History Main / JerkAssDissonance

# The reader is not affected by the consequences of the actions depicted. Whereas the behaviour of a real life bastard can have a direct impact on you, in fiction it's happening to someone else, and since they don't really exist it's not really happening to them, either. The behaviour is thus easier to forgive or overlook.

# The Jerkass character may primarily pick on [[TakeThatScrappy the character(s) whom no one reading likes anyway.]] Though this overlaps significantly with the point 9 above, it is not limited to it.

The dissonance can be best summed up thus; where a fictional jerk may possess an intense and devoted fan-base of admirers and may, in-universe, be surrounded by a loyal (if long-suffering) group of friends and followers, in RealLife people considered to be jerks tend to be ostracized, and few choose to willingly associate with them. People in reality are quite intolerant of {{Jerkass}} behaviour, mostly when directed towards them or those they care about, and being considered a jerk means that people don't actually like you very much. For instance, the DeadpanSnarker may sometimes say rude or hurtful things to people around them, but the viewer eats it up because [[RuleOfFunny they're funny]]. If someone said equally rude or hurtful things to the viewer however, chances are good that the viewer wouldn't be quite as amused.

# The Jerkass character [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic may primarily pick on]] [[TakeThatScrappy the character(s) whom no one reading likes anyway.]] Though this overlaps significantly with the point 9 above, it is not limited to it.

* ValuesDissonance: Seems like more of a {{Jerkass}} in their setting than in the viewer's contemporary setting

# Notice how most of the characters on the DracoInLeatherPants page are described or depicted in the works they appear in as being physically attractive. Not a coincidence. EvilIsSexy and people can be shallow. The 'halo effect'--the idea that we tend to excuse the conduct of physically attractive people or imbue them with more inherent decency (justifiably or not) ''because'' of their physical attractiveness--can have a powerful effect in fiction.

* EvilIsSexy

* ValuesDissonance: Seem like more a {{Jerkass}} in their native country than in the country they've got fans in.

* JerksAreWorseThanVillains: Fans LoveToHate over-the-top villains while disliking more realistic jerks that remind them of real-life problems.

* BastardBoyfriend: Another example of a character who is presented in-universe as desirable despite - or because of - his jerkassness.

This phenomenon doesn't relate solely to villains; heroes who commit morally dubious actions can also fall here, since we're ''supposed'' to sympathize with them from the start. However, the hero is supposed to reflect the reader's values more than the villains, which means that we hold our heroes to a higher standard and expect them to live up to it more than the villains, and can be harsher to judge them when they cross the line than we would a villain (who, being the villain, is kind of expected to do that anyway). This can, in extreme cases, lead to instances where a villain appears to be liked more than a hero, even if the hero's worst actions do not compare to the villain's. MoralDissonance usually happens when we notice the {{Jerkass}} tendencies of a hero, but the other characters don't appear to. WhatTheHellHero occurs when the writers themselves notice and have other characters call the hero out on it.

* ADarkerMe: A real-life, online-based variation; people are often more likely to conduct themselves in ways that they would never dream of -- or dare to -- act in RealLife due to the [[{{GIFT}} anonymity]] of the Internet.

# Notice how most of the characters on the DracoInLeatherPants page are described or depicted in the works they appear in as being physically attractive. Not a coincidence. EvilIsSexy and people can be shallow. The 'halo effect' -- the idea that we tend to excuse the conduct of physically attractive people or imbue them with more inherent decency (justifiably or not) ''because'' of their physical attractiveness -- can have a powerful effect in fiction.

* JerkSue: Authors who attempt to invoke this dissonance deliberately -- and, usually, do so badly.

->''"HA, now do you understand why so many people love me, even though I'm the biggest dick in this entire show? It's because I'm Seto frickin' Kaiba! Accept no substitutes."''

* EnsembleDarkhorse: The "darker" character tends to become one of these quicker.

* DoNotDoThisCoolThing: The work makes their undesirable behavior appear more acceptable than they intended.