History Main / HelpingGrannyCrossTheStreet

* In ''Discworld/WyrdSisters'', some GenreSavvy (if not particularly region-savvy) actors keep offering to help the Witches cross the river, even though there isn't one nearby.

* In ''Disney/LiloAndStitch2StitchHasAGlitch'', Stitch is concerned about his bad behavior and tries to make up for it by helping old ladies cross the street, whether they want to or not.

* The Mowglis' [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RZqPq1-1Tw San Francisco]] has a non-ironic example; it shows the boys doing various good deeds inspiring others to "pass it on". An elderly man with a walker is waiting to cross the street so the band member carries him piggyback while a woman friend brings the walker.

* ComicStrip/{{Nero}}: Nero does this in "''Het Wonderwolkje"'', because he's acting like a scout and has to perform his good deed for today. It turns out that the old lady didn't want to cross the street in the first place!

This sort of behaviour is common among Boy Scouts, or [[ScoutOut their fictional equivalents]].

* ''Film/ToughGuys'' (1986). A boy scout tries to help one of the elderly ex-con protagonists across the street. He's not amused, threatens to break the kid's arm, and gets sworn at in response.

* Gender inverted again in the opening musical sequence in Film/TheGreatMuppetCaper where a girl scout is helping what appears to be a an elderly blind man cross the street. The man turns out to be a jewel thief in disguise.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS12E1TreehouseOfHorrorXI episode XI]] Homer is dead and needs to do one good deed to get into Heaven. Ghost!Homer sees Agnes Skinner who wants to cross the street, so he lifts her up and flies her across. She is panicked, not knowing that she's being helped by a ghost. She complains that everyone can see up her bustle, and then she starts struggling out of Ghost!Homer's arms and he accidentally drops her into oncoming traffic.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddparents'', Timmy imagines doing this when he becomes an adult. When he actually tries this after wishing to be an adult, the old lady pepper sprays him in the eyes and storms away. Cosmo and Wanda proceed to explain, "When a kid helps an old lady cross the street it's kind of cute. But when an adult does it, it's just plain creepy."

* In the ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'' episode, "Say It Isn't Sew", after spending so much time at the Sew N' Sew craft store, Bloo decides to go to the funfair by himself. He disguises himself as a crossing guard and creates a crosswalk to get from the craft store to the fair. Along the way, he helps an elderly lady cross the street, but his progress is soon hindered when he helps girl scouts, tourists, children on tricycles, a mother and her baby carriage, and a flock of ducks cross the street, the last of which he helped twice.

-->"Come on, girl" said Tanzan at once. Lifting her in his arms, he carried her over the mud.

* On the ''WesternAnimation/BobsBurgers'' episode "Sleeping with the Frenemy", Tina is trying to earn her good citizen Thundergirl badge, but all her attempts at good deeds have failed, including tying to help cranky old Edith cross the street, despite her not wanting to.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarepants'': Happens to Mr. Krabs at one point. The gag is brought back near the end of the episode; the scout walking him into his old room at his mother's house, which amusingly, came right after his mother treated him like a child.
** In "The Abrasive Side", [=SpongeBob=] is forced to miss his bus to Glove World several times due to people asking him for favors, one of which is helping his own grandma cross the street.

** In "People Are Bunny", WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck goes on a ''Series/CandidCamera''-type show where he tries to help an old lady cross the street. She hits him with her umbrella all the way, [[UngratefulBastard saying nobody helps her across the street]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfRockyAndBullwinkle'':

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[[folder: Western Animation ]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In a WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror [[Recap/TheSimpsonsS12E1TreehouseOfHorrorXI episode]] Homer is dead and needs to do one good deed to get into Heaven. Ghost!Homer sees Agnes Skinner who wants to cross the street, so he lifts her up and flies her across. She is panicked, not knowing that she's being helped by a ghost. She complains that everyone can see up her bustle, and then she starts struggling out of Ghost!Homer's arms and he accidentally drops her into oncoming traffic.

