troperville

tools

toys

Wiki Headlines

5th Feb: Echo Chamber Season 1 blooper reel on Youtube here

SubpagesLaconic
Main
PlayingWith
Quotes
Sandbox

main index

Narrative

Genre

Media

Topical Tropes

Other Categories

new edits	forum	reviews	YKTTW	tweets	random
to do	pm	add watch	drop watch	watchlist	profile

Subpages:

source

history

edit page

Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!

As The Good Book Says: "Turn the other cheek".

"My God! PULL! YOURSELF! TOGETHER!"

— Edna Mode (whacking Elastigirl with a rolled-up newspaper), The Incredibles

"Get a hold of yourself, man! Quit your whining!"

— Commander Shepard, Mass Effect

Like Percussive Maintenance, but for people.

The Hero has just gone off the deep end under stress. Proving himself to be Not so Above It All, he grows increasingly hysterical, Jerkass, unresponsive or (w)angsty, at a time when his team needs his unaffected leadership the most. How do you fix the hero?

With the human-centered Percussive Maintenance, of course!

His Sidekick, Distaff Counterpart, right-hand man or woman, love interest (specially the ladies of the Tsundere or Broken Bird kind) or commander jolts him back to his senses with a sharp slap with either the front or the back of his hand, or just a straight-up punch to the face, and occasionally a retort for him to get his head out of his ass already (see entry title for the archetypal one). In anime, the phrase "Shikkari shiro!" is often heard. The shame-faced hero says something along the lines of "Thanks. I needed that." Alternately, "Not even my dad hits me!", but they still calm down.

Alternatively in a program wanting to limit the potential for imitation violence, a glass of cold water may be used to bring the subject back to their senses.

Might overlap with the Dope Slap. May also be used on a Hysterical Woman. Similar in spirit, but not so much in execution, to Don't Make Me Take My Belt Off. Compare with Quit Your Whining, in which it is verbal, but this trope can be used to "spicen" it up. If you need to lay a full-on beating to snap someone out of it, see Beat the Curse Out of Him.

The Mythbusters tested a myth based on this trope and found that - at least when dealing with someone who's merely tired and frazzled rather than suffering from a more serious condition - a slap to the face does help the slapped person to focus on the task at hand and perform better. Apparently the idea is to invoke the 'fight or flight' response by temporarily boosting adrenaline and related hormones. Nevertheless, it should be applied with extreme caution, as smacking someone who's already suffering can easily do more harm than good.

Additionally, this trope is rife with Unfortunate Implications in that it insinuates that it's okay to hit (or go further than simply hitting) someone because they're reacting especially hard to stress. Examples in media usually involve the person on the receiving end only suffering mild damage at worst. It'll hurt, but conveniently goes away in time for the hero to actually be able to do something. Furthermore, the hero seldom receives more than an Armor-Piercing Slap and it only goes further in special circumstances and it is used only to help said hero get their shit together and not as a controlling tactic. In Real Life, however, people who intend to perform an example of this trope may go further than a simple slap and they will still think it's okay based on this trope to do this to someone who is "acting crazy" or otherwise similar to characters in media who are told to Get A Hold Of Yourself Man. Alternatively, they will use this trope as an excuse to use physical violence as a controlling tactic against someone reacting especially hard to stress. Very often, the person on the receiving end of abuse (supposedly) based on this trope are people with mental disorders but unfortunately are unable to get help or support because people believe that this trope applies in that case as well as that Insane Equals Violent and therefore, the person with a mental disorder couldn't possibly have been physically abused because, after all, they're more likely to commit violence than be targeted with it!

For reassembling after destruction, see Pulling Themselves Together. Also not to be confused with A Date with Rosie Palms.

Examples

Other examples:

open/close all folders

Fan Fiction

Gohan actually had to punch Goku in the cheek in an attempt to get Goku to snap out of being frozen in terror after Vegeta went Super Saiyan 3 in Goku's Wish: The Return of Broly. Subverted in that it doesn't quite work.
In Dragon Age The Crown Of Thorns, the Wise Prince protagonist applies a very strong backhand to Faren, the dwarven commoner, in order to snap him out of a serious case of shut-down brain that the latter ended up in after being shoved into his worst nightmare by the Sloth Demon. He follows it with a Cooldown Hug of epic proportions. Big Brother Mentor indeed.
"There is no blood on your hands!" (and he was speaking literally)
In Relationships Series, Nanoha gets one from Vita as she becomes hysterical about the prospect of Yuuno dying on a mission, and Vita reminds her that Yuuno is determined to get back safely.
In Fail To The King, Almaz is subjected to this trope twice: Once in Chapter one to snap him out of his three-day long Heroic BSOD, and again in a later chapter to prevent another from surfacing in the middle of an invasion. Both played largely for laughs, naturally - this is a Disgaea fic after all.
In Naruto Veangance Revelaitons, Ronan does this to Sakura and his son Ekaj when they become hysterical with worry over his going off to be a Fake Defector for the Council. Considering his past behavior, it comes off as more abusive than most examples of the trope.

Pro Wrestling

Japanese wrestling legend (and new WWE Hall Of Fame inductee) Antonio Inoki is/was known for this... among other types of hitting.
When Maria kept worrying over her tag team match with John Cena, he kissed her to shut her up.

Puppet Shows

In the Direct to Video Muppet Classic Theater, during the Rumpelstiltskin rendition, Piggy's father gets a little overboard trying to introduce himself and his daughter to the king.
Miller: She is Piggy, Miller's Daughter. And I am her father, Miller, Piggy's Father, your Majesty. No, wait I am not the majesty, You're the majesty, and this is my daughter, Piggy, and this is—
(Loyal Royal Advisor backhands him)
Miller: Thanks, I needed that.
- And it's done again at the end of the Intermission.
Gonzo: Intermission!? Wait a minute!! Why wasn't I told about this?! This is an outrage!! OOF!! Thanks, I needed that.
Rizzo: Don't mention it.

Tabletop Games

Fairly common among the Imperial Guard of Warhammer 40,000. When they're not being executed for cowardice, that is.
The Player's Handbook 3 for Dungeons & Dragons 4th Edition includes Skill Powers, such as "Snap Out of it", which is pretty much this trope.
A smack across the face brings your ally back to his or her senses.

Real Life

General George S. Patton once famously slapped a young soldier who seemed to be suffering from shell shock (it turned out later he had malaria). It almost ended his career, proving that this isn't a good idea to try for real.
- As a side note, the soldier Patton slapped later said, "He was probably pretty well worn out himself." Combat can do strange things to people. Patton's popularity saved him.
- It doesn't work if it is "shell shock" (PTSD) either. Anyone who's been in the Armed Forces can tell you that, combat experience or not. A person that far gone has usually spent themselves keeping a hold for as long as they have.
- This was parodied during the extensive Patton movie pastiche in The Simpsons episode "Bart the General". Bart does it, but Grampa scolds him:
Grampa: You can push them out of a plane, you can march them off a cliff, you can send them off to die on some God-forsaken rock, but for some reason you can't slap them.
MythBusters tested this trope on their December 22nd 2010 episode. Their result? Confirmed. While not up to control, all three testers did better in practical tests when frazzled and then slapped than when unslapped.
- At least when the subject isn't suffering from PTSD, as above.
  - Depends, if the subject is already in a situation which can trigger a psychosis episode, it can actually snap them out of it. Largely due to the endorphins that get released from the sudden shock.
- This is because being slapped activates the flight- or fight-response. PTSD is this response having caused too much stress leading to a mental breakdown, so activating it could actually make it worse.