History Main / WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent

* ''Series/Supernatural'': John Winchester practically disowned Sam when the latter was more interested in school than in hunting.

* Helen of ''VenusEnvy'' frets that she may have inadvertently caused Zoe to become transgendered by having always wanted a daughter.

*** ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSearch reveals that Ozai's hatred of Zuko was possibly caused by [[spoiler: Ozai reading a letter revealing Zuko to not in fact be Ozai's son, but a HeroicBastard.]]

* An unfunny example would be in ''[[DotHackSign .hack//SIGN]]'', where [[spoiler: Tsukasa]]'s [[AbusiveParent father was abusive]] about wanting a different gendered child. We only explicitly find this out in the end, though it's implied earlier, with, for instance, [[spoiler:scenes of him throwing away a bra she had stolen for herself.]]

* ''Disney/TheLittleMermaid II'' has Ursula's sister Morgana, who at one point yells "It was always 'Ursula this' and 'Ursula that' and 'Why can't you be more like your sister URSULA?'!"
** And when she [[spoiler:achieves virtually complete control over the oceans]], she howls at the skies, "[[LargeHam WHO'S YOUR FAVOURITE NOW, MA?!]]" Freud would have a field day.

* Faramir in ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRings Return of the King]]'' - especially the movie version, when he asks Denethor if he would have preferred Faramir to have died and Boromir to have lived. Denethor, master of tact, says "Yes."

* [[OnePiece Monkey D. Garp]] really, really wanted his grandsons to be marines like him instead of going into piracy. Granted, rather than a simple matter of carrying on the legacy, Garp just wanted to be loved by his grandsons and not have to arrest them when they inevitably became highly wanted criminals. [[spoiler: The fact that his only son, Dragon, is the worst criminal in the world probably has something to do with this as well.]]
** Unfortunately for him, Ace [[spoiler: is the son of Gold Roger, so he'd never be allowed to join the Navy,]] and Luffy is [[IdiotHero just kind of an idiot]].

* In ''StandByMe'' Gordy's parents paid much more attention to his older brother, who was a football star and had many friends in school. When he died in a car accident at his funeral, Gordy's father may have said to him "It should have been you, Gordon."

* In ''DeadPoetsSociety'', Neil's father just CAN'T accept what his son wants to do in life.
* ''EasternPromises'': Mob boss Semyon isn't too impressed with his son and heir.

* ''WalkHard: The Dewey Cox Story'', being a parody of ''WalkTheLine'', has Dewey's more talented brother dying young. The RunningGag of the film is Dewey's father regularly appearing and stating, "the wrong kid died!"

* Tyler Marlocke is sent to ''PS238'' despite his lack of powers, because his parents (both superheroes) refuse to believe that he's a normal human and insist that his abilities will manifest if he's just exposed to the right trigger. Of course, they may be right, broadly speaking, as a normal boy going to a super-school results in the Franchise/{{Batman}}-[[CaptainErsatz like]] Revenant taking an interest in the kid's future and well-being.

* In RobertLudlum's novel ''The Janson Directive'', Jessica Kincaid, a sniper hired to kill the protagonist who ultimately befriends him, explains that her single father effectively raised her as a boy, teaching her how to fix cars and hunt.

* Tyler Marlocke is sent to ''PS238'' despite his lack of powers, because his parents (both superheroes) refuse to believe that he's a normal human and insist that his abilities will manifest if he's just exposed to the right trigger. Of course, they may be right, broadly speaking, as a normal boy going to a super-school results in the {{Batman}}-[[CaptainErsatz like]] Revenant taking an interest in the kid's future and well-being.

* In ''{{Superman}}'', General Sam Lane was always more than vocal about the fact that he wanted a boy, but instead had Lois and Lucy. He even went so far as to treat them as such. While it did lead to Lois' tough-as-nails demeanor, it also caused her to have a very bitter resentment towards her father.

* Minagi in ''VisualNovel/{{AIR}}'' doesn't crossdress, but she ''does'' [[spoiler:take on the role of her dead younger sister for her mentally ill mother, who not only rejected the older sister but denied her existence.]]

* ''{{Karin}}'s'' parents really wish she was a normal vampire. [[spoiler:Of course, the fact that she isn't is a major plot point later on.]]

* Leads to explosive bouts of violent parenting in ''VisualNovel/UminekoNoNakuKoroNi''.

* In a similar vein, [[Series/HowIMetYourMother Robin Scherbatsky's]] dad also wanted a son - and didn't let the fact that she was his only child get in the way of that. Her full name is actually ''Robin Charles Scherbatsky Junior''.

* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'': PlayedforLaughs in the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPSzPGrazPo Northern Playwright sketch]], in which the father is disgusted that his son would choose a radically different career. [[spoiler: The father is the playwright, and the son is in the mining business.]]

** Ryuunosuke is the version where her father wish she was a boy... so he deludeds himself into thinking she is one. Ryuunosuke does '''not''' appreciate this, being fully aware that she's really a girl and wanting nothing more than to be cute and frilly instead of rough and masculine (so much so that even girls who know she's really a girl try to get her to date them... although that might be because all of the real boys in schools are freaks, losers or lechers).

* Sam's Parents in ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' are practically yanked out of a 50s public service announcement, not a good match for a hard goth daughter who enjoys video games, environmentalism and hanging out with a kid who's parents are obsessed with ghosts. Her grandmother is more understanding though.

