History Main / Glurge

* ''Franchise/{{Naruto}}'' follows the central themes of hard work and forgiveness, which on their own are excellent mottos to live by. However, the manga eventually reveals that most of the major characters, especially the eponymous Naruto, were blessed with immense strength bordering on godhood stemming from genetics, along with Naruto himself being an incarnation of a demigod which no other character, no matter how hard they worked, can ever attain. Also in the manga, the extend at which Naruto forgives his enemies, especially Obito, can reach nauseating levels. He called the man who started a world war and is directly responsible for at least a hundred thousand people dead, "the coolest guy ever". Whatever reasons he may have had, it was way beyond appropriate.

* BeYourself: This message becomes glurge when the work gives vague definitions of what being oneself entails, [[AmbitionIsEvil discourages personal growth]], or at worst glorifies [[JerkJustifications holding on to toxic traits]].

** The protagonists, especially the female ones, [[BeautyEqualsGoodness are always conventionally attractive]] and are almost always pitted against ugly antagonists. In the case where the (female) antagonist is [[BeautyIsBad equally pretty]] as they are, they will be depicted as vain bullies who gloat about being prettier than the FMC

** Most episodes that have BeYourself as a moral consist of the female antagonist acting the part of a [[TheDitz "goofy girl"]] to get guys' attention and compliments until a real "goofy girl" (usually Kanade) appears and gains the guys' friendship far easier than her, threatening the antagonist's "position" and leads her to double down in order to "dethrone" her.
** In office stories, the antagonist more often than not will be a vain, lazy coworker who dumps her workload on the FMC. Moreover, she will take advantage of her looks and adopt a ''[[{{Kawaiiko}} burikko]]'' persona to charm male coworkers and use CrocodileTears to sic the men on whoever "made her cry." However, her luck will run out when she makes the moves on the FMC's love interest, which results in the man telling her off and her reputation ruined while the FMC comes out on top because of her hard work and humility.
** If the FMC has kids from the get-go, mostly from a previous marriage the female antagonist broke up, their [[ChildrenAreInnocent innocence]] will allow them to see through her facade whenever she asks them about their mother's new fiancé to steal him, tricking the antagonist into screwing herself over instead. It doesn't help that the antagonist, hellbent on ruining the FMC's happiness, falls for it and ends up scammed, poor, or even ''raped''.
** Female antagonists in later stories tend to have petty motivations to ruin the FMC's happiness, which boils down to jealousy and/or entitlement [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex stemming from feelings of inferiority]], yet they're played more dramatically than they really are.
** The female antagonist often acts like a CardCarryingVillain, occasionally breaking into {{evil laugh}}s, and indulging in overwrought EvilGloating after she seemingly succeeded before the story reveals she not only failed but also screwed herself over instead.

Glurge is the catch-all term for "inspirational" tales which purport to offer uplifting and timeless truths, but for various reasons -- they carry UnfortunateImplications, they [[FridgeLogic don't make sense once you've thought about them]], or [[CluelessAesop the medium is a poor fit for the message]] -- they are just a bit too hard to swallow. (The word "glurge" was initially coined by [[http://www.snopes.com/glurge/glurge.asp a reader of]] Website/{{Snopes}} and derives from the sound of someone throwing up).

* ''Franchise/Naruto'' follows the central themes of hard work and forgiveness, which on their own are excellent mottos to live by. However, the manga eventually reveals that most of the major characters, especially the eponymous Naruto, were blessed with immense strength bordering on godhood stemming from genetics, along with Naruto himself being an incarnation of a demigod which no other character, no matter how hard they worked, can ever attain. Also in the manga, the extend at which Naruto forgives his enemies, especially Obito, can reach nauseating levels. He called the man who started a world war and is directly responsible for at least a hundred thousand people dead, "the coolest guy ever". Whatever reasons he may have had, it was way beyond appropriate.

** Children country singers, due to having adults write most of their songs to be as precious as possible, are particularly prone to this special type of glurge. One noteworthy example is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLBXhxuEN1c "Mr. Russian, Please Don't Shoot Down Santa's Sleigh"]] by Shana Lynette, which features the girl begging the Soviets not to blow Santa out of the sky if he enters their airspace. Then there's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGxCQ1nGVcQ "Please Don't Go Topless, Mother"]], where little Troy Hess tearfully tells his mother to give up go-go dancing at the local bar, and contains so many smutty double entendres ("you're ruining your rep-utation / and I can give you two big reasons why") that it feels like a StealthParody of the genre.

