Line #15 Main/DunceCap


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dunce_hat.jpg]]
2
3	When a character does something wrong (such as in school) or does something remarkably stupid they're shown wearing a large, white, coned shaped hat. "DUNCE" in large red letters, or a large "D", may be added for humiliation related purposes, or to exaggerate it. The character will likely be sitting on a stool in the corner, staring at the walls, as a punishment.
4
5	A variant is the "donkey ears" cap, formerly favored in France. It's what a CourtJester stereotypically wears.
6
7	Dunce (earlier, "dunce disciple") was derived from the name of John Duns Scotus (from Duns in Scotland), the Franciscan Scholastic philosopher, by the 16th century [[UsefulNotes/TheRenaissance Renaissance]] and Protestant opponents of Scholasticism.
8
9	Historically, [[UsefulNotes/TheSpanishInquisition heretics on their way to the stake]] were forced to wear such a tall pointed cap, often with a letter painted on it to identify their type of heresy against God and the Church. This denoted that in the eyes of the Inquisition, the wearer was an obdurate heretic who had refused every reasonable offer to renounce their heresy and return to the straight and narrow path. In the eyes of people watching, it was supposed to be public humiliation.
10
11	While it is now [[DeadHorseTrope long out of practice]] it is still often used in cartoons for a rather comedic effect. Compare the Japanese counterpart, StandingInTheHall, which has a similar status.
12	----
13	!!Examples:
14
15	[[foldercontrol]]
16
17	[[folder:Comic Book]]
18	* ''Franchise/TheFlash'': Bart Allen often thinks in {{Rebus Bubble}}s; sometimes, when he (or anyone else in the immediate vicinity) says or does something stupid, or he simply does not understand what the hell is going on, a bubble will appear with the person of scorn wearing a dunce hat.
19	* The French "donkey ears" variant is occasionally seen in ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'', when Getafix is trying to teach the village children.
20	* ''Franchise/GreenLantern'': [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] Green Lantern foe The Fool's costume incorporated one.
21	[[/folder]]
22
23	[[folder:Fan Works]]
24	* ''Fanfic/TheBoltChronicles'': After Bolt's HeelRealization in "The Blood Brother," he invokes this trope, saying "Somebody really should stick a dunce cap with the word 'stupid' on my head, no question."
25	* In Chapter 6 of ''[[VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair Super Danganronpa 2: When all your waifus are dead]]'', when Hajime is roasting Junko in his TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to her, Junko at one point is suddenly wearing a Dunce Cap which reads "Psycho THOT" as a clown face fades in over her own. To worsen the humiliation, the ghosts of all of her dead classmates from ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'', including Junko's own sister Mukuro, [[InUniverseCatharsis are seen laughing their asses off about this in the background.]]
26	* ''Webcomic/{{Hollowtale}}'': In [[https://www.deviantart.com/thejessofmess/art/Bad-Unfluence-847462404 a side comic]], Sans repeatedly proves himself to be a bad influence to the Knight, introducing them to rude gestures, smoking and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking consuming ketchup as food]], much to Papyrus's irritation. The last straw turned out to be when the Knight reveals to Papyrus that Sans taught them [[InnocentSwearing how to say "asshole" in sign language]]. Shortly after Papyrus fires a DeathGlare at Sans, the last panel of the comic shows Sans sitting in the corner, taped off with "do not cross" tapes and wearing a dunce cap with "BAD INFLUENCE" scribbled on it.
27	-->'''Sans:''' OK i get it bro. can i take the cone off now?
28	[[/folder]]
29
30	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
31	* Happens all the time in ''[[Film/TheLittleRascals Our Gang]]'' shorts when they're in school.
32	* ''Film/PetesDragon1977'' has the titualar character Pete get a dunce cap put on his head, among other things, by his teacher when he gets in trouble for things that Elliot (the dragon) has actually done as well as [[CassandraTruth his seemingly farfetched claims that "It was Elliot!"]]
