Line #111 Main/BarefootLoon


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11	[[caption-width-right:350:Sanity level directly correlates to shoe quality.]]
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16	In old times (especially the Victorian era) a lot of attention was given to a person's visual appearance, including clothes and shoes. Ever since then, lack of footwear has been used to portray characters who are mad or at least quirky and out of touch with reality (additional details may include strange and/or unkempt clothing and disheveled hair).
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18	In modern works, they may be [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} cheerfully eccentric]] and deliberately flouting social norms, or really unhinged and living in their own world.
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20	Subtrope of PrefersGoingBarefoot, and often overlaps with TheOphelia. Compare and contrast with BarefootSage whose wisdom and enlightenment also places him/her above social conventions ([[EccentricMentor they may also overlap]]). May also overlap with MagicalBarefooter. [[ExaggeratedTrope The extreme version of the trope]], when the character in question is lacking ''any'' items of clothing, is NakedNutter.
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22	----
23	!!Examples:
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25	[[foldercontrol]]
26
27	[[folder:Advertising]]
28	* A BMW commercial promoting the sensitivity of the car's all-wheel drive follows a businessman who performs various experiments in feeling with his bare feet. While the ad emphasizes the serenity he finds in experiencing new sensations, and becoming closer to his surroundings, his apparent eccentricity in exploring his workplace without shoes does elicit short confused stares from a few onlookers.
29	[[/folder]]
30
31	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
32	* Anime and manga feature several BunnyEarsLawyer types who are the best at what they do, but go barefoot to indicate that they're {{Cloud Cuckoolander}}s. Examples:
33	** Nero from ''Manga/BlackClover''. While not wacky, her evident trauma has left her a bit off, as seen in her perpetually gloomy and detached nature, and goes barefoot in her human form as a further sign of it. Subverted later, as she adopts simple shoes shortly before joining the Black Bulls.
34	** Ed from ''Anime/CowboyBebop'': a '''really''' quirky TeenGenius PlayfulHacker girl with a prominent aversion to shoes and a habit [[HandyFeet of using her toes like spare fingers]]. The only time she puts on socks, she quickly loses balance and falls. She doesn't even make it to putting shoes on before she decides to go back to being barefooted.
35	** L, the brilliant but DefectiveDetective from ''Franchise/DeathNote'', only wears shoes while outdoors. Even then, if he assumes his iconic thinking posture, the shoes come off.
36	** Kaolla Su, the GadgeteerGenius GenkiGirl from ''Manga/LoveHina''.
37	** Papika from ''Anime/FlipFlappers'', an [[ManicPixieDreamGirl obnoxiously friendly]] and childlike space-cadet with an apparent magnetic repulsion to footwear (except for her anklet). She's also Flip Flap's only competent transdimensional adventurer -- until Cocona comes along, anyway -- and [[spoiler:the only one of numerous candidates who could get through to [[RealityWarper Mimi]].]]
38	* ''Anime/FairyTail'':
39	** Edolas's Coco Loves is a hyperactive girl who loves running around so much she does all of it barefoot. With the way she runs, any shoes she wore probably wouldn't last a day, anyway.
40	** Mavis Vermillion was subjected to BarefootPoverty as a little girl, so she got used to being without shoes, and eventually realized she loved being barefoot in lieu of wearing shoes. When she got older and had the option of wearing them, she decided she didn't need to change something that didn't need fixing. It's also a way of exemplifying her strong fairy motif, as many fairies are traditionally [[MagicalBarefooter depicted barefoot.]]
41	* Mamimi from ''Anime/{{FLCL}}'' is a BrokenBird who became numb to life around her after a painful breakup. As such, she's extremely negligent of the world around her. She also loses her shoes and socks twice in a row while rummaging around in a nearby river, choosing to remain barefoot the second time around.
42	* Luffy from ''Manga/OnePiece'' seems inclined to keep his feet as lightly clad as possible. It is very, very rare for him to don anything beyond straw sandals no matter what outfit he wears. Simple shoes for a simpleton.
43	[[/folder]]
44
45	[[folder:Comic Books]]
46	* When he's [[DependingOnTheWriter portrayed as crazy,]] the perpetually barefoot ComicBook/PlasticMan would count. His barefootedness dates back long before he was re-characterized as [[RetCon having always been]] nuts, though.
