History PlayingWith / AbuseMistake

* '''Straight''': Alice forgets that a door wasn't open and runs into it, getting visible bruises. Her partner Bob gets some accusing looks and Alice gets hints on breaking up with him, because 'I ran into the door' is one of the most basic CutHimselfShaving excuses there is. In this case, it was actually true.

* '''Inverted''': Type A is an inversion of Type B, and vice versa.
* '''Subverted''': Daniel decides to investigate Alice's situation, believing it to be abusive despite her repeated insistence that her husband is not abusing her. His assumptions turn out to be correct.
* '''Double Subverted''': But then it turns out that Alice purposefully made her husband out to be abusive with herself as a LoveMartyr [[ThePlan to achieve a goal.]].
** It turns out that the abuse is only part of her {{safe sane and consensual}} BDSM relationship with Bob, and Daniel just so happens to miss the part where they drop character.

* '''Exploited''': Alice injures herself, knowing that Bob will get blamed for it; she hopes to get rid of him using this as evidence for jail's sentence.

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Innocent mistaken for abuse]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Abuse mistaken for innocent]]
'''Basic Trope''': An actually abusive situation is brushed off as something that doesn't need worrying about.
* '''Straight''': Bob's wife Alice slaps him in the face and insults him for not cleaning the house, but when he tells his friend Charlie about it, [[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale he laughs it off and tells him that he deserved it for being lazy]].
* '''Exaggerated''': Bob is hiding in a closet from Alice, who is chasing him with a knife threatening to kill him, and has already seriously hurt him, but when he calls 911 to ask for help, the operator laughs at him and calls him a sissy.
* '''Downplayed''': Alice shouts at Bob for not cleaning the house. When Charlie hears it, he gives the issue some consideration, but eventually comes to the conclusion that Alice wasn't being abusive at all.
* '''Justified''': Alice is TheChessmaster and is so skilled at making Bob's home life look okay that no one ever believes him when she tries to tell them of the abuse she suffers at his hands.
* '''Inverted''': Type B is an inversion of Type A, and vice versa.
* '''Subverted''': Alice slaps Bob in the face and insults him for not cleaning the houses. When he tells people about this, nobody seems to show worry, except Charlie who contacts the authorities.
* '''Double Subverted''': [[PoliceAreUseless Who don't believe Bob, despite having Charlie to back him up]].
* '''Parodied''':
** Bob is walking alongside Alice who punches him in the face every minute for no good reason. Alice's friends see this and comment about how Alice is such a sweet wife for being able to express her love for Bob so directly.
** Alice shoots Bob at point-blank range [[DisproportionateRetribution for leaving the toilet seat up]]. When he returns as a ghost and [[UnfinishedBusiness orders Charlie to bring her to justice]], he just laughs it off.
* '''Zig Zagged''': Bob claims Alice hit him, but he was just lying. It turns out that Bob walked into a door, but his friends all believe his wife did it to him. But Bob was actually telling the truth the first time and is now lying, his wife ''did'' hit him...in self-defense, because it was Bob who attacked his wife. But all of his friends refuse to believe that she was abused by Bob.
* '''Averted''':
** Any claims of abuse are taken at face value and all steps are taken to ensure the victim's safety as well as come up with a plan for him or her to get out of the situation as soon as possible.
** No abuse happens.
* '''Enforced''': It's a LifetimeMovieOfTheWeek, and the writer wants to crank up the drama.
* '''Lampshaded''': "Why does everyone simply pass off the abusive situation I was in as something else?"
* '''Invoked''': Alice knows that Bob is seeking help for escaping from the emotional and financial abuse that she's subjecting him to and does everything she can to make her actions look innocent so that no one believes him.
* '''Exploited''': Alice just keeps abusing Bob. After all, nobody is able to tell that he is being abused.
* '''Defied''': Bob collects proof through means of hidden camera, tape recorder, etc. of his abuse from Alice, and gives it to the authorities. Alice is imprisoned.
* '''Discussed''': "We'll want to proceed carefully when we ask about Bob's bruises. It's very easy for non-professionals to mistake an accident for abuse, and vice-versa."
* '''Conversed''': "Huh, Bob is really bruised in this opening scene. The cause will always be the opposite of what the first person to interact with him thinks."
* '''Deconstructed''': That fact that no one tries to help Bob shows that everyone is too shallow to consider the needs of the people around.
* '''Reconstructed''': It turns out that they're not shallow, they just genuinely thought Bob didn't need help out of naivete.
* '''Played For Laughs''': BlackComedy where Alice keeps abusing Bob in increasingly ridiculous and obvious ways, with paper-thin explanations, and yet everything comes off as accidental. This falls under CrossesTheLineTwice.
* '''Played For Drama''': The abuse continues, and Bob is DrivenToSuicide or dies from the bruises.
%% Optional items, added after Conversed, at your discretion:
%%* '''Plotted A Good Waste''': ???
[[/folder]]

* '''Downplayed''': Alice's friends are suspicious at first, but they believe her when she says the injuries weren't caused by abuse and they don't cause drama by accusing Bob.

** Alice is embarrassed about how she was injured, so she acts nervous and evasive when Daniel asks her what happened, and Daniel assumes the worst because of this.

* '''Subverted''': Daniel decides to investigate Alice's situation, believing it to be abusive despite her repeated insistence that her husband is not abusing her. His assumptions turn out to be correct and Alice turns out to have a serious case of StockholmSyndrome.

* '''Exaggerated''': Bob is hiding in a closet from Alice, who is chasing him [[KnifeNut with a knife]] threatening to kill him, and has already seriously hurt him, but when he calls 911 to ask for help, the operator laughs at him and calls him a sissy.

* '''Zig Zagged''': Bob claims Alice hit him, but he was just lying. It turns out that Bob walked into a door, but his friends all believe his wife did it to him. But Bob was actually telling the truth the first time and is now lying, his wife ''did'' hit him...in self defense, because it was Bob who attacked his wife. But all of his friends refuse to believe that she was abused by Bob.

* '''Invoked''': Alice knows that Bob is seeking help for escaping from the emotional and financial abuse that she's subjecting her to, and does everything he can to make his actions look innocent so that no one believes her.
* '''Exploited''': Alice just keeps abusing Bob. After all, nobody is able to tell that she is being abused.

* '''Deconstructed''': That fact that no one tries to help Bob shows that everyone is to shallow to consider the needs of the people around.

* '''Played For Drama''': The abuse continues and Bob is DrivenToSuicide or dies from the bruises.

** Alice runs into every door she comes across, at one point being admitted into the hospital when [[EpicFail she ran into a door five times a row because she never noticed it was closed]]. She joins a group of other women who have a tendency to run into doors, and laments that society doesn't care about door-running-into victims. Alice and Bob both have an increasingly difficult time explaining to people that he doesn't abuse her.

* '''Parodied''': Bob gently pokes Alice in the arm. This results in Alice's friends starting the biggest drama ever and accusing Bob of being evil.

** Daniel hears Bob yell before hearing a loud thump and Alice crying out in pain, and thinks that he was shouting in anger before attacking her. In reality Bob was trying to tell Alice about the floor he just mopped, but Alice didn't hear him in time and tripped on it.