33	* ''Film/IronMan3'': "Dummy" is wearing one while sweeping up Tony's lab. Dummy is a robotic arm.
34	-->'''Tony''': ''Do you know why you're wearing that cap? Because you EARNED it.''
35	[[/folder]]
36
37	[[folder:Literature]]
38	* Though minus the dunce cap, in ''Literature/AnneOfGreenGables'', Anne Shirley is forced to stand in front of the class with "Ann Shirley has a very bad temper. Ann Shirley must learn to control her temper" written on the board behind her as punishment for smashing her slate over Gilbert Blythe's head for calling her "Carrots".
39	* In ''The Extraordinary Education of Nicholas Benedict'', a prequel book in the ''Literature/TheMysteriousBenedictSociety'' series, children in the orphanage which Nicholas Benedict is sent to that wake up screaming from a nightmare are forced to wear a dunce cap, [[spoiler:at least until Nicholas changes things and makes the orphanage a better place.]]
40	[[/folder]]
41
42	[[folder:Live Action TV]]
43	* ''Series/OurMissBrooks'': DumbJock Stretch Snodgrass is forced to wear a dunce cap in "The Mambo".
44	* On the old Creator/ComedyCentral game show ''Series/WinBenSteinsMoney'', whenever a contestant would begin an answer with "What is__?", Ben Stein would slap a dunce cap on them and shout "This is not ''Series/{{Jeopardy}}''"
45	* On ''Series/StreetSmarts'', you could challenge you opponent to answer a question that was asked of the people on the street. If they didn't know it they'd have to wear a dunce cap for the rest of the round and you won money. But if they did know it then ''they'' got the money and ''you'' got the cap.
46	* ''Series/ElChavoDelOcho'': El Chavo, Quico and La Chillindrina were on remedial classes and Don Ramon and Dona Florinda were allowed to be present at class as spectators. At the end of the episode, Professor Jirafales was glad only one person in there deserved donkey ears. [[spoiler:Don Ramon]] was shown wearing them.
47	* On ''Series/FamilyFeud'', when Louie Anderson hosted the show, if a contestant gave a very stupid answer, they would receive a dunce cap for the stupidest answer of the day.
48	* ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' Digital Short "Shy Ronnie" features a kid wearing a dunce cap sitting in the back of the classroom.
49	* In "Little Guy, Black Hair," from ''Series/DirkGentlysHolisticDetectiveAgency'', Farah and Todd are both made to wear these for their execution. They even have "DUNCE" written on them.
50	[[/folder]]
51
52	[[folder:Music]]
53	* Music/KateBush wears one in the video for "Sat In Your Lap".
54	* Music/MissyElliott briefly wears one in the video for "Work It."
55	* This is referenced by [[WesternAnimation/{{Pinocchio}} Jiminy Cricket]] in a classic Disney safety song called "Stop, Look and Listen/I'm No Fool (As a Pedestrian)", now available on the ''Pinocchio'' Legacy Collection set. "Any fool gets out of cars / The wrong side only once / And if he lives to tell the tale / He's crowned a stupid dunce."
56	[[/folder]]
57
58	[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
59	* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': Calvin got this punishment twice for mouthing off in class. The first time was when he suggested a debate on cannibalism. The second was when he claimed that B. C. stood for "[[ItsAllAboutMe Before Calvin]]" while giving a history report.
60	[[/folder]]
61
62	[[folder:Video Games]]
63	* Used as a form of AchievementMockery in ''VideoGame/{{Bully}}'', where you can unlock a wearable dunce cap by ''failing three straight Classes'' (read: minigames). Naturally, other students will laugh at you for wearing it, though you can beat them up for doing so.
64	* In ''VideoGame/EscapeFromMonkeyIsland'', one puzzle is to do as badly as possible in the "pirate reform school" on Knuttin Atoll so you're stuck with a dunce cap. You then have to wear it so you don't leave a splash as you hit the water during a diving competition.
65	-->'''Guybrush:''' Well, I may be a dunce, but I'm a ''mighty pirate'' dunce!