47	* In ''ComicBook/StarWarsAgeOfResistance'' Special #1 story "The Bridge", Amilyn Holdo is the only person who goes barefoot onboard the spaceship, while all the other team members are shod; while she behaves in a serious and rational way in this story due to being in a very tough situation, this detail is a reminder of her status as a CloudCuckoolander and BunnyEarsLawyer.
48	* [[ComicBook/XMan Nate Grey]] was often a bit odd, but plunged into this territory towards the end of his solo series, in the ''[[ComicBook/XManCounterX Counter X]]'' era, when he became a 'Shaman' following a MindMeld with a CrazySane alternate counterpart, gaining a strange and rather detached view of the world, seeing himself as its multiversal protector (which also meant he would punish those from Earth-616 who committed crimes against other worlds), and veering straight into CrazySane territory (he once responded to a YoureInsane with one word: "Probably"). The barefoot part just cements him (along with his messiah complex and RealityWarper powers) as being rather disturbing.
49	* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'', Delirium, the AnthropomorphicPersonification of madness, is always barefoot. This occasionally overlaps with NakedNutter, when she goes barechested as well, with only an unbuttoned shirt on her torso.
50	[[/folder]]
51
52	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
53	* Juliette from ''Film/AndGodCreatedWoman'' goes barefoot everywhere, including even the shop where she works; it symbolizes her free spirit and disregard for social conventions.
54	* In ''Film/ArtOfTheDead'', Louis starts to walk around barefoot and [[WalkingShirtlessScene shirtless]] once he's under the effect of wrath, giving him a more "wild" vibe.
55	* Daisy Kensington from ''Film/{{Barefoot}}'', a MysteriousWaif WomanChild who has NoSocialSkills because she was raised in isolation by a schizophrenic mother. She evidently spent her life indoors so much she rarely wore shoes and remarks they hurt her feet when she is made to use them.
56	* ''Barefoot'' is a ForeignRemake of a German movie, ''Barfuss'', whose protagonist Lelia also counts.
57	* Kady from ''Butterfly'' is constantly leaving her shoes off or behind and going everywhere barefoot if she can get away with it because her only pair of shoes is a set of heels and she is in unsuitable terrain for them, and for the most part, she enjoys wearing no shoes. It later morphs into this trope when she willingly walks around in socked feet outside, which is rather oddball and foolish.
58	* Luna Lovegood is barefoot in ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'', claiming that all her pairs of shoes were stolen by nargles. It seems highly improbable that someone could have stolen all her shoes without it being noticed by the Hogwarts' staff, so it's possible that she made up the whole story and went barefoot simply because she likes to.
59	%% * Myth/{{Merlin}} in ''Film/TheKidWhoWouldBeKing'' early on. When he first enters the modern day, he is downright naked, and when walking along the motorway, in the police car, and just after he's left it, he is barefoot, which does reflect his... Unusual nature.
60	* Eloise from ''Film/TheMillionDollarHotel'': a perpetually barefoot girl who believes herself to be a figment of imagination, and Tom Tom's, the main character's, LoveInterest. He later mutters about her having "dirty bare feet", which are highlighted throughout the movie as she goes outdoors and is introduced flinching at drink cup ice falling near her feet. Eloise puts on a pair of heels with a dress for a formal event, but later removes them to run away from police with Tom Tom and places them atop a bar counter in a diner, but ignores them upon leaving, causing a nearby patron to stare at the heels with mild curiosity at her decision to go off barefoot. [[spoiler:Tom Tom is DrivenToSuicide, it snaps Eloise out of her delirium and she begins wearing sneakers, which she has on at the end of the movie.]]
61	* ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld:'' After their mother's death Thor finds grief stricken Loki sitting on the floor of his cell barefoot, in torn clothes and with unkempt hair. All furniture is turned upside down and broken into pieces and there are dark smears on the cell's white walls. Once released from the dungeons, Loki switches to his usual appearance and [[StepfordSnarker snarky persona]].
62	[[/folder]]
63
64	[[folder:Folklore]]
65	* ''Myth/JuanBobo'': Juan is a foolish little boy who is usually depicted barefoot.
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67
68	[[folder:Literature]]
69	* In ''Literature/TheAgeOfMadness'', the Judge is a villainous version. She is the unhinged leader of a ruthless revolutionary group known as the Burners. She always wears a red dress with an old breastplate over it, and is perpetually barefoot.
