History Main / FreudianExcuseDenial

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyMakeYourMark'': In "Roots of All Evil Pt. 2", Misty and Sunny accuse Opaline of being evil [[IJustWantToHaveFriends due to never having friends and the real reason she wanted power was to force others to be hers]], she rebuffs those attempts to reach out to her. Notably when she gives a {{Flashback}} claiming her FreudianExcuse was [[spoiler:Celestia and Luna]] being favored over her, what's shown make it look like it was jealousy of the their friendship and them ignoring her.

** In ''Film/ElCamino'', [[Characters/BreakingBadJessePinkman Jesse Pinkman]] admits that, despite the trauma he went through and his contentious relationship with his parents, his crimes are ultimately no one else's fault but his own and tells them as much in a phone call, which are the last words he ever says to them.

** [[Characters/BreakingBadSaulGoodman Saul Goodman/Jimmy McGill]], in his own series finale, seems set to avoid the vast majority of legal repercussions he'd normally take for his crimes by blaming them on coercion and painting himself as a traumatized victim. But at the last minute, he throws that all away and admits that yes, he was traumatized by his contentious relationship with his brother and the way he died, and yes, he was terrified by criminals repeatedly kidnapping and threatening him to use his services, but none of that was any excuse for what he chose to do next.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Amphibia}}'': [[Characters/AmphibiaKingAndrias King Andrias]] implicitly inflicts this on ''himself'' when he learns his millennium-long hatred of Leif, and his belief that [[AbusiveParents his father and the Core]] were right about his friendships' worthlessness, were all for nothing. He flat-out admits that regardless of the rather tragic reasons he had for becoming the evil tyrant, he's caused ''far'' too much suffering (to all of Amphibia and to a girl who genuinely cared about him) and has crossed too many moral boundaries to just be forgiven.

* In [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/ShamelessUS Shameless]], early seasons had Ian in a relationship with his boss Kash: at the time, Kash was 30, while Ian was ''15''. When this is noted later, Ian denies that this was a problem because he was mature for his age and capable of making his own decisions, not seeming to realize that he was essentially groomed by a predator.

* In [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Series/ShamelessUS Shameless]], early seasons had Ian in a relationship with his boss Kash: at the time, Kash was 30, while Ian was ''15''. When this is noted later, Ian denies that this was a problem because he was mature for his age, not seeming to realize just how troubling a relationship like that is.

* ''WesternAnimation/HarleyQuinn2019'': At first, it's made look like Harleen was a perfectly sane and respectable person until the Joker's manipulation and abuse transformed her into a psychotic and murderous villainess. However, [[Recap/HarleyQuinn2019S1E5BeingHarleyQuinn Being Harley Quinn]] has her go on a JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind, which reveals that Harley has had AxCrazy tendencies ever since she was a child, long before Joker ever got to her; her attempts at playing with dolls involved a wife murdering a husband for cheating, she stalked her CelebCrush to the point legal actions needed to be taken, and she [[NoodleIncident may have]] killed a girl at her camp for spreading [[BestialityIsDepraved humiliating rumors]] about her. The final memory reveals that Harley in fact [[spoiler:jumped into the chemical vat of her own volition, but repressed that part since it had always been easier to give agency to the Joker and blame him for her turn to villainy.]] In the end, the Joker didn't corrupt her so much as reawaken [[MaskOfSanity what was already there]] and Harley acknowledges that she is responsible for her own life and had a choice every step of the way. Neither the Joker nor her "fucked up parents" made Harleen Quinzel into Harley Quinn; she made herself.

* ''WesternAnimation/BlueEyedSamurai'': The ArcVillain of Season 1, Abijah Fowler, tells his DarkAndTroubledPast to Heiji Shindo where as a child during the Nine Years' War and the subsequent Ulster famine in Ireland, both his parents died and he had to cannibalize his sister's corpse to survive. In that same breath however, he makes it perfectly clear he doesn't see it as an excuse or reason for why he became such a monster. In fact, he thinks it simply empowers him to go farther than most reasonably would in an attempt to take what ''he'' believes belongs to him, and given his ambitions, is effectively ''all'' of Japan regardless of the pain he's going to inflict.

