History Main / StepfordSnarker

** Xander is the living embodiment of this trope. He grew up in a family of alcoholics, was bullied in high school, and is forced to always deal with the burden of being [[TeamNormal the only one out of his friends without powers]], in a [[DeathWorld town full of monsters of all kinds]]. Naturally, he responds to all this with sarcasm and self-deprecating jokes to cover up his bitterness and deep insecurity. Xander's defensive mechanism is made incredibly obvious in stressful situations such as the time leading up to his [[spoiler:untimely canceled wedding with Anya]] and when he had to make a living in his parents' basement paying rent while his friends went off to college. It's lampshaded in this argument:

* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' has canonical examples like most of the Avengers and Harry Dresden, but also Harry Potter (later known as Harry Thorson), who's already got an often darkly sarcastic sense of humour that belies his youth to begin with from canon, thanks to what he's been through already - the story picking up early in ''Prisoner of Azkaban''. As the trials he goes through get worse, so does the sarcasm.

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-->'''Whirl:''' (being held at gunpoint) I seriously doubt you have what it takes to see this through, but if you have, then please just skip to the end and kill us.\\

* Rick from ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'' comes off as an uncaring wiseass, but we soon learn he's covering up deep pain over being exiled from his home country, fighting on the losing side in two wars, and losing the love of his life.

%%* Diana Ladris ([[Literature/{{Gone}} GONE, HUNGER, LIES, PLAGUE and FEAR]]) often embodies this trope.
* Bernadette in ''Literature/DragonAndDamsel''. [[spoiler: After her parents die in a car crash]], she feels numbed and pained, and one of her main reactions to this is to snark about pretty much everything.

* [[Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians Percy Jackson]] is a pretty good example of this from the start, responding to loneliness, ridicule, and abuse with an unchildlike level of cynical humor. And that's before [[RecruitTeenagersWithAttitude he becomes a war veteran twice over]].

--->'''Xander''': Oh, okay! So you ''had'' to do it. Because he was there. Like Mt. Everest. Like the way I used to be. [...] So this is your solution to our problems? I hurt you, you hit me back. Very mature.\\

''[Everyone stares at her]''\\
'''Buffy''': You guys, I'm kidding, okay? It's-it's bills, it's money. It's pieces of paper sent by bureaucrats that we've never even met. It's not like it's the end of the world. (beat) Which is too bad, y'know. 'Cause that I'm really good at.

--->'''Faith''': "When you gonna learn, B? It doesn't matter what kind of vibe you get off a person. 'Cause nine times out of then, the face they're showing you is not the real one."\\
'''Buffy''': "I guess you know a lot about that."

---> Cuts himself shaving, does half an hour on life forms he's cleverer than.

---> '''Chandler''': Hmm, what must it be like not to be crippled by fear and self-loathing? ''(laughs)''

---> '''Judy''': Oh we don't mind paying for our son's wedding in England. After all, it might be the only wedding we get to throw...\\
'''Monica''': Ah, a joke that's funny in all countries.

* JustForFun/JohnMunch, DeadpanSnarker extraordinaire. In one episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit'', he is directly asked, [[ArmorPiercingQuestion "Do you always deflect personal questions with jokes?"]] His immediate response is "Do you always deflect jokes with personal questions?", which, [[LameComeback being somewhat less impressive than his usual quips]], suggests that did actually get to him. Given the fact that he's spent most of his career dealing with brutal murders and horrible sex crimes, it's not all that surprising that he needs some sort of defence mechanism.

* Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce, the main character (more or less) of ''Series/{{MASH}}'', is hardly ever without a snarky line, even when flirting with the nurses (at which point they generally take the form of {{Double Entendre}}s). In his case, it's his way of coping with the horrors of war, and generally, when he's ''not'' snarking, it means things have taken an especially grave turn.

-->'''Patty:''' You shouldn't have to try. It's just being open.
-->'''Jerry:''' I'm open. There's just nothing in there.