66	* In ''VideoGame/MechQuest'', your character gets one upon arriving late to his Mech Combat 101 class (by 3.0456 seconds) on his first day at GEARS University, after thinking [[TemptingFate "At least she's not going to make me wear a silly hat."]]
67	* In ''VideoGame/MixedUpMotherGoose'', as you follow Mary into the schoolhouse after giving her back her lamb and you'll see one of her classmates sitting in the corner wearing this.
68	* A [[ClingyMacGuffin cursed item]] in ''VideoGame/NetHack'' that causes your intelligence and wisdom to drop when you wear it. Before being identified, it appears as "a conical hat"... indistinguishable from the useful [[RobeAndWizardHat Wizard's Hat]].[[note]]They can be distinguished in shops via price, but doing so is only useful for Wizards.[[/note]]
69	** Oddly enough the cap does have one potential use, since it sets your intelligence to a specific value and does not allow it to be changed it can prevent you from dying to a mindflayer's brain-sucking attack, which even the [[AutoRevive Amulet of Life Saving]] can't can't reverse.
70	* If you try to summon an "Idiot" on ''VideoGame/{{Scribblenauts}}'', you'll get a kid wearing one of these. He loves eating bugs.
71	* In ''VideoGame/SwimIkaChan'', a dunce cap is your main weapon (you swim upwards to poke enemies with the pointed bit).
72	* One of the new additional powerups in the ''Afertbirth'' DLC of ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac: Rebirth'' is a dunce cap that gives the player character permanently crossed eyes. It's also one of the biggest examples of a PowerUpLetdown as it makes it so your shots only go at diagonals instead of straight, almost as if saying the player would have to be a dunce to take it (outside of certain item combinations)
73	* ''VideoGame/WeirdAndUnfortunateThingsAreHappening'': The Dumbass Ghosts wear such caps, "DUNCE" being written from the tip to the bottom.
74	[[/folder]]
75
76	[[folder:Web Original]]
77	* Mentioned in an episode of ''WebVideo/FreemansMind'': "I'm going to make a dunce cap, and you're going to wear it."
78	* On the animated short film ''WebAnimation/IPetGoatII'', George W. Bush appears wearing one.
79	[[/folder]]
80
81	[[folder:Webcomics]]
82	%% * [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0014.html This]] ''[[Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick Order of the Stick]]'' strip.
83	%% Weblinks are not examples
84	%%
85	* ''Webcomic/HarkAVagrant'' has a strip where someone dies in a dunce cap.
86	* Seen in [[http://satwcomic.com/too-little-butter this]] ''Webcomic/ScandinaviaAndTheWorld'' page with "IDIOT" written on both of them.
87	* ''Webcomic/{{Adventurers}}'': As a schoolboy, Khrima is sent to the corner for making his school project about his plans for taking over the universe. [[http://adventurers.keenspot.com/d/0146.html He wonders if his dunce cap could be converted into an energy funnel.]]
88	* In ''Webcomic/LatchkeyKingdom'', Lenne has to settle for a dunce cap labeled "Witch" instead of the witch hat they wanted in "Lenne gets a Hat".
89	[[/folder]]
90
91	[[folder:Western Animation]]
92	* In ''[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Yankee Doodle Bugs]]'', WesternAnimation/BugsBunny helps his nephew Clyde study U.S. history for a test, but unfortunately Bugs' historical information [[ArtisticLicenseHistory isn't worth crap]]. After Clyde gets home:
93	-->'''Bugs''': Well, Clyde! How did you make out on your history exam?\
94	'''Clyde''': [Puts dunce cap on his head] Does ''this'' answer your question?
95	* Happens in the 1938 ''[[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Merrie Melodies]]'' short, ''Katnip Kollege'', to the bespectacled cat hero, Johnnie, who lacks rhythm and can't swing.