* Sam's Parents is "WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom" are practically yanked out of a 50s public service announcement, not a good match for a hard goth daughter who enjoys video games, environmentalism and hanging out with a kid who's parents are obsessed with ghosts. Her grandmother is more understanding though.

* ''Manga/TheWallflower'' (or Yamato Nadeshiko Shiche Henge) is based on this trope, as Sunako, a girl traumatized by her first crush telling her she's ugly, grows up to become obsessed with horror movies and darkness, unable to even look at anything "bright" - or pretty. Oddly enough, her actual parents seem okay with it, defending her at school, but her aunt finds it unacceptable. The entire series is based on her aunt trying to get her four tenants (the most handsome boys in school) to turn her niece into a perfect girl - a Yamato Nadeshiko. In fact the Japanese name roughly translates to Perfect Girl Evolution in English.

* ''Wallflower'' (or Yamato Nadeshiko Shiche Henge) is based on this trope, as Sunako, a girl traumatized by her first crush telling her she's ugly, grows up to become obsessed with horror movies and darkness, unable to even look at anything "bright" - or pretty. Oddly enough, her actual parents seem okay with it, defending her at school, but her aunt finds it unacceptable. The entire series is based on her aunt trying to get her four tenants (the most handsome boys in school) to turn her niece into a perfect girl - a Yamato Nadeshiko. In fact the Japanese name roughly translates to Perfect Girl Evolution in English.
* Nono and Yuuta from the manga ''Nononono'' both get this from their father, but in different ways and for different reasons. Yuuta is subject to borderline abuse for not being good enough at ski jumping, and Nono is ignored because, as a girl, she can't compete in the Olympics for the sport. The premise of the story is that, after Yuuta's accidental death, Nono [[GenderBender assumes his identity]] in hopes of making it to the Olympics and winning the gold medal to restore their father's honor.

* Jaenelle Angelline from ''The Black Jewels'' series by Anne Bishop is neglected all through her childhood because her role as Witch, the ChosenOne, means she's [[UncannyValley not entirely human]] and her family, unable to reconcile their fear/horror of her with her relatively innocuous outside, decide she's insane. Consequently she is [[spoiler:repeatedly sent to an institution where she is terribly abused.]]
* Played with somewhat in the first book of RobinHobb's ''The Farseer'' trilogy, where the wife of [[HeroicBastard Fitz's]] father finds she likes Fitz just as he is -- except for the fact that he's her dead husband's bastard child, the son she [[LawOfInverseFertility never could give him due to her own frailty]]. The "Why couldn't you be different?" complaint isn't that he's the wrong sex or impaired, but is instead summed up in her lament to Fitz that, "You should have been mine!"

* In ''The Law of Purple'', Blue's father made no secret of the fact that he would have been much happier if Blue, the only one of his family to be born as 2nd Kind, had been "normal" instead. Blue's mother seems to have been more okay with Blue being 2nd Kind, but she was also a known eccentric.

*** AvatarTheLastAirbenderTheSearch reveals that Ozai's hatred of Zuko was possibly caused by [[spoiler: Ozai reading a letter revealing Zuko to not in fact be Ozai's son, but a HeroicBastard.]]

* Live-action ''Film/SpiderMan'' played up how much EvilGenius Norman Osbourne would have preferred to have PeterParker as a son to Harry, who is thoroughly unremarkable and defined by the wealth Norman built up and then raised him in. It's in the dialogue and called back in the climax. [[spoiler: Ironically, Norman only starts to show more interest in Harry when the Goblin Serum starts to drive him mad.]]

* Chase of ''{{Runaways}}'' has a similar backstory, though unlike Cyborg he's not actually very intelligent. ''ComicBook/AvengersArena'' established that, for instance, his father flipped his lid when he failed out of AP Science, but didn't care one bit that he broke a middle school receiving record just a few days later.

* This is part of Cyborg's backstory, going back to his time with the ''New Comicbook/TeenTitans''; he was an extremely gifted athlete with genius scientist parents who saw no value in his athletic accomplishments and successes. They refused to attend his meets and games, and often simply ignored him at home.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'', Timmy travels back in time a few months before his parents were born. It reveals both his parents wanted him to be a girl, and his dad even got him many girl toys and said "I'd be crushed if we had a son!" And if that didn't already fit this trope, we get this exchange...

* In ''UruseiYatsura'', Ryuunosuke is forced by her father to be a tough boy, due to the latter's fanatical obsession with his family teashop and his delusions that a girl can't run it. Ryuunosuke does '''not''' appreciate this, being fully aware that she's really a girl and wanting nothing more than to be cute and frilly instead of rough and masculine (so much so that even girls who know she's really a girl try to get her to date them... although that might be because all of the real boys in schools are freaks, losers or lechers).
** Of course this is also the case with Ataru Moroboshi whose mother is constantly going "I wish I never had him." There's also a scene where both parents are away reminiscing about their life, and when they start talking about Ataru, both say that they had wanted a girl at the time.

** Chase of ''{{Runaways}}'' has a similar backstory, though unlike Cyborg he's not actually very intelligent. ''AvengersArena'' established that, for instance, his father flipped his lid when he failed out of AP Science, but didn't care one bit that he broke a middle school receiving record just a few days later.