Follow TV Tropes

Following

Playing With / Unishment

Go To

Basic Trope: A punishment that feels more like a reward.

  • Straight: After a certain incident, Alice and Bob take their son, Peter, to a museum as punishment. Peter enjoys it.
  • Exaggerated:
    • Peter thinks the day at the museum is the best day of his life.
    • Peter always likes his punishments, no matter what they are.
    • Every kid in Troperville faces Unishments such as this.
    • Too Kinky to Torture
  • Downplayed: Peter thinks going to the museum is completely okay, but he's not too eager to repeat it either.
  • Justified:
    • Peter had hated most of the museums that he had visited in the past. However, he recently became interested in science and/or history.
    • Alice and Bob assume Peter is going to hate it because they suffer from Opinion Myopia.
    • Peter is a masochist; he only "likes" his punishment because he hates museums.
    • Alice and Bob are secretly impressed by what Peter did and want to reward him, but they need to do something that everyone else will think is a punishment.
    • The museum is dedicated to something Peter likes.
  • Inverted:
    • Alice and Bob reward Peter for something with a trip to the museum. He hates it.
    • Cruel Mercy
  • Subverted:
  • Double Subverted:
    • Peter lied to his friend because he feared that liking museums wasn't cool.
    • He changes his mind and, in fact, becomes thankful for his punishment, after his grades improve because he learned so much at the museum.
  • Parodied:
    • Alice and Bob give Peter a punishment that no one could hate.
    • Alice and Bob punish Peter with eight hours in a pit of fire. He not only survives, but later says that he enjoyed every minute of his Unishment.
    • Peter's parents are divorced. When he is with Bob, he misbehaves and gets punished with trips to the museum. When he is with Alice, he behaves perfectly and gets rewarded with trips to the same museum.
  • Zig-Zagged:
    • Sometimes Peter enjoys his parents' punishments, and other times, he hates them.
    • When Peter's parents reward him, he usually hates his rewards or just declines them.
    • Peter dreads going to the museum at first, then he sees an exhibit that looks interesting... then he's made to look at exhibits about which he could not care less.
  • Averted:
    • Peter hates his punishment.
    • Peter isn't punished, and his parents may not even know that he's done anything wrong.
  • Enforced: "We have to show how little Peter's parents actually know about him."
  • Lampshaded:
    • "My parents tried to punish me, but I actually liked it."
    • "I don't understand... How is our son liking this museum trip?!"
  • Invoked:
    • Peter knows that his parents take him to the museum as their usual punishment, so he secretly becomes interested in history.
    • Peter's parents actually approve of what happened and they know he enjoys the museum, so they "punished" him to keep up appearances.
  • Exploited:
    • Peter pretends to hate the museum, hoping that his parents will continue using it as punishment.
    • Peter is naughty, hoping to be sent to the museum. It may or may not work.
  • Defied:
    • Having learned from their past mistakes, Alice and Bob choose Peter's punishment carefully so they don't accidentally choose something he enjoys.
    • Peter feels guilty about being "punished" in ways he enjoys, and stops misbehaving.
  • Discussed: "Apparently my parents are going to force me to go to a museum. Who knows? Maybe I'll end up liking it."
  • Conversed: "Why can't these parents choose a punishment that their son can actually learn something from? "
  • Implied: Peter is shown at the museum, and appears to be quite happy.
  • Deconstructed: Alice and Bob are Abusive Parents to Peter; they use corporal punishment often, and Peter enjoys this even though it severely injures him.
  • Reconstructed:
    • Worried about Peter's wellbeing, a neighbor calls the police. After Alice and Bob are arrested, Peter goes to live with his nice grandparents.
    • Alice and Bob learn the error of their ways.
  • Played for Laughs:
    • Peter thinks going to the museum is awesome and makes no attempt to hide it. His parents continue using museum trips as punishment.
    • Peter sometimes goes to the museum as a punishment, but other times it's a reward.
  • Played for Drama: Peter's parents take corporal punishment too far and get arrested. Peter then ends up on the street, and because he enjoyed being beaten, he doesn't understand why his parents were arrested.
  • Played for Horror:
  • Untwisted: Peter enjoying his punishments is a Running Gag on the show. Peter's attitude toward his punishments frustrates Alice and Bob more by the day. One day, they just give him a time-out in his bedroom, thinking he can't possibly enjoy that. Indeed, even Peter thinks he'll hate his time-out. It turns out to be the best "punishment" yet, though, because his room is the perfect place to get away from his Massive Numbered Annoying Younger Siblings.

Pay for your crimes by visiting the main page here.

Top