70	* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'':
71	** Lucy Pevensie. She is not crazy, but she can be considered somewhat eccentric due to her childlike free-spiritedness (more so as she gets older) -- and her penchant for going barefoot emphasizes this. Being barefoot also means she is in touch with the Earth, like healing magic -- which her cordial is -- is known to be in legends.
72	** ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'' has [[BarefootSage the wise magician Coriakin who always goes around barefoot]]. He is also implied to be quite eccentric in Dumbledore-esque fashion: namely, he has a bearded mirror in his mansion (presumably to prank his guests), and he also turned the Duffers (a race of foolish dwarfs he was assigned to govern) into funny one-legged creatures called Monopods as a PrankPunishment for disobedience.
73	* Princess Eilonwy from ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfPrydain'' is a mild variant of this, having [[TalkativeLoon a lot]] [[TalksLikeASimile of quirks]] and a penchant for going barefoot (as pointed out by Dallben in ''The Castle of Llyr''; when she ''has'' to wear shoes, as in ''The Book of Three'', she opts for sandals). She still manages to be one of the smartest characters in the series, an ActionGirl, and a DeadpanSnarker.
74	* ''Literature/TheGoneAwayWorld'' has Master Wu, a typical EccentricMentor who is mentioned to wear sandals in winter.
75	* Auri from ''Literature/TheKingkillerChronicle'' is like Luna Lovegood's twin sister, living in her fantasy world and often speaking cryptically. And she's perpetually barefoot.
76	* In ''Lo que le falta al tiempo'' (''What Time is Missing'') by Angela Becerra, [[EccentricArtist a quirky young Parisian artist Mazarine]] goes barefoot even in winter.
77	* Rain Teslar from ''Literature/APathOfPetals'' by M. A. Stacie is a "cheerfully eccentric" version of the trope, and a ManicPixieDreamGirl for the main character.
78	* Assol from ''Literature/TheScarletSails'' is a CloudCuckoolander who believes in fairy tales and has a penchant for going barefoot.
79	* Hannah Schneider from ''Literature/SpecialTopicsInCalamityPhysics'' is an [[EccentricMentor eccentric and charismatic teacher]] who has a penchant for going barefoot.
80	* ''Sword Quest'' from the ''Usborne Fantasy Adventure'' series by Andy Dixon has Muddle the Magician, a quirky absent-minded sorcerer [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/muddle.jpg who is depicted barefoot in an illustration]], probably to emphasize his eccentricity.
81	[[/folder]]
82
83	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
84	* The Eighth Doctor in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' MadeForTVMovie spends a few scenes barefoot while he's wandering around being amnesiac and weird. It's really just because he hasn't got any shoes after WakingUpAtTheMorgue, but his barefootedness definitely emphasizes his eccentricity. Grace seems to notice his bare feet as a sign he's a bit of a weirdo, or maybe it's just the toe tag... And then Grace bestows him a pair of shoes, which belong to her newly-minted ex-boyfriend, and Eight goes full {{Keet}} over the fact they fit perfectly.
85	* River Tam from ''Series/{{Firefly}}''. She's a {{Cloudcuckoolander}} because of her DarkAndTroubledPast, and her bare feet get so much attention that they're sometimes called "the 11th character in the show".
86	* In ''Series/Forever2014'' Dr. Henry Morgan is an immortal; whenever he dies, his body vanishes and he reappears naked in the nearest large body of water. Since the series is set in Manhattan, that's usually the East River, and the pilot shows him emerging on Pebble Beach focusing on his large bare feet stepping carefully on the rocky shore. Aside from these times when the rest of him is bare too, in "The Pugilist Break" Henry searches for a cell phone buried under a new playground's rubber surface by taking off his shoes and socks and walking (at times almost dancing) around on the rubber, feeling for the telltale vibrations of the phone when Jo calls it. It does work and Henry successfully locates this key piece of evidence.
87	* [[Comicbook/IronFist Danny Rand]] spends the first few episodes of ''Series/IronFist2017'' wandering New York barefoot. Due to being raised in a hidden monastery, he's [[NoSocialSkills eccentric]], to say the least. A RunningGag in the pilot episode involves people mistaking Danny for a homeless person and telling him where he can gets some cheap shoes.
