History Main / UnintentionallyUnsympathetic

** [[YourMileageMayVary Some]] argue this is due to PeripheryHatedom. Overall, best not to open that can of warms.

* At the end of season two of ''Series/RobinHood'', Guy of Gisborne stabbed Maid Marian to death, sending his CharacterDevelopment and [[StoryArc Redemption Arc]] back to square one. Season Three tried to turn him into a HeartbrokenBadass, ignoring the fact that for a significant portion of the fanbase, he had already crossed the MoralEventHorizon when he ''stabbed Maid Marian to death'' and thus forfeited any right to the goodwill of the audience.

* In the Christian propaganda film ''Rock: It's Your Decision'', the main character is meant to come off as a good Christian trying to stear clear from the "sins" of rock and roll and save others from it, but instead he comes off as closed-minded and bigoted {{Jerkass}}.

** Any man could easily be the villain in that.

* At the end of season two of ''Series/RobinHood'', Guy of Gisborne stabbed Maid Marian to death, sending his CharacterDevelopment and [[StoryArc Redemption Arc]] back to square one. Season three tried to turn him into a HeartbrokenBadass, ignoring the fact that for a significant portion of the fanbase, he had already crossed the MoralEventHorizon when he ''stabbed Maid Marian to death'' and thus forfeited any right to the goodwill of the audience.

* Bella from ''{{Twilight}}'', whole helplessness and other attributes cause many to regard her as an AntiSue.

** On the same show, the death of Kate's brother did not carry the emotional weight it should have done thanks to Kate refusing to utilize common sense in her repeated attempts to rescue him. The writers were going for "headstrong" and "impulsive" in their characterization of Kate - unfortunately, all they really managed was "stupid."

* At the end of season two of ''Series/RobinHood'', Guy of Gisborne stabbed Maid Marian to death, sending his CharacterDevelopment and RedemptionArc back to square one. Season three tried to turn him into a HeartbrokenBadass, ignoring the fact that for a significant portion of the fanbase, he had already crossed the MoralEventHorizon when he ''stabbed Maid Marian to death'' and thus forfeited any right to the goodwill of the audience.
** On the same show, the death of Kate's brother did not carry the emotional weight it should have done thanks to Kate repeatedly refusing to utilize common sense in her attempts to rescue him. The writers were going for "headstrong" and "impulsive" in their characterization of Kate - unfortunately, all they really managed was "stupid."

* At the end of season two of ''Series/RobinHood'', Guy of Gisborne stabbed Maid Marian to death, sending his CharacterDevelopment and RedemptionArc back to square one. Season three tried to turn him into a BadassInMourning, ignoring the fact that for a significant portion of the fanbase, he had already crossed the MoralEventHorizon when he ''stabbed Maid Marian to death'' and thus forfeited any right to the goodwill of the audience.

* Kate from ''Series/RobinHood'' had her brother killed by Guy of Gisborne. Yes, it was sad, but consider the context. 1) It was Kate's rampant stupidity and poor decisions that led him to his death. 2) The audience barely knew her brother, and since they only had about five seconds of he and Kate interacting, there was no real emotional understanding of what had been lost. 3) Kate was the ''third'' reoccurring character on the show who had lost a brother (the others being Allan, Djaq and Carter), not to mention the fact that Little John lost his family, Much lost the woman he loved, Marian lost her father, Will lost ''his'' father, and Robin lost [[spoiler:Marian]]. Yet little attention was paid to the grief and loss sustained by these characters, whereas the contrived {{Angst}} of her brother was pretty much the only characterization Kate ever got, and as such the writers ''wouldn't stop harping on it''. 4) The above characters' losses were written poignantly and effectively, whereas Kate's portrayal of grief was to just yell what soon became a [[MemeticMutation meme]]: "He keeled mah bruvvah!" Far from being sympathetic, most just wanted her to shut up already.

* Emma on ''DegrassiTheNextGeneration''. Yes, she has an eating disorder. No, she shouldn't bring Manny into it.

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* One series of Hoover ads portray their new vacuum as a reward for neat freaks. Except the neat freaks depicted seem to have mild OCD or Molysmophobia.
** An Australian run of hand sanitizer ads makes the same mistake, marketing the Dettol hand sanitizer to the 'signing a credit card slip with your elbows' market.

* In {{Unstoppable}}, main character Will Colson's wife has a restraining order against him keeping him from being able to see his son. The reason for that is the restraining order is because he suspected his wife was cheating on him, then gets upset when she won't submit to his spot check of her cell phone, grabs her violently, pulls a gun on a police officer and friend of his because he suspects he's sleeping with his wife, and she's not even cheating on him. Because he one of the heroes of the movie, we're meant to sympathize with him and want him to get back together with his wife, despite the fact that he could easily be the villain in a LifetimeMovieOfTheWeek.

