History Main / ThePollyanna

* ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'': The WebAnimation/StrongBadEmail "crying" introduces Li'l Brudder, Strong Bad's attempt to make the most sad and pathetic character possible in order to make Homestar cry. Li'l Brudder is a one-legged puppy dog with a startling amount of optimism, insisting he's gonna grow up to be a quarterback and trying to reassure others with his CatchPhrase "I can make it on my own!"

Compare GenkiGirl, who is excessively energetic, and PluckyGirl, an action-oriented variant of The Pollyanna.

Contrast StepfordSmiler where this trope is just a facade and JadeColoredGlasses, its polar counterpart. KnightInSourArmor for someone with a similar attitude but a lot more snark and pessimism. Polar opposite of TheEeyore and BrokenBird.

For the book [[TropeNamer this archetype is named for]], see ''Literature/{{Pollyanna}}''.

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* In the ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' fanfic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11886910/1/Gankona-Unnachgiebig-Unità Gankona, Unnachgiebig, Unità,]]'' Italy remained all smiles even after being beaten and [[AttemptedRape nearly raped]]. Italy remained all smiles even after being bullied shortly afterwards. [[HiddenDepths Nothing is as it seems]] [[StepfordSmiler though...]]
* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' has Clark, as usual, even if he is a little more paranoid and wary than canon, being a generally cheerful soul who believes in the innate goodness of humanity.
* In ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'', [[TheChewToy Yamcha]] once claims defensively that he still has hope after he momentarily cheers at Cell being knocked out of the Cell Games arena, only to have [[ForgotAboutHisPowers forgotten that Cell can fly to avoid a ring-out]]. Tien remarks that the fact he has ''any hope'' left at all is his [[DamnedByFaintPraise most admirable]] [[StealthInsult trait]]. Yamcha [[ComicallyMissingThePoint thanks him for the compliment]], not realizing he'd been insulted. Even [[EvenEvilHasStandards Cell]] has to speak up at that point.
-->"Yamcha, for the love of God, don't ''thank'' him."
* MemeticBystander "Poor-chan" from ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' is typically portrayed by fandom as the comically extreme, oblivious version, who lives in a cardboard box and can't afford a computer for her classes, yet is always writing cheerful letters to her "Mother in Heaven".
* In the [[{{Dystopia}} dystopian]], CrapsackWorld of ''Fanfic/MiraculousThePhoenixRises'', there's still Haley, Max's cheerful, idealistic younger sister. Unlike older characters, who are clearly fed up with [[AdultsAreUseless those rotten adults]], Haley always manages to keep her chipper mood and brighten up the other characters' day.
* ''Fanfic/TheNightUnfurls'' has Hugh. [[StreetUrchin Orphaned, malnourished]], [[TheSpeechless lost his voice]] from a SlashedThroat, and LeftForDead [[EyeScream without an eye]], all in the age of eight or ten. He remains bright, cheerful and eager to please, persisting even as he blurs in war-torn battlefields and [[EldritchLocation Eldritch Locations]] as a KidHero, nary a HeroicBSOD or a BreakTheCutie situation whatsoever. He did miraculously survive at least two [[NearDeathExperience Near-Death Experiences]] after all, meaning that despite the cruelty he receives, fortune is on his side.
* [[TheDitz Derpy]] [[TheKlutz Hooves]] in the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' story ''Shadow Snark''.
--> '''Shadow Snark:''' You're pretty euphoric for someone who just learned they have no friends.
* Lavinia Gilden[[spoiler: /Tansy Leefinch]] from the ''[[Literature/TheHungerGames Hunger Games]]'' fanfiction ''Fanfic/SomeSemblanceOfMeaning'' always tries to exhibit pure optimism... even though she's working as a mentor for District Twelve, sending two kids a year into the arena to face near-certain death. Over the course of the story, she does lose a bit of her GenkiGirl attitude, but she still tries to look on the bright side.
[[/folder]]

* Amelia Watson, of WebAnimation/{{Hololive}}, is a very upbeat girl who, in her own words, "turned out pretty good" in spite of her harrowing childhood experiences, including (but not limited to): nearly biting her tongue off while eating ice cream, nearly splitting her head open when she fell while jumping on the bed (for which she has a scar on top of her head), slicing off the tip of her thumb while trying to peel an apple, and having crayons melt and scald her lap while sitting in a hot car.

* Resident do-gooder Penny from ''WebVideo/DoctorHorriblesSingAlongBlog'': [[GranolaGirl works with the homeless, doesn't eat meat]], and it's a beacon of IncorruptiblePurePureness. But according to some of her lines on "So they say", she's had it rough in the past, but she's an Anne of the Green Gables-level optimist and always keeps "her chin up". [[spoiler: It doesn't end well for her.]]

* Lu Su in ''Fanfic/FarceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', despite being a ButtMonkey. It helps that he's half of the only healthy relationship in the book.

[[caption-width-right:305:[[Literature/AnneOfGreenGables Her glass is so full that it spilled over into a second article.]]]]

* ThePollyanna/RealLife

When they're played for laughs, the fates the characters endure are too horrendous to actually happen in real life, and yet they're [[TheDitz too stupid]], or insane, or both, to realize how God-awful their situation is and how miserable they ought to be; it seems as though the whole universe is out to BreakTheCutie, and ''failing''. (Although sometimes they just need a RantInducingSlight.)

-->-- '''Polly "Pollyanna" Whittier''' after being raped by the Invisible Man, ''ComicBook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen,'' vol 1 issue 2

Compare GenkiGirl, who is excessively energetic, and PluckyGirl, an action-oriented variant of ThePollyanna.

May overlap with AngstWhatAngst. Can lead to cases of TastesLikeDiabetes if extreme enough.