88	* Gulnar in ''Series/RobinOfSherwood'' is a rare villainous example, being a deranged, malevolent pagan shaman who almost always goes barefoot. He does put on shoes when he has to run for his life through a forest, though.
89	[[/folder]]
90
91	[[folder:Music]]
92	* American mumble rapper Submarine Man is always seen barefoot. He is outspoken against shoes, socks, and especially stockings. And he sings about SmellyFeet in a heavily {{autotune}}d voice.
93	* The eccentric French singer ''Music/{{Zaz}}'' (a.k.a. Isabelle Geffroy) frequently performs either barefoot or in open-toed sandals.
94	* The music video for Bass Fly and Laurent L's "Tonight" starts with a woman outright abandoning her pumps on the sidewalk (along with a bundle of roses) and barefooting her way through a cityscape because it's liberating, giving new meaning to the term "footloose and fancy-free". Exaggerated when it turns out everyone else is going barefoot, too. Rather yucky because the peoples' feet do get quite filthy tromping through the dingy environment and the actress used for the video obviously has hers cleaned off in between scenes and for close-up shots.
95	* Hitomi Yaida, a.k.a. Yaiko, is a little kooky and one of her trademarks is that she loves to be barefoot and hates to be shod. It's extremely common for her to perform in her bare feet and emerge onstage with no footwear at all, treating shoes and socks more like an accessory than part of her normal wardrobe. Her music video "Chain" is even themed after how she would rather just leave her shoes behind and walk everywhere barefoot, stubbornly ignoring the need for shoes ''twice'', and in the act of feeling the ground beneath her, she feels unchained (the shoes being the chain) and daydreams herself in a sensual landscape.
96	[[/folder]]
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98	[[folder:Podcasts]]
99	* Despite living in Canada, apparently Jessica from ''Podcast/FatFrenchAndFabulous'' frequently walks around completely barefoot, no matter the weather. She reports that she still has all nine toes she was born with.
100	[[/folder]]
101
102	[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
103	* His pants and mask are the only mandatory public clothing for [[Wrestling/HunterJohnston Delirious]]. He might show up without anything else, including his shoes. He might show up with footwear, and compulsively remove and put them back on over the course of a match.[[/folder]]
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105	[[folder:Theatre]]
106	* In many adaptations of ''Theatre/{{Hamlet}}'' (including also movie adaptations) Ophelia is barefoot in her mad scenes.
107	* ''Orpheus Descending'' by Creator/TennesseeWilliams has Carol Cutrere, a resident free spirit who walks barefooted.
108	* Creator/DavidTennant's portrayal of the title character in ''Theatre/RichardII'' exists at the three-way intersection of this trope, BarefootSage, and EarthyBarefootCharacter.
109	* In ''Theatre/{{Ruddigore}}'', Mad Margaret is costumed and made up as a caricature of theatrical madness in the first act, and this often includes barefootedness.
110	* This is how Creator/{{Socrates}} (the UrExample of a BarefootSage) is portrayed in ''Theatre/TheClouds''.
111	[[/folder]]
112
113	[[folder:Video Games]]
114	* ''VideoGame/DiscworldNoir'' has Malaclypse, the deranged conspiracy-minded priest of the Temple of Small Gods who goes around in sandals, presumably to emphasize his unhinged personality.
115	* Most of the elves in the ''Franchise/DragonAge'' universe avoid wearing shoes, but Merrill, the second game's resident {{Cloudcuckoolander}}, is bringing this to the hilarious extremes:
116	-->''Your boots go on forever. I'd get so lost in them. I've dropped marbles in. They take an eternity to reach the bottom.''
117	* Dahlia Gillespie and Claudia Wolf from ''Franchise/SilentHill''; both are really dark examples.
118	* The AGS game ''The Sleepy Island'' features a crazy barefoot old man who [[RhymesOnADime speaks in rhyme]] and [[GlamourFailure is missing his reflection]].
119	* In ''VideoGame/TorinsPassage'', the old guard Herman wears open-toed sandals; this is obviously by choice and not a part of his guard uniform, since the other guard (Zax, the gatekeeper of Crystal City) has regular shoes. Herman is also more than a little eccentric: he thinks nothing of spending ten years in "heavy traffic" and demands a meal based entirely on puns.
120	* Princess Charlotte from ''VideoGame/{{Varicella}}'' (at least if the game promo art is to believe).