** Gabriel fits this trope - he's a sarcastic smart-arse full of mockery and cynicism, and with a superficially-upbeat demeanour... but it turns out that [[spoiler:he knows that his brothers are destined to kill each other and destroy the Earth and that there's nothing he can do about it, and it's tearing him apart. Hence his running away and hiding on Earth.]]

* Joanne from ''[[Theatre/CompanySondheim Company]]'' could be an example, depending on the interpretation. She is a snarky, abrasive alcoholic who has been divorced twice. Her current husband, Larry, says that she is "wildly conceited" with "no self-esteem", and that she still is unable to believe that he loves her and continues to be fascinated by her. Her song, ''The Ladies Who Lunch'', starts as her critique of rich middle-aged women who wile away their lives with meaningless activities but turns into a scathing description of her own directionless life.

* Archer in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight.'' It's clear early on that he's got some issues, but Tohsaka is actually bothered when he ''stops'' being Stepford-like about it [[spoiler:even before he {{Face Heel Turn}}s.]]

** Shinji talks to everyone in a very snarky manner. While he's always getting yelled at or even beaten by constantly saying what he thinks, he manages to tell Atsuki why he prefers to be a {{Jerkass}} than be a kind person that he is capable of. [[spoiler: Wanting to be a surgeon was his dream but the idea of getting someone killed and being held responsible has made him put a wall between people to avoid someone from asking about his issues. He was also neglected by his parents.]]

* Ange Ushiromiya from ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'' is a very troubled person, having been in a strained relationship with her aunt Eva who took her in after the deaths of the rest of the family on Rokkenjima, but she hides most of her issues behind an indifferent, snarky facade.

* Susan of ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' presents herself as snarky and aloof (although she does [[DefrostingIceQueen defrost a bit over time]]). However, the audience discovers that she's a bit of a mess under that sarcastic shell. The first formative moment we see is her walking in on her father [[PrimalScene having sex]] with a woman who wasn't her mother, and then demanding that she lie about it. While this left her with some issues with men, it wasn't as damaging as [[spoiler:the time she was manipulated into killing a monster that [[WasOnceAMan was once human and still looked the part.]]]]

* UsefulNotes/RobertFKennedy had a legendary reputation as a smart-ass thanks to his bitingly sarcastic and irreverent sense of humor. He supposedly developed it to cope with a lack of self-confidence -- he was ''extremely'' intimidated by the responsibilities of being Attorney General so early in his career -- and the immense amount of grief and despair he felt after the assassination of [[UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy his older brother.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Zootopia}}'': [[CunningLikeAFox Nick Wilde]] snarks constantly as a conman, but it slowly becomes clear that it's a defense mechanism to deal with discrimination against foxes.

%%* Hitagi Senjougahara of ''LightNovel/{{Bakemonogatari}}''.

%%* Yozora Mikazuki in ''LightNovel/{{Haganai}}''.

** Hibiki has similar problems as Shinji but he combines being a Stepford Snarker with Stepford Smiler. To everyone, Hibiki is "polite" but his [[NotGoodWithPeople personality]] ends up getting him isolated so the only friend he does have is one he's very snarky toward. Given that Ryo is so dense, almost all the insults and compliments go over his head.

* Rick from ''Film/{{Casablanca}}'' comes off as an uncaring wiseass, but we soon learn he's covering up deep pain over being exiled from his home country and losing the love of his life.

-->-- ''{{Film/Clue}}''

** Morrigan, resident LadyOfBlackMagic from ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins,'' who uses the facade of a sultry ice queen to hide her extreme awkwardness from being raised in an isolated environment by a HumanoidAbomination.

** [[VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade Legault]] is this and a StepfordSmiler, he doesn't tell a whole lot about himself and enjoys trolling people in his supports. His conversations with Matthew and Nino, however, reveal that he has a lot of issues regarding leaving the friends he knew for years behind and eventually witnessing their deaths as the Black Fang crumbles.

