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Rejection Ritual

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Many cultures and organizations have formalized and/or ritualized ways of casting someone out of their group, usually as a punishment for gross misconduct. These usually involve some form of action that symbolizes the rejection of the person being cast out, as well as a formalized speech or statement. The person being cast out may also have to do something to reflect their status.

The Exile results directly from this; a Persona Non Grata can also receive this treatment. When this is done in the military or on a job, it's an Insignia Rip-Off Ritual.

Spoilers ahead!


Examples:

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    Comic Books 
  • Cerebus the Aardvark: Cerebus' hometown has "lockout", a form of shunning signified by the townspeople closing and locking their doors as someone tries to approach their homes. Cerebus suffers this for missing his father's death and funeral while running around with his lover Jaka, which the townsfolk see as immensely disrespectful and shameful.
  • Judge Dredd features a rare heroic example. Retiring Judges who don't want to take a desk job may choose to take The Long Walk. It includes a ceremony with a gun salute, after which the ex-Judge is exiled into the Cursed Earth outside Mega City to bring the Law to the mutants and criminals there.

    Films — Animated 
  • The Lion King II: Simba's Pride: When Simba exiles Kovu, the various animals/courtiers present sing a chant calling him "disgrace, an outrage! Desecrator! Agitator!" He is forced to run a gauntlet on the way out. The chants final verse states; "Let him run. Let him live. But do not forget what we cannot forgive. He is not one of us. He will never be one of us." It's undone later when Simba realizes he was wrong and Kovu is not a bad lion.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Pitch Perfect: The day after the new Bellas get brought into the group, two are kicked out for having had sex with a Treblemaker the previous evening. One isn't shown, but the other is forced to drag her chair off to the side on her way out. Later Beca is almost forced out and starts to drag her chair away, before being called back into the group.
  • O Brother, Where Art Thou?: Homer Stokes' political defeat is cemented when he offends his audience enough that they literally run him out of town on a rail.

