History Main / AccentuateTheNegative

---> '''Nerd:''' Yes, I'm sorry I didn't have more negative to say, I was really tryin' here, um... I know I haven't filled my curse quota for this episode, so... [[ClusterFBomb fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck]].

** He's even played this for laughs as a means to poke some fun at Seamus Blackley during his review of ''VideoGame/JurassicParkTrespasser''. Only the Nerd could [[DamnedByFaintPraise find a way]] to turn "father of the UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}}" into an insult:

* ''WebVideo/LowTierGod'': LTG's social media posts usually revolve around complaining about a particular subject matter. One of his Twitter bans involved complaining about top tier characters.

* [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] trashes comic books, but Lewis Lovhaug has pointed out that this is the entire ''point'' of his show, and has asked fans not to send or recommend good comics. Though he will praise good elements, and on occasion subverts "This comic sucks!" (usually with something like "This comic is...just okay" or "not THAT bad").

* An entire school of philosophy, Pessimism, insists that we live in the worst of all possible worlds. Arthur Schopenhauer is a good exemplar: he argued that the world is a kind of penal colony, in which misery and suffering greatly outweigh happiness. Some (like him) therefore argue it's better to have never been born (anti-natalism).

* Give it up for Marvin the Paranoid Android from ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy1978.'' He is taken for granted so often with little or no gratitude it's a wonder he doesn't violate the prime directive.

* The Protestant churches in the USA and in elsewhere (be it Baptist, Lutheran, Calvinist, Methodist,...) also get a lot of negative attention in the media, especially since many of their most fundamentalist and controversial preachers like Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Swaggart, Ted Haggard, Jim Bakker, Oral Roberts, Fred Phelps, Peter Popoff, etc. cause enormous damage to the reputation of American televangelists both in the US and abroad. To the public, it may often appear that virtually all of them are OnlyInItForTheMoney, homophobes who are gay themselves, corrupt, money laundering and will use the most far-fetched tactics to brainwash gullible followers into handing over all their cash and being hateful towards atheists, gays, single mothers, people of other faith (or none)...

** Better yet, there's ''[[http://classics.mit.edu/Aristophanes/knights.html The Knights]]''. Possibly one of the most vicious pieces of political satire ever written, and despite being almost two and a half millennia old, surprisingly relevant.

* In a comedic example, Francis from ''VideoGame/Left4Dead,'' who will proclaim [[MadLibsCatchPhrase "I hate (blank)!"]] several times throughout the game. The list of things he actually likes includes vests, steam, Jimmy Gibbs Jr.'s stock car, Music/DepecheMode, and Rochelle from the second game. The list of things he hates is...[[http://left4dead.wikia.com/wiki/Francis#Hatred_of_Everything considerably larger.]]

* Featured as a plot point in ''Webcomic/FriendlyHostility''. Collin's best friend, Fox, is also his boyfriend... Which means that when Fox screws up, or the relationship hits a rocky patch, misanthropic Collin doesn't really have anyone he can talk to about it. When he befriends Arath, he takes full advantage of the opportunity to unload some of his grudges and doubts about the relationship. Unfortunately, Collin takes much of his usually good love affair for granted and therefore doesn't really mention the nice things about his boyfriend. Result? Arath begins to believe that Collin's boyfriend is a useless jerk who mistreats his partner.

* ''Webcomic/PennyArcade'' thrives on this trope, but they also are able to be very funny [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2001/7/23/it-really-is-that-good/ when heaping]] [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/1999/4/2/a-mech-moment-for-us/ unmitigated praise]] [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2008/10/1/ on something.]]
* In ''Webcomic/MenageA3,'' Jung plans to review the play Dillon's starring in:
-->'''Jung:''' Gonna blog about how horrible it was, the instant it's over!\\

** Earlier he lists 77 reasons why ''Series/{{Friends}}'' sucked to Zii.

* The nature of King Sombra's umbran magic in the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''-based ''WebComic/TheShadowShard''. Once it works its way into a victim's mind, it twists and distorts their memories, sapping the good ones and painting a picture of loneliness and hurt.

* PlayedForLaughs in ''64 Things Wrong With...'', in which the reviewer nitpicks some of the greatest video games out there, trying a little too hard to find exactly 64 things wrong with the games in question in each video.