** In "People Are Bunny", WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck goes on a ''Series/CandidCamera''-type show where he tries to help an old lady cross the street. She hits him with her umbrella all the way.

* Spoofed in the ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' episode "Down and Out in Duckburg", when Huey tries walking an old lady across the street to raise back Scrooge's lost money. She pays him for his services, then tells him to take her back across; she didn't want to cross the street.

* In one episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfRockyAndBullwinkle'' when Rocky was trying to stop an orbiting rocket carrying Fearless Leader, Boris, [[TheStarscream wanting to take over]], pretended to be an old lady trying to cross the street to stop Rocky. Being a television hero, Rocky knew helping an old lady across the street came before everything else.
** In a segment, Bullwinkle did this as a good deed. Not only did he nearly get himself and the old lady run over, but the lady was actually waiting at a bus stop and Bullwinkle made her miss her bus, resulting in him getting whacked by her purse.

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* There are some non-ironic examples in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQyW6hg4_6k this video.]]

* The ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'' episode "The Fremergency Fronfract" references this trope verbatim in the lyrics to the song "Hater Makes It Better," which describes the good deeds done by a punch-drunk Hater [[IntoxicationEnsues post-dental-visit]].

* Attempted as a means to reform MinionWithAnFInEvil Lobster Claws in ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil''. Unfortunately, Marco and Star have an argument as he's halfway across the street, and by the time they look back (one second) he's destroyed half the town.

* In one ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short, WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck goes on a ''Series/CandidCamera''-type show where he tries to help an old lady cross the street. She hits him with her umbrella all the way.

* There are some non-ironic examples in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQyW6hg4_6k this video]].

* In one ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' short, WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck goes on a ''CandidCamera''-type show where he tries to help an old lady cross the street. She hits him with her umbrella all the way.

[[folder: Film - Animated ]]

* In Disney/LiloAndStitch2StitchHasAGlitch, Stitch is concerned about his bad behavior and tries to make up for it by helping old ladies cross the street, whether they want to or not.

* [[GenderInvertedTrope Gender inverted]] in {{Film/Amelie}}, where the titular character helps (i.e. pushes) an old blind man across the street, and all the way to a train station.

Usually, this ends with the old lady complaining that she never wanted to cross the street in the first place, but our "hero" has usually rushed off to do some other heroic deed by then. If the old lady is a [[NeverMessWithGranny particularly crabby one]], she will usually give her helper a biff with her walking stick or [[HandbagOfHurt handbag]][.

* Gender inverted again in the opening musical sequence in TheGreatMuppetCaper where a girl scout is helping what appears to be a an elderly blind man cross the street. The man turns out to be a jewel thief in disguise.

* Played with in the ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'' episode, "Pseudo Sonic". The titular robot helps an Old Lady cross the street deliberately at the wrong time so that she will get run over by a bus. This later comes to bite the real Sonic on the butt as the Old Lady thinks he had her run over and tries to alert the Police to arrest him.

* In the short, "A Bacon Strip" from the ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' episode, "[[Series/TheTwilightZone The Acme Acres Zone]]", Hamton is trying to get home so no one will notice that [[NakedPeopleTrappedOutside he is naked]], and has used graffiti to [[BodyPaint paint a suit on the frontal half of his skin]]. On his way home, Granny asks him to help her cross the street, which he reluctantly does. When [[RoadsideWave a car splashes him]], it washes the painted suit off and a horrified Granny whacks him with her purse.

* Spoofed in the ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales'' episode "Down and Out in Duckburg", when Huey tries walking an old lady across the street to raise back Scrooge's lost money. She pays him for his services, then tells him to take her back across; she didn't want to cross the street.

The straight example of the "helping the old lady across the street" bit has pretty much become a DeadHorseTrope these days, which is why the only examples you'll see in modern media involve the subversion of the old lady never wanting to cross in the first place, or crankily belting the hero with their cane or handbag. It can also be a stock excuse, especially among villainous types who are late.