Markup View

Author: MiinU

Nov 7th 2015 at 9:10:31 PM

@{{LordGro}}: Suggested revision for the trope description:
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Regardless of the medium, characters are introduced and established as having certain traits and, as such, the fans of those works expect those characters to adhere to them. If they're [[TheHero The Hero's]] trusted friend in the novel, the film adaptation should convey that as well.

But wait -- why is the hero's trusted friend from the novel, suddenly giving him [[AloofAlly the cold shoulder]] in the motion picture? Why is the faithful LoveInterest from the manga [[YourCheatingHeart two-timing him]] in the anime? And the LovableRogue, who [[JustLikeRobinhood gives to the poor]] in the television series, [[ItsAllAboutMe only cares about lining his own pockets]] in the MadeForTVMovie. They weren't like that before, so what happened?

The answer is: the character has suffered from AdaptationalJerkassery, the narrative equivalent of [[TookALevelInJerkass Taking a Level in Jerkass.]]

Whatever the reasons, the writer(s) has seen fit to change the character's original postive portrayal, to make them more of a jerk. Perhaps the character was a JerkWithAHeartOfGold in the original work, but the adaptation failed to convey the "heart of gold" aspect. Thus, turning them into a total jerk. Or it could be due the adaptation being DarkerAndEdgier than the original, and the character's portrayal was changed accordingly.

However, while there may be ''some'' overlap with AdaptationalVillainy, the key difference here is, the character [[GoodIsNotNice isn't necessarily villainous.]] In many cases, they're still on the good side and can range from being a ComedicSociopath, to an AntiHero, or just TheFriendNobodyLikes.

Because of the nature of the trope, it's obviously related to TookALevelInJerkass and contrasts with TookALevelInKindness.
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!!!Examples