96	* In "[[WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry The Little School Mouse]]", Tuffy displeases Jerry, flees to the stool in the corner and puts the dunce cap on his own head. [[spoiler:At the end of the short, Tuffy is leading his own class consisting of Tom and Jerry - the latter is now wearing it.]]
97	* ''[[WesternAnimation/AdventuresInMusicDuology Adventures In Music]]'' has the aptly-named Bertie Birdbrain, who wore a dunce cap and would often get smacked on the head by Professor Owl for his simple-minded comments.
98	* ''ComicStrip/{{Popeye}}'':
99	** In one short, his sailor's cap mutates into a dunce cap when Olive goes into SarcasmMode for his being completely wrong about his prediction of a sunny day!
100	** One short has Popeye and Olive attend an adult education class. When Popeye can't even get what 5 plus 4 is, he is made to wear a dunce cap and repeat "Five and four are nine" over and over. He falls asleep and goes into a DreamSequence where he's lauded as a genius and then captured by spies.
101	* ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'':
102	** [[Recap/FuturamaS3E7TheDayTheEarthStoodStupid "The Day the Earth Stood Stupid"]], Leela's pet Nibbler "wins" a conical hat for being the Dumbest Pet in Show. The hat has the word "DUMB" written on it.
103	** Professor Farnsworth gets a holographic cone placed on his head as a dunce cap in the episode [[Recap/FuturamaS6E5TheDuhVinciCode "The Duh-Vinci Code"]] for not understanding the course material on Planet Vinci.
104	* ''WesternAnimation/EdEddNEddy'':
105	** When Kevin calls Edd a ''dork'' for trying to teach the cul-de-sac common sense, Edd shoves a cap on him.
106	--->'''Eddy:''' What a DUNCE!! ''[Kevin headbutts Eddy]''\
107	'''Nazz:''' Boy Kevin, that was stupid.
108	** In one episode when Eddy is walking home from school, there is a dunce cap on his head.
109	* One ''Treehouse of Horror'' episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' had Homer Simpson make a dunce cap out of a torn storybook page, only to have it burned off after accidentally leaning next to a candle on the shelf above him.
110	* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'':
111	** Back when he was a kid, Professor Utonium was a prankster who once put a whoopie cushion at another boy's chair. The teacher forced the other boy to wear a dunce cap with "Class Clown" written on it as punishment while young Utonium became a KarmaHoudini.
112	** Blossom has a dunce cap on during her nightmare sequence of "Power-noia" as she appears to be tanking in school. But once she finds out Him is behind things, Blossom puts on her game face.
113	* In the ''WesternAnimation/ChalkZone'' episode "Hole in the Wall", Rudy and Penny enter an old school house to try and retrieve a love letter Rudy's father wrote for his mother when they were children and Rudy finds one of these, saying that he'd be wearing it all the time if Mr. Wilter had one. Humorously, the dunce cap latter lands on the head of the episode's antagonist Vinnie Ratone after the school is demolished when he desperately tries to convince his dim-witted brother that his photographs of [=ChalkZone=] are real and not children's drawings.
114	* In "Never Too Late To Loon" (part of "[[Recap/TinyToonAdventuresS1E4TestStressed Test Stressed]]") on ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'', Plucky has to wear one after he is put in detention for failing his math test. (He had asked Shirley to "channel Einstein" for him, not realizing that Einstein was a dunce at basic math as a child.[[labelnote:Note]]A myth.[[/labelnote]])
115	* Parodied in the ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' episode "Go God Go", where Mr. Garrison punished Stan for believing in God by putting him in the "dunce chair", putting a cap on him that reads "I HAVE FAITH".
116	* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "Hearts and Hooves Day", after Big Mac and Cheerilee fall victim to the [[LovePotion love poison]], Apple Bloom has an ImagineSpot of Ponyville being overrun with uneducated starving ponies, one of whom, Lily Valley, is wearing one of these.
117	* Fozzie is forced to wear one of these on an episode of ''WesternAnimation/MuppetBabies1984'' after interrupting Baby Piggy's lesson plans in (make-believe) school with one of his many jokes.