** Female antagonists in later stories tend to have petty motivations to ruin the FMC's happiness, which boils down to jealousy and/or entitlement [[InferioritySuperiorityComplex stemming from feelings of inferiority]], yet they're played more dramatically than they really are. Moreover, the female antagonist acts like a CardCarryingVillain, occasionally breaking into {{evil laugh}}s and indulging in overwrought EvilGloating after seeming to win before the story reveals she not only failed but also screwed herself over instead.

* Being an anthology manga channel, ''WebAnimation/MangaSoprano'' features several instances of this trope:
** The protagonists, especially the female ones, [[BeautyEqualsGoodness are always conventionally attractive]] and are almost always pitted against ugly antagonists. In the case where the (female) antagonist is [[BeautyIsBad equally pretty]] as they are, they will be depicted as vain and even evil. Moreover, if a story features a swimming pool as a setting or plot point, RuleOfPool will reveal the attractive antagonist was UglyAllAlong.

* ''Manga/Naruto'' follows the central themes of hard work and forgiveness, which on their own are excellent mottos to live by. However, the manga eventually reveals that most of the major characters, especially the eponymous Naruto, were blessed with immense strength bordering on godhood stemming from genetics, along with Naruto himself being an incarnation of a demigod which no other character, no matter how hard they worked, can ever attain. Also in the manga, the extend at which Naruto forgives his enemies, especially Obito, can reach nauseating levels. He called the man who started a world war and is directly responsible for at least a hundred thousand people dead, "the coolest guy ever". Whatever reasons he may have had, it was way beyond appropriate.

** One article from his old website, "[[http://www.seanbaby.com/news/commonsense.htm Temptation Beach vs. a Book About Retarded People]]", features the book "Common Sense Not Needed" by Corrie ten Boom. The book is about Corrie's experiences preaching Christianity to developmentally disabled people in Nazi-occupied Europe. In true Glurge fashion, those people are portrayed as [[InspirationallyDisadvantaged paragons of wisdom]] for parroting the doctrine she preaches, including applying Jesus' message of love to the Nazis -- the same Nazis known for [[UsefulNotes/TheHolocaust killing thousands of disabled people]] just like the ones Corrie was preaching to. Seanbaby is quick to point out that dealing with [[UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler a genocidal dictator]] is generally not the proper time to trot out Jesus' "turn the other cheek" rhetoric.

** If Celestia thinks that taking care of a baby is an acceptable substitute for socializing with others one's own age, then it's no wonder Twilight's social skills are still minimal when the series begins. Combine that with Twilight likely having little time to make non-baby friends as a result of what she is going through, and it appears that Celestia wound up exacerbating the problem she was trying to solve.
* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'' suffered a lot of this from its [[SeasonalRot rot period]] of 1999-2005, where the focus shifted from an adventure-comedy to a relationship drama straight out of the Hallmark Channel. There are two stories in particular that push the boundaries of Glurge to their fullest.

* This is why ''Film/TheGreatestShowman'' is an extremely divisive movie. It's an OscarBait, VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory pop musical about P.T. Barnum, whitewashing him into a LovableRogue who follows his dreams, celebrates diversity, ''and'' makes money by organizing a circus that toplines society's differently-abled and/or odd-looking outcasts. The antagonists range from a StrawCritic who accuses Barnum of being lowbrow and exploitative to dyed-in-the-wool bigots, but the lesson Barnum ends up learning is not to aim for "respectability" when he tries to break into upper-crust society by promoting an opera singer and forgets about the needs of his troupe and family. Those who like the movie (which was a slow-burning box-office hit) find it uplifting, inspirational, and joyous. Those who don't like the movie [[https://www.vox.com/culture/2017/12/20/16762688/greatest-showman-review-hugh-jackman see it as phony and manipulative]], particularly with its platitudes about acceptance and pride (best exemplified by the SignatureSong "This Is Me") as they are undercut by the film not letting the audience get to know most of the circus performers (who sing said song) as individuals and instead focusing the bulk of the narrative on the WhiteMaleLead and his redemption, and its use of the StrawCritic and bigots to shame the viewer into not questioning/analyzing what they're watching lest they be seen as enemies of joy and diversity. It's one of the few ''Podcast/TheFlopHouse'' subjects that technically doesn't qualify as a flop, simply because one of the hosts was that eager to analyze its failings. The episode points out that "This Is Me" begs the question ''"Who are you?"''.

* ''Film/{{North}}'' seems to think of itself as an uplifting morality tale of a kid who learns to appreciate his parents. Instead it comes off as a story of [[SmallNameBigEgo a raging egotist]] who abandons his parents but returns to them only because all the other ones he encountered [[UnfortunateImplications were raging racial stereotypes]]. What's worse, [[spoiler:the film tries to save itself by revealing it was AllJustADream, but that just reveals North to be a huge racist himself as well]].

