History Main / SourGrapesTropes

* UsefulNotes/TheAmericanDream (Flavor 2): Achieving prosperity won't make your life better, in fact it'll only destroy your life and family.

Stories that don't do this are WishFulfillment fantasies, [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools not that there's anything wrong with that]]. Fiction has been providing wish fulfillment for centuries. Contemporary fiction, though, often comes off as somehow ''obliged'' to show the downside of a desire. Not doing so might be seen as "juvenile." Ironically, Sour Grapes Tropes tend to [[NotSoDifferent indulge in their own backhanded brand of]] WishFulfillment; these tropes are often used to assuage [[TallPoppySyndrome an audience's discomfort]] and [[GreenEyedMonster envy]] seeing a more ambitious or intelligent or lucky character at succeeding in a way that the viewers can't by showing the 'bad' side of their success. See [[Creator/FriedrichNietzsche Nietzsche's remarks on ''slave morality'']] for the intellectual impulse behind many of the usages of these tropes.

While the index name comes from the original fable "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fox_and_the_Grapes?wprov=sfti1 The Fox and the Grapes]]", it is not about disparaging a thing you can't get. The fox was disgusted with himself for wasting time and effort trying to reach a bunch of grapes that were sour, meaning unripe. Except that's literally exactly what it's about. While the fox disparaged himself for doing this, he really had no way of knowing the grapes were sour and just made that statement up so he'd feel better.

Note that the original fable "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fox_and_the_Grapes?wprov=sfti1 The Fox and the Grapes]]" is not about disparaging a thing you can't get. The fox was disgusted with himself for wasting time and effort trying to reach a bunch of grapes that were sour, meaning unripe. Except that's literally exactly what it's about. While the fox disparaged himself for doing this, he really had no way of knowing the grapes were sour and just made that statement up so he'd feel better.

Note that the original fable "The Fox and the Grapes" is not about disparaging a thing you can't get. The fox was disgusted with himself for wasting time and effort trying to reach a bunch of grapes that were sour, meaning unripe. Except that's literally exactly what it's about. While the fox disparaged himself for doing this, he really had no way of knowing the grapes were sour and just made that statement up so he'd feel better.

%%Note that the original fable "The Fox and the Grapes" is not about disparaging a thing you can't get. The fox was disgusted with himself for wasting time and effort trying to reach a bunch of grapes that were sour, meaning unripe.
%%Except that's literally exactly what it's about. While the fox disparaged himself for doing this, he really had no way of knowing the grapes were sour and just made that statement up so he'd feel better.

* ComesGreatResponsibility: When you have super powers, using them for anything other than helping others never works out.

These tropes can also be used to make a FamilyUnfriendlyAesop if one of the things the Sour Grapes trope is grousing about is something the viewer can genuinely attain. It can encourage them to stay in their bad situation rather than [[DareToBeBadass doing something about it]].

Stories that don't do this are WishFulfillment fantasies, [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools not that there's anything wrong with that]]. Fiction has been providing wish fulfillment for centuries. Contemporary fiction, though, often comes off as somehow ''obliged'' to show the downside of a desire. Not doing so might be seen as "juvenile." Ironically, Sour Grapes Tropes tend to [[NotSoDifferent indulge in their own backhanded brand of]] WishFulfillment; these tropes are often used to assuage [[TallPoppySyndrome an audience's discomfort]] and [[GreenEyedMonster envy]] at seeing a more ambitious or intelligent or lucky character at succeeding in a way that the viewers can't by showing the 'bad' side of their success. See [[Creator/FriedrichNietzsche Nietzsche's remarks on ''slave morality'']] for the intellectual impulse behind many of the usages of these tropes.

Stories that don't do this are WishFulfillment fantasies, [[TropesAreNotBad not that there's anything wrong with that]]. Fiction has been providing wish fulfillment for centuries. Contemporary fiction, though, often comes off as somehow ''obliged'' to show the downside of a desire. Not doing so might be seen as "juvenile." Ironically, Sour Grapes Tropes tend to [[NotSoDifferent indulge in their own backhanded brand of]] WishFulfillment; these tropes are often used to assuage [[TallPoppySyndrome an audience's discomfort]] and [[GreenEyedMonster envy]] at seeing a more ambitious or intelligent or lucky character at succeeding in a way that the viewers can't by showing the 'bad' side of their success. See [[Creator/FriedrichNietzsche Nietzsche's remarks on ''slave morality'']] for the intellectual impulse behind many of the usages of these tropes.

Sour Grapes Tropes are tropes that exist to convince the viewer that not only is it unlikely that their dreams and fantasies will come true, but it's probably better if they ''don't''. This is done by showing how a character is made miserable when getting their wishes fulfilled.

* AntiIntellectualism: Knowledge and education are undesirable.

* UsefulNotes/TheAmericanDream: Achieving prosperity won't make your life better, in fact it'll only destroy your life and family.

Stories that don't do this are WishFulfillment fantasies, [[TropesAreNotBad not that there's anything wrong with that]]. Fiction has been providing wish fulfillment for centuries. Contemporary fiction, though, often comes off as somehow ''obliged'' to show the downside of a desire. Not doing so might be seen as "juvenile." Ironically, SourGrapesTropes tend to [[NotSoDifferent indulge in their own backhanded brand of]] WishFulfillment; these tropes are often used to assuage [[TallPoppySyndrome an audience's discomfort]] and [[GreenEyedMonster envy]] at seeing a more ambitious or intelligent or lucky character at succeeding in a way that the viewers can't by showing the 'bad' side of their success. See [[Creator/FriedrichNietzsche Nietzsche's remarks on ''slave morality'']] for the intellectual impulse behind many of the usages of these tropes.

* PrescienceIsPredictable

* PrestigePeril: Positions of power put your life in danger.

Note that the original fable "The Fox and the Grapes" is not about disparaging a thing you can't get. The fox was disgusted with himself for wasting time and effort trying to reach a bunch of grapes that were sour, meaning unripe.

Stories that don't do this are WishFulfillment fantasies. NotThatTheresAnythingWrongWithThat. Fiction has been providing wish fulfillment for centuries. Contemporary fiction, though, often comes off as somehow ''obliged'' to show the downside of a desire. Not doing so might be seen as "juvenile." Ironically, SourGrapesTropes tend to [[NotSoDifferent indulge in their own backhanded brand of]] WishFulfillment; these tropes are often used to assuage [[TallPoppySyndrome an audience's discomfort]] and [[GreenEyedMonster envy]] at seeing a more ambitious or intelligent or lucky character at succeeding in a way that the viewers can't by showing the 'bad' side of their success. See [[Creator/FriedrichNietzsche Nietzsche's remarks on ''slave morality'']] for the intellectual impulse behind many of the usages of these tropes.

* TheAmericanDream: Achieving prosperity won't make your life better, in fact it'll only destroy your life and family.

* PowerAtAPrice
* PrestigePeril
* PygmalionSnapBack

* VengeanceFeelsEmpty
* WantingIsBetterThanHaving

* YankTheDogsChain

* NotQuiteForever
* ObsessivelyNormal
* ThePerilsOfBeingTheBest

* AMindIsATerribleThingToRead: The ability to read minds is better left unused since it leads you to lead some dark secrets.