Line #38 Main/ExpectationLowerer


1	->''"My advice would be to bring a friend that has your basic characteristics, but is slightly less attractive."''
2	-->-- '''Dan Arieli''' gives dating tips in ''Predictably Irrational''
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4	A character who exists to provide a flattering contrast to the audience by being worse than them in some specific respect.
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6	This trope exists on a sliding scale of scorn; at one end the character simply exists as a flattering contrast to the audience (the IdiotHero often fits here). At this end of the spectrum, the audience thinks "if ''this'' character can do x, then I certainly can do x!"
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8	On the other end of scorn scale is the harder version, where a character is made pathetic so the audience can feel better about themselves (via [[GratuitousGerman Schadenfreude]]). TheDitz, a very common trope in [[SitCom Sitcoms]], is this (but PlayedForLaughs).
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10	Arguably an Expectation Lowerer is an {{Inversion}} of EscapistCharacter; Escapist Characters allow you to feel good by giving you an AudienceSurrogate that you can experience awesomeness through. An Expectation Lowerer makes you feel good in the exact opposite way; you ''cannot'' identify with this character because they, in at least one respect, are worse than you.
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12	Not to be confused with ThisLoserIsYou; where a [[AudienceSurrogate character you identify with]] is the character that sucks. ThisLoserIsYou basically flings the audience's faults back into their face whereas an Expectation Lowerer allows them to distance themselves from their faults.
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14	Possibly related to Creator/FriedrichNietzsche and his concept of "Pathos Of Distance" (where one casts that which one does ''not'' identify with as the morally wrong).
15	----
16	!!Examples
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18	[[foldercontrol]]
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20	[[folder:Philosophy]]
21	* Creator/FriedrichNietzsche and his aforementioned concept of the "pathos of distance" is arguably related to this. Nietzsche argued that moral concepts came about because societies/groups/cliques defined themselves (and a list of traits they allegedly embodied) as "the good" and hence "the unlike us" became "the bad."
22	* St Creator/ThomasAquinas, among other Christian writers, [[https://www.newadvent.org/summa/5094.htm believed that the saints]] in {{Heaven}} will be able to observe the torments of the wicked in {{Hell}} and rejoice in them, "insofar as by considering therein the order of Divine justice and their own deliverance, which will fill them with joy." Tertullian, an ecclesiastical writer during the time of the Roman Empire, [[http://www.archive.org/stream/apologydespectac00tertuoft#page/298/mode/2up wrote in De Spectaculis]] about this, stating that being in Heaven and watching the damned in Hell is a much greater joy than Roman spectacles like the circus, theatre, or stadium.
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25	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
26	* Every single guest on ''Series/TheJerrySpringerShow'', and the UK equivalent Jeremy Kyle.
27	* HopelessAuditionees on any TV Talent Show (for instance, ''Series/AmericanIdol'').
28	* All of the main characters of ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia''.
29	* Studies show that this is literally true of the contestants on reality television; it can actually serve as a mental substitute for self-betterment.
30	* ''Series/MadTV1995'' has the skits of The Depressed Persian Tow Truck Man, who constantly say things about how his life sucks, that people he's talking with feel better about themselves as their lives aren't as bad as his. One skit has him be part of a therapy group, where him talking about his crappy home life, makes the other members feel better about their lives.
31	* Harry Kim's job on ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' was basically to make everyone else on the USS Voyager look better. Garrett Wang didn't really get to act much[[note]]supposedly, the producers ''told him'' to be more wooden[[/note]], and his character wasn't allowed to accomplish anything, or get what he wanted, or have a love life to speak of, or get promoted[[note]]''seven years'' at the rank of Ensign[[/note]], and even things that would pass without comment on any other Trek series got him into trouble[[note]]when Kirk or Riker sleeps with the GreenSkinnedSpaceBabe of the week, nobody cares, but when Harry gets it on, he gets an STD ''and'' a formal reprimand from Janeway[[/note]]; meanwhile, his character's best friend, Tom Paris, was TheAce with skills in literally every field of human endeavour and, by the end of the series, a wife and the beginnings of a family. And even despite this, he still ended up more popular than [[BaseBreakingCharacter Neelix]], which only goes to show that having someone be dumped on constantly for seven years can still earn a certain measure of sympathy.
32	* In ''Series/EverybodyLovesRaymond'', Ray Barone makes an enormous blunder when stuck for a blank videotape in a hurry to record that year's Superbowl. He ends up using his own wedding videotape. Despite, as wife Debra tells him at great and furious length, it having a massive label on it that says "Our Wedding" in 108-point font. His father reflects later [[note]]And this is ''Frank Barone'' saying this[[/note]] that wherever men are gathered together who have done dumb bone-headed things to aggravate their wives, however dumb, however stupid, they can take comfort in saying
33	--> Well, at least I didn't pull a Ray Barone!
34	* ''Series/TheInbetweeners'' follows the misadventures of four teenage boys who constantly fail at getting laid or being cool. Among their group is a pompous twat who kisses up to all the adults, a short-tempered lad who constantly fails at impressing the girl of his dreams, an idiot whose parents split up because his dad's a homosexual and a sex-crazed compulsive liar.
35	* ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'': The central family of the series are so absurdly [[DysfunctionalFamily dysfunctional]] that any real family can't help but feel better about themselves after watching. Every member is unbearable in their own way, between shrewish, abusive, harpy mother Lois, [[BumblingDad moronic buffoon father Hal]], impulsive and irresponsible rebellious eldest son Francis, [[InsufferableImbecile idiotic bully]] Reese, InsufferableGenius (who isn't anywhere near as much smarter than the others as he thinks he is) Malcolm, and the downright [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} strange]] Dewey, meaning everyone has someone to relate and feel superior to.