Contrast FreudianExcuse, where the person on whom the method is used thinks that the experience certainly ''did'' influence them. FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse is when another character says that the first character had a harsh upbringing, but it doesn't justify or make up for their actions. Can possibly overlap with this trope if the first character doesn't believe in the justification themselves.

'''Veneer''': Girl, [[SurprisinglyNormalBackground we grew up in the suburbs. Our parents were dentists.]]\\

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyMakeYourMark'': In "Roots of All Evil Pt. 2", Misty and Sunny accuse Opaline of being evil [[IJustWantToHaveFriends due to never having friends and the real reason she wanted power was to force others to be hers]], she rebuffs those attempts to reach out to her. Notably when she gives a {{Flashback}} claiming her FreudianExcuse was [[spoiler:Celestia and Luna]] being favored over her, what's shown make it look like it was jealousy of the their friendship and ignoring her.

* ''Series/BreakingBad''/''Series/BetterCallSaul'': The emotional climax of each protagonist's character arc is basically this.
** [[Characters/BreakingBadWalterWhite Walter White]], asserts that he was forced into committing his crimes by circumstance until the very last episode of the series, when he admits the true reason.
--->'''Walt:''' I did it for me. I liked it. I was good at it. And I was really... I was alive.
** [[Characters/BreakingBadJessePinkman Jesse Pinkman]] in ''Film/ElCamino'' admits that, despite the trauma he went through and his contentious relationship with his parents, his crimes are ultimately no one's fault but his own. He tells them as much in a phone call, which is the last words he ever says to them.

** [[Characters/BreakingBadSaulGoodman Saul Goodman/Jimmy McGill]], in his own series finale, seems set to avoid the vast majority of legal repercussions he'd normally take for his crimes by blaming them on coercion and painting himself as a traumatized victim. But at the last minute he throws that all away and admits that yes, he was traumatized by his brother's death, and yes, he was terrified by criminals repeatedly kidnapping and threatening him, but none of that was any excuse for what he chose to do next.
--->'''Jimmy:''' I was terrified... but not for long. That night I saw an opportunity—a shot at big money—and I grabbed it, and I held it tight. And for the next sixteen months... my every waking moment was spent building Walter White's drug empire... I wasn't there when the meth was cooked. I wasn't there when it was sold. I didn't witness any of the murders. But I damn well knew it was happening. I was more than a willing participant, I was indispensable. I kept Walter White out of jail. I laundered his money, I lied for him, I conspired with him, and I made ''millions''! If he hadn't walked into my office that day, Walter White would've been dead or behind bars within a month. And Agent Schrader, and Agent Gomez, and a whole lot of other people would still be alive.

* In ''Fanfic/ThisBites'', after Cross came down from a rage against two bigoted fishmen, Koala asks him "Who was it?", assuming someone close to him was victimized by racism. Cross angrily tells her that he was never personally affected by bigotry and sure as hell doesn't ''need'' a personal reason to hate it fundamentally.

* ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'': The Ethical Bug, serving as [[TheSociopath "Big" Jack Horner]]'s conscience, believes that there is good in all people and thus asks Jack about his childhood, hoping to find a FreudianExcuse for his evil behavior. At first, Jack talks about how he didn't have much as a kid but then subverts the cricket's expectations by revealing he had loving parents, a big mansion, and a giant family-owned pie industry. [[SpoiledBrat All of which he considers to be useless crap]], which is why he wants to use the Wishing Star to claim all magic in the world for himself alone. Considering that he doesn't mention to the Ethical Bug that his desire to control magic came from his jealousy of being upstaged by Pinocchio (as seen in his flashback), it's clear that Jack is simply trolling the Ethical Bug for [[GoodCannotComprehendEvil not accepting]] that [[CardCarryingVillain he's an irredeemable monster who's emotionally dead inside]].

** PlayedWith in the episode "[[Recap/TheOwlHouseS2E14ReachingOut Reaching Out]]". While Luz's actions during the episode stem from Luz missing her long-dead father, she admits that she can't use that as an excuse and sincerely apologizes to Amity.