History Main / EightDeadlyWords

* This is one of the many complaints that have been made by reviewers about the ''BaldursGate'' novelizations by Philip Athans, the protagonist being a DesignatedHero JerkSue and the other characters barely counting as characters.

* This is one of the most common criticisms leveled at the ''VideoGame/DragonAge'' series.

* This was one of the most common criticisms leveled at ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII''.

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* 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.

* [[{{Retsupurae}} Diabetus]] declares a variation in the ''[[{{Darkseed}} Darkseed 2]]'' Rongpurae, about the protagonist, Mike Dawson, who is suspected of murder.

* This was one of the most common criticisms leveled at DragonAgeII.

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Many fans of WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants feel this way about the [[JumpingTheShark newer episodes]] due to the extreme {{flanderization}} of the characters.

* [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] in-universe in WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory. Whenever one of the selfish children does something that leads to their downfall, his response is a deadpan, "Stop. No. Don't."

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 DevelopingDoomedCharacters 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 SevenDirtyWords.

* Shatter Glass, just Shattering Glass. By the time you halfway through your opinion of the characters rangers from "don't care" to "cursing their existence."

* Mark Twain's essay ''The Literary Offenses of Fenimore Cooper"
** 10. They require that the author shall make the reader feel a deep interest in the personages of his tale and in their fate; and that he shall make the reader love the good people in the tale and hate the bad ones. But the reader of the "Deerslayer" tale dislikes the good people in it, is indifferent to the others, and wishes they would all get drowned together.

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

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-->'''{{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.

[[folder: Web Original ]]

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

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* Many fans of SpongebobSquarepants feel this way about the [[JumpingTheShark newer episodes]] due to the extreme Flanderization of the characters.

* 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.

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 DevelopingDoomedCharacters 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}}.

[[folder: Film ]]

* StevenSpielberg gave this as his reason for striving to attain AdaptationDistillation for ''{{Jaws}}'' -- he found the characters in the book so unlikeable he wanted the shark to kill them all.

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Musical ]]

* StephenSpielberg gave this as his reason for striving to attain AdaptationDistillation for ''{{Jaws}}'' -- he found the characters in the book so unlikeable he wanted the shark to kill them all.

** His opinion of the human characters in TransformersRevengeOfTheFallen.

* All of the characters in ''Theatre/TheThreepennyOpera'' an example of this. 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.

* 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.

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 bland, unengaging or unlikable 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.