** Though he does give praise where praise is due, he goes out of his way to pick games he expects to be bad or focuses on only the worst parts of the games since [[RuleOfFunny that's when he's at his most entertaining]]. The major exception to this is [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness his first two videos]] which were a ''parody'' of Accentuate The Negative, made before he knew he would be famous for this stuff. Even when he reviews games he actually likes, like ''[[VideoGame/BatmanSunsoft Batman: Return of the Joker]]'' for the NES, he still posts a video of all the worst parts of the game and how much he hates those parts, then afterwards casually mentions how it's actually a pretty fun game just with a flaw or two, and even ''apologized'' for not having many bad things to say about ''VideoGame/ChexQuest'', a free game from a cereal box that was a mod of ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' which ended up being [[SugarWiki/NoProblemWithLicensedGames surprisingly well-made and fun to play]]:

* This is the basic premise of WebVideo/CinemaSins, pointing out the various flaws in movies, even those many consider to be classics. The creators have even admitted that they subject some of their favorite movies to this treatment. They've even done two videos on themselves. Their final tally? [[SelfDeprecation Infinity]].

* This is the standard review style for The Critical Drinker, especially if he deems a particular film or TV show to be terrible.

* Since [=RationalWiki=] is aimed at refuting pseudoscience and fallacious argumentation, and promoting skepticism, the site naturally has a bit of a cynical streak, to emphasize how much [[HumansAreMorons society gives such bigots and frauds undeserved respect]]. This naturally extends to politics, such that every country in the world is made out to be an awful place.
** Japan is particularly notable here. Yes, like all countries, it certainly suffers from systemic problems that neither the government nor its people are willing to acknowledge, but to hear the wiki tell it, the country is run entirely by bigoted authoritarian nationalists like Saudi Arabia or Russia.

* The so-called Website/YouTube [[InNameOnly "shooters"]] (intentionally put in quotes, because they're not in the wrestling business), like Bill & Doug (aka [=RVDTito4Life=]) and Kent Jones, who love to praise [[Wrestling/ImpactWrestling TNA]] and bash anything that's not TNA, like Wrestling/{{WWE}} or [[Wrestling/RingOfHonor ROH.]]

* WebVideo/{{Retsupurae}}: Deliberately seeking out the worst [[LetsPlay Let's Plays]] and Let's Players on Website/YouTube, and giving them the {{MST}} treatment.

Often, if an audience, broadcaster, or forum member is challenged about their complaints (e.g. "Do you even like this show?") they'll be genuinely surprised. Of course, they like it! Why would they bother commenting at all on it if they didn't? It's just that grousing about DevelopmentHell, CreatorBreakdown or FanonDiscontinuity is much more fun than counting your blessings -- after all, you'd only be preaching to the choir... But then, sometimes you're doing that anyway.

Some people also point this out for the creator to improve, however, it's ''far'' more common for someone to actually be posting [[HateDumb destructive]] [[FanDumb criticism]] than actually trying to be constructive. Given that long-winded essays that are pointing out what the creator(s) of a work did ''right'' are mixed in with flat out stupidity and destructive criticism, it's very easy for the constructive people to be blocked out.

Often done by TheCynic or CausticCritic. See also SturgeonsLaw, ReviewerStockPhrases, LetsMockTheMonsters, UnpleasableFanbase, and HePannedItNowHeSucks, a fan reaction when the Accentuate The Negative {{review}}er pans a show his fans like.

* In ''Webcomic/TheGreenhouse, the demon 'Red' poses as her host Mica's InnerMonologue, and uses this trope to influence Mica towards misery and anger, making it easier to feed on her. Once Mica learns that she's possessed, she can recognize the difference between her inner voice and 'Red', who admits that the technique has become essentially useless and stops trying.

* The Protestant churches in the USA (be it Baptist, Lutheran, Calvinist, Methodist,...) also get a lot of negative attention in the media, especially since many of their most fundamentalist and controversial preachers like Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, Jimmy Swaggart, Ted Haggard, Jim Bakker, Oral Roberts, Fred Phelps, Peter Popoff, etc. cause enormous damage to the reputation of American televangelists both in the US and abroad. To the public, it may often appear that virtually all of them are OnlyInItForTheMoney, homophobes who are gay themselves, corrupt, money laundering and will use the most far-fetched tactics to brainwash gullible followers into handing over all their cash and being hateful towards atheists, gays, single mothers, people of other faith (or none)...

However, sometimes this can be taken to an extreme. We can get so carried away with the freedom of voicing the things that annoy us that we completely forget to even ''mention'' the things that we actively enjoy. It's not that we're setting out to be a {{Jerkass}} or as negative as possible -- it's just that we take the good things in life so much for granted that we don't see fit to talk about them... And come across as a pessimist as a result.

