History Main / UngratefulTownsfolk

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': The citizens of South Park have frequently tormented and screwed over the main heroes for one reason for another. In "[[Recap/SouthParkS8E8DoucheAndTurd Douche and Turd]]", they shun and exile Stan from town all because the latter declined to vote in a school election. Additionally, in "[[Recap/SouthParkS12E2BritneysNewLook Britney's New Look]]", they mercilessly terrorize Music/BritneySpears into [[DrivenToSuicide killing herself]] and sabotage the heroes' efforts to take her to safety simply because they apparently need a HumanSacrifice for their [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext corn harvest]].

* In ''Franchise/StarWars'', [[TheOrder the Jedi Order]] spent over ''25,000 years'' protecting TheRepublic and its citizens, but few understood them and their ways and as a result many feared them. The fact that they [[ForeverWar constantly]] suffered from a bad case of TheParagonAlwaysRebels didn't help matters, and by the time of ''Film/ANewHope'' a couple decades of TheEmpire's propaganda was enough to make people forget about millennia of good work. In ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' [[TheParagon Luke Skywalker]]'s OrderReborn addressed many of the criticisms directed towards the Jedi in the past, but even that wasn't enough for some people.

** In "Babel", Shriek threatens to escalate his attacks on Gotham City unless Batman surrenders to him. Numerous citizens, including people Batman had saved earlier in that very episode, insist that Batman turn himself in. Both Bruce and Max are so disgusted with the people's attitude that they openly encourage Terry to just hide out and let Gotham suffer.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

--->'''Felucia''': ''These'' are the creeps we're protecting from Kuyou? Seriously?

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Onmyoji}}'': [[BrokenBird Susabi]] the PhysicalGod had a very DarkAndTroubledPast with these. The people of a seaside village prayed to the gods for help so that their village would not be swallowed by the sea, and the gods responded by sending young Susabi down to act as their {{Seer|s}}, foretelling them of disasters. And then his powers weakened for no fucking reason, and people started to [[BreakTheCutie torment him]]. [[spoiler:Finally, he just decided to [[DrivenToSuicide walk into the sea]] and a tsunami immediately followed, putting the village to its untimely demise.]]

* ''ComicBook/AstroCity:''
** Winged Angel catches this a ''lot'', on account of her outspoken feminist views. One story has a bystander calling out a bunch of other bystanders for complaining about her after she's just saved their lives.
** Another arc has the entirety of Astro City turn against their heroes, egged on by alien infiltrators (and possibly also an EldritchAbomination acting up). Nothing the heroes do is apparently good enough, because while they're stopping alien invasions or super-criminals or the like, they're not looking for one missing white girl (ignoring that several non-white girls had gone missing already, and there'd been nary a peep about ''them'').

* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
** The first Grand Line island the crew visits seems friendly and is known for taking pirates in and setting them up right for the journeys ahead. Turns out every one of them is a bounty hunter working for Baroque Works.
** In a flashback it is revealed the villagers of [[spoiler:Koala's hometown betrayed Fisher Tiger when he brought the girl safely home. At least part of the reason was so the Marines would ignore their knowledge that Koala was an escaped slave. Though this made more ironic since "slavery" was supposed to have been abolished centuries ago]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'': In the episode "Snowblind", the people act like this to the Russian super soldier, Red Star, whose dark side is terrorizing them. Starfire calls them out on it by pointing out that it was the experiments in which they themselves partook that caused everything. After this, they stop acting like assholes.

* Most of the townspeople in ''WesternAnimation/BeautyAndTheBeast'' bar Belle, Maurice, and the bookseller seem rather unpleasant, and at the climax, every last one of them apparently becomes a henchman to [[BigBad Gaston]].

