History Main / RuleOfEmpathy

* Creator/{{Pixar}} uses this trope a lot. Over the years, they've made us empathize with [[WesternAnimation/PixarShorts desk lamps]], [[Franchise/ToyStory plastic toys]], [[WesternAnimation/ABugsLife ants]], [[WesternAnimation/MonstersInc the monsters that live in your closet]], [[WesternAnimation/FindingNemo fish]], Franchise/{{cars}}, [[WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}} rats]], [[WesternAnimation/WallE robots]], [[WesternAnimation/TheGoodDinosaur dinosaurs]], and even [[WesternAnimation/InsideOut emotions]] and [[WesternAnimation/{{Soul}} souls]].
** You know they are doing this right when they get you feeling sympathy for a ROACH!

* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', the BigBad [[spoiler:turns an entire ThrowawayCountry into Philosopher's Stones]]. This is upgraded from a terrifying display of power to an [[MoralEventHorizon unforgivably evil act]] when [[spoiler:we hear the voices of the souls of some of those people inside Hohenheim, and learn that they retained their consciousness and personalities even after being made into Philosopher's Stones. Their comments, especially their enthusiasm in using ''their souls'' to fuel Hohenheim's alchemy so he can defeat the BigBad, make them sympathetic to the audience.]]

[[folder:ComicBooks]]

[[folder:Film]]

* In ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'', Judge Doom [[NightmareFuel memorably]] vaults over the MoralEventHorizon by painfully [[KickTheDog murdering an innocent]] just to prove he can. Who is this innocent? A cartoon shoe. Take an ordinary shoe, draw a face on it, have it make cute squeaking noises and nuzzle up against people's legs just like a friendly cat, and the audience will be horrified when it's killed in cold blood.

** [[GuileHero Peeta's so good at it he can garner empathy for just about anyone.]]
* In the Literature/SisterhoodSeries by Creator/FernMichaels, the author proves to have difficulty using this trope. The Vigilantes are a group of women who should have your sympathy, with their {{Dark and Troubled Past}}s. Unfortunately, they prove to be politically incorrect, abusive to victims, sexist, acting more like militant feminists than anything good, dishing out a FateWorseThanDeath than a CoolAndUnusualPunishment, and acting more like spoiled little girls who have never really grown up. They basically get away with all of this because the author wants them to! It's no wonder other characters, including some of the villains, prove to be way more likable in comparison!
* In any given Literature/HonorHarrington book, the good people, even if on the wrong side, are generally the ones who like or at least respect Honor personally. For example, the first book ends with [[spoiler:Honor about to chew Sonja Hemphill out]]. Three books later, the latter woman is still perfectly willing to [[spoiler:drum Pavel Young out of the service for cowardice]]. Several books later, the two are apparently on conversational terms, and Honor has admitted the other woman was essentially right in her viewpoint.
** Also goes for some of Manticore's Havenite opponents. Anyone on the Havenite side who respects the Manticorans, or who the Manticorans respect in turn, is, generally speaking, a fundamentally decent person who merely [[MyCountryRightOrWrong happens to be on the opposing side]]. See, for instance, Thomas Theisman, Lester Tourville, Shannon Foraker, Javier Giscard, and Eloise Pritchart. This makes [[spoiler:the two star nations joining up in a military alliance against the Solarian League ''much'' easier, as everybody already thoroughly respects the people they're now working beside]]. Unsurprisingly, a few BirdsOfAFeather friendships start to form, most notably between [[spoiler:Queen Elizabeth and President Pritchart]] and [[spoiler:Sonja Hemphill and Shannon Foraker]].

* In ''VideoGame/TheSims3'', If a Sim with the Unlucky or Loser trait dies of anything but old age, the [[DontFearTheReaper Grim Reaper]] will revive them on the grounds that he "feels sorry" for them, and [[RuleOfFunny that they provide too much amusement to be killed off]].

** In ''VideoGame/Portal2'' the player may begin to feel this for [=GLaDOS=] after [[spoiler: losing control of the facility to Wheatley]] and the reveal that [[spoiler: her program contains the memories of Caroline, the assistant to Aperture Science's founder.]]

* Discussed in ''Webcomic/{{Sinfest}}'', where [[http://www.sinfest.net/archive_page.php?comicID=3552 Baby Blue objects to a story with a sympathetic protagonist]]; she gives Fuschia a physics textbook to read to the damned instead.

