Line #16 Main/SarcasticTitle


1	[[quoteright:300:[[Series/{{Workaholics}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/16926990_1200x16001.png]]]]
2	[[caption-width-right:300:Turns out you DO need education in this economy.]]
3
4	As we all know, [[NeverTrustATitle a work's title doesn't always give a reliable indication of its contents]]. In some [[AuthorTract works which try to make a point]], the title deliberately and sarcastically contradicts the work's message. Often, the title will be (part of) a [[TitleDrop statement by a character]] who is clearly shown to be ''wrong'' (from the creator's perspective, that is -- [[StrawmanHasAPoint not necessarily from the audience's]]).
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6	Done well, this serves to ram the point home in a brutal yet funny way (thus making it a lot more likely that the audience will pay attention to, and remember the message); done poorly, it will only confuse the audience.
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8	For some reason, this crops up particularly often in {{Protest Song}}s, in which it may well overlap with HailToTheThief. Compare IronicEpisodeTitle (when the contrast between title and content is one of mood rather than message), IsntItIronic (with which this trope often overlaps), and DeceptivelySillyTitle.
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10	----
11	!!Examples:
12
13	[[foldercontrol]]
14
15	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
16	* ''Manga/IDontLikeYouAtAllBigBrother'' is a SuspiciouslySpecificDenial from a girl with BigBrotherAttraction to her ([[NotBloodSiblings adoptive]]) brother.
17	* The episode of ''Literature/ReZero'' titled "Self-Proclaimed Knight Subaru Natsuki", in which Subaru [[spoiler: makes a fool of himself and Emilia by proclaiming himself to be her knight, insults all the other knights when Julius mocks him for his behavior and inexperience and gets escorted out by Emilia herself]]. The episode ends with the aforementioned title card.
18	[[/folder]]
19
20	[[folder:Comic Books]]
21	* ''ComicBook/FunHome'', talks about the often unhappy childhood and family relationships of