Basic Trope: A character uses their abrasive attitude to hide their sadness.
- Straight: Alice, a Jerkass, turns out to be depressed.
- Exaggerated:
- Alice, who is the meanest character out of the cast, turns out to be suicidal and has a horrific past. Not to mention, she's also secretly Prone to Tears.
- Alice, a completely irredeemable villain turns out to suffer from an extremely painful childhood.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds.
- Downplayed:
- Alice is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold that turns out to be secretly sad.
- Stepford Snarker
- Justified:
- Alice uses her abrasive attitude to push others away as a coping mechanism, believing that Safety in Indifference is the best way to Never Be Hurt Again.
- Alice has Borderline Personality Disorder that causes her to frequently swing between angry/aggressive reactions and anxious/depressive ones.
- Alice grew up in a society/household where expressing one's feelings is a sign of weakness, so she learned to repress her feelings under a cold, stand-offish facade.
- Tragic Villain
- Inverted:
- Alice The Eeyore, turns out to be secretly a jerk.
- Alice is a con artist who deliberately tricks people into thinking she’s depressed. When in reality, she’s a self centered revolting douchebag.
- Subverted: Alice seems like she maybe hiding secret feelings of depression, but turns out not to be and is just a jerk.
- Double Subverted: ....Except Alice is so good at hiding it, once nobody is there, she shows a more depressive side.
- Parodied: After crossing the Moral Event Horizon for the 500th time, Alice gets called out for it. Alice justifies it by saying that she had a bad childhood. Everybody proceeds to immediately forgive her and lets her free with no charges.
- Zig Zagged:
- However, it turns out she was just sad for just today. But then again, she has been a lot more crueler than she usually is, and plans to act like that for the rest of her life. But it turns out the reason for that was very petty, in which someone insulted her. But it turns out again, it was a very hurtful speech against her. Though, Alice bullied the guy who said that. Why? She just felt like it.
- BUT it turns out even if she never had a tragic past, she still will act like a bitch no matter what.
- Averted:
- Alice, a Jerkass, turns out to be a jerk.
- Alice, a normal person, turns out to be depressed.
- Enforced:
- The writers noticed how Alice is one of the most disliked characters. So they reveal the audience about her Dark and Troubled Past to gain their sympathy.
- The writers want to teach the viewers no matter how bad things turn out to be for you, you should still try to be a better person.
- Lampshaded: "I know I seem harsh and mean, but deep down I want to die!"
- Invoked: “Act like a bully to me all you want! Maybe I’ll become one.”
- Exploited:
- Alice uses her mean side to get people to leave her alone when showing her sad one.
- Alice uses her sad side to excuse her bitchy behavior.
- Defied:
- Alice refuses to hide her sadness behind an abrasive attitude and chooses to appear just as sad as she is.
- “You really think the reason I treat others badly is because… I’m secretly sad on the inside? Wrong. I’m both a jerk on the outside and on the inside.”
- “I don’t give a single shit about what happened to you in the past! You’ve always been a bitch to me and you always will!”
- Discussed: “If you keep making us miserable just because you are, then why aren't we bullies just like you?”
- Conversed: “Do the writers seriously think that we’re going to accept the ways she’s treating others just because she had a bad past?”
- Implied: In Alice’s mean comments, there are occasionally a few subtle hints that she’s secretly depressed,
- Deconstructed: Alice's bad attitude means no one gives her any sympathy and stops her from getting the help she needs.
- Reconstructed:
- She just wanted to be left alone anyway and uses it as an excuse to be an even bigger jerk.
- Someone decides to comfort her anyway, and she promises to become a better person.
- This could help her realize that Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse, and help her atone for her actions.
Back to Sour Outside, Sad Inside, you motherfucking asshole! note
