, [[Laughably Evil|he is also a consummate showman and his exploits are just ''so'' entertaining that they're hard to resist]] - ''especially'' if there's some way to make a profit from his antics. In another story arc heavy on [[Refuge in Audacity]], the Joker actually succeeds at selling his own life story to a low-budget movie studio in Gotham and has himself cast as the star, even getting up-and-coming young actors to appear in the film alongside him, cast as his victims [[Too Dumb to Live|(who somehow never consider the almost-certain possibility that he really ''will'' try to kill them)]]. Even worse are the filmmakers themselves, especially when the Joker threatens to bump off members of the crew if he doesn't get his way - [[Pragmatic Villainy|the producer counters that there are plenty more lackeys where they came from]]. When the Joker finally lashes the filmmakers to a [[Death Trap]] (that he hopes Batman will inadvertently set off by trying to stop him) for the movie's big climax, the producer's only reaction is to announce that the Joker has gone too far and that the movie will now have to shut down production.

* ''[[Small Favors]]'' had one scene when Nibbil [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|became aware that "they're watching."]] Her lover Annie acknowledged this, and whispered something she was sure the readers wanted to see them do together. Nibbil's response was to yell at the readers, "''What''! Oh my ''God''! You ''sick perverts''!" But Annie soon persuaded her to do it anyway.

 

 

* ''The Devil's Chair'' has a weird moment of [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]] where the protagonist tells the audience that the movie's just gotten silly and that they're horrible people for enjoying it.

{{quote|As you can see it all got a bit silly right here. A girl with her puppies out, a demon, old banana over there in his pajamas. Is this what I promised you? Are we prick teasing you enough? Is this what you came here to see, all my brothers? Look at this poorly written, badly acted bullshit! Is there any truth in this b-movie banality? No! No, there is no truth. Believe no one. Believe nothing. You freaks and geeks. You bloodthirsty morons, fuck you! Bring on the red parade. So are there any pulses in the house? You deadbeat, midnight, freak-geek witted torture-porn gore whores! I know what you're looking for, so have it! Take it! and fuck you all very much! }}

* ''[[Climax]]''. Anyone struggling to kick a drug addiction should watch this 2018 film, it's almost sure to convince them to quit cold turkey. It's a psychological horror where LSD overdose from spiked punch causes the cast to lapse into both violence and madness, a perfect PSA for anyone viewing, so long as said viewer does not have any anxiety or stress issues, and by the way, that is [[Not Hyperbole]].

 

* In ''[[The Acts of Caine|Heroes Die]]'' the main character (a kind of sci-fi gladiator who [[Bread and Circuses|kills fantasy creatures to entertain the downtrodden masses of Earth]]) uses this on his audience, who collectively share his body for the duration of his adventures. Due to the character narrating to his own audience, it also ends up directed at the reader by extension.

* [[Clive Barker]]'s ''Mr. B. Gone'' starts from the premise that the book itself is [[Sealed Evil in a Can|possessed by a demon]] who frequently implores the reader to burn the book and set him free. {{spoiler|The eponymous demon goes so far as to repeatedly threaten the reader, bribe them and appeal to their better (and worse) natures as the book goes on.}}

* [[Older Than Feudalism]]: In [[The Bible|the New Testament]] a very nice guy named Jesus with holy, life-saving powers is tortured and executed in the most brutal way possible. And whose fault is it? Not the Jews, not the Romans, it's all ''your'' fault!

 

* ''[[The Vicar of Dibley]]'' provides an example: the end of an episode dealing with the character's attempts to get involved in Live Earth ends with shots of people suffering in famine-torn Africa coupled with shots of the cast glaring righteously into the camera as if to say "This is all ''your'' fault! ''You'' are to blame for this! Yes, ''you personally''!" The episode itself was essentially a publicity spot for the White Wristband campaign.

* The episode "Tsunkatse" of ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' has the crew enjoying a violent alien sport, then feeling guilty about it when they realize the participants are slaves. Chakotay in particular, was very interested in it. Then again, he boxes, so you can see why. It was the slaves bit that got him up in arms.