118	* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'': In "The Secret Origin of Denzel Crocker", Mr. Crocker, who is more [[SadistTeacher sadistic]] than usual today, tortures Timmy by putting a cap on him and seating him in a corner surrounded by rabid dogs.
119	* In the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' episode "Mad Mod", after all the titans get trapped in the titular villain's massive school, Beast Boy turns up in a science lab with a white cap on his head, while drooling in front of one of Mad Mod's [[MindControlDevice hypno-screens]].
120	* ''WesternAnimation/CowAndChicken'': In "Cow's Pie", Chicken gets sent to the corner, and made to wear a cap reading "STUPID", after he yells a BigShutUp meant for Cow.
121	* Hans gets made to wear one and sit on a stool in ''WesternAnimation/EducationForDeath'', because he ''dared'' to empathize with the rabbit in the teacher's parable about a fox eating a rabbit. The intended moral was "[[TheSocialDarwinist The world belongs to the strong]]".
122	* The ''WesternAnimation/BumpInTheNight'' episode "Story Problems" has Mr. Bumpy put a dunce cap on his head while bemoaning his inability to redo the boy's homework after he ate it.
123	* In the ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' episode "Bubba's Big Brainstorm", Bubba Duck is shown wearing a dunce cap when he shows his report card to Scrooge [=McDuck=] (which is [[FMinusMinus all Z's]]). Later, when Bubba Duck demonstrates his new intelligence enabled by Gyro Gearloose's thinking cap to the class, the teacher Mrs. Quackenbush responds by putting on a dunce cap and packing her bags to go back to college.
124	* In the ''WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse2013'' short "[[Recap/MickeyMouseS5E5HatsEnough Hats Enough]]", a dunce cap is one of the hats Mickey tries on.
125	* In the ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'' episode “I Was a Teenage Abomination”, Eda is forced to wear a “Shame Hat” (basically a dunce cap with the word “SHAME” written on it) after losing a bet to King.
126	* In the ''ComicStrip/LittleLulu'' short "Bored of Education", Lulu is asked to answer history questions and receives wrong answers from Tubby. She is forced to the corner with a dunce cap after this exchange.
127	--->'''Teacher:''' Lulu, when did Ben Franklin die?\
128	'''Lulu:''' Gee, did he die? I didn't know he was even sick.
129	* In the ''WesternAnimation/LittleAudrey'' short "Goofy Goofy Gander", Audrey wears one after she is caught reading a comic book in class.
130	* ''[[WesternAnimation/TheJetsons Rockin' with Judy Jetson]]'': When Judy is caught working on a song in the middle of her history class, her teacher makes her wear a dunce cap.
131	* ''WesternAnimation/TheNewArchies'': Ms. Grundy makes Smithers wear one after he sprays a water hose in the classroom and drenches everyone.
132	* ''WesternAnimation/APupNamedScoobyDoo'': In "For Letter or Worse", Shaggy and Scooby compete against Bobby and Betsy Brainy, otherwise known as the Brainy Bunch, on the titular game show. When the Brainy Bunch beat Shaggy and Scooby 25,321 points to 0, Shaggy and Scooby have to wear dunce caps.
133	[[/folder]]
134
135	[[folder:Real Life]]
136	* Around 271 AD Roman soldiers had attacked a group of Gothic soldiers and captured some of them as prisoners of war. Among them were 16 women who were crossdressing as men. Before their inevitable death or enslavement as [=POWs=] they were paraded through the streets of Rome with signs hanged on them that mockingly proclaimed them “Amazons”.
137	* Some Holy Week traditions in Spain involve wearing a pointed capirote cap as a form of penitence. The cap is tall, with cloth covering the cap and face, with holes cut out for the eyes. There's usually a flowing robe to go along with it. Visitors from the US are sometimes scandalized by the uncanny resemblance of this garment to those of TheKlan, but, and this can't be stressed enough, the resemblance ends with the uniform.
138	[[/folder]]
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Context Main / DunceCap