Sounds like people think that the "sadists" are the creators/writers, when it's supposed to be the viewers. (In a loose sense, of course.)
Trollblade69
I thought the definition was "Gross Out Humor dominates the entire show".
Yes, I am the guy who refused to call Magikarp Power "not worth the effort"
"Of course, Satsuki-sama."
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
That doesn't really explain some of the examples either(Again, Lucky Star and Haruhi Suzumiya).
It's not. The definition states it can overlap with grossout show, but it's meant to be shows with unsympathetic main characters who constantly suffer.
Gross-Out Show is a distinct kind of work.
Anyhow, I suspect that the elongated description is part of the problem. Some shortening is required.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Hi
Wow, does this need some example trimming.
I also don't like the way it implies that anyone that like these works are psychopaths.
I'm not sure whether this is meant to be insulting the writers or the audiences, but it certainly reads like it's meant to be insulting someone.
I swear, I will get a rewrite done until tomorrow...
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Just deleted this egregiously bad example:
- Pretty much any of Paul Verhoeven's movies. Bad things happen to his characters, and you can't really find a reason to care. (The SFX are usually pretty entertaining, though.)
Still just awesome like that
Perhaps we should get a wick check as well, since if it's being this egregiously misused on the page, Lord knows how badly it's being abused elsewhere.
Insert witty 'n clever quip here.
And I'd also argue that's the opposite of this trope since it states it's usually done to a character that's made enough of an Jerkass you don't feel bad about it.
edited 17th Nov '13 7:30:47 PM by shoboni
1) The picture egregiously misrepresents what the trope is about. Maybe Garfield and Jon fit the description, but everyone in the strip?!
2) Just glancing at the wicks... Dexters Laboratory? Drake And Josh? The Proud Family? Ziggy?!?
Holy hell that's bad.
edited 17th Nov '13 8:31:28 PM by shoboni
I know. It seems that this trope is basically "this property has a Butt-Monkey" to a lot of people.
Hi
That's pretty much what I got from my skimming of the examples.
OK, so... rewrite proposal time:
The Sadist Show is a show which primarily works with making audiences enjoy the characters' misfortunes. To this purpose, almost all characters are unsympathetic, even beyond being an Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist, and suffer in a very sharp way, the one that reminds you how totally unfair life is. It isn't a Sadist Show unless the characters suffer the very opposite of poetic justice.
edited 18th Nov '13 5:59:26 AM by SeptimusHeap
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Hi
That's pretty good, although I'd combine things to say "...and suffer in a/that very sharp way that reminds you how totally unfair life is."
edited 18th Nov '13 6:11:16 AM by Willbyr
It seems like the "characters are totally unsympathetic" and "characters suffer in unfair ways" parts are kind of contradictory.
That's the whole point that I get from the description.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Still just awesome like that
How about "suffer in needlessly extreme ways"?
Insert witty 'n clever quip here.
Time Waster
There seem to be a lot of people who don't get that the characters must suffer and be so unsympathetic that we find their pain funny. I mean, Ziggy? Come on, that guy is a total Woobie.
And of course, the obligatory "bash on teen shows" trope example is there too.
The Dan Schneider shows iCarly and Drake & Josh are poster-children for Comedic Sociopathy, each having a massive Karma Houdini in the form of Megan, and Sam with their targets Drake & Josh, and Freddie.
There needs to be a good way to distinguish this trope from Kafka Komedy.
"Of course, Satsuki-sama."
... Kafka Komedy isn't looking too good, either. I can already see stuff like Nichijou and Haruhi Suzumiya there, too.
Edit: ... And Cardcaptor Sakura?!
edited 18th Nov '13 1:48:07 PM by AnnoR
"Oh, dear. The toad, the monkey, and the dog have all screwed up."
So, um... I was looking at this the other day and I noticed there was some really unfitting examples. While I removed some of the worst offenders(Neon Genesis Evangelion is not meant to have viewers enjoy the suffering that occurs in it, and the characters are at least intended to be sympathetic. Haruhi Suzumiya has sympathetic characters and not that much real suffering the draw being in their interactions and the plot. Lucky Star is a Slice of Life Comedy with no real suffering, and, again, characters who are at least intended to be likable regardless of if the viewer likes them or not. Matilda is entirely about a likable character who gets back at the ones who made her suffer), there are still some things on there that I'm very much certain are not intended to be Sadist Shows. The page asserts that all Harem Anime are sadist shows, and while I haven't really watched many at all I'm pretty sure that's not the case.
Spider Man and Peanuts are listed in the comics section, as well...
There's something wrong here, either in the examples or the description to cause these examples. However, the description directly mentions that there can't be any sympathetic characters in the work if it's a Sadist Show and the main draw has to be suffering.
Is there something that can be done here? I honestly think it's kind of insulting to a lot of these works to just say that their only appeal is the suffering of the characters(which doesn't even happen in some examples).
"Oh, dear. The toad, the monkey, and the dog have all screwed up."