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': The people in Langley Falls have a reputation for being incredibly small-minded and unpleasant. The episode "[[Recap/AmericanDadS14E12BazookaSteve Bazooka Steve]]" is by far the worst example. The residents harass Steve relentlessly, organize a lynch mob, and ultimately force him out of town after he persuades football player Johnny Concussion to quit due to his injuries. Steve's ''[[AbusiveParents parents]]'' even turn against him. Even though Johnny Concussion's brain is already half-mush, Steve must persuade him to play football once more in order to forge community bonds before he can regain his own respect.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': The citizens of South Park have frequently tormented and screwed over the main heroes for one reason for another. In "[[Recap/SouthParkS8E8DoucheAndTurd Douche and Turd]]", Stan is shunned and eventually exiled from the community all because he declined to vote in a school election in which even ''[[WithFriendsLikeTHese Kyle]]'' openly participated. Additionally, in "[[Recap/SouthParkS12E2BritneysNewLook Britney's New Look]]", they mercilessly terrorize Music/BritneySpears into [[DrivenToSuicide killing herself]] and sabotage the heroes' efforts to take her to safety simply because they apparently need a HumanSacrifice for their [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext corn harvest]].

* In ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist'', the townspeople of Xenotime treat Ed and Al like utter shit, believing them to be imposters after Russell and Fletcher Tringham steal their identities. It goes so far that at one point a shopkeeper ''refuses to sell the real Al medicine that he was trying to purchase for a sick little girl that lives in town''. This only occurs in the anime version, as in the original Light Novel story although they still believe Russell and Fletcher to be the real deal they also believe Ed and Al to coincidentally be alchemists with the exact same names and treat them a lot less harshly.

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Avernum}} series:

* In ''LightNovel/SoImASpiderSoWhat'', Sariel was the only thing that stood between the ancient civilization and complete annihilation by the dragon gods. When the dragons eventually fled after stealing the world's MA energy, dooming it to destruction, the civilization quickly accepted the solution of sacrificing Sariel to restore the world. Given their descendants have failed to clean up their act or even ''remember Sariel's sacrifice'', her daughter Ariel is disgusted with them.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': The citizens of South Park have frequently tormented and screwed over the main heroes for one reason for another. In "[[Recap/SouthParkS8E8DoucheAndTurd Douche and Turd]]", Stan is shunned and eventually exiled from the community all because he declined to vote in a school election in which even ''[[WithFriendsLikeTHese Kyle]]'' openly participated. Additionally, in "[[Recap/SouthParkS12E2BritneysNewLook Britney's New Look]]", they mercilessly terrorize Music/BritneySpears into [[DrivenToSuicide killing herself]] and sabotage the heroes' efforts to take her to safety simply because they apparently a HumanSacrifice for their [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext corn harvest]].

& ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'' has a couple of episodes where the humans are quick to turn on the Autobots after they save the day by driving off the Decepticons, blaming them for everything from the Decepticons attacking to the Transformers being present on Earth in the first place. When it happens in Season 1, Optimus is gracious about recognizing humanity's flaws. Come Season 3, when governments blame the Autobots again for Decepticon damages, the much less patient Rodimus snaps at them publicly.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': In the episode "[[Recap/TheAmazingWorldOfGumballS3E25ThePizza The Pizza]]", Larry resigns from his posts after experiencing too many instances of the Elmore residents taking him for granted. They ''all'' turn against him as a result (including the ''[[PoliceAreUseless police force]]''), [[NeverMyFault ignoring that it was their behavior that made him resign in the first place]].
* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': The people in Langley Falls have a reputation for being incredibly small-minded and unpleasant. The episode "[[Recap/AmericanDadS14E12BazookaSteve Bazooka Steve]]" is by far the worst example. The residents harass Steve relentlessly, organize a lynch mob, and ultimately force him out of town after he persuades football player Johnny Concussion to quit due to his injuries. Steve's ''[[AbusiveParents parents]]'' even turn against him. Even though Johnny Concussion's brain is already half-mush, Steve must persuade him to play football once more in order to forge community bonds before he can regain Johnny's esteem.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': Even putting aside their treatment of [[ButtMonkey Meg]], the residents of Quahog have proven themselves pretty terrible in their own right. In "[[Recap/FamilyGuyS16E6TheDInApartment23 The D in Apartment 23]]", when Brian makes an ill-advised post on Twitter, they proceed to [[DisproportionateRetribution brutalize and torment]] not only Brian himself but ''[[GuiltByAssociationGag the rest of the Griffins]]'', going as far as sending death threats and attempting to ''lynch'' them. It gets so bad to the point where Brian has no choice but to move out just to keep the Griffins safe.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': In the episode "[[Recap/TheAmazingWorldOfGumballS3E25ThePizza The Pizza]]", Larry quits his job positions after being taken for granted one too many times by the citizens of Elmore. As a result, they ''all'' turn against him (including the ''[[PoliceAreUseless police force]]''), [[NeverMyFault ignoring that their actions are what caused him to quit in the first place]].
* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': American Dad! : The people in Langley Falls have a reputation for being incredibly small-minded and unpleasant. The episode "[[Recap/AmericanDadS14E12BazookaSteve Bazooka Steve]]" is by far the worst example. The residents harass Steve constantly, organize a lynch mob, and ultimately force him out of town after he persuades football player Johnny Concussion to quit due to his injuries. Steve's ''[[AbusiveParents parents]]'' even turn against him. Even though Johnny Concussion's brain is already half-mush, Steve must persuade him to play football once more in order to forge community bonds before he can regain Johnny's esteem.

