History Main / EightDeadlyWords

* [[http://chromagic.blogspot.com.au/2012/04/review-battleship.html This review]] of [[Battleship]] outright invokes this trope, nearly word for word.

* All of the characters in ''Theatre/TheThreepennyOpera'' an example of this. Music/KurtWeill and BertoltBrecht did this intentionally, as not a single character is sympathetic in their motives, actions, or expressions. This was in part because it was a political commentary on capitalism and corruption. An example of tropes are not bad.

* In general, it's best to avoid {{Heel}} Vs. Heel main events, since there's no one for the audience to root for. The over-reliance on these kinds of matches was one of the contributors to WCW's fall.

''Extremely'' subjective, of course, so don't add this as an example on a work's page unless the phenomenon is referenced in-universe.

* The original ''NightOfTheDemons'' has this problem. The majority of the cast are {{jerkass}}es, the remainder are bland and useless. The FinalGirl's dialog is almost all about how she doesn't want to do anything and spends 85% of the film being TheLoad.
* Many horror films have this problem. They'll have a large cast with little character development. Worse is that they often show these future victims to be very unlikable. Then again, most horror movie franchises '''want''' you to be rooting for the villain when he kills the jerks.
** It's a weird relationship, actually. The depressing fact is that the ones that want you to be rooting for the villain entirely tend to end up hitting this trope with ''him'' once they decide to make him the 'hero.' When DevelopingDoomedCharacters is your idea of how to make the audience ''care''...
* ''FunnyGames'': We're supposed to feel bad because we're rooting for the killers to wipe out the family at the center of the film. The killers are the only ones that are actual characters. Why the hell should we feel any different? If you're going to insult people who like torture-porn films, don't fall into the same traps actual torture-porn does.

* This is one of the many complaints that have been made by reviewers about the ''BaldursGate'' novelisations by Philip Athans, the protagonist being a DesignatedHero JerkSue and the other characters barely counting as characters. Of course, it can also be averted in that many wished what happened to the protagonist to be something very bad.
* Many, ''many'' of HaroldPinter's works. ''The Homecoming'' especially smacks of this. Though given Pinter's own fierce belief that HumansAreBastards, that ''[[{{YMMV}} might]]'' [[{{YMMV}} have been]] [[InvokedTrope the point]].

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]
* {{Warhammer 40000}} does this on purpose; it makes it easier to laugh when they die horribly. Novels set in this universe generally try to avoid it of course.

[[folder: Video Games]]
* [[{{Retsupurae}} Diabetus]] declares a variation in the ''[[{{Darkseed}} Darkseed 2]]'' Rongpurae, about the protagonist, Mike Dawson, who is suspected of murder.
-->'''{{slowbeef}}''': To be honest, do you think he did it?\\
'''Diabetus''': I would think no.\\
'''slowbeef''': Who do you think did?\\
'''Diabetus''': Well the problem is I don't really care.
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[[folder: Web Original ]]

* Many a CausticCritic have this mentality when they're supposed to fear for a character's life. Special mention goes to WebOriginal/TheCinemaSnob and {{Phelous}}, since they review exploitation and horror films, respectively.

[[/folder]]

A phrase coined by Dorothy J. Heydt in a science fiction-based {{Usenet}} group in 1991 to describe an AudienceReaction to a work of fiction where the characters are so universally [[FlatCharacter bland]], unengaging or [[JerkAss unlikeable]] that the reader simply loses interest in their fate and, by extension, the work as a whole. This can happen with or without the presence of [[BadWriting more objective shortcomings]], but the most interesting examples tend to be those where this is a critic's main complaint, single-handedly making an otherwise well-made story almost completely unenjoyable.

* Many a CausticCritic have this mentality when they're supposed to fear for a character's life. Special mention goes to TheCinemaSnob and {{Phelous}}, since they review exploitation and horror films, respectively.

* All of the characters in Threepenny Opera an example of this. Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht did this intentionally, as not a single character is sympathetic in their motives, actions, or expressions. This was in part because it was a political commentary on capitalism and corruption. An example of tropes are not bad.

[[folder: Literature ]]

* Dorothy Heydt coined the words when reading [[http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.sf.written/msg/c67003d462c72a07?dmode=source Volume Two of]] ''TheWheelOfTime'', and also [[http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.sf.written/msg/c0c86ef8c3d067df?dmode=source applied them]] to a ''[[TheFionavarTapestry Fionavar Tapestry]]'' book.
* This is one of the many complaints that have been made by reviewers about the ''BaldursGate'' novelisations by Philip Athans, the protagonist being a DesignatedHero JerkSue and the other characters barely counting as characters. Of course, it can also be averted in that many wished what happened to the protagonist to be something very bad.
* Many, ''many'' of HaroldPinter's works. ''The Homecoming'' especially smacks of this. Though given Pinter's own fierce belief that HumansAreBastards, that ''[[{{YMMV}} might]]'' [[{{YMMV}} have been]] [[InvokedTrope the point]].

