Basic Trope: A parent who does things that their kids find embarrassing.
- Straight: Alice, who is Carl's mom, picks her son up from school while doing a goofy song and dance, calling Carl by his Embarrassing Nickname, and telling Carl's peers about embarrassing things he did as a kid.
- Exaggerated: Alice and Bob, who are Carl's parents, are Helicopter Parents and continue to do things that embarrass him when he's an adult.
- Downplayed: Carl forgets his school project at home. His mom brings it in for him, and while she could have done it in a less embarrassing way (such as by bringing it to the front office), she comes right into Carl's classroom and tells him "Hey, Carlie-Poo, you forgot this!" in front of the whole class.
- Justified:
- Carl's parents have No Social Skills and aren't aware of what kids find humiliating.
- Carl has Abusive Parents that are trying to humiliate him.
- Carl is an Easily Embarrassed Youngster in general.
- Inverted:
- Carl's parents are very embarrassed by their son.
- Carl finds his parents really cool.
- Subverted: Carl is at first annoyed, but he privately admits to his mom that what she did while picking him up from school was Actually Pretty Funny.
- Double Subverted: He changes his mind when the Alpha Bitch Dana starts teasing him, though.
- Parodied: The only "embarrassing thing" that Alice does is wear a shirt with a small stain on it sometimes. This is portrayed as Faux Horrific by everyone.
- Zig-Zagged: ???
- Averted:
- Carl's parents are not present.
- Carl's parents never do things that are embarrassing.
- Enforced: The series creator wants to set up conflict between parents and their children that many people can relate to.
- Lampshaded: "Mom, stop embarrassing me in front of everyone!"
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: Alice does something embarrassing in public to punish her son for negative behavior.
- Defied:
- Carl lets his parents know that he finds some of their antics embarrassing and asks them to stop.
- Alice doesn't want to ruin her public image, so she starts being less embarrassing.
- Carl's parents had embarrassing parents themselves and decided to avoid making too bringing attention to themselves unless necessary and not call Carl by his Embarrassing Nickname when he became old enough to not like it.
- Discussed: "My parents are really embarrassing."
- Conversed: "Wow, I already feel a lot of secondhand embarrassment towards Carl."
- Implied: Carl's friend Ethan brings up a Noodle Incident: "Oh, man, this won't be like the time your mom came in calling you her fuzzy bunny milk monkey, will it?"
- Deconstructed: Carl never reaches independence because his mother still bothers and humiliates him, which ends up severely damaging his self-esteem.
- Reconstructed: Alice realizes what she has done for Carl, so she starts listening to Carl and gaining more empathy.
- Played for Laughs: Alice humiliating her son is played as Cringe Comedy.
- Played for Drama:
- Alice and Bob are Abusive Parents, and them constantly humiliating Carl lowers his self-esteem.
- Alice wants to get closer to her son, but doesn't know how to, and is having difficulty believing Carl isn't her little boy anymore. She doesn't realize she's embarrassing him, and feels horrible when she realizes that's what she's been doing.
- Played for Horror: The severe embarrassment causes Carl to become an Ungrateful Bastard Abusive Offspring who tortures and tries to kill his mother to shut her up by himself.
You forgot your link to Amazingly Embarrassing Parents, sweetie! Here, I'll come and bring it to you.