* The canaries used for CanaryInACoalMine eventually had concessions made to revive them after they passed out from gas, because the miners that uses them bonded emotionally with them.

* Creator/{{Pixar}} uses this trope a lot. Over the years, they've made us empathize with [[WesternAnimation/PixarShorts desk lamps]], [[Franchise/ToyStory plastic toys]], [[WesternAnimation/ABugsLife ants]], [[WesternAnimation/MonstersInc the monsters that live in your closet]], [[WesternAnimation/FindingNemo fish]], WesternAnimation/{{cars}}, [[WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}} rats]], [[WesternAnimation/WallE robots]], [[WesternAnimation/TheGoodDinosaur dinosaurs]], and even [[WesternAnimation/InsideOut emotions]] and [[WesternAnimation/{{Soul}} souls]].

[[HumansAreBastards Believe it or not]], humans have an amazing ability to empathize with other humans and [[UncannyValley reasonably humanoid equivalents]], even fictional ones! A lot of it has to do with [[CastCalculus the kind of focus]] a character receives, be it a SympatheticPOV, with PetTheDog moments, or any of the dozens of CharacterizationTropes.

->''"You know what makes people different from animals? We're the only species on Earth that observes [[Creator/DiscoveryChannel Shark Week]]. ''Sharks'' don't even observe Shark Week; but we do. For the same reason, I can pick up this pencil, tell you its name is Steve, and then go like this; ''[snaps it in half; gasps of horror]'' and part of you ''dies'', just a little bit on the inside. Because people can connect with ''anything''. We can sympathise with a pencil, we can forgive a shark, and we can give Creator/BenAffleck an Academy Award for screenwriting. People can find the good in just about anything accept themselves."''

->''"You know what makes people different from animals? We're the only species on Earth that observes [[Creator/DiscoveryChannel Shark Week]]. ''Sharks'' don't even observe Shark Week; but we do. For the same reason, I can pick up this pencil, tell you its name is Steve, and then go like this; ''[snaps it in half; gasps of horror]'' and part of you ''dies'', just a little bit on the inside. Because people can connect with ''anything''. We can sympathise with a pencil, we can forgive a shark, and we can give Creator/BenAffleck an Academy Award for screenwriting. People can find the good in just about anything except themselves."''

** However, the article misrepresents the nature of the theory: Dunbar's number (the actual scientific name for the concept, which according to Wiki/TheOtherWiki varies in estimation between 100 and 230, rather than the concrete 150 given by Wong) refers to the number of people with whom one can maintain ''meaningful social relationships'' (i.e. know ''personally'') at any given time; Wong's article seems to imply that it describes the number of people for whom one can feel ''any empathy at all''. One can easily extend basic empathy to strangers without knowing them intimately.

* Creator/{{Pixar}} uses this trope a lot. Over the years, they've made us empathize with [[WesternAnimation/PixarShorts desk lamps]], [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory plastic toys]], [[WesternAnimation/ABugsLife ants]], [[WesternAnimation/MonstersInc the monsters that live in your closet]], [[WesternAnimation/FindingNemo fish]], WesternAnimation/{{cars}}, [[WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}} rats]], [[WesternAnimation/WallE robots]], [[WesternAnimation/TheGoodDinosaur dinosaurs]], and even [[WesternAnimation/InsideOut emotions]] and [[WesternAnimation/{{Soul}} souls]].

* In the penultimate level of ''VideoGame/Portal1'', the player character is given a Weighted Companion Cube, literally a normal cube with hearts on the side. After carrying it around to solve several puzzles, [=GLaDOS=], the AI running the experiments, forces you to incinerate the cube to progress past the level. For the rest of the game and franchise, she constantly guilts the player by treating it like betraying and murdering a best friend.

** Similarly, although the ''Series/{{Buffy|The Vampire Slayer}}''[=/=]''Series/{{Angel}}'' series wasn't afraid to kill off sympathetic characters, if Willow had died the fans would have burned the studio down. Fred is a borderline case because the actor continued as Illyria.

* The end of The Weighed Companion Cube in ''VideoGame/Portal1'' is bound to bring tears to player's eyes even though it's just a cube with heart drawn on the side that does literally nothing.

* Creator/{{Pixar}} uses this trope a lot. Over the years, they've made us empathize with [[WesternAnimation/PixarShorts desk lamps]], [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory plastic toys]], [[WesternAnimation/ABugsLife ants]], [[WesternAnimation/MonstersInc the monsters that live in your closet]], [[WesternAnimation/FindingNemo fish]], WesternAnimation/{{cars}}, [[WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}} rats]], [[WesternAnimation/WallE robots]], and even [[WesternAnimation/InsideOut emotions]].