    Literature 
  • Anathem is named after the mathic world's ritual of singing a song to members who are leaving (or being kicked out) of their cloister. The word is a portmanteau of "anthem" and "anathema."
  • Babel, or the Necessity of Violence: When a student is expelled from the Oxford Institute of Translation, he's publicly thrown out the front door and the blood vial that keys him to the Institute's security systems is shattered on the steps. The theatrical glee with which Professor Playfair performs this is a glaring sign of how much of a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing he is.
  • The Black Magician Trilogy: Akkarin and Sonea are exiled as punishment for practicing black magic. This involves all of the present magicians in the Guild taking it in turns to tell them "I cast you out. Do not enter my lands again." and tear a small rip in their uniform robes. Rothen and Dannyl refuse to complete the ritual for Sonea, instead wishing her luck.
  • Clan of the Cave Bear: The Clan have a ritual called the Death Curse the medicine man does to make a person "dead." Nobody acknowledges the person and it's implied that Your Mind Makes It Real—they really can't see them, and the person figures that if they're dead, they'll just lay down and die. Ayla has this done to her twice; the first time it's just for a month, but the second time it's permanent. She doesn't actually die either time though.
  • Two of the Deryni novels include rites of excommmunication, a Church ritual that cuts off the named individual(s) from participating in any Church rites. During the ritual, each participating bishop carries a single lit candle; at the end, all drop their candles, which should go out when they hit the floor.
    • In Deryni Checkmate, Alaric Morgan and Duncan McLain are excommunicated after being unjustly accused of crimes against the Church. When the ritual ends, one of the fallen candles remains burning, indicating that someone believes they are not deserving of this fate.
    • In The Bishop's Heir, the targets are the evil ex-Archbishop Edmund Loris, his allies among the Council of Bishops, and the rebellious Mearan royal family. This time, all the candles go out.
  • In Harry Harrison's Eden trilogy, a Yilanè can be cast out of her city with a simple but formalized denouncement, including being stripped of her name and place among the other Yilanè. Because their psychology is so tied to community and home, this is such a shock that it causes the Yilanè to subconsciously induce a hibernation state that leads to death. The exceptions are a handful of Yilanè whose base loyalty is tied to a different focus, who are treated as pariahs.
  • Inheritance Cycle: Some crimes in dwarven society are punishable by a form of banishment known as vargrimstn, where they treat the exile as though they had ceased to exist. Eragon notes how chilling it is when after one high-ranked dwarf is pronounced banished, the other dwarves act as though his continued ranting is just ambient noise, and when he grabs hold of one of the other council members, the guards that pull him away do so with an attitude suggesting that they're just helping the councilor straighten his clothes.
  • Jonathan Livingston Seagull: The seagull Flock to which Jonathan initially belongs has a ritual called "Stand to Center," which is used to either honor the recipient gull or shame them. A gull who is centered for shame, like Jonathan, is Outcast from the Flock and sentenced to spend the remainder of his or her life alone or with other exiles, never to return to the Flock.
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers: When Gandalf returns to the Fellowship as Gandalf the White and confronts Saruman for his working with Sauron:
    Behold, I am not Gandalf the Grey, whom you betrayed. I am Gandalf the White, who has returned from death. You have no colour now, and I cast you from the order and from the Council. Saruman, your staff is broken.
  • The Riftwar Cycle: In the Empire of Great Kesh, the punishment for a traitorous noble consists of an excessively gruesome execution followed by having their name removed from every document and record, to be replaced by the phrase "one who betrayed his country".
  • In the Rihannsu novels, the ultimate form of dishonor for the Romulans is to have one's name thrice written and thrice burned by the Senate, after which one is considered an Un-person and one's name may never be spoken again. This happens to Ael t'Rllaillieu after she teams up with the Enterprise against her own government in My Enemy, My Ally, and many of the Free Rihannsu rebels in the fifth book still refuse to speak her name despite her being a leading member of the rebellion. It's undone after she becomes empress.
  • Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry: All of the African-American children literally turn their backs on a fellow student whose actions led to the white county board firing a black teacher.
  • A Song of Ice and Fire: Eddard Stark, then-Hand of the King, issues a formal decree declaring Ser Gregor Clegane a "false knight", stripping him of lands and titles, declaring him an outlaw and sending a party to apprehend him. However, the legal consequences of this are soon cancelled as Stark is deposed by a coup (and the apprehending party themselves are declared outlaws).
  • Warhammer 40,000 novels:
    • Faith and Fire describes the ritual through which a Battle Sister chooses to be cast out of her Order and become a Sister Repentia. The Sister announces herself as bearing a great sin and desiring this fate as her means of absolution as her fellow Sisters strip her of her armor and weapons, clothe her in rags, and use a knife to cut off her hair, announcing their rejection of her until her sin is forgiven.
    • The Forges of Mars trilogy features a lupine-themed "pack" of Titans accompanying the Mechanicus expedition the books revolve around. In the second book, the Warhound Titan Amarok is grievously damaged in a moment's lapse of attention by its Princeps, and as a punishment for the Titan's loss he is "made omega". As a proclamation of his banishment is made by the "pack" leader, his uniform insignia are torn off and his cheeks and throat are slashed just deeply enough to leave permanent scars. He is later brought back into the pack when it's clear that his experience is needed to help fight off the antagonist's invasion.

    Live-Action TV 
  • Star Trek:
    • Star Trek: The Next Generation's expansion of the Klingons and their culture included the introduction of discommendation, in which a Klingon is ceremonially shunned and reduced to an honorless pariah in their society. In the ceremony, the Klingons present cross their arms in front of the discommendee and turn their backs on him. In "Sins of the Father", Worf was subjected to this as a result of the charges brought against his family by the Duras family. In "Reunion", Duras crosses his arms and turns away from Worf with a sneer when Worf challenges him for the Right of Vengeance. Unfortunately for him, it turns out Worf is here for the one thing that will still let him legally challenge and kill Duras:
      Worf: K'Ehleyr... was my mate.
      Duras: (Oh, Crap!)
    • Gralmek, a Klingon spy who underwent extensive surgery to appear human, was discommendated for the failure of his mission to distribute poisoned grain, covered in the TOS episode "The Trouble with Tribbles" and revisited in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Trials and Tribble-ations".
  • Happy Days: Fonzie tries to join Howard's Leopard Lodge but he gets blackballed. It turns out that Howard is the one who blackballed him, knowing that the Lodge doesn't fit Fonzie's personality and he wouldn't be happy there.