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38	[[folder:Newspaper Comics]]
39	* According to Scott Adams, this was the reason he ended the relationship between ComicStrip/{{Dilbert}} and Liz. He kept getting e-mails stating essentially "Dilbert shouldn't get lucky before I do."
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42	[[folder:Video Games]]
43	* ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' has a {{Metagame}} example in Sombra. When she was made available to play, fans found that [[DifficultButAwesome she has a very high skill floor]]; good Sombra players can use her hack-based skills to interfere with the enemy team's effectiveness, but bad Sombra players, who are everywhere, contribute virtually nothing of value, not helped by her main weapon being rather low on the damage side. This trope comes into play with accounts of some Sombra players being told to switch to Hanzo (a snipe-based Hero), who was previously ''the'' meta's MemeticLoser and face of "awesome but misused character" (i.e. even if you're playing poorly as Hanzo, he's still more effective than Sombra at low-level play).
44	* ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' has the very infamous example of Shinji Matou, a character who believes himself to be more important than he really is. While he is a hit with the ladies at school, most important female characters want nothing to do with him, his magical capabilities are at an absolute zero, and often resorts to cowardly and despicable acts to get what he wants. While there is no shortage of monstrous villains, Shinji stands as being the most pathetic of them all. So much so that in ''Anime/CarnivalPhantasm'', his sister [[ShrinkingViolet Sakura]] outright states that he only exists to make everybody around him look good.
45	** He indisputably crosses the line from this into flat-out HateSink in the versions of the story where [[spoiler:he is revealed to have raped Sakura in the past, albeit under the influence of their sadistic grandfather.]]
46	* The Crestfallen Warrior in ''VideoGame/DemonsSouls'' and his various counterparts in the ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' series serve as a reminder of what you essentially are if you give up on trying to beat the game. They started out on a quest not unlike your own and died enough times that they lost their nerve to go on. The one in ''Demon's Souls'' even invites you to cop a seat next to him, saying "We can sit here forever." In other words, ThisLoserIsYou...but only if you let the game get the better of you. On a broader level, "going hollow" in the ''Dark Souls'' universe--becoming a mindless zombie--is implied to be the fate of players who give up on the game, as undead remain sane only as long as they retain some sense of purpose and the will to press on.
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49	[[folder:Web Original]]
50	* This, mixed with BileFascination, drives sites like Encyclopedia Dramatica and People of UsefulNotes/{{Walmart}} (among many, many others).
51	* The ''Scumbags of the Internet'' section on ''WebVideo/ADoseOfBuckley'' gives us the following catchphrase, which all but invokes this trope:
52	-->''"So thanks to today's Scumbag of the Internet, [insert name or nickname here], for making us all feel better by knowing no matter what we do in life, we'll always be better than he/she/they is/are."''
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55	[[folder:Western Animation]]
56	* [[TheAlcoholic Barney Gumble]] from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', is meant to be even more of a StrawLoser than Homer is. Subverted in that Barney makes an effort to get clean and sober (although he does fall OffTheWagon every now and again). He's been OutOfFocus in more recent seasons, because, with his recovery efforts, he does not fulfill his Expectation Lowerer role anymore.
57	** As well as some [[MoralGuardians parental groups]] not [[UnfortunateImplications understanding or tolerating the implication]] that such a roaring drunk [[RealityIsUnrealistic could have an artistic side]].
58	** The same show also gives us [[PersonAsVerb "doin' a Homer"]] for any action or deed or remark which is so completely outrageously unbelievably stupid that there is only ever one person who could conceivably behave that way. The phrase, in fact, becomes so widespread InUniverse that it gets into Webster's Dictionary.
59	* Carl of ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce''. Fat, balding, ugly, hairy, a slob, a perverted sleazeball, and beyond.
60	* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' is not the brightest bulb in the circuit by any means, but compared to [[StrawLoser Patrick]], he looks like a genius.
61	** Squidward is [[SmallNameBigEgo a lame-o who thinks of himself as an underappreciated genius when he is living a lousy life as a cashier at the Krusty Krab, and his talents are mediocre to horrendous]]. He basically makes everyone else's life look happier than his dead-end career.
62	* Richard Watterson on ''WesternAnimation/TheAmazingWorldOfGumball'' seems to have the sole purpose of saying and doing things so stupid even LoserProtagonist Gumball sees how dumb they are. Notably, Richard, unlike Gumball, is ''such'' an idiotic loser that [[TheFool things often actually work around to his advantage precisely because of the fact that no one expects anything of him]], so in a way, by making Gumball (and by extension [[ThisLoserIsYou the audience]]) seem like less of a loser, he makes Gumball look like ''[[LogicBomb more]]'' of a loser.
63	* ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'' has Clay Puppington, an abusive, self-destructive, hypocritical, alcoholic AttentionWhore who hates everyone and everything, ''especially'' himself. Deconstructed in season 3, when his dysfunction gradually alienates every single person in his life.
64	* ''WesternAnimation/BeavisAndButthead'' are impossibly stupid, ugly and live in squalor. They're also very self-centered and mean-spirited, so the sight of them either failing or even betting badly injured feels satifying to watch.
65	* ''WesternAnimation/KoalaMan'': Kevin Williams aka Koala Man sees himself as an Aussie Batman, but in reality he's a pudgy, balding dork wearing a knitted mask and a blanket that's barely tolerated by his community. Koala Man's brand of heroism amounts to little more than checking the townsfolk adhere to proper regulatory guidlines. What's more, this isn't because he's got nothing better to do, as plenty of superhero-grade threats appear in each episode, but Koala Man is too anal retentive to be of any use.
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