* Michael in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' is a full-blown Stepford Snarker. He resorts to sarcasm towards everyone when they piss him off or if he is not in a good mood. The reason behind his snarky attitude is due to his complete disillusion with his life from having a wife that cheats on him, a SpoiledBrat of a daughter, and a lazy, dimwitted, pot-smoking BasementDweller of a son. At one point, Trevor gives Michael grief for the constant snarking, causing Michael to snap and scream about how much crap he has gone through and that sarcasm is the only thing he can rely on.
* Gannayev of ''[[VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2 Mask of the Betrayer]]'' has a thing for throwing around snark and wordplay in order to avoid things he's uncomfortable talking about - usually himself. Kaelyn can see through it instantly, as Gann discovers when he unwisely asks just how she sees him.
-->'''Kaelyn''': You toss about words like a wind around you, in the hopes that their speed and flurry will deflect questions and prevent you from being seen for what you are. You are hurt, Gannayev-of-Dreams. And that pain drives you to hurt others, for you have been taught that that is the wheel that turns the world.

* Jade Curtiss from ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' has elements of this ''and'' Stepford Smiler - his brand of snark comes with a permanent smile and cheerful tone attached. It seems to be a sort of self-enforced IntelligenceEqualsIsolation, and covers up his insecurity over his [[MyGreatestFailure troubling childhood]] and apparent LackOfEmpathy for others.
* Clementine in ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'' can be viewed this way in terms of how she uses sarcasm and BrutalHonesty as a coping mechanism for her past traumas.

* ''Fanfic/ChildOfTheStorm'' has canonical examples like most of the Avengers and Harry Dresden, but also Harry Potter (later known as Harry Thorson), who's already got an often darkly sarcastic sense of humour that belies his youth to begin with from canon, thanks to what he's been through already - the story picking up early in ''Prisoner of Azkaban''. As the trials he goes through go UpToEleven, so does the sarcasm.

* Larry in ''Theatre/TheIcemanCometh'' - he affects a detached, cynical sarcasm to cover up the pain of his own personal life and the pity he feels for the lost lives around him. The barkeep Harry Hope has aspects of this as well - he makes sarcastic insults towards his regulars to make it look like he's a shrewd, tough-minded businessman, when both he and everyone else knows that he's just a pitiful, doddering old drunk.

** Xander is the living embodiment of this trope. He grew up in a family of alcoholics, was bullied in high school, and is forced to always deal with the burden of being the only one out of his friends without powers, in a [[DeathWorld town full of monsters of all kinds]]. Naturally, he responds to all this with sarcasm and self-deprecating jokes to cover up his bitterness and deep insecurity. Xander's defensive mechanism is made incredibly obvious in stressful situations such as the time leading up to his untimely canceled wedding with Anya and when he had to make a living in his parents' basement paying rent while his friends went off to college. It's lampshaded in this argument:

** ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'' has [[WorldOfSnark quite a lot of snarkers]], most of whom are garden variety {{Deadpan Snarker}}s, but [[ComicBook/IronMan Tony Stark]] and [[Film/TheIncredibleHulk Bruce Banner]] specifically fit this trope because their sarcasm is respectively a defense mechanism and a way of maintaining self-control. This is particularly evident after [[spoiler: Agent Coulson]] gets killed, and Tony snarks about how stupid he was to face Loki alone but is clearly using it to cover up his own grief. Given that Tony's [[Film/IronMan own films]] show his life to be something of a mess, with quite a lot of moral emptiness (before he decides to become a superhero), alcoholism, and relationship issues (continuing after he becomes a superhero) he counts as this trope in all his films.
** Rocket Raccoon in ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' may seem like a jerk, but it turns out he only acts tough and sarcastic to hide his anger over being the only one of his kind who can talk.

* Susan of ''Webcomic/ElGoonishShive'' presents herself as snarky and aloof (although she does [[DefrostingIceQueen defrost a bit over time]]). However, the audience discovers that she's a bit of a mess under that sarcastic shell. The first formative moment we see is her walking in on her father [[PrimalScene having sex]] [[YourCheatingHeart with a woman who wasn't her mother,]] and then demanding that she lie about it. While this left her with some issues with men, it wasn't as damaging as [[spoiler:the time she was manipulated into killing a monster that [[WasOnceAMan was once human and still looked the part.]]]]