* ''Film/TheUltimateGift''. A sinfal {{jerkass}} who disregards his father must go through a series of trials that improve him in order to get the titular "ultimate gift." He falls in love with the single mother of the LittlestCancerPatient, [[spoiler:who, of course, dies.]] The part where all this starts to go off the rails is the ending, where Jason receives [[spoiler:two billion dollars]] for his efforts, [[UnfortunateImplications implying that]] [[spoiler:the "ultimate gift" is just money.]]

* Creator/WillSmith, in his OscarBait film ''Film/SevenPounds'', plays an [[TheAtoner Atoner]] with a God complex who [[ArtisticLicenseMedicine chooses patients to receive his saintly organs]]. He thinks that using fake [=IDs=] is a perfectly legitimate means to contact prospective recipients, and he considers a person worthy if he is rendered barely articulate by a volley of insults. The film implies that committing federal crimes is okay as long as it's for a good cause. But the serious Glurge is that [[spoiler:the protagonist commits suicide at the end to donate his organs, and this is treated as some sort of beautiful martyrdom.]] And the [[BrokenAesop moral breaks]] under ArtisticLicenseBiology; [[spoiler:his method of suicide is needlessly complicated -- a box jellyfish, whose venom should leave most of his organs unusable anyway]]. [[WebVideo/BadMovieBeatdown Film Brain]] despises this movie for these reasons.

* The film ''Film/SoulFood'' is about a grandmother who shows her love for her family by cooking delicious but unhealthy "soul food". She dies of clogged arteries, and her family honors her by eating the same unhealthy food that killed her. ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'' pointed out how Glurge-y this is.

** If the FMC has kids, they will [[ChildrenAreInnocent see through the antagonist's facade]] and thus trick her into screwing herself over instead. It doesn't help that the antagonist, hellbent on ruining the FMC's happiness, falls for it and ends up scammed, poor, or even ''raped''.

* ''WebAnimation/MangaSoprano'': Most, if not all of the stories often pit the [[BeautyEqualsGoodness conventionally-attractive protagonists]] against ugly (or [[BeautyIsBad equally pretty but vain]]) antagonist, whose motivations range from petty to outright cartoonish. Moreover, the stuck-up antagonist will always be [[CantGetAwayWithNuthin punished or corrected for their mistakes]], be it because the protagonist's [[ChildrenAreInnocent kids see through their facade]], the antagonist's [[StupidEvil lack of common sense]], or just fell victim to a ContrivedCoincidence. Some end in the antagonist changing their hearts after realizing their wrongdoings even if they did something horrible or have a pattern of willingly harming others.

* The Creator/HallmarkChannel has made a small industry out of Glurge-filled made-for-TV movies, known as SugarWiki/AHallmarkPresentation. Most often these films are about someone who is overwhelmed with working in the dog-eat-dog atmosphere of the big city, and are forced to move to a [[EverytownAmerica quaint, wholesome small town]], which they end up finding more satisfying than their past life. Usually a ridiculously hot love interest drops right into their laps to help the process along, along with a few quirky (but bland) small town friends. The only real obstacles the protagonist has to overcome are getting off on the wrong foot with the love interest, or some petty rival, which in real life could be fixed by talking to the love interest like an adult and ignoring the rival. Everyone is just sort of cutesy and non-threatening. If the main character is a woman, the movie will emphasize that starting a family is more fulfilling than having a job. Then December rolls around and Hallmark replaces their normal movies with special Christmas ones, which are the same except the overworked person is so burned-out that they don't know the true meaning of Christmas, which they learn by moving to the same type of quaint small town and experiencing a little Christmas magic. Cue hunky local bachelor holding a cute puppy, who bumps into our lonely heroine...

* Each ''Webcomic/ZenPencils'' comic is a FramingDevice for a famous quote -- and it falls into all the pitfalls of YouKnowWhoSaidThat, with many quotes being hypocritical or out of context. A surprising number of comics also encourage readers to quit their jobs and pursue their passion (even if it's [[http://zenpencils.com/comic/122-charles-bukowski-roll-the-dice/ obsessively binge-watching]] ''Series/GameOfThrones'', abandoning everyone you know, and wasting your money to ''become'' a character from the show), suggesting that the only reason to do anything is [[DoingItForTheArt for the art]].[[note]]Though admittedly, this message softened over time into, "If you must have an unfulfilling job, be sure to [[OneForTheMoneyOneForTheArt do something fulfilling on the side.]]"[[/note]] Its attempt at an [[http://zenpencils.com/comic/144-the-artist-troll-war-1-hatred-breeds-hatred/ original story arc]] is a Glurge-y attempt to paint art critics as hateful {{troll}}s who are defeated by The Power of Art.

