History PlayingWith / TheUnFavourite

* '''Inverted''': Charlie and David treat their mom Alice with more favor then their dad Bob.* '''Subverted''': Neither parent seems to have a favorite. It turns out that David is just a whiner.

** David harbors a ton of and hatred and [[TheResenter resentment]] toward Charlie and kills him in a fit of mad jealously, [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone only to deeply regret it]].

* '''Inverted''': Charlie and David treat their mom Alice with more favor then their dad Bob.
* '''Subverted''': Neither parent seems to have a favorite. It turns out that David is just a whiner.

<<|PlayingWithWiki|>>

** See Justified 5.

* '''Lampshaded''': "How come Charlie never takes out the trash?"

* '''Justified''': Despite a secure and loving upbringing, David despises his parents and doesn't hesitate to let them know it. He humilates them in public, [[ManipulativeBastard does everything he can to get them in trouble]], and has been known to physically attack them. Charlie is sweet natured and loyal, and regularly comes to his parents' rescue.

* '''Parodied''': Prior to the birth of David, his mother is seen reading a book: "Choosing a Favourite Child: Natural Selection in Action."
** David is a Nobel Prize-winning millionaire astrophysicist who cured cancer. However, Alice and Bob refuse to stop talking about their little Charlie, who just got promoted to head fry cook.

** Charlie and David are kidnapped. Their parents are given a SadisticChoice. They choose Charlie without missing a beat. Charlie is brutally murdered, because the villain figures it's more dramatic that Dave knows his parents don't give anything even vaguely resembling a shit about him, and Charlie is dumped in the river without even a proper funeral.

** Neither parent seems to have a favorite. It turns out that David is just a whiner....until little Emily is born, in which case she gets the lion's share of attention. Both Charlie and David [[EnemyMine gang up on Emily.]] Emily's first words turn out to be "No." and she becomes CaptainContrarian. Once Alice and Bob hear enough, they decide that Emily doesn't need all the attention and decides to give the attention to Charlie and David.

'''Basic Trope''': A child's sibling is disliked by his/her parents.

'''Basic Trope''': A child's sibling is preferred by his/her parents.

* '''Inverted''': The parents treat their children exactly the same.

* [[CallingTheOldmanOut Fuck you dad. Get your precious daughter her own drink.]] [[DisproportionateRetribution And if you lay one finger on me,]] [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel I'll bury you both alive.]]

** Charlie and David are kidnapped. Their parents are given a SadisticChoice. They choose Charlie without missing a beat. Charlie is brutally murdered, because the villain figures it's more dramatic that Dave knows his parents don't give anything even vaguely resembling a shit about him, and charlie is dumped in the river without even a proper funeral.

* [[CallingTheOldmanOut Fuck you dad. Get your precious daugter her own drink.]] [[DisproportionateRetribution And if you lay one finger on me,]] [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel I'll bury you both alive.]]

* Fuck you dad. Get your precious daugter her own drink. And if you lay one finger on me, I'll bury you both alive.

* Fuck you dad. Get your precious daugter her own drink. And if you lay one finger on me, I'll feed it to you.

* '''Parodied''': Prior to the bith of David, his mother is seen reading a book: "Choosing a Favourite Child: Natural Selection in Action."

** David is a Nobel Prize-winning millionaire astrophysicist who cured cancer. However, Alice and Bob refuse to stop talking about their little Charlie, who's down to one syringe of heroin a day from three.
*** Far from being a sign of ParentalFavoritism, this is a normal reaction on the part of parents of a drug addicted child and a high achieving child. They figure, consciously or unconsciously that the high achieving kid needs less attention and is less likely to die while their back is turned, and go over the moon when the drug addicted child starts using a little less, or checks themselves into rehab, or whatever, because it means the drug addicted child is temporarily less likely to die any given minute than they were. Meanwhile their siblings rarely read it as favoritism, because a) they see the toll the drug addiction takes on their parents, and b) they're doing the same thing, thrilled their beloved if self destructive sibling is self destructing a little less. It's not healthy by any means, but most normal, natural reactions to drug addiction by the addict's family aren't. It's one more way drug addiction screws up families.

*** Far from being a sign of ParentalFavoritism, this is a normal reaction on the part of parents if a drug addicted child and a high achieving child. They figure, consciously or unconsciously that the high achieving kid needs less attention and is less likely to die while their back is turned, and go over the moon when the drug addicted child starts using a little less, or checks themselves into rehab, or what ever, because it means the drug addicted child is temporarily less likely to die any given minute than they were. Meanwhile their siblings rarely read it as favoritism, because a) they see the toll the drug addiction takes on their parents, and b) they're doing the same thing, thrilled their beloved if self destructive sibling is self destructing a little less. It's not healthy by any means, but most normal, natural reactions to drug addiction by the addict's family aren't. It's one more way drug addiction screws up families.

* '''PlayedForLaughs''': It's a SadistShow, and every misery his parents [[ButtMonkey inflict upon]] David is so outrageous and over-the-top that it CrossesTheLineTwice. Every time his mum and dad do something nice for him, the universe freaks out at the anomaly and [[YankTheDogsChain screws him over even more badly to reassert the natural order of things]]. TheAce, Charlie, is oblivious to the misery he causes his brother.
* '''PlayedForDrama''': ParentalFavoritism and the resulting Sibling Rivalry have messed the teenaged David up so badly that he ends up [[DrivenToSuicide taking his own life]]. The furious police officer who deals with the incident viciously [[CallingTheOldManOut berates]] his mother and father for their lousy parenting - but they don't care, since their favourite, Charlie, is still with them.