    Religion And Mythology 

    Theatre 
  • Plain And Fancy: The first act ends with the shunning of Peter. The Amishmen and women all file past Peter, turning away as they pass him.

    Video Games 
  • Stonekeep: A dwarf companion of yours is declared an "uck-tugoth"—he is ritually cast out of dwarf society and declared an undwarf by the elder of his clan for disobeying him.
  • Battle for Wesnoth: During the campaign "The Hammer of Thursugan'', when the protagonists run across a party of masked dwarves raiding a village in search of slaves.
    The Law speaks: You are cast out. I strip you of your names, you are un-dwarf!
  • Star Trek Online deconstructs in the episode "Warzone", mission "The House Always Wins". Chancellor J'mpok orders Councillor Torg to be discommendated and the House of Torg dissolved for conspiring with the Romulan Star Empire to destroy the rival House of Martok. The Klingons present ritually turn their backs on him, but Torg decides on Taking You with Me and attempts to backstab Worf. Worf's son Alexander jumps in front of the knife and bleeds out in Worf's arms.
  • Them's Fightin' Herds: Oleander's quest begins with her banishment from the Sacred Grove in a back-turning ritual shunning.

    Webcomics 
  • Digger: When a hyena commits a major crime against the tribe, that hyena is cast out and their name is "eaten", making them an Un-person. Digger meets a hyena who was cast out this way years ago, and the poor fellow can't even remember what his name was.

    Western Animation 
  • The Simpsons: In "Homer the Great", Homer joins the secret organisation known as "The Stonecutters" but gets kicked out for desecrating the Hallowed Sacred Parchment. His punishment is to be stripped naked, shackled to a rock called the "stone of shame", and ordered to drag the rock with him as he walked home. Once they see his birthmark, they decide he's The Chosen One—and attach the even larger "stone of triumph"!
  • The Total Drama series, like many of the elimination game shows it parodies, features a ritualized expulsion of players who have been Voted Off the Island. The "Flush of Shame" in Season 5, where eliminated players are flushed down a giant toilet, is the most cartoonish but otherwise typical.
  • South Park: In "Douche and Turd", Stan is banished from South Park for refusing to vote. His ritual consists of him being tied to a horse with a bucket on his head while everyone spits on him and rips his coat as the horse rides away.

    Real Life 
  • Blackballing is a method of rejection through secret ballot, traditionally done by casting a black or white ball into a box.
  • Ancient Athens had "ostracism," a process by which citizens could vote to banish a person for ten years. When the ten years were up, the banished person could come back with no further repercussions, unless they managed to get ostracized again. The word "ostracize" comes from "ostrokon", meaning pottery shards, which were used as ballots in this practice.
  • The Roman Catholic Church has several rituals of rejection:
    • Excommunication cuts the targeted individual(s) off from participating in any Church rituals or proceedings, particularly the Seven Sacraments: Baptism, Confirmation, Holy Communion, Confession, Marriage, Holy Orders, and the Anointing of the Sick. It is used only against individuals who have committed grave sins against the Church or the Faith.
    • An Interdict has effects similar to excommunication, but it affects an entire area and all its inhabitants.
    • Suspension applies only to members of the clergy, and forbids them from performing their office as long as the suspension lasts.
    • Laicization also applies only to clergy. It completely revokes any and all granting of clergy powers and rights, and turns the targeted individual back into an ordinary layperson.


 
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The Cut Direct.

In 19th Century Britain, one of the harshest displays of disrespect was the Cut Direct, literally turning one's back on a social pariah. After being blamed for the assassination attempt on Queen Victoria, Ernest Augustus, King of Hanover and Duke of Cumberland, is on the receiving end of the Cut Direct for pretty much all of British high society, showing how unwelcome he is.

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