[[/folder]]

* ''TheInheritanceCycle'' often gets this complaint.

See also DarknessInducedAudienceApathy, a variation on this that is specifically caused by a setting that is ''too'' GrimDark, to the point where there's no likable protagonist for the audience to root for. [[{{Irony}} Ironically]], many {{Horror}}/monster/{{Disaster Movie}}s that begin with TwentyMinutesWithJerks do so to try and avoid this, but the characters are so unlikable that it just emphasizes the audience apathy instead, or even has them cheering as the jerks are killed off. Don't confuse with {{Seven Dirty Words}}.

** It's a weird relationship, actually. The depressing fact is that the ones that want you to be rooting for the villain entirely tend to end up hitting this trope with ''him'' once they decide to make him the 'hero.' When TwentyMinutesWithJerks is your idea of how to make the audience ''care''...

All of the characters in Threepenny Opera an example of this. Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht did this intentionally, as not a single character is sympathetic in their motives, actions, or expressions. This was in part because it was a political commentary on capitalism and corruption. An example of tropes are not bad.

* For a growing number of fans, changes the [[PromotedFanboy Ink Monkeys]] have made to the story and themes in {{Exalted}} has caused this reaction. Many of them first grew angry, then annoyed, then, around the time of the Compass of Celestial Directions: Autochthonia, they just... stopped... caring. At all.
** As a perfect example of the YMMV nature of this trope, just as many (if not more) regarded it as an example of WinBackTheCrowd.
** To one of said Monkeys, Holden Shearer, a separate case of this emerged from the TastesLikeDirt feel of early 2e, in which it was (in his opinion) too easy to dismiss Creation as not worth the time and effort of saving it. Naturally, this has led to a BrokenBase as people who liked the early 2e stuff proclaim the new feel of Creation to be terrible.

** To one of said Monkeys, Holden Shearer, a separate case of this emerged from theTastesLikeDirt feel of early 2e, in which it was (in his opinion) too easy to dismiss Creation as not worth the time and effort of saving it. Naturally, this has led to a BrokenBase as people who liked the early 2e stuff proclaim the new feel of Creation to be terrible.

** Holden Shearer, one of said Monkeys, considers a case of this deriving from DarknessInducedAudienceApathy and TastesLikeDirt to be the main writing problem with the first few years of Exalted 2e: in his opinion, it was too easy to simply dismiss Creation as not worth saving. (Whether he is right or not is the matter of [[FlameWar vigorous debate]].)

* For a growing number of fans, changes the Ink Monkeys have made to the story and themes in {{Exalted}} has caused this reaction. Many of them first grew angry, then annoyed, then, around the time of the Compass of Celestial Directions: Autochthonia, they just... stopped... caring. At all.
* Warhammer40000 does this on purpose; it makes it easier to laugh when they die horribly. Novels set in this universe generally try to avoid it of course.

* {{Moviebob}} on ''The Escapist'' makes this observation of the movie ''Film/{{Monsters}}'', noting that both leads are unsympathetic and {{Flat Character}}s.
* The original ''NightOfTheDemons'' has this problem. The majority of the cast are [[JerkAss jerkasses]], the remainder are bland and useless. The FinalGirl's dialog is almost all about how she doesn't want to do anything and spends 85% of the film being TheLoad.
* Many horror films(too many to name) have this problem. They'll have a large cast with little character development. Worse is that they often show these future victims to be very unlikable.
** CompletelyMissingThePoint. Most horror movie franchises '''want''' you to be rooting for the villain when he kills the jerks.

* This is one of the (many) complaints that have been made by reviewers about the ''BaldursGate'' novelisations by Philip Athans, the protagonist being a DesignatedHero JerkSue and the other characters barely counting as characters. Of course, it can also be averted in that many wished what happened to the protagonist to be something very bad.

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

* The original ''NightOfTheDemons'' has this problem. The majority of the cast are [[JerkAss jerkasses]], the remainder are bland and useless. The FinalGirl's dialog is almost all about how she doesn't want to do anything and spends 85% of the film being TheLoad.

[[AC:{{Musical}}]]

[[AC:ProfessionalWrestling]]

[[AC:{{Literature}}]]

[[AC:{{Tabletop Games}}]]

[[AC:{{Web Original}}]]

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