Basic Trope: If a beautiful woman flirts with an unattractive man, it's because she's trying to manipulate him.
- Straight: The stunning Alice hits on the ugly Bob ... because she wants something from him.
- Exaggerated:
- Any time Alice hits on a man who isn't an absolute ten, it's because she's trying to manipulate him.
- Bob is so mind-bendingly hideous that the only reason any woman in the known universe would dare get anywhere near him is because they need something from him.
- Downplayed:
- Alice does think Bob is cute, but she's also trying to manipulate him.
- Alice is trying to manipulate the moderately attractive Bob ... into liking her back, so she can make the dashingly handsome Charles jealous.
- When Alice shows interest in Bob people don't see anything strange, but when she starts laying it on thick they start to get suspicious.
- Justified: Few women, especially any as attractive as Alice, ever show interest in Bob. She's hoping she can use this fact to manipulate him.
- Inverted:
- The plain-looking Bob hits on the gorgeous Alice because he wants to manipulate her.
- The comically ugly Alice hits on the plain-looking Bob because she wants to manipulate him.
- Gender Inverted: Bob is a handsome man who talks up the bland-looking Alice, hoping he can rob her blind.
- Subverted: Alice hits on Bob. Casual observers assume that she wants to manipulate him, but she just finds Bob cute.
- Double Subverted:
- But then she goes and hits on Charlie with the express intent of manipulating him.
- After Bob proves Oblivious to Love, she decides to try guilt-tripping.
- Parodied: Alice is incredibly transparent with her intentions, but Bob is so amazed that such a beautiful woman is talking to him that he doesn't seem to notice.
- Zig Zagged: Alice initially charms Bob into taking her where she wants to go, but then Bob's mind clicks again when he realizes that they're somewhere nominally respectable people like himself tend not to venture. She catches on and allays his suspicion by casually stripping naked right then and there, but then Bob sees that Alice wrote a detailed plan across her breasts and belly for how to bring down her mark. He decides he doesn't care ... then, the morning after they've had sex, he reveals himself to be a police officer and arrests her on the spot, confiscating all her possessions, dredging up all her embarrassing journal entries, subjecting her to public exposure, then forcing her to repay all her previous victims and leaving her to be thrown into solitary confinement. He makes her do all this while still wearing her birthday suit.
- Averted: Alice doesn't flirt with Bob, or if she does, she has no ulterior motive... because she's not quite the beauty herself.
- Enforced: "Come on, we can't make Alice fall in love with Bob. Nobody in the audience will believe a looker like her would flirt with him if she weren't trying to manipulate him."
- Lampshaded:
- "She seemed much more interested in Bob after he mentioned his multifarious multimillion-dollar investments."
- "Stop trying to fool everyone, Alice. You wouldn't even be talking to Bob if you had no ulterior motives to do so."
- Invoked: Bob leads Alice to think he can do something she wants, so she will flirt with him.
- Exploited: It turns out they're doing what Diane wants.
- Defied: "Lady, do you think I was born yesterday? I'm not stupid — I know why you're hitting on me."
- Discussed: After Alice starts flirting with Bob, nerdy and insecure Fred advises Bob against pursuing her, explaining that his relationship with Emily went like this.
- Conversed:
- "This Film Noir is an especially unrealistic noir. I know plenty of Happily Married Ugly Guy, Hot Wife couples who always respected and loved each other." "Sure. As long as the guy is wealthy. A rich and attractive woman dating a butt-ugly and poor man just doesn't happen."
- "So what‘s this film?" "Zendaya just approached Johnny Galecki in a bar." "Two bucks that her character is out to fleece him." "And what if it's the other way around?" "That's why I just bet two bucks."
- Implied: As part of her plan, Alice talks to Bob. It is not revealed what she said, but Bob looked somewhat aroused.
- Deconstructed:
- Alice's plan fails because Bob doesn't believe Alice would be genuinely interested in him.
- Alice is into Adorkable men and is genuinely interested in Bob, but he, after having been on the ugly end of this trope multiple times, is distrustful of her motives and rejects her for fear of being manipulated. Because of his trust issues, he ends up an Ineffectual Loner.
- Reconstructed: Alice is not just seductive but also persuasive enough to assuage Bob's doubts and come up with a convincing reason why she is interested in Bob. It takes a little longer than she expected, but she gets what she wants.
- Played for Laughs: Alice is a Reluctant Fanservice Girl who is blatantly annoyed to have to pretend to be interested in Bob.
- Played for Drama:
- Alice turns out to want to manipulate Bob, and when he learns that, he snaps and chews out Alice before spitting in her face and ordering her to pack her stuff and leave his house before she gets arrested for trespassing.
- Bob knows damn well that Alice isn't genuinely interested in him, but is lonely and desperate enough that he plays along just so she'll keep pretending to be.
- Played for Horror: Alice is the most literal definition of “Femme Fatale", a Serial Killer who just chose Bob as her newest target. And Bob, surprised that Alice wants him, goes with her… and is never seen again.
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