History Film / SlingBlade

* CloudCuckoolander: Karl. He likes them French-fried potaters, and the way Frank talks. Also, Morris of Doyle's band and his very weird song.

** It's also implied that Karl may have preferred the secure life in the state hospital, saying that the outside world was "too big" for him, so this may actually be an EsotericHappyEnding for Karl.

* StylisticSuck: The music played by Doyle's band, if it could be called playing or music. Especially funny to watch because in real-life, all of the actors portraying Doyle's band members (including Creator/DwightYoakam as Doyle) were successful professional singer-songwriters.

* AdaptationalNiceGuy: The college reporters in the short film were more short-tempered and made a few ableistic comments about the patients. Both of these traits are toned down considerably in this film.

* VillainWithGoodPublicity: Doyle is shown to be friendly with the local police, to the point where Officer Freddie doesn't arrest him when he outright admits that he's driving drunk. This is another reason why it's so hard for Linda to leave him and why [[spoiler:Karl killing him]] was the only way out for her and Frank.

* MathematiciansAnswer: When Doyle asks Karl if he was locked up for "cutting someone up with a hatchet", Karl (honestly) replies by saying "I don't reckon I never used a hatchet" (also a case of Karl ComicallyMissingThePoint of Doyle's question).

* MathematiciansAnswer: When Doyle asks Karl if he was locked up for "cutting someone up with a hatchet", Karl (honestly) replies by saying "I don't reckon I never used a hatchet" (also counts as Karl ComicallyMissingThePoint of the question).

* AmbiguousDisorder: It's not clear whether Karl is mentally retarded or autistic, nor to what extent his social and intellectual deficits are innate as opposed to a childhood of abuse and neglect combined with an adulthood spent in an institution for the criminally insane. The fact that Karl can read and write adequately and has mechanical skills suggests something other than mental retardation.

** [[spoiler:That Doyle, mm-hmm.]]

-->'''Doyle''': What are you doing with that lawnmower blade?

* MentalHandicapMoralDeficiency: mostly but not fully averted. Karl is a mentally handicapped man who spent most of his life in a mental institution. While Karl is kind and caring towards people who reciprocate his friendship and has a traditional concept of morality and justice, his only solution to major moral problems in his life (whether it's his adulterous mother or his friend's abusive stepfather) is to murder the offending individuals

The story's about a mentally challenged man named Karl Childers who, around the age of 12, butchered his mother and her lover with the titular sling blade, because he had always learned from his parents that having sex was wrong (a detail shown [[AllThereInTheManual in the script and seen in the short film]]). He was put up in a state mental hospital in Arkansas; our observation of Karl begins 25 years later, when he's about to be released.

** [[spoiler: Of course it doesn't go anywhere because shortly afterwards, the rest of the story happens...]]
* AbusiveParents: One, being Frankie's adoptive father, Doyle. Also, [[spoiler: Karl's own father, [[OneSteveLimit also (unfortunately) named Frank]]]], who made Karl sleep in the barn because he didn't want him with the rest of the family and [[MoralEventHorizon made Karl throw out his premature younger brother like he was trash]].]]

* BenevolentBoss: Bill Cox. He hires Karl to work at his repair shop and let him stay in the back room (until he moves in with the Wheatleys). He also buys Karl and Scooter lunch on a regular basis and helps Karl adjust to life outside the mental hospital.

* ChildrenAreInnocent: Averted with Frankie. [[TheWoobie You wish it weren't that way,]] but Doyle has made it so. At least once Frankie claims to want to kill Doyle for the abuse he deals out to his mother and him, and we actually believe it. On some level Karl believes it too, which contributes to his [[spoiler:killing of Doyle, so Frankie would not have that stain on his soul]].

** Much more seriously later on, he announces plans to stay with Linda and Frankie permanently so he may continue to control them and "his" household the way he wants. This is the beginning of Karl's [[PapaWolf making plans of his own]]...

* DidNotGetTheGirl: Poor Frankie... Karen Cross just moves too fast for him, is strongly discouraged by her parents from seeing him. The Crosses' maid tries to save Frankie some heartache, but [[DoggedNiceGuy Frankie really wants to give Karen some flowers]]. Afterwards, Frankie likes to imagine this trope didn't happen; it gives him some measure of happiness, at least.

