I admit, that picture is pretty damn creepy, but there's really nothing about it that shows that this..... thing is laughing (which isn't the easiest to show with just one picture,) or for what situation in which he is laughing.

Rena Ryuuga from Higurashi When They Cry goes bat-shit insane in some of her violent freakouts. Right now a picture of her blood-splattered face, meat cleaver in hand, and a psychotic laugh on her face is what comes to mind for me.

Something like this or This (without the DeviantArt stamp and with permission, of course.)◊

Or maybe Shion from the same series. ... though this itself is just a face, not showing what she's doing that's causing her to laugh maniacally.

edited 2nd Mar '11 3:53:14 PM by DRCEQ

I'll agree that the current image doesn't work on the grounds that there is no world to compare the "laughter" to in the picture and that is just too inhuman to tell if it's laughter anyway...

One way to probably convey laughter in the wrong setting is to have a rather joyful looking person at a funeral or something like that. It doesn't have to be Laughing Mad or surrounded by chaos.

Fritata

Very true. It's called Dissonant Laughter because someone is laughing in a situation where you wouldn't expect it. I know there's gotta be a few hundred depictions of this type of situation when it comes to The Joker, but I've got nothing on hand that would work for that.

Those two certainly seem Laughing Mad. Laughing at a funeral would probably be a good place for this.

Sparkling and glittering! Jan-Ken-Pon!

I don't think Laughing Mad counts for this.

Infinite Tree: an experimental story

The nature of the laugh is not important, either - it can be maniacal, like the Laughing Mad, a mildly psychotic chuckle, whatever the character feels like at the time - so long as it's because they're having the time of their lives.

Compare Dissonant Serenity and Laughing Mad. Can be a characteristic of the Blood Knight. Contrast Berserker Tears.

Says on the page that Laughing Mad is closely related to this, so I wouldn't be counting those examples them outright.

edited 2nd Mar '11 9:34:42 PM by DRCEQ

Laughing Mad can overlap with Dissonant Laughter, though a picture of just someone Laughing Mad is not going to cut it. It has to be obvious that they're laughing at a time and place that would be unacceptable (hence, having the background of the picture be some funeral, battle, crime site, etc)

Fritata

Laughing Mad, IIRC, is when a person snaps and starts laughing...not the same thing.

^ Yeah but there's nothing saying they can't overlap and that a Laughing Mad picture can't apply to this trope.

bump

Current picture is a fanart of a Ruby Quest. In context, he suddenly bursts into a laughter upon discovering a bloody corpse pinned to wall under the tapestry he just helped to pull down.
Thanks to the comic-like format, this context can be packaged into the image itself. Do you think it would make a good picture for the trope?

For example...
This◊, this◊, first frame of this◊ and lastly this◊ or this◊.
Or just piece 2 and 4/5: bloody corpse pinned to a wall, freaked-out bunny and the laughing fox.

edited 18th Apr '11 5:26:12 AM by Adannor

Those don't really look like laughter.

Reaction Image Repository

"Lastly This" and "This" make it look like he's about to eat the guy rather than laugh.

You are displaying abnormally high compulsions to over-analyze works of fiction and media. Diagnosis: TV Tropes Addiction.

There is a good reason for not including another trope in a trope picture: we don't want to confuse the readers. The word laughter is already in the title, so showing a picture of someone who is Laughing Mad is likely to make people think laughter is required for the trope.

It seems like the trope is someone having fun while fighting a serious battle. I am surprised I am not able find any pictures from Dragonball Z. Even Goku, the good guy, enjoyed fights on occasion.

Everyone Has An Important Job To Do

Possibly the Joker? 1◊

How about smiling and party hats on a funeral?

I would like to suggest this final panel. May not show enough destruction for the dissonance.

Please.

That could work fine, as long as it resizes well.

What about this.◊

edited 20th Jun '11 7:27:36 PM by Metrogari

Ecco, if we breathe air why do we live beneath the waves?

Dude, that's the just the joker laughing like a maniac,which is standard for him. If you have a shot of him laughing with the rest of the place shown, that might work, but this does not.

I'm convinced there's a good way to show this, I just...haven't found it yet.

First key to interpreting a work: Things mean things.

Crap...I wanted to get something from the interrogation scene in The Dark Knight, but nothing really works except for the scene where Joker's laughing after Batman says that Joker wants to kill him.

This◊ is the best joker I could find, but I'm still not satisfied.

edited 13th Sep '11 1:46:24 PM by unhappyyak

First key to interpreting a work: Things mean things.

Motion to pull

The current image is just two people in dark clothes laughing; there's no context to set up the dissonance.

Support pull.

Fight smart, not fair.