* Done very cleverly in the ''[[House of Cards (British series)|House of Cards]]'' trilogy; in the manner of a Shakespearean villain, Francis Urquhart regularly [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|turns to the camera]] (and through it, the audience) and shares his thoughts and plans with us in a very charming, seductive manner, both implicating the audience as a co-conspirator and charming us on some level into wanting him to succeed, even though his plans frequently place him only a hop, skip and jump away from being a [[Complete Monster]].

* ''[[The Shield]]'' spends seven seasons carefully building your sympathies for [[Villain Protagonist|a man who is a thief, a thug, a liar, and a cold-blooded murderer.]] The series finale [[Deconstructed Trope|brutally tears this pretense apart]] and throws it back in the viewer's face.

* In the final season of ''[[The Sopranos]]'', Dr. Melfi's own shrink tore into her for enabling Tony to continue his life of crime. A lot of critics read this as a rebuke to the viewer, for enjoying the show even as it becomes painfully clear how irredeemable most characters are.

 

** On a related note, first word of "B.Y.O.B" by System of a Down, a protest song about political apathy? One very Cookie Monster-esque ''You''.

** Done much earlier (and [[Played for Laughs]]) by Anna Russell in "The Rubens Woman": "She is dead, and who killed her? Who killed her? You killed her! ''You!''"

* [[Carly Simon]]: "You're so vain, you probably think this song is about you!" (Then again, she was aiming the song at three specific men -- as of 2020 the only one she's admitted to is [[Warren Beatty]] -- so the "you" in it is not the audience as a whole.)

 

* If you read the ''[[Peanuts]]'' strip [https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/2013/05/12 seen here] on Mother's Day you might feel like an [[Ungrateful Bastard]] for the same reason almost every character in the strip does. Unless, of course, you followed Charlie Brown's example; if so, [["Well Done, Son" Guy|well done.]]

 

* One of the oldest tricks a [[Heel]] has to get [[Cheap Heat]] is to tell the audience what bastards they are. [[World Wrestling Entertainment|Chris Jericho]] spent months playing the You Bastard card, lambasting the audience for cheering [[Shawn Michaels]], who he saw as a hypocrite, a cheat, and a coward.

** [[CM Punk]], as a heel, has also been employing this trope. See, he's Straight-Edge and [[Jeff Hardy]] (as a face), his rival, was a reformed drug addict, so this naturally led Punk to despise us fans for liking Hardy so much, and [[Drugs Are Bad|very, very... VERY long narc speeches.]] To those familiar with his pre-WWE, he's done this act as a heel before and is apparently very, very good at it.

** Mick actually suggested the Mankind name expressly so he could ambiguously do You Bastard material, talking about the evil and ugliness of Mankind in a way in which he may be referring to himself, or to all humans in general.

 

* [[Subverted]] [[Parody|parodically]] in [[Ricky Gervais]]' stand-up act ''Animals'', in which at one point he announces that he's going to spend a few moments "talking about the most dangerous animal of them all" with an accusing finger pointed at the audience... before suddenly pointing at a picture of King Kong and yelling "The giant gorilla!" He then incredulously notes that some people say the most dangerous animal in the world is "Man", before pointing at King Kong once again.

* Jo Brand had a routine where she would talk about the film ''[[Boxing Helena]]'' and say "A woman has her arms and legs cut off and put in a box. What if she has her period?" When audiences groaned in disgust at this point she would say "Oh you're fine with a woman being dismembered then, but mention periods..."

{{quote|"I guess I'm kinda thinking about my old girlfriend. We were together about three years, and uh... sometimes when I get on stage I think about her, because she'd travel with me, and I'd be performing, and I'd hear her laugh... I guess I kind of miss her. And, uh... she's not living anymore, so... [laughter] You think that's funny?}}

 

* The game ''[[Munchkin (game)|Munchkin]]'' is all about not doing this when it should be. There are actually situations in which you can accept bribes from player A to sit back and watch the fun as player B gets slaughtered when you could have saved them not only without penalty, but getting free experience in the process.