->''"You know what makes people different from animals? We're the only species on Earth that observes [[Creator/DiscoveryChannel Shark Week]]. ''Sharks'' don't even observe Shark Week; but we do. For the same reason, I can pick up this pencil, tell you its name is Steve, and then go like this; ''[snaps it in half; gasps of horror]'' and part of you ''dies'', just a little bit on the inside. Because people can connect with ''anything''. We can sympathise with a pencil, we can forgive a shark, and [[TakeThat we can give]] Creator/BenAffleck [[TakeThat an]] [[Film/GoodWillHunting Academy Award for screenwriting]]. People can find the good in just about anything except themselves."''

* Disney/{{Aladdin}}'s Establishing Character Moment happens when he gives up his only meal (immediately after having just risked his life to steal it in the first place) to ensure orphans won't starve. That's all the viewer needs to know what sort of man he is.

->''"You know what makes people different from animals? We're the only species on Earth that observes [[Creator/DiscoveryChannel Shark Week]]. ''Sharks'' don't even observe Shark Week; but we do. For the same reason, I can pick up this pencil, tell you its name is Steve, and then go like this; ''[snaps it in half; gasps of horror]'' and part of you ''dies'', just a little bit on the inside. Because people can connect with ''anything''. We can sympathise with a pencil, we can forgive a shark, and we can give Creator/BenAffleck an Academy Award for screenwriting. People can find the good in just about anything except themselves."''

Relatedly, it should be noted that the Rule Of Empathy is not an all-powerful charm that grants success and survival to sympathetic characters. It may well be used ''against'' the characters/audience with the likes of a MauveShirt being KilledOffForReal, or to hook us into rooting for the FailureHero. As noted earlier, making a villain sympathetic is a sure way of making the audience deeply invested in a story. Sure, they're bad, but they're not ''[[AntiVillain all]]'' bad.

The Rule Of Empathy also informs viewers and characters ([[WriterOnBoard and at times authors]]) just how good or bad an action is within the context of the story. When a villain destroys a whole ThrowawayCountry, we don't care because [[AMillionIsAStatistic we never saw those characters]]. But when they kill ''one'' character the audience or [[ProtagonistCenteredMorality hero empathizes with]], then they've crossed the MoralEventHorizon.

The rule of empathy also has a dark side. There is a fate worse than being a 'neutral' InnocentBystander with no real attachment to the audience; characters who are notably '''un'''sympathetic will (with few [[KarmaHoudini exceptions]]) be [[AssholeVictim in for a world of hurt]]. Whether it's because they KickTheDog or do other heinous deeds that alienate them from ([[DracoInLeatherPants most]]) viewer's sympathies, these characters will have a comeuppance at the hands of [[LaserGuidedKarma something]] [[CallItKarma similar to karma]], ranging from the HumiliationConga, being HoistByHisOwnPetard, suffering a DeathByIrony, or falling to a FateWorseThanDeath.

* The end of The Weighed Companion Cube in ''VideoGame/Portal1'' is bound to bring tears to player's eyes even though it's just a cube with heart drawn on the side that does literary nothing.

[[folder:Film]]
* Disney/{{Aladdin}}'s Establishing Character Moment happens when he gives up his only meal (immediately after having just risked his life to steal it in the first place) to ensure orphans won't starve. That's all the viewer needs to know what sort of man he is.
* In ''Film/WhoFramedRogerRabbit'', Judge Doom [[NightmareFuel memorably]] vaults over the MoralEventHorizon by painfully [[KickTheDog murdering an innocent]] just to prove he can. Who is this innocent? A cartoon shoe. Take an ordinary shoe, draw a face on it, have it make cute squeaking noises and nuzzle up against people's legs just like a friendly cat, and the audience will be horrified when it's killed in cold blood.
* Creator/{{Pixar}} uses this trope a lot. Over the years, they've made us empathize with [[WesternAnimation/PixarShorts desk lamps]], [[WesternAnimation/ToyStory plastic toys]], [[WesternAnimation/ABugsLife ants]], [[WesternAnimation/MonstersInc the monsters that live in your closet]], [[WesternAnimation/FindingNemo fish]], WesternAnimation/{{cars}}, [[WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}} rats]], [[WesternAnimation/WallE robots]], and even [[WesternAnimation/InsideOut emotions]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]
* ''Series/{{Firefly}}'': Don't hurt River or Kaylee. EVERYONE watching is their PapaWolf or MamaBear.
** Similarly, although the ''Series/{{Buffy|The Vampire Slayer}}''[=/=]''Series/{{Angel}}'' series wasn't afraid to kill off sympathetic characters, if Willow had died the fans would have burned the studio down. Fred is a borderline case because the actor continued as Illyria.
** It's notable that Creator/JossWhedon is well aware of this, having said that if he wanted the ''Firefly'' audience to hate a character, he just had to show them being mean to Kaylee. If he wanted to the ''Buffy'' [[TearJerker audience to cry]], he just had to show them Willow crying.

