Line #42 AttentionWhore/Literature


1	* ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'': Andrea Abati, in spades. Granted, a certain measure of flamboyance was just as essential to make it in the entertainment business in the 17th century as it is today, but Abati takes it to extremes. His every move is calculated to draw maximum attention, from his [[TheDandy clothes]] and [[LargeHam mannerisms]] to his career choices and [[TheCasanova romantic entanglements]] (which he pursues with vigor in spite of being ''castrato'').
2	* ''Literature/AngelaNicely'':
3	** Tiffany Charmers hates other people getting praise.
4	** Downplayed for Angela herself, who doesn’t fight for attention that much, but likes being the center of attention, and the idea of being famous appeals to her.
5	* ''Literature/BewareOfChicken'': The Lord Magistrate of Verdant Hill is practically addicted to getting praise from his subjects. Fortunately for all concerned, he's also smart enough to have realized that the most reliable way of ensuring that his subjects are constantly praising him is to administer true justice, sponsor public works, keep his hands off of the beautiful maidens, and generally do a spectacularly good job as their Lord Magistrate.
6	* The titular murder victim at the center of James Ellroy's ''Film/TheBlackDahlia'' is characterized as the epitome of this trope (and pays the price for it).
7	* ''Literature/BleachCantFearYourOwnWorld'': A lot of [[BigBad Tokinada]]'s actions don't really have any purpose beyond ensuring the spotlight is on him, such as asking for a special edition of the Seireitei Bulletin exclusively about his ascension to head of his clan. He does that half because of this trope, and half to [[{{Troll}} piss people off]].
8	* In ''Literature/CaptainFreedom'', the titular superhero will do almost anything to remain the center of attention, sometimes even resorting to outright supervillainy.
9	* Old Shapoklyak from ''Literature/{{Cheburashka}}'' has only one goal - becoming famous. Unfortunately she also holds the belief that the easiest way of becoming famous [[CardCarryingVillain is being a massive douche to everybody to become infamous]].
10	* ''Literature/TheCorruptedChroniclesOfCocoClaramisa'': Upon experiencing applause for the first time, the titular character becomes obsessed with attention. So much so that if she finds anybody getting more attention to her, she will go to extremes such as [[DisproportionateRetribution murder]] to keep herself on top.
11	* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' played with this in the book ''Literature/{{Maskerade}}'', where two performers at the opera were competing for attention in the middle of a crisis. One is a major side character, who's looking to replace the other, older performer. At the first sign of trouble, she emits a little sigh, does that movie-swoon that ensures a pain-free landing. Upon revival, she looks around baffled and asks, "Where am I?". The other also fainted, but because everyone was paying attention to the other singer was forced to revive herself and faint again several times before eventually resorting to hysterics.
12	* ''Literature/DoctrineOfLabyrinths'':
13	** Felix Harrowgate is an odd case - he flaunts his beauty shamelessly and wears the most outlandish outfits possible, sometimes even deliberately sporting hideous things just to grab attention, but he gets painfully embarrassed when praised for his actual achievements. When he saves a train full of people from an evil automaton and the other passengers try to shower him with thanks, he goes and hides in his cabin with [[DontLookAtMe his face buried in his hands]] and refuses to speak to anyone.
14	** According to Mehitabel, her [[ThePrimaDonna rival actress]] Susan Dravanya is a particularly vapid version of this. Clara Hume, who is always fainting dramatically and causing ridiculous public disturbances appears to be this too.
15	* ''Literature/DungeonCrawlerCarl'': Donut, being a prize-winning show cat, is ''far'' too addicted to the idea of being adored by legions of fans.
16	* Marona from ''Literature/EarthsChildren'' loves to be the center of attention, including wearing provocative clothing, stirring up trouble, and hanging around with high-ranking men; she also revels in being considered 'the Beauty of the Bunch'. She gets very irritated and jealous when she feels the equally beautiful Ayla and Joplaya are upstaging her, especially seeing as the former is marrying her ex.
17	* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
18	** Inverted with Harry Potter himself. He became famous because of circumstances out of his control and actually loathes the attention it gets him. According to him, he only became famous because Voldemort killed his parents and failed to kill him. All he wants is to live a normal life. Unfortunately, him being Harry Potter is the reason why a normal life is not exactly within reach. Also, many of his detractors, most notably Snape, think he actually enjoys all the attention he gets.
