History Main / StepfordSnarker

* Joanne from ''{{Company}}'' could be an example, depending on the interpretation. She is a snarky, abrasive alcoholic who has been divorced twice. Her current husband, Larry, says that she is "wildly conceited" with "no self-esteem", and that she still is unable to believe that he loves her and continues to be fascinated by her. Her song, ''The Ladies Who Lunch'', starts as her critique of rich middle-aged women who wile away their lives with meaningless activities but turns into a scathing description of her own directionless life.

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->''Blake understood. Humans are savage in nature. No matter how much you try to dress it up, to disguise it. Blake saw society's true face. Chose to be a parody of it, a joke.''
-->--'''Rorschach''', ''{{Film/Watchmen}}''

%%* ''TigerAndBunny'' makes no qualms about the fact that, under the TallDarkAndSnarky IceKing persona, Barnaby Brooks Jr. has some [[BrokenAce serious]] [[BrokenBird issues.]]

%%* Ai Haibara from ''DetectiveConan''.

** Spike. He acts really cocky and arrogant, snarking and cynically belittling everybody and everything, but as the series goes on it's becomes fairly obvious all the bravado and smartassery is just a cover-up of his extreme insecurity and lack of purpose.

--->'''Buffy''': ''(evenly)'' "I guess you know a lot about that."

** Faith. To the [[BrokenBird ''extreme'']]. Also with shades {{StepfordSmiler}}. Being a product of a {{DarkandTroubledPast}}, Faith hid all her unhappiness and self-loathing behind a tough-ass attitude and bad girl snark. Faith's bottling of her own demons got so bad she [[TraumaButton finally exploded]] and went on a [[JumpingOfftheSlipperySlope killing spree]], only magnifying her defense mechanism (She hated herself even more evil, but hid it behind cruelty). Eventually after [[RedemptionQuest redemption]] by Angel, she becomes more at peace with herself but still keeps up the snarky smokescreens--to a less psychotic degree, of course.
--->'''Faith'': "When you gonna learn, B? It doesn't matter what kind of vibe you get off a person. 'Cause nine times out of then, the face they're showing you is not the real one."

** Faith. To the [[''extreme'' JumpingOfftheSlipperySlope]]. Also with shades{{StepfordSmiler}}. Being a product of a {{DarkandTroubledPast}}, Faith hid all her unhappiness and self-loathing behind a tough-ass attitude and a bad girl snarkiness. Faith's bottling of her own demons got so bad she [[BerserkerButton finally exploded]] and went on a killing spree, increasing her defensive mechanism (She hated herself even more evil, but hid it behind cruelty). Eventually after [[RedemptionQuest redemption]] by Angel, she becomes more at peace with herself but still keeps up the mechanism---to a less psychotic degree, of course.

** Xander is living embodiment of this trope. He grew up in a family of alcoholics, was a loser in high school, and is forced to always deal with the burden with being the only one out of his friends without powers. Naturally he responds to all this with sarcasm and self-deprecating jokes to cover up his bitterness and deep insecurity. Xander's defensive mechanism is made incredibly obvious in stressful situations such as the time leading up to his untimely cancelled wedding with Anya and when he had to make a living in his parents' basement paying rent while his friends went off to college. It's canon in this argument:

** Xander is living embodiment of this trope. He grew up in a family of alcoholics, was a loser in high school, and is forced to always deal with the burden with being the only one out of his friends without powers. Naturally he responds to all this with sarcasm and self-deprecating jokes to cover up his bitterness and deep insecurity. Xander's defensive mechanism is made incredibly obvious in stressful situations such as the time leading up to his untimely cancelled wedding with Anya and when he had to make a living in his parents' basement paying rent while his friends went off to college. It's penned in argument

** Buffy is also this to a slightly lesser extent. She utilizes sarcastic quips and makes light of things less to be funny and more as a reflection of her low self-esteem and deep insecurities over herself. This is made particularly apparent on matters such as her love life and her life in general, such as her difficulty finding a balance between saving the world and a normal life.
--->'''Anya''': "The house. See, this house ... just sitting here, doing nothing, by itself costs money."

--->'''Buffy''': "You guys, I'm kidding, okay? It's-it's bills, it's money. It's pieces of paper sent by bureaucrats that we've never even met. It's not like it's the end of the world. ''(beat)'' Which is too bad, y'know. 'Cause that I'm really good at."

