Basic Trope: The idea that you shouldn't insult the deceased.
- Straight: Dave is a total Jerkass. After he dies, the other characters suddenly start reminiscing about the good times they spent with him.
- Exaggerated: Dave is a President Evil with a 0% Approval Rating. Even his own subordinates hate him and are only in it for the money and/or power. When he dies, everyone decides that Excessive Mourning is an appropriate reaction.
- Downplayed:
- Dave was a Jerk with a Heart of Gold. The characters attending his funeral focus on the "heart of gold" part.
- President Dave is not a bad guy, but his politics are divisive. After he dies, his political opponents praise him for being a Nice Guy and stop talking about his policies.
- Dave was a generally pleasant person, but the shock and grief of the loss turns him into a larger then life figure.
- Justified:
- The work takes place in a society where criticizing the dead is strongly frowned upon.
- Why should Dave's political opponents criticize his policies after his death. It'll only make them look petty, and it's not like he's alive to enact them anyway.
- Dave died under circumstances so tragic that no one thinks it's right to say bad things about him regardless of what he's done.
- Inverted:
- Dave is a cruel control freak who prevents everyone from speaking out about him. When he dies, they're finally free to talk about how awful he was — which they of course do.
- When Dave discovers he is dying writes various final statements to be read to certain individuals, and chooses to use kind words even to the people that he never liked, despite knowing that he could insult people who are unable to reply.
- Dave is a Villain with Good Publicity who kept his wicked deeds under wraps, until his death when people find out just how bad he is.
- Subverted:
- Dave is a total Jerkass. Then someone kills him, and everyone starts reminiscing about the good times they spent with him. Everyone later admits that they faked their grief in an attempt to avoid being suspected by the little old lady who's trying to solve the mystery of Who Murdered the Asshole
- The characters announce that they won't speak ill of Dave... because he was so awful that they're going to pretend he never even existed.
- It turns out that those reminiscences were passive-aggressive code words for Dave's misdeeds.
- Double Subverted: Some of the characters really did miss Dave after all. They just kept it to themselves in case someone would judge them for it.
- Parodied: Every "compliment" in the eulogy is a blatant case of Damned by Faint Praise.
- Zig Zagged: Dave is a divisive politician. When he dies, some of his political opponents praise him, while others don't say anything or outright celebrate his death.
- Averted: Dave's death doesn't stop anyone from talking about what a huge jerk he was.
- Enforced: Moral Guardians force the writers to change the scene where the characters talk about how much of a jerk Dave was because it would "set a bad example for our children".
- Lampshaded: "Wow, Dave is really getting a free pass for his Jerkassery now that he's dead."
- Invoked: After Dave's death, his family starts shutting down criticism of him.
- Exploited: Dave arranges an "accident" for himself in a last-ditch attempt to salvage his reputation.
- Defied: "I don't care that Dave's dead. If he didn't want to be criticized, he shouldn't have acted like that when he was alive."
- Discussed: "Dave is a total Jerkass. We'd better expose him now in case his stupidity gets him killed and some idiots decide he's is suddenly exempt from criticism."
- Conversed: "Come on, people of Yet Another Generic Made-Up Show. Gushing about an abuser is just a huge disservice to his victims."
- Implied: Dave is a minor side character who rarely shows up in the flesh, but is frequently called a stupid jerkass by the other characters... until Episode 13, where he stops appearing altogether and the characters start talking about his positive qualities.
- Deconstructed: President Dave is a Corrupt Politician who dies while he's under investigation. The investigation is stopped out of "respect for the dead", which leads to his co-conspirators going free and the country failing to learn from its mistakes. As a result, someone even worse is elected the next time around.
- Played For Laughs: "Now that Dave's dead, I won't mention his alcoholism... or his laziness... or his constant lying... or how he has bullied pretty much everyone in this room..."
- Played For Drama: Dave has abused and raped his girlfriend Nina. She has finally managed to escape and report him to the police... but then the idiot gets himself killed by driving drunk. Not only will she never see him punished for his crimes, but she'll also have to endure everyone gushing about her abuser and risk being seen as impolite at best and slanderous at worst if she speaks up about it.
Back to Never Speak Ill of the Dead.