* The John Tynes roleplaying metagame ''[http://johntynes.com/revland2000/rl_powerkill.html Power Kill]''. It's intended to point out to fantasy [[Tabletop RPG]] players that many or most of the actions their characters perform (entering other creature's homes, killing them and taking their belongings) [[Captain Obvious|would be considered heinous crimes]] if they occurred in the real world.

* In the ''[[Dragon Age]]'' tabletop RPG adventure pack, ''Blood in Ferelden'', there is an adventure where if the characters slay a monster guardian they learn that if they then take the object of their quest, they doom an intelligent species to extinction. "Should the players complain about this horrible choice," the text reads, "you might remind them that they entered the [monster's] lair with the intention of robbing it, and killed it while it tried to protect its home. Slaying the [monster] wasn't necessary; '''''Dragon Age''''' provides rules for knocking out a creature rather than killing it. The heroes face this horrible choice in part because of their own actions." Given the actual setup, the point is rather [[Anvilicious]], but well taken nonetheless.

 

* Done backhandedly in "Nowadays" from the musical ''[[Chicago (musical)|Chicago]]'': the protagonists, having been [[Karma Houdini|declared innocent of the murders they committed]], give glowing compliments (including floral tributes) to the audience "who made it all possible by believing in our innocence."

* In ''[[The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny]]'', Jimmy is about to be executed for having committed [[What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?|the most heinous crime in the world]]: not having any money to pay his debts. The execution scene is introduced with a caption which asks the audience members who are offended by this turn of events if ''they'' would have paid his debts. "Would you? Are you sure?"

* [[William Shakespeare]] does this fairly often, with characters like Iago, who implicate the audience in his evil schemes while constantly winking at them, or the Duke of ''[[Measure for Measure]]'' who does questionable things to bring the story to a happy, generically-correct conclusion (while advancing his own power).

 

* ''[[Soul Nomad and The World Eaters|Soul Nomad]]''. The Demon Path. That is all.

* ''[[God of War (series)|God of War]]''{{'}}s Kratos. The series he is in is based on Greek Mythology, which means you end up with [[Protagonist Centred Morality]] a lot of the time. The player has to do completely heartless things like smash a person's head on an altar, which the player drags him to while he is screaming "no!no! get away from me!" (this is from the second game). There is no way he could have resisted. In the first game, Kratos is a champion of the Gods, In the second, he is a champion of the Titans, who eventually {{spoiler|kills the fates, which gives him the ability of time travel.}} This may sound fine, but the level of bloody violence is so much so it was ''mentioned on the back cover''. Then again, at that time morality was different, and they are not afraid to show some of it. Also, as noted above, Kratos commits an act of treachery at the beginning of the second game. The entire plot revolves around being a [[Complete Monster]]. Just look at the page mentioned above for more examples.

** {{spoiler|"Depends on the species, ''Turian''."}}

** -Disconnect

* ''[[EVE Online]]''{{'}}s chronicles and the ''Burning Life'' novel go a long way to fleshing out how the world of New Eden views capsuleers like ''you''. In the course of being your average MMORPG character, you are an [[A God Am I|immortal]] directed by a moral compass [[Omniscient Morality License|completely alien]] to the average [[NPC|denizens]] of the world you inhabit. Thousands die at your bidding for loot or sometimes for fun, and your kind wage endless wars that up that amount by orders of magnitude. Many capsuleers are so far removed from the sphere of the ordinary person's world that they don't [[All There in the Manual|even realise they're carrying a crew aboard most of the ships they control]]. Good luck not feeling guilty on those rare occasions when those poor saps are given a voice.

* Mildly occurs in ''[[World in Conflict]]'', towards the end. Having been under Soviet rule for months, Seattle has many Soviet propaganda posters and images painted around the city, most of them giving idealistic messages about the ending of the Cold War, a new, united world and attacking US and NATO forces for being warmongers. Now listen to the Colonel Sawyer himself admitting that the US airstrikes did more damage to the city than the Soviets themselves, consider that you are trying to save the city from {{spoiler|a nuke by the US government}} and note that the final US assault on the city pretty much levels the whole place. A small pang of guilt is unavoidable even knowing that the Soviets are the aggressors.

