SquarePegRoundTrope: Even Evil Has Standards

This trope is about how one evil character is portrayed as really evil because another evil character objects or takes offense to the actions of the former.

Now, I realize Tropes Are Flexible, but I'm coming across examples that treat this trope like a stretched rubber band. Such as, "this character/situation/organization is evil because this morally-questionable character took offense." And I'm not just talking about morally-questionable villains. I'm talking about any morally-questionable character in the medium. At worst, I've seen this trope being used as "This character is evil because the Anti-Hero took offense."

I think it says something about the misuse of this trope when examples are being written as: Even (Insert Word Here) Has Standards.

edited 18th May '11 12:16:39 PM by RedViking

I think you're trying to be too specific with this. If it's established that the character is one whom should they take offense to something it means that things is definitely bad/evil, then the trope is still valid: the thing that matters is that the character is morally questionable, and it shouldn't be strictly limited to villains.

Well, Anti-Hero's shouldn't really count unless they're pretty far down the scale toward the evil side.

bump

Yeah, I think this can work fine for anti-heroes as long as they're sufficiently unheroic. The trope as I understand it is that if even this morally-questionable character thinks an act is evil, then the act MUST be evil. The character with standards doesn't have to be an evil overlord, they only have to be comparatively less evil than the act being condemned. I hope I'm making sense.

Whoa, did Real Life get erased? :(

I recovered them and threw it on Troper Tales. I realize it's far from perfect, but if somebody wants to do something with it, there it is.

Real Life sections on tropes about evil are generally doomed from the start for a whole slew of reasons.

But why are we now dumping them on a Troper Tales page where they especially do not belong?

edited 6th Jun '11 8:23:55 AM by SeanMurrayI

Because subjectivity is more appropriate in Troper Tales and people like to read them?

Troper Tales pages are not about subjectivity; they are a place for individual editors to share their personal anecdotes, hence the name "Troper Tales."

Dumping dubious Real Life examples on a Troper Tales page does not make them acceptable. Just a few months ago when Award Snub's examples were cut from the page, somebody tried transferring all of them over to a Troper Tales page, and now that very Troper Tales page is part of the Permanent Red Link Club.

We don't move objectionable content from main pages to Troper Tales when the content has nothing to do with personal anecdotes from our fellow contributors.

edited 6th Jun '11 9:26:57 AM by SeanMurrayI

What's the final verdict?

...and now that part's been deleted entirely as a result of the Troper Tales reboot. There's also nothing saying we shouldn't add real life examples. Way to go.

edited 21st Jul '11 11:10:39 AM by TestYourMight

It's still archived.

And I still think most of those Real Life examples are good, and should be put back. I just put them on Troper Tales as a placeholder. Sure, they're not examples of "Hitler refused to rape prisoners, even the ones he was planning to kill," but they're still valid. Like the one of the guy who stole a car, only to find it was filled with explosives, and called the police as he drove it out of town where it couldn't hurt anyone.

What are you being sarcastic about? Troper Tales is for personal anecdotes, not a place to stash Real Life examples that someone wants to add to a page that says "No Real Life examples, please".

We don't do Real Life examples that require deciding actual people are "evil".

And I've added back the note about No real Life examples.

edited 21st Jul '11 11:37:34 AM by Madrugada

It seems like the OP's basic problem is "people are using this trope for every evil character, because other characters think they're evil". IMO some occasional example pruning is probably all that's needed.

Seconded. Ideally, this trope should be about villains and other villains but as has been noted, Tropes Are Flexible. Type IV or V Anti-heroes are just a shade away from villains.

Can we remove the TRS tag, or are there still unresolved issues left?