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': American Dad! : The people in Langley Falls have a reputation for being incredibly small-minded and unpleasant. The episode "[[Recap/AmericanDadS14E12BazookaSteve Bazooka Steve]]" is by far the worst example. The residents harass Steve constantly, organize a lynch mob, and ultimately force him out of town after he persuades football player Johnny Concussion to quit due to his injuries. Steve's ''[[AbusiveParents parents]]'' even turn against him. Even though Johnny Concussion's brain is already half-mush, Steve must persuade him to play football once more in order to forge communal relationships before he can regain Johnny's esteem.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': The citizens of South Park have often tormented and screwed over the main heroes for one reason or another. In "[[Recap/SouthParkS8E8DoucheAndTurd Douche and Turd]]", they ostracize Stan to the point of banishing him from town all because he refused to partake in a school election, with even ''[[WithFriendsLikeThese Kyle]]'' openly participating. And in "[[Recap/SouthParkS12E2BritneysNewLook Britney's New Look]]", they mercilessly terrorize Music/BritneySpears into [[DrivenToSuicide committing suicide]] and sabotage the heroes' goal to take her to safety simply because they apparently need a HumanSacrifice for their [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext corn harvest]].

* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'': The people in Langley Falls are well-known for being exceptionally small-minded and unpleasant. The worst example by far is the episode "[[Recap/AmericanDadS14E12BazookaSteve Bazooka Steve]]". After Steve convinces football player Johnny Concussion to quit out of concern for his injuries, the residents harass Steve relentlessly, form a lynch mob, and eventually drive him out of town. Even Steve's ''[[AbusiveParents parents]]'' turn on him. Steve only gets his respect back after he begrudgingly convinces Johnny Concussion to play football again to form community bonds, despite Johnny's brain already being half-mush.

* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'': The citizens of South Park have often tormented and screwed over the main heroes for one reason or another. Two episodes that come to mind are "[[Recap/SouthParkS8E8DoucheAndTurd Douche and Turd]]" and "[[Recap/SouthParkS12E2BritneysNewLook Britney's New Look]]"; the former has them ostracizing Stan to the point of banishing him from town all because he refused to partake in a school election, while the latter has them mercilessly terrorizing Music/BritneySpears into [[DrivenToSuicide committing suicide]] and sabotaging the heroes' goal to take her to safety simply because they apparently need a HumanSacrifice for their [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext corn harvest]].