--->'''[Everyone stares at her]'''

** Buffy is also this to a slightly lesser extent. She utilizes quips and sarcasm less to be funny and more as a reflection of her low self-esteem and deep insecurities over herself. This is made particularly apparent on matters such as her love life and her life in general, such as her difficulty finding a balance between saving the world from monsters and a normal life.

--->''(Everyone stares at her)''
--->'''Buffy''': "You guys, I'm kidding, okay? It's-it's bills, it's money. It's pieces of paper send by bureaucrats that we've never even met. It's not like it's the end of the world. (beat) Which is too bad, y'know. 'Cause ''that'' I'm really good at."

The fraternal twin of the StepfordSmiler. The Stepford Snarker has intense feelings of sadness, anger, numbness, loneliness, or other negative emotions, but, for whatever reason, wants to hide these feelings from the people around them. But whereas the Stepford Smiler hides these feelings by acting sweet and happy, the Snarker hides them by [[OhGreatASnarkIndex being snide and sarcastic]]. They often put on an outward appearance of being very jaded and bitter (though some may maintain a brighter disposition when in a better mood, snarking only when upset), and make sarcastic comments about everything and everybody, but those that are able to break their shell find that they're actually deeply hurt. If they're able to heal, they'll not necessarily stop being sarcastic -- it may just be a part of their personality -- but they'll hopefully find a way to express their feelings to their loved ones, rather than solely hiding them with their quips.

* DependingOnTheWriter, {{Deadpool}} comes across like this, using his sense of humor to cope with his past trauma at Weapon X, as well as his own failings as a person.

* ''Film/TheAvengers'' has [[WorldOfSnark quite a lot of snarkers]], most of whom are garden variety {{Deadpan Snarker}}s, but [[IronMan Tony Stark]] and [[TheIncredibleHulk Bruce Banner]] specifically fit this trope because their sarcasm is respectively a defence mechanism and a way of maintaining self-control. This is particularly evident after [[spoiler: Agent Coulson]] gets killed, and Tony snarks about how stupid he was to face Loki alone, but is clearly using it to cover up his own grief. Given that Tony's [[Film/IronMan own films]] show his life to be something of a mess, with quite a lot of moral emptiness (before he decides to become a superhero), alcoholism, and relationship issues (continuing after he becomes a superhero) he counts as this trope in all his films.

* Will Herondale from "The Infernal Devices", uses wit and sarcasm as a defense mechanism to deal with the fact that he's supposedly "cursed" and whoever loves him will die. Which is a pretty understandable reaction to a situation like this.

* ''Series/VeronicaMars'': sophomore year, she is ridiculed, outcasted and raped after the death of her best friend. Junior year, she makes quips.

* [[RichBitch C.C.]] [[HopelessSuitor Babcock]] on ''Series/TheNanny'' is a snobby BlueBlood businesswoman constantly looking down upon almost everyone, though as the series goes on, she's shown to be a very depressed and lonely woman who struggles to come to terms with the fact that Maxwell Sheffield isn't romantically interested in her.

* [[RichBitch C.C.]] [[HopelessSuitor Babcock]] on ''Series/TheNanny'' is a very sardonic DeadpanSnarker constantly looking down upon almost everyone, though as the series goes on, she's shown to be a very depressed and lonely woman who struggles to come to terms with the fact that Maxwell Sheffield isn't romantically interested in her.

* Rocket Raccoon in ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' may seem like a jerk, but it turns out he only acts tough and sarcastic to hide his anger over feeling like a monster and being the only one of his kind who can talk.

* Rocket Raccoon in ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' may seem like a jerk, but it turns out he only acts tough and sarcastic to hide his anger over being the only one of his kind who can talk.

* Yuu Yanase from {{Sekai Ichi Hatsukoi}}. The guy is already a {{troll}} to a certain extent and an {{Ineffectual Loner}} but he has shown signs of being one as time goes on. [[spoiler: Given that your feelings are constantly ignored or laughed at by your best friend who is already taken by your {{Yandere}} rival is enough to be depressed, but given that your friend has become [[TookaLevelinJerkass more of a jerk]] as a result of dating said rival is enough would want to make you even more snarky. And given that his last appearance [[BreaktheCutie has him]] [[HeroicBSOD break down]] for being rejected a second time physically and emotionally]] one can only tell if he becomes a full-blown one.