* DrivenToSuicide: Frankie's dad was, before the events of the film, because he felt guilty about not being a good provider to Frankie and Linda. Karl believes that that Bible says that those who do kill themselves go off to [[InsistentTerminology Hades]], but Frankie replies that [[ArmorPiercingResponse it says that about people who kill others too]]. This may have also strongly fed into Karl's [[spoiler:fateful decision at the end]].

** Doyle is introduced talking down about people different from him, and is shown to be a lazy, alcoholic boor with a mean streak.

* {{Gayngst}}: Poor Vaughan is constantly angsting about all the dirty rumors and lies circulating about town of his behavior.
* HalfWittedHillbilly: A rare tragic example of the trope, although unlike most other examples, Karl's low intellect is the product of an actual disability rather than his rural upbringing.
* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler:Although Karl Childers didn't die, he sacrificed his freedom, by doing Doyle in to help Linda and Frank to live a better life without being pushed around. In the end he's back where he started in the mental institution.]]

* IDidWhatIHadToDo: Karl's final decision about Doyle. He gets his affairs in order with the people he cares about and spends a long time contemplating the choice, but in the end he feels it's the only way he can help them.

* InspirationallyDisadvantaged: Very much averted. The film frequently shows how Karl not only lacks basic social skills but is almost incapable of caring for himself. He also never displays any IdiotSavant-type abilities aside from being an excellent mechanic (which is justified considering that he lived in his parents' shed and had nothing to do but mess around with the lawn mowers and tiller and such inside). Some characters, such as Vaughan, seem to view him as deep and wise, likely to lampshade this trope.

* MamaBear: Linda. Unfortunately, Doyle's sheer meanness and stubbornness prevents her protectiveness from working very well.

** Karl, perhaps, by a combination of his mental slowness, his sheltered and backwards upbringing, and his incarceration.

* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: Doyle is misogynistic, homophobic, abelist and a ChildHater.

* ShutUpHannibal: Perhaps a more minor example, as Charles was not really a major villain, but Karl [[spoiler: [[TookALevelInBadass lays into him good at the end]] when he talks pervertedly about his friendship with Frank]].

* WhatTheHellHero: [[spoiler: Frankie's criticism of Karl for burying his barely-alive premature brother takes on this tone, despite Karl's being much too young (and mentally challenged to boot) to understand about caring for a child. He quickly takes it back, though.]]

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: In a decidedly more metaphorical sense than the common usage, Karl. We do have a great deal of sympathy for him, for his naivete and his just seeming lost in the huge world (near the beginning, he even [[spoiler: goes back to the asylum and requests to stay there,]] because he has no idea how to be a free man), but he still exerts a large amount of influence on those he meets. Linda, Frank and Vaughan are changed positively for their experience with him (they get a new appreciation for people who are a little different), while [[spoiler: [[KarmicDeath Doyle's life is cut short]] simply because he refuses to change]], and Karl's protector instinct kicks in (for an example of this, see the CMOA above).

* InspirationallyDisadvantaged: Very much averted. The film frequently shows how Karl not only lacks basic social skills but is almost incapable of caring for himself. He also never displays any [[TheRainman Rain Man]] type abilities aside from being an excellent mechanic (which is justified considering that he lived in his parents' shed and had nothing to do but mess around with the lawn mowers and tiller and such inside). Some characters, such as Vaughan, seem to view him as deep and wise, likely to lampshade this trope.

* YourCheatingHeart: Apparently the reason for Karl's acts (his mom cheating on his dad, that is) which landed him in the state hospital, but as mentioned in the description, a bit more detail is given [[AllThereInTheManual in the script and short film]].

* DirtyCoward: Doyle only physically bullies those who can't or won't retaliate. When he throws out his band members in a drunken rage, the only one he dares to be physically violent towards is a man in a wheelchair. Similarly, in spite of all of his bravado about not being afraid of Karl, it's clear in the scene where Karl grabs his arm to protect Frank (and when he wanders into the bedroom at night with a hammer) that Doyle treads pretty carefully around him.

* DirtyCoward: Doyle only physically bullies those who can't or won't retaliate. When he throws out his band members in a drunken rage, the only one he dares to be physically violent towards is a man in a wheelchair. Similarly, in spite of all of his bravado about not being afraid of Karl, it's clear in the scene where Karl grabs his arm to protect Frank (and when he wanders into the bedroom at night with a hammer), Doyle treads pretty carefully around him.