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot'': Most of the citizens of Tremorton often take Jenny for granted, seeing her as a mindless service droid despite her free will. The [[SpacePolice Skyway Patrol]] in particular always tries to arrest Jenny for [[PoliceAreUseless practically fabricated reasons]], and sometimes shows sadistic pleasure in the prospect of taking Jenny in. Even her own friends aren't immune from this, as Tuck in "[[Recap/MyLifeAsATeenageRobotS01E07TheReturnOfRaggedyAndroidTheBoy The Boy Who Cried Robot]]" has her help him with the most {{frivolous|summoning}} things imaginable and even [[ManipulativeBastard emotionally manipulates her]] to keep her from backing out. This trope comes to a head in "[[Recap/MyLifeAsATeenageRobotS2E5 A Robot For All Seasons]]" when Todd Sweeney has Jenny reprogrammed to act violently on holidays for an entire year. Not a single person in Tremorton, including Dr. Wakeman, the person who ''created her'', believes she isn't acting of her own volition. They then try to have her incarcerated. The only exception is [[StalkerWithACrush Sheldon]], who correctly guesses she was BrainwashedAndCrazy.

* ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot'': Most of the citizens of Tremorton often take Jenny for granted, seeing her as a mindless service droid despite her free will. The [[SpacePolice Skyway Patrol]] in particular always tries to arrest Jenny for [[PoliceAreUseless practically fabricated reasons]], and sometimes shows sadistic pleasure in the prospect of taking Jenny in. Even her own friends aren't immune from this, as Tuck in "[[Recap/MyLifeAsATeenageRobotS01E07TheReturnOfRaggedyAndroidTheBoy The Boy Who Cried Robot]]" has her help him with the most {{frivolous|summoning}} things imaginable and even [[ManipulativeBastard emotionally manipulates her]] to keep her from backing out. This trope comes to a head in "[[Recap/MyLifeAsATeenageRobotS2E5 A Robot For All Seasons]]" when Todd Sweeney has Jenny reprogrammed to act violently on holidays for an entire year, and nobody in Tremorton, not even Dr. Wakeman, the person who ''created her'', believes she isn't acting of her own volition and tries to have her incarcerated, with the exception of [[StalkerWithACrush Sheldon]], who correctly guesses that she was BrainwashedAndCrazy.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'': In "[[Recap/TheAmazingWorldOfGumballS3E25ThePizza The Pizza]]", Larry quits his job positions after being taken for granted one too many times by the citizens of Elmore. As a result, they ''all'' turn against him (including the ''[[PoliceAreUseless police force]]''), [[NeverMyFault ignoring that their actions are what caused him to quit in the first place]].

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'': In "The Good, the Bad and the Boo", a wild west town's residents offer to make Chicken Boo their new Sheriff if he captures the bad guy who's terrorizing them. Boo manages to honor his end of the deal but, once his human disguise falls off, they turn on him, release the bad guy and chase him away.

** An UngratefulBastard variation in one season 2 episode, [[AntiVillain Zuko]] saves an Earth Kingdom town from a bunch of so-called soldiers who are just bullying thugs who go well past the MoralEventHorizon. Because he revealed that he was Prince Zuko of the Fire Nation, the townspeople immediately turn on him and drive him away.

* The first ChristmasEpisode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' does this towards the entire town of Bluffington. Porkchop is on the chopping block because Beebe Bluff was accidentally injured when the dog tried to prevent her from getting drowned and her father, the very influential owner of the town, [[HelpMistakenForAttack blows it out of complete proportion]]. The entire town is utterly apathetic to Doug's plight because of a combination of a ScareCampaign and ''[[InsaneTrollLogic because it's Christmas]]''. It takes Doug calling everyone out in a courtroom just to give Porkchop a fair shake. And it was after saving Beebe when she actually ''did'' fall into the lake did he become a free dog.