* Monica from ''{{Friends}}'' whom we learned was somewhat overweight pre-show. Nearly every gag in these flashbacks relates to her being obviously food-crazed to emphasize this. She went on to become a cook, so her relationship with food didn't really stop there. Considering how many compulsive tendencies the character displays, this may have been just another one to add to the pile.
** That Monica later adopts a food-related profession communicates the message that it's possible to have a passionate but healthy relationship with food, demonstrating that one can be passionate about food and not be obese.
** Also, note that Monica herself never seemed to have a problem with her weight (until Chandler pointed it out). She was actually very joyous, had boyfriends (even though she didn't [[UnusualEuphemism give up her flower to their tenderness]]), was friends with the most popular girl in school, and dressed really well for that era.
* ''{{The Big Bang Theory}}'' sometimes falls victim to this. While the show is generally pretty good at letting the geeks laugh at the "normals" as much as vice-versa, the characters often fail to inspire sympathy because they have few distinguishing characteristics aside from intelligence, social awkwardness, and love of comic books (because [[GeekReferencePool nerds don't apparently have diverse interests]]).

* Anthony from ForBetterOrForWorse, so very very much. You're supposed to feel sympathy for him because his wife doesn't want their baby and he "doesn't have a home," but not only is it irritating and {{Narm}}-ish, it rubs in the fact that he harassed her into have a child she didn't want in the first place.

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!!Example:

* Monica from ''{{Friends}}'' whom we learned was somewhat overweight pre-show. Nearly every gag in these flashbacks relates to her being obviously food-crazed to emphasize this. She went on to become a cook, so her relationship with food didn't really stop there. Considering how many compulsive tendencies the character displays, this may have been just another one to add to the pile.
** That Monica later adopts a food-related profession communicates the message that it's possible to have a passionate but healthy relationship with food, demonstrating that one can be passionate about food and not be obese.
** Also, note that Monica herself never seemed to have a problem with her weight (until Chandler pointed it out). She was actually very joyous, had boyfriends (even though she didn't [[UnusualEuphemism give up her flower to their tenderness]]), was friends with the most popular girl in school, and dressed really well for that era.
* ''{{South Park}}'' parodies this numerous times. For instance, when Eric Cartman contracts HIV he constantly reminds people of it for sympathy, and any time something bad happens to Cartman he reacts this way.
--->'''Cartman:''' I'm not just sure: I'm HIV positive.
* ''{{The Big Bang Theory}}'' sometimes falls victim to this. While the show is generally pretty good at letting the geeks laugh at the "normals" as much as vice-versa, the characters often fail to inspire sympathy because they have few distinguishing characteristics aside from intelligence, social awkwardness, and love of comic books (because [[GeekReferencePool nerds don't apparently have diverse interests]]).

* Emma on ''DegrassiTheNextGeneration''. Yes, she has an eating disorder. No, she shouldn't bring Manny into it.
* Kate from ''Series/RobinHood'' had her brother killed by Guy of Gisborne. Yes, it was sad, but consider the context. 1) It was Kate's rampant stupidity and poor decisions that led him to his death. 2) The audience barely knew her brother, and since they only had about five seconds of he and Kate interacting, there was no real emotional understanding of what had been lost. 3) Kate was the ''third'' reoccurring character on the show who had lost a brother (the others being Allan, Djaq and Carter), not to mention the fact that Little John lost his family, Much lost the woman he loved, Marian lost her father, Will lost ''his'' father, and Robin lost [[spoiler:Marian]]. Yet little attention was paid to the grief and loss sustained by these characters, whereas the contrived {{Angst}} of her brother was pretty much the only characterization Kate ever got, and as such the writers ''wouldn't stop harping on it''. 4) The above characters' losses were written poignantly and effectively, whereas Kate's portrayal of grief was to just yell what soon became a [[MemeticMutation meme]]: "He keeled mah bruvvah!" Far from being sympathetic, most just wanted her to shut up already.

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* {{Tales Series}} villains. Enough said, really.

* Bella from Twilight, whole helplessness and other attributes cause many to regard her as an AntiSue.

* Kate from ''Series/RobinHood'' had her brother killed by Guy of Gisborne. Yes, it was sad, but consider the context. 1) It was Kate's rampant stupidity and poor decisions that led him to his death. 2) The audience barely knew her brother, and since they only had about five seconds of he and Kate interacting, there was no real emotional understanding of what had been lost. 3) Kate was the ''third'' reoccurring character on the show who had lost a brother (the others being Allan, Djaq and Carter), not to mention the fact that Little John lost his family, Much lost the woman he loved, Marian lost her father, Will lost ''his'' father, and Robin lost [[spoiler:Marian]]. Yet little attention was paid to the grief and loss sustained by these characters, whereas the contrived {{Angst}} of her brother was pretty much the only characterization Kate ever got, and as such the writers ''wouldn't stop harping on it''. 4) The above characters' losses were written poignantly and effectively, whereas Kate's portrayal of grief was to yell what soon became a MemeticMeme: "He keeled mah bruvvah!" Over and over and ''over'' again. Far from being sympathetic, most just wanted her to shut up already.