** An InUniverse example happens in [[Recap/SouthParkS5E6Cartmanland Cartmanland]], when Kyle gets a hemorrhoid after falling into depression due to Cartman getting a theme park to himself. His mother tries to read him the story of Job to help him feel better. Kyle quickly deconstructs the [[BrokenAesop aesop]] behind the story and is left in an even greater depression because of it.
* The ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' episode [[Recap/SpongeBobSquarePantsS4E12AllThatGlittersWishingYouWell "All That Glitters"]] is a particularly notorious example of this. Through methods that come across as a SpaceWhaleAesop and turn [=SpongeBob=] into a DesignatedVillain for an undeserving amount of AesopCollateralDamage, [=SpongeBob=] is taught a lesson that betraying your friends is wrong. [[CluelessAesop ...Even though this friend is an inanimate spatula, has nothing to do with what the title implies, and [=SpongeBob=] is learning all this while spending almost the entire episode naked.]]

* One particularly chilling example of this sort of thing in music is Music/NeilSedaka's "Next Door to an Angel", in which he delights in describing his young neighbour's [[SheIsAllGrownUp physical development]] ("She used to be such a skinny little girl/But all of a sudden, she's out of this world!") and plans to "make that angel mine"; while the girl next door is explicitly identified as 16, the narrator is suspiciously not. And yet, it's all cheerfully sung to the most cheesy, goofy rhythm imaginable. It was probably intended to be from the viewpoint of one teen singing about another a la Music/PaulAnka's "Puppy Love", but "Right Next Door" was released when Neil Sedaka was 23, so in real life a 23-year-old singing those lyrics about his 16-year-old neighbor is still pretty creepy. The same viewpoint and depiction also applies to "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen", also by Sedaka. That song was released in 1961, one year prior to "Right Next Door".

* ''Webcomic/{{Boyfriends}}'': Part of the comic's infamy comes from the fact that it's essentially nothing but 100+ chapters of four men being SickeninglySweethearts and going on dates. [[TropesAreTools This isn't an inherently bad thing in moderation]], and there are a few semi-dramatic turns of events, but reading so much of it nonstop with 0 breaks makes the work feel like a RomanticPlotTumor that mutated into its own story.

* SocialistRealism and some art forms associated with totalitarian regimes like to portray glurge, with endless scenes of happy farmers, industrious workers, and brave soldiers without conflict or human suffering or any of the imperfections that make real life real. Author Creator/MilanKundera coined the term [[http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204908604574336383324209824.html "totalitarian kitsch"]] in his novel Literature/TheUnbearableLightnessOfBeing to describe this phenomenon. The theme of these paintings has been jokingly described as "girl meets tractor".

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-diB65scQU "Don't Worry, Be Happy"]] by Creator/BobbyMcFerrin is meant to be uplifting and soothing, but the way it advocates for being happy and not worrying even when you have good reason to (like ''being evicted'') because not being so makes others sad instead just comes off as annoying. The close-up shot of Creator/RobinWilliams in the music video as he goes from deeply sad to showing a big, goofy grin doesn't help matters one bit.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' has a hilarious parody of glurgy chain e-mails called "IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU!" It involves a terminally-ill drell (desert-dwelling green-skinned humanoid) lying in the ocean, praying to [[{{Precursors}} the Enkindlers]], and being told that it wasn't the water but the Enkindlers who were keeping him afloat, then waking to find himself cured. It also makes ''no sense'' in the context of the Enkindler religion, which is essentially deist. The religion actually ''knows'' the Protheans are precursor aliens, it just chooses to revere them for uplifting the Hanar.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-diB65scQU "Don't Worry, Be Happy"]] by Bobby [=McFerrin=] is meant to be uplifting and soothing, but the way it advocates for being happy and not worrying even when you have good reason to (like ''being evicted'') because not being so makes others sad instead just comes off as annoying. The close-up shot of Creator/RobinWilliams in the music video as he goes from deeply sad to showing a big, goofy grin doesn't help matters one bit.

* HistoricalPersonPunchline: The main character or alleged author in the story will sometimes turn out to be (an UrbanLegend version of) a notable historical figure to drive home the impact of the Aesop. UsefulNotes/AlbertEinstein is a common offender, for whatever reason.