* ''Dead Homer Society'' used to have [[https://deadhomersociety.com/category/synergy/ recurring posts]] where episode reviews from Website/{{IGN}} (which was owned by News Corp. from 2005 to 2013) were taken and edited to say things like certain jokes were just excuses to make pop culture references, or that the episode turned out to be a boring waste of time.

* ED's rival, Wiki/{{Uncyclopedia}}, is more like a parody version of Website/{{Wikipedia}}, and the humor is more often flat-out nonsense than insulting. (There is a guidance page titled "How To Be Funny And Not Just Stupid", but the advice isn't always followed.) Unfortunately, this isn't the case with the [[http://desciclo.pedia.ws/ Portuguese version]], which, besides some actual parodic articles and articles on [[MemeticMutation fads]], follows the ED formula of bashing anything in sight and ''lots'' of {{NSFW}} images. It's worth noting that ED holds a special contempt for Uncyclopedia, considering Wikipedia founder Jimbo Wales's expression of approval to be the worst possible indictment against Uncyclopedia. For its own part, Uncyclopedia offers this scathingly precise descriptor of its rival: "Unfunny cynicism masquerading as humor."

* This is the basic premise of WebVideo/CinemaSins, pointing out the various flaws in movies, even those many consider to be classics. The creators have even admitted that they subject some of their favorite movies to this treatment. They've even done two videos on themselves. Their final tally? Infinity.

** He hates everything he reviews. However, he is simply a character, and the movies and shows he reviews are genuinely bad. On the flip side of the coin, he's made tributes to ''Series/DoubleDare1986'' and Drew Struzan, and his Top 11 lists are generally positive. His overly grouchy attitude is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] during many of the reviews, but the most prominent example would be when he broke down in tears over failing to find it in his bitter angry heart to rip on ''[[Series/SesameStreet Follow That Bird]]''. Even though he really trashes and bashes movies, some of them he actually ''does'' legitimately like despite their flaws and cliches (''Film/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles'' and ''Film/CoolRunnings''), and in some of his videos, mentions there are some things they did ''right'' at the end of the review.[[note]] He's stated that some movies have a lot of good intentions, loves to point out nice animation or well-done shots, finds the "stuff" in ''Film/WaterWorld'' to work because it makes the world seem more plausible, and has been known to outright praise good use of music. [[/note]] Unfortunately, his satirical reviews have fallen foul of ReviewsAreTheGospel i.e. some fans take his reviews as definitive law. And for these reasons and more, Doug slammed the hell out of the site's M.O in WebVideo/DemoReel, as Donnie rants about how people obsess over something miserable in the past and turn it into their lives, and that he refuses to fixate on his own DarkAndTroubledPast anymore because he doesn't want to be like those people.

* This is the standard review style for ''WebVideo/TheCriticalDrinker'', especially if he deems a particular film or TV show to be terrible.

* [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] trashes comic books, but Lewis Lovhaug has pointed out that this is the entire ''point'' of his show, and has asked fans not to send or recommend good comics. Though he will praise good elements, and on occasion subverts his own CatchPhrase "This comic sucks!" (usually with something like "This comic is...just okay" or "not THAT bad").

* '''[[TrueArtIsAngsty Harmony Is Boring]]''': Conflict is the driving force of most plots. Therefore, stories tend to focus on the unpleasant parts of life, be it divorce, murder, or the Apocalypse(s). Stories about how nice life is and how good it is to be alive are usually [[SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids reserved for children]] -- and generally pretty young children at that. Not that life-affirming [[{{Aesop}} morals]] are in short supply, it's just that they tend to be reached [[EarnYourHappyEnding after three hundred pages of hardship and heartbreak]], at which point the reader/viewer may not be particularly inclined to believe them.

[[caption-width-right:200:[-[[SelfDemonstratingArticle Visual puns make bad page images to begin with, but this? No one even knows what a film negative is, which distracts them from the accent mark. It's only funny to a photographer who is also a linguist.]]-] ]]

* Realising that reviews tearing a film apart are more entertaining to read than those full of praise, Creator/RogerEbert published a book of them called ''I Hated, Hated,'' '''Hated''' ''This Movie''. The title was from his review of ''Film/{{North}}''. There are two sequels, ''Your Movie Sucks'', titled after the closing line from his review of ''Film/DeuceBigalow: European Gigolo'' and ''A Horrible Experience of Unbearable Length'', titled from his review of ''[[Film/{{Transformers}} Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen]]''. (But in fairness, he also has a book of essays called ''The Great Movies'' that praises his favorite classics, and ''Your Movie Sucks'' was a direct response to mockery from ''Deuce Bigalow'' star Creator/RobSchneider, who he later reconciled with.)