* The ''[[WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGalaxyRangers Galaxy Rangers]]'' episode "Chained". Ozark is an isolationist colony in the middle of nowhere. The Black Hole Gang proceeds to behave badly and torch a good section of the town. Shane rides in with local ActionGirl Annie and save one of the town elders from a burning building. After the dust-up is over, the townsfolk hand Shane over to the gang. Needless to say, Annie's pissed off and pretty much shouts the trope at them.
* The ''WesternAnimation/HeckleAndJeckle'' cartoon "Sappy New Year" had the two birds swearing off practical jokes as a New Year's resolution. But nobody in town trusts them as their attempts to do good deeds are misconstrued as atypical practical jokes from the two. Heckle starts to revert to his old self and lights a firecracker, but Jeckle grabs it and accidentally tosses it in the trash barrel where they through their other firecrackers and rockets. It goes off simultaneously, renting the city asunder. The townsfolk chase Heckle and Jeckle practically out of town.
* Certain ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse2013'' episodes have this: for example, in "Al Rojo Vivo", what seems like most if not all the population of Pamplona pelts Mickey (who's being chased by a {{bull|SeeingRed}}) with tomatoes.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLifeAsATeenageRobot'' is a frequent offender of this trope, with most of the citizens of Tremorton taking Jenny for granted and seeing her as a mindless service droid despite her free will. The [[SpacePolice Skyway Patrol]] in particular always tries to arrest Jenny for [[PoliceAreUseless practically fabricated reasons]], and sometimes shows sadistic pleasure in the prospect of taking Jenny in. Even her own friends aren't immune from this, as Tuck in "[[Recap/MyLifeAsATeenageRobotS01E07TheReturnOfRaggedyAndroidTheBoy The Boy Who Cried Robot]]" has her help him with the most {{frivolous|summoning}} things imaginable and even [[ManipulativeBastard emotionally manipulates her]] to keep her from backing out. This trope comes to a head in "[[Recap/MyLifeAsATeenageRobotS2E5 A Robot For All Seasons]]" when Todd Sweeney has Jenny reprogrammed to act violently on holidays for an entire year, and nobody in Tremorton, not even Dr. Wakeman, the person who ''created her'', believes she isn't acting of her own volition and tries to have her incarcerated, with the exception of [[StalkerWithACrush Sheldon]], who correctly guesses that she was BrainwashedAndCrazy.

* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack'', Jack agreed to help a group of frog-people, but it turned out they planned on handing him over to Aku in exchange for being left alone. Eventually, Aku went back on the deal.

* In ''WesternAnimation/SonicBoom'', the villagers of [[CityWithNoName the unnamed village]] that Sonic and his friends defend from Eggman are always quick to turn on Sonic, and think the worst of him no matter what the situation is. This actually becomes a major plot point in the episode "Just a Guy", when they shun Sonic and blow everything he says about Mike the Ox out of proportion, causing Sonic to temporarily quit heroism to get back at them.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' might as well be the king of this trope. It's amazing how [[InsufferableImbecile stupid and uncaring]] the citizens of Bikini Bottom can be. One example that comes to mind is from the episode "[[Recap/SpongebobSquarepantsS3E19TheSpongeWhoCouldFly The Sponge Who Could Fly]]". The citizens mock [=SpongeBob=] for his dreams of flying, act like hypocrites when they tell [=SpongeBob=] they also had dreams after he calls them out on their mocking, and suddenly chase him off a cliff. After [=SpongeBob=] gains the ability to fly, they all make him do ridiculous tasks that ''would not even require flight'' and [[EntitledBastard insist he owes them favors]] when he runs off.
* In one ''WesternAnimation/{{Superfriends}}'' cartoon, a planet petitions the heroes for help. They arrive and seemingly save the day, a banquet is held in their honor -- and the denizens then trap them by [[TakenForGranite turning them into stone statues]], promptly handing them over to Darkseid afterward. (Apparently they never got the memo that these guys beat Darkseid, seriously, like every week.) Completely out of left field, Darkseid makes up an extremely flimsy technical excuse to blow the planet up anyway, the aliens realize the errors of their ways and release the Superfriends.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'': In "Cry H.A.V.O.C.!", the Turtles end up having this reaction in regards to their continuous [[HeroWithBadPublicity bad publicity]], culminating when the police try to arrest them after they stop a robbery. When confronted with the mutant organization H.A.V.O.C., which claims to protect mutants shunned by humans, Donatello and Raphael decide to join them because they're sick of constantly protecting humans only to get nothing but hatred and scorn in return; they rebel when they discover that [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist H.A.V.O.C.'s real goal is to mutate people to dominate humanity completely]].
* In the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' episode "Snowblind", the people act like this to the Russian super soldier, Red Star, whose dark side is terrorizing them. Starfire calls them out on it by pointing out that it was the experiments in which they themselves partook that caused everything. After this, they stop acting like assholes.