[Children's] ingenuity in finding unexpected ways of doing mischief to themselves and others should never be underestimated.
— Lord Hoffman, Jolley (A.P.) v Sutton London Borough Council [2000] 1 W.L.R. 1082
It seems fictionland is inhabited by the worst
bullies in existence, always ready to mock you and steal your lunch money, no matter what happened to you, you'll always be different from
All of the Other Reindeer. Not even the
Littlest Cancer Patient gets a break.
Especially not the Littlest Cancer Patient. After a while, it looks like we have a society of youthful sociopaths running around the city. Oh wait...
Note that the victim is almost always the protagonist; at least fictionland doesn't think bullies are good protagonist material... unless
they can grow a
stubble, that is. In
Teen Drama, the
Alpha Bitch and the
Jerk Jock represent this trope. One way to defuse the abuse is for the kid to make his aggressors
realize what they're feeling. This only works if
the mean kids are good but misguided though, if they aren't a beat down is in order.
If the target of abuse could easily rip them apart if it wanted and the kids
know it, then the kids are
Bullying a Dragon (not to mention
Too Dumb to Live). And even if the target of abuse is not superpowered at the time, just wait until the bully-magnet that
Used to Be a Sweet Kid undergoes a
Start of Darkness, possibly as a result of the cruelty of other kids, and goes on a
Roaring Rampage of Revenge, often at a point when the bullies themselves have forgotten the whole thing.
A favorite for films with grown protagonists is to reveal this as part of their
Back Story via
Flash Backs.
See also
Teens Are Monsters,
Big Brother Bully, and
Humans Are The Real Monsters. Contrast
Children Are Innocent. The
Royal Brat is a particularly disturbing take on this.
Adults Are Useless for when the majority, if not, all the bullying occurs all the time because the adults ignore it or are oblivious.
Sometimes leads to
Would Hurt a Child. But all too often the bullying has
catastrophic consequences.
Please do not add any real life examples. This trope is
Truth in Television, as if we needed to say it, but to list the examples would be asking for an
Edit War.
Of course one of the causes for this trope in real life is explained in Developmental Psych. It's called ego-centralism and until a child reaches a certain point in their mental development they don't understand that their actions hurt others as they are not hurt them selves.
Examples:
