History PlayingWith / TheUnFavourite

** David is a Nobel Prize-winning millionaire [[RenaissanceMan zoologist, astrophysicist, inventor, and engineer]] who also developed multiple cures for cancer. However, Alice and Bob always dismiss his numerous achievements as unworthy of attention, while constantly talking proudly about how Charlie, who is a high-school dropout working at a local supermarket, recently got named Employee of the Month.

** Charlie is a Nobel Prize-winning millionaire [[RenaissanceMan zoologist, astrophysicist, inventor, and engineer]] who also developed multiple cures for cancer. However, Alice and Bob refuse to stop talking about David, who recently got officially titled the "World's Unworthiest Human Being" by the Guinness World Records.

** Charlie has a learning disability that badly needs the parents' care and support. David is average, and seems emotionally sturdy enough that his parents figure he'll understand the situation and turn out fine with minimal support.

** After David left the family, Charlie tries to reconnect with David when he became older but David wants nothing to do with him, causing Charlie to resent their parents for causing their strained relationship.

** ParentalFavoritism and the resulting Sibling Rivalry have messed the teenaged David up so badly that he ends up [[DrivenToSuicide taking his own life]]. The furious police officer who deals with the incident viciously [[CallingTheOldManOut berates]] his mother and father for their lousy parenting - but they don't care, since their favourite, Charlie, is still with them.

** David realizes that it was their parents to chose to treat Charlie better than him and it therefore wasn't Charlie's fault, so they reconnected and accepted that their parents were narcissists/flawed humans.

* '''Reconstructed''': David's lack of attention ends up spurring him on to greater things - and Charlie overcomes the frequent attention.

** Charlie and David are kidnapped. Their parents are given a SadisticChoice. They choose Charlie without missing a beat. Charlie is brutally murdered, because the villain figures it's more dramatic that David knows his parents don't give anything even vaguely resembling a shit about him, and Charlie is dumped in the river without even a proper funeral.

He gives David a choice: Either the parents or the brother dies. David unsurprisingly chooses the brother. Alice and Bob disown and abandon David for leaving their precious to his doom, rather than thanking him for saving them.\\

** When Charlie became older, he tries to reconnect with David but David wants nothing to do with him, causing Charlie to feel like his brother hates him and resent their parents for causing their strained relationship.

** When Charlie became older, he tries to reconnect with David, but David doesn't want to do anything with him, causing Charlie to feel like his brother hates him and resent their parents for causing their strained relationship.

* '''Defied''': "We have to love our children equally, no matter what."

'''Basic Trope''': Parents love one child less than his/her sibling(s).

* '''Exaggerated''': Charlie is perpetually spoiled to the ends of the Earth by his parents, while David is constantly [[ParentalNeglect neglected]] and [[AbusiveParents abused.]]

** David's parents are [[{{Narcissist}} narcissists]]. Narcissistic parents often treat one child as "the golden child" and another child as TheScapegoat.
** "[[DelicateAndSickly My brother Charles was always a sickly child.]] Thus, our parents always lavished attention on him, while leaving me to fend for myself and do most of the chores. When I was younger, I rather resented this. However, something about him, mostly his grey skin, thin lips and bruised eyes, inspired in me the same feeling of sympathy they so obviously felt. Looking back, I feel rather sorry for him."

** Neither parent seems to have a favorite. It turns out that David is just a whiner....until little Emily is born, in which case she gets the lion's share of attention. Both Charlie and David [[EnemyMine gang up on Emily.]] Emily's first words turn out to be "No." and she becomes CommanderContrarian. Once Alice and Bob hear enough, they decide that Emily doesn't need all the attention and decides to give the attention to Charlie and David.

** That's assuming that he ends his own life instead of addressing the most direct cause of his sorrows by becoming a SelfMadeOrphan. He may even walk for that if he can convince the jury that his parents were [[AbusiveParents abusive]] or [[ParentalNeglect neglectful]]. Or that he doesn't take out the only possible innocent in the equation, [[CainAndAbel Charlie]], in which case his parents would push for the death penalty.

** "[[IllGirl My brother Charles was always a sickly child.]] Thus, our parents always lavished attention on him, while leaving me to fend for myself and do most of the chores. When I was younger, I rather resented this. However, something about him, mostly his grey skin, thin lips and bruised eyes, inspired in me the same feeling of sympathy they so obviously felt. Looking back, I feel rather sorry for him."

'''Basic Trope''': Parents dislike one child more than his/her siblings.

* '''Exaggerated''': Charlie is perpetually spoiled to the ends of the Earth by his parents, while David is [[AbusiveParents neglected and subjected to emotional, verbal, and physical abuse of all sorts.]]

* '''Exaggerated''': Charlie is perpetually spoiled to the ends of the Earth by his parents, while David is [[AbusiveParents abused and neglected.]]

** Despite a secure and loving upbringing, David despises his parents and doesn't hesitate to let them know it. He humiliates them in public, [[ManipulativeBastard does everything he can to get them in trouble]], and has been known to physically attack them. Charlie is sweet natured and loyal, and regularly comes to his parents' rescue.

* '''Exaggerated''': Charlie is perpetually spoiled to the ends of the Earth by his parents, while David is [[AbusiveParents constantly abused and neglected.]]

* '''Exaggerated''': Charlie is perpetually spoiled to the ends of the Earth by his parents, while David is [[AbusiveParents abused and neglected.]]

* '''Exaggerated''': Charlie is spoiled rotten by his parents, while David is [[AbusiveParents abused and neglected.]]

** Charlie is a Nobel Prize-winning millionaire [[RenaissanceMan marine-biologist, astrophysicist, inventor and engineer]], who also developed the cured for cancer. However, Alice and Bob refuse to stop talking about David, who just got named "Unworthiest Human Being on Earth" by the Guinness World Records.

* '''Exaggerated''': Charlie is spoiled rotten by his parents, while David is [[AbusiveParents coldly abused and neglected by them.]]

* '''Exaggerated''': Charlie is treated with maximum love, like a prince, with every one of his wishes granted. David has to live outside in a tent, only allowed in to clean up.

** Or in reverse, Charlie has a learning disbility that badly needs the parents' care and support. David is average, and seems emotionally sturdy enough that his parents figure he'll understand the situation and turn out fine with minimal support.

** [[MySistersKeeper David is a]] WalkingTransplant [[Literature/MySistersKeeper for the terminally ill Charlie]].

** Neither parent seems to have a favorite. It turns out that David is just a whiner.