121	* Sigma from ''VideoGame/{{Overwatch}}'' evokes this with his default design, being an insane GravityMaster covered almost entirely in bulky PoweredArmor except for his head and toes. He's a benign, polite kind of "insane", but his artists chose not to give him shoes in part because it's symptomatic of his illness, and [[PowerFloats considering he floats everywhere]], it's not a detriment to him.
122	[[/folder]]
123
124	[[folder:Western Animation]]
125	* ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'''s incarnation of ComicBook/TheJoker only ever wears spats that cover the tops of his feet (at most), but no shoes.
126	* ZigZaggedTrope in the ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'' episode "[[Recap/DuckTales2017S2E10The87CentSolution The 87 Cent Solution!]]". One of the events that causes Scrooge's SanitySlippage is his spats being stolen, but his solution -- turning two tissue boxes into a pair of makeshift shoes -- is even worse.
127	* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' has self-proclaimed "local kook" Old Man [=McGucket=], who wears nothing but foot wraps on his feet.
128	* Chikara, the kooky fortune teller from ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndKissRockAndRollMystery'', is always barefoot. The Music/{{KISS}} group members believe her to also be a BarefootSage (she probably is, given that everything she said about KIS[=S=]teria is eventually revealed to be true).
129	* Miracle Grohe from ''WesternAnimation/SitDownShutUp'', a ditzy, New-Agey HippieTeacher who goes barefoot, is a lighthearted version of this trope.
130	* The Drifter, an EccentricMentor [[FunnyAnimal rabbit man]] from the ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats2011'' episode "The Duelist and the Drifter", is this trope, a BarefootSage and a BarefootCartoonAnimal all at once.
131	[[/folder]]
132
133	[[folder:Real Life]]
134	* Creator/{{Socrates}} was often seen by his contemporaries as this, since [[EccentricMentor in spite of (or maybe because of) his wisdom, he often demonstrated extremely eccentric behavior]]. One of his peculiarities was a penchant for going barefoot.
135	* The Latvian EccentricArtist [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voldemars_Irbe Voldemārs Irbe]] was known for his disheveled appearance and going barefoot all year round.
136	* When she was 16, starting from July 2, 2012, [[https://web.archive.org/web/20190318170032/https://myyearwithoutshoes.blogspot.com/p/about.html Victoria Anderson]] went on a spirited barefoot crusade by spending an entire ''[[{{Determinator}} year]]'' without shoes or footwear of any kind to raise awareness for the needy children of Haiti (noting the only exception to this was carrying around a $2 pair of flip-flops not unlike those worn by Haitian children, just in case she absolutely needed them) and got [[https://www.aol.com/video/partner/the-jeff-probst-show/517469636/55467756e4b042cdf6181649/ featured]] on ''Series/TheJeffProbstShow'' for it (the show donated to her cause). Her mother said that her daughter has always been "a little kooky" and she and her father have let her express herself. More telling, though, is that Victoria's motivation for ditching her shoes wasn't just for the children; she also emphatically declared, "I love being barefoot." Essentially, Victoria was also looking for a reasonable excuse to run around barefoot all the time... [[ShapedLikeItself which she already does.]]
137	-->'''Victoria:''' I myself have never been very fond of shoes; I'd go days at school barefoot; go to stores and just anywhere with my bare feet.
138	* Creator/ShelSilverstein appears barefoot in several photographs, including the one on the back of ''Where the Sidewalk Ends'', which seems in line with the eccentric tone of his writings.
139	* In the midst of the search for his missing wife Lori, Mark Hacking was found running around a parking lot, apparently in the throes of a nervous breakdown, [[NakedNutter completely naked]]. . .''except'' for a pair of sandals. The fact that he ''didn't'' invoke this trope the way a truly insane person would have led the detectives to suspect that he was faking in order to be institutionalized and avoid further questioning about his wife's whereabouts. (Although it was never proven that he was faking insanity, he did indeed confess to killing Lori after several days in the hospital).
140	* [[UsefulNotes/SouthAfrica South African]] middle-distance runner Zola Budd famously disdained wearing running shoes, arguing she was better off without them. Her career was marked by controversy and she made a controversial appearance in the British Olympic team, which depended on her being able to claim dual British nationality. Her Olympic appearance saw another controversy when she collided with an American competitor, forcing her out of the race.
141	[[/folder]]
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Context Main / BarefootLoon