[[HighSchoolMusical http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1240649384.jpg]]
[[caption-width:400:[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rL37snqMJx8 Is this Narm? BET ON IT!]]]]

->"''They're eating her. And then they're going to eat me. [[BigOMG OH MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD]].''"
--->-- '''Arnold''', ''[[{{Troll2}} Troll 2]]''

A Narm is a moment that is supposed to be serious, but due to either over-sappiness, poor [[SpecialEffectsFailure execution]], excessive {{Melodrama}}, or the sheer [[SoBadItsGood absurdity of the situation]], the drama is lost. The moment is often found funny by fans. It can be extremely subjective.

It is named for [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IiOKNggPh4Q the famous scene]] in the last season of ''SixFeetUnder'', where the main character Nate suffers a brain embolism. He suddenly grabs his right arm and repeats "Numb arm!", but it quickly becomes "N'arm! N'arm!" Despite being the climax of one of the best shows HBO has ever created, the scene was overwhelmingly found by fans and reviewers to be funny rather than sad.

Were you to discuss this phenomenon in a scholarly work or literary circles, the word you would probably use is "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bathos bathos]]". Though all the implications of the technical term do not match up exactly, it's a fairly good fit. If you're talking to non-tropers and don't want to have to make fun of the unintentional comedy of brain embolisms, [[TVTropesWillRuinYourVocabulary that's probably the word you want to use]].

Not to be confused with the FunnyAneurysmMoment, in which something wasn't meant to be upsetting but is, thanks to later events or unfortunate RealitySubtext.

Narm often stems from a failed attempt to pull off a CrowningMomentOfAwesome, a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming or a TearJerker. Alternatively, a good performance in a bad movie will evoke Narm because the actor TookTheBadFilmSeriously. Anything that falls under {{Wangst}} and DeusAngstMachina runs the risk of falling under Narm, as what is ''intended'' to be angsty and dramatic can instead come across as over-the-top ridiculous and absurd. In subtitled {{anime}}, Narms are often created through the use of [[GratuitousEnglish badly used English]], with TotallyRadical dialog in general being another rich source of Narm. In dubbed anime, Narms are more likely to result from the combination of a budding [[WilliamShatner William Shatner]] reading an [[AdaptationDecay overly-literal translation]].

See also NightmareRetardant and many cases of SnarkBait, as well as FetishRetardant for erotica (of which [[IKEAErotica the Swedish home furnishings variety]] is a particularly good source of Narm). Not to be confused with [[TheVietnamWar 'Nam]] ([[{{Understatement}} which is generally slightly less funny]]) or the [[BabylonFive Narn]].

Keep in mind that {{Narm}} is [[SubjectiveTropes subjective]], as one person's [[SoBadItsGood cheese]] is another person's [[NarmCharm charm]].

A number of examples of {{Narm}} become [[MemeticMutation memes.]]

Contrast with NarmCharm, where somehow, the drama still works.
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!!Examples:

* Narm/{{Anime}}
** Narm/CodeGeass
** Narm/{{Digimon}}
** Narm/{{Gundam}}
* Narm/ComicBooks
** Narm/{{Jack Chick}}
* Narm/{{Film}}
** Narm/StarWars
* Narm/{{Literature}}
* Narm/LiveActionTV
** Narm/{{Advertising}}
** Narm/{{News}}
* Narm/{{Manga}}
* Narm/{{Music}}
* Narm/NewMedia
* Narm/ProfessionalWrestling
* Narm/TabletopGames
* Narm/VideoGames
* Narm/{{Webcomics}}
* Narm/WesternAnimation
* Narm/RealLife

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