* ''Series/TerminatorTheSarahConnorChronicles'': Cameron is a cold, emotionless, and [[RobotGirl literal killing machine]] who at one point leaves a man and his sister who helped her to die because they don't matter to her anymore. That doesn't change the fact that she is a ''deeply'' sympathetic character who rapidly obtained EnsembleDarkhorse [[TheWoobie Woobie]] status because of both how interesting she was and all the crap she puts up with [[IronWoobie without complaint]] for the Connors.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' pulls this ''all the freaking time'', by introducing us to so many good-natured, likable, honest folks, and then killing them in cold blood. Such as poor Mo in the episode "Hungry Earth", who we first meet while trying to help his dyslexic son to read a book ("who loves you more than me?"). He survives, but he ''does'' end up being kidnapped and vivisected.[[note]]They do put him back together without killing him, but [[NightmareFuel that's horrifying in an entirely different way]].[[/note]]
* Please direct your attention to the ''Series/KnightRider'' episode (original series) "Junkyard Dog," which sees KITT dumped in an acid pit and literally gutted alive (it's the only time we ever see the nigh-indestructible Knight Industries Two Thousand calling for ''help''). The reactions of the team when he's hauled out, and KITT's resulting PTSD, are heartbreaking for fans; especially the reaction of Michael, who spends hours sitting around outside of the lab, like a nervous family member outside of an operating theatre, while the team is trying to repair him. And if the episode itself gets to you, then for the love of God, ''don't read the script''.
** KITT tends to do this to people a lot. And given that KITT is essentially a ''sentient car'', that's saying something. All we have to get attached to is his personality.

[[folder:WesternAnimation]]
* One of the shorts of ''WesternAnimation/AeonFlux'' viciously subverts this, showing a series of characters, each given screen time alone and characterization to make the audience connect with them, and each of whom becomes the subsequent {{Mook}} to be slaughtered by another character that the audience is being told to empathize with.
* ''WesternAnimation/GoofTroop''. How can you make the audience consistently laugh at TheChewToy without [[DesignatedMonkey starting to feel sympathy]] ''for him''? Especially if his main {{foil}} is a complete idiot who causes a lot of problems? Easy: engineer the perfect {{Woobie}} (sweet, subjugated, sensitive, and harmless), make TheChewToy treat him like crap, and show as many of his reactions as possible--both to immediate actions and the treatment as a whole--playing them completely straight in stark contrast to the rest of the show's comedic nature. Usually what Pete goes through can be justified by PJ episodes, and to a lesser extent Max episodes (which tend to feature PJ in major roles), but "Bringin' on the Rain" was a Pete episode that used this a lot.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:WebOriginal]]

[[folder:RealLife]]
* A really grotesque version is many ideological movements. A large part of the reason [[UsefulNotes/NaziGermany the Nazis]] got away with so much is that they were able to [[ManipulativeBastard manipulate]] the world's otherwise laudable sympathy for the country that lost UsefulNotes/WorldWarI.
* On a LighterAndSofter note (sort of) one Amish woman got a beer bottle thrown in her face by a passing driver. She was right away given plastic surgery from private contributions from people who did not know her.

->''"You know what makes people different from animals? We're the only species on Earth that observes [[Creator/DiscoveryChannel Shark Week]]. ''Sharks'' don't even observe Shark Week; but we do. For the same reason, I can pick up this pencil, [[NominalImportance tell you its name is Steve]], and then go like this; [''snaps it in half; gasps of horror''] and part of you ''dies'', just a little bit on the inside. Because people can connect with ''anything''. We can sympathise with a pencil, we can forgive a shark, [[TakeThat and we can give]] Creator/BenAffleck [[Film/GoodWillHunting an Academy Award for screenwriting]]. People can find the good in just about anything except themselves."''