* Hilariously parodied in ''[[E.Y.E.: Divine Cybermancy]]''. [http://i.imgur.com/Sp6cX.jpg Behold.]

* In ''[[Alpha Protocol]]'', there are very few enemies you have to kill. A bit of mercy can not only drastically change several points in the plot but provide you with perks, stat bonuses, and recognition from your peers (both allies and opposition). {{spoiler|For instance, sparing the head of a terrorist organization gives you an ally and a bit of a political upper hand. Although when Parker compared the 300 people he's killed to the 12 people this troper killed and said we were not so different, I found the lack of a possible retort to be annoying.}}

* ''[[Mortal Kombat]]'' has this in the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GgpeY_fKgc first] and [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UMu-Kx-bQFU second] installments. So you beat the game and saved the world, right? Wrong. You just condemned the Earth to destruction. "Have a nice day" indeed.

* ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]'' games typically have a menu listing how many of certain accomplishments the player has done (for example, "people killed", "quests completed", "locations discovered".) ''[[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim|Skyrim]]'' lists how many rabbits the player has killed in this menu - under the heading "bunnies slaughtered".

* In ''[[Stray]]'', there is an achievement called "No More Lives", gained when the ''adorable'' kitty-cat you are controlling is killed nine times. Ironically, this is ''not'' the type of game where [[Everything Is Trying to Kill You]], meaning this is hard to do by accident. Seeing as the ways the cat ''can'' be killed are very brutal, anyone who doesn't completely ''loathe'' cats is going to feel like a jerk once they get the achievement.

 

* ''[[Nana's Everyday Life]]'': [http://manga.clone-army.org/nana.php?page=11 IS THIS COMEDY?]

* [http://picturesforsadchildren.com/index.php?comicID=103 This comic] from ''[[Pictures for Sad Children]]'' does it.

* ''[[Dorkly]]'' presents: "[http://www.dorkly.com/post/60020/rattata-family-reunion Rattata Family Reunion]". Sure, ''[[Pokemon]]'' may be a low-hanging fruit for this treatment, but then, there are always more ways...

 

* This wiki: check out the trope description of [[Comedic Sociopathy]].

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpAKGugtMzk&feature=g-vrec&context=G2505e7cRVAAAAAAAABg Get off the internet (or CollegeHumor) and GO TO SLEEP!!!]

* [[The Nostalgia Critic]] despises his audience for not appreciating him, for wanting him to suffer and constantly requesting the [[Doug|show]] that gave him one of many reasons to be bullied. As should be obvious, this is just the Critic's issue, Doug loves his fans and needlessly apologizes if there's ever a hiccup in schedule.

* ''[[Bum Reviews]]'': Chester A. Bum reamed out people who found it funny to watch him nearly freeze to death in a night-time snowstorm. The experience also served as a [[Despair Event Horizon]], as he got far less idealistic about everything in following episodes.

 

* In ''[[ReBoot]]'', after being put into a horror game and seeing the Player maniacally blast away enemies:

{{quote|'''Enzo:''' And the next level has ''zombies''! They got flesh on their bones!

*** [[Word of God|Actually, Trey and Matt are the bastards.]]

*** Parker and Stone often subvert audience expectations in this manner, and later episodes make it increasingly clear they've seemed to stumble upon [[Misaimed Fandom]] with certain arcs and characters. Go ahead and ask your friends what ''With Apologies to Jesse Jackson'' and ''Go God Go'' were really about.

 

* Despite the page quote, the gladiatorial games were actually something of an aversion. Whilst there's no doubt that spectators enjoyed them, much of the point of the gladiatorial games seems to have been not one of decadence but quite the contrary: the Romans felt that the games ''countered'' decadence, in as much as they provided upstanding examples of how to live and especially how to die and kept the manly Roman spirit strong. In a way, the enjoyment of watching them was seen as secondary to their didactic value, attested to by the fact that many people found the public executions that formed part of the games both vulgar and barbarous.