19	** Ron Weasley. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] because Ron felt that he wouldn't be as distinguishable like the rest of his siblings were. Also because his best friends were known as "The Chosen One" and "The Brightest Witch of her Age", while he himself is seen as "another Weasley".
20	** Gilderoy Lockhart is probably the biggest example of the series. During his short tenure as Defense Against the Dark Arts professor, all of his lessons are about himself and not about any defending against dark arts at all. Even after [[spoiler: he accidentally erased his own memory with Ron's broken wand]] he still thinks people want his autograph. Why? "I suspect it is simply my good looks!" The staff of the hospital seem to think Lockhart's penchant for autographs means he's recovering. That said, he's vaguely aware that some people think he's a big deal, he just has no idea why that might be. But he likes the attention (another good sign, according to the healers), so he doesn't really let it cost him any sleep.
21	** Draco Malfoy shows tendencies for this as well. He doesn't care so much about coming up on top as much as merely receiving attention, even if it's at the risk of losing, getting beat up, or humiliated.
22	** During ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'' Harry's father James Potter has been revealed to have been this in his school years. This was exactly the reason why he allowed Peter Pettigrew to be his "friend" as Pettigrew admired James to the point of worshiping the ground he walked on. This is the reason why Snape thinks Harry is one; James and Snape ''intensely'' disliked each other, so Snape projects all of James's flaws onto Harry.
23	** The Ministry of Magic also forces the newspapers to portray Harry and Dumbledore as this after the events of ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire Goblet of Fire]]''. The reason behind this is that the Minister refuses to believe Voldemort is back and by portraying Harry and Dumbledore as attention-seeking troublemakers, he removed all of their credibility.
24	* In ''Literature/TheHitchHikersGuideToTheGalaxy'', [[HardDrinkingPartyGirl Hard Drinking Party Frood]] Zaphod Beeblebrox managed to become President of the Galaxy because of how extreme and outrageous his constant attention-seeking is, a position that involves almost no actual politics (although he is [[spoiler: eventually revealed to have been the one to have ordered the destruction of the Earth]]) and a great deal of GargleBlaster-drinking and socialising, and serves only to distract the population of the Galaxy from asking who really is in charge. He reveals some HiddenDepths, though, not least a NeuroVault.
25	* ''Literature/IBecameTheVillainTheHeroIsObsessedWith'': Da-in becomes a SuperVillain with the express purpose of getting the attention of his crush, the SuperHero Stardus, [[{{Troll}} whose anger he enjoys]], and he live-streams his theatrical terror attacks so he can watch live reactions in the chat.
26	* Misty Carpenter from ''Literature/TheIdentityMatrix'' is a ''literal'' attention whore: She's a prostitute who becomes a stripper to get more attention, better tips, and an upgrade in her johns. She was programmed to be this way by a GovernmentConspiracy, who "thoughtfully" threw in nymphomania as well on the theory that [[NotIfTheyEnjoyedItRationalization it's not really a punishment if she enjoys it.]]
27	* ''Literature/TheIdiot'': Ippolit Terentyev seems to be constantly seeking attention. Other characters think his main motivation is bitterness over the fact that other people can be happy while he's dying of tuberculosis. At one point, he interrupts a party in order to read aloud a letter he wrote--which turns out to be a suicide note. Upon finishing, he grabs a gun, points it at his head, and pulls the trigger. The gun doesn't fire and Ippolit is unhurt, which just leads more people to assume that he deliberately loaded the gun incorrectly, and that the entire incident was just a cry for attention.
28	* Suzanne, the murder victim from ''Literature/LetMeCallYouSweetheart''. As she often felt overlooked in her childhood and inferior to her stepsisters, she made up for it later in life by always making herself the centre of attention, wearing the most expensive clothes and jewellery, attending swanky parties and dinners, and flirting with almost every man she encountered. She didn't have too many women friends, both because they didn't like her flirting with their partners and because she saw them more as potential rivals. [[spoiler: Unfortunately, this attention-seeking behavior also extended to cheating on her husband, which [[ADeadlyAffair led to disaster]]]].
29	* Discussed by British secretary of state Lord Chesterfield in the ''Literature/LettersToHisSon'': "They are always the heroes of their own fables; and think that they gain consideration, or at least present attention, by it. Whereas, in truth, all that they get is ridicule and contempt, not without a good degree of distrust; for one must naturally conclude, that he who will tell any lie from idle vanity, will not scruple telling a greater for interest."
30	%%Zero Context Example%% * Joyce Reynolds from the Literature/HerculePoirot novel ''Hallowe'en Party.''
31	* ''Literature/LillysPurplePlasticPurse'': Lilly ''really, really'' wants everyone to see her new purple plastic purse, which gets her in trouble when she tries to show it off before Sharing Time.
32	* Alexandria of ''Literature/MagicForLiars'' demands the focus of every room she walks into through appearance-enhancing spells, AlphaBitch behavior, and unchecked aggression with theoretical magic.
33	* Mary from ''Literature/PrideAndPrejudice'', though she has more of an excuse. She's the least beautiful of the sisters, tries to be "accomplished" to make up for it, and thus never passes up an opportunity to show off her "accomplishments."
34	* In Creator/PGWodehouse's ''[[Literature/{{Psmith}} Mike and Psmith]]'', Psmith makes a false confession to save his friend Mike, who is under suspicion. When it's proved that neither of them did it, one of the housemasters asks Psmith why he confessed, and Psmith claims that he was out for "notoriety." The housemaster proceeds to grill Psmith on whether [[ItRunsInTheFamily this is a problem for anyone else in his family]].
35	* The culture of the city that's the focus of ''[[Literature/{{Uglies}} Extras]]'' emphasizes this. Resource allocation is based on reputation, so being a non-famous person, or "Extra", means that one can't requisition much more than necessities. Doing community service or actual jobs will get you "merits", which can also be used for requisitioning, but unlike reputation, merits can be used up.
36	* In ''Literature/RachelGriffin'', Sigfried Smith understandably has shades of this, having gone from being in an OrphanageOfFear to an international celebrity. In the second book, after both Rachel and Siggy save Roanoke Campus from a fatal threat, Rachel slips away to hide and Sigfried struts out to bask in the praise.
37	* ''Literature/SavingMax'': [[spoiler:Marianne, who has MunchausenSyndrome by proxy, relishes the sympathetic looks she gets at her family members' funerals.]]
38	* ''Literature/TheSecretLivesOfPrincesses'': Princess Meetu's only fear is to be ignored. She's famous for engaging in numerous scandals.
39	* Carmelita Spats from ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents''. As well as Esmé Squalor and to some extent, Count Olaf. Naturally, Carmelita is adopted by Esme and Count Olaf in book eleven and thought of as "the daughter she never had".
40	* Renly Baratheon in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''. He has loved being in the spotlight since he was a child, and one of the reasons he wants to be king is because being the king means people will have to pay attention to him.
41	* ''Literature/TheSpiritThief'':
42	** Eli can be very pushy for attention at times, as Josef notes in one conversation with Nico.
43	--->"If you want to do this, Nico, I'm behind you, but only if you really want to. Don't let Eli make this about him."
44	** Benehime wants to be worshipped by everyone around her, and reacts brutally when this doesn't happen.
45	* The Red Knight of ''Literature/TheTraitorSonCycle'' has an almost compulsive need for adoration, and feels anxious when he's not the smartest and most important person in the room, to the point of almost endangering a vital mission because he was unwilling to let a more skilled warrior take the central stage.
46	* ''Literature/TheTravelersGate'': Deep down, all Alin really wants is attention and adoration. All his [[LargeHam bombastic speeches]] and heroic actions are based more on ''looking'' like a hero than actually being one. Everything gets worse when it turns out that he really is TheChosenOne of prophecy, but for the most part, he's able to keep himself under control. Turns out that thinking "what would a real hero do in this situation?" leads to someone being actually heroic most of the time. Simon, Leah, and his sisters are the only ones who can see through his act, and none of them are shy about telling him so. It's probably no coincidence that these are the people that Alin feels he is closest to.
47	* ''Literature/AWillEternal'': Bai Xiaochun practices epic poses, talks to people just to hear them calling him by his title (to the point that many start to actively avoid him), and takes even the slightest opportunities he sees to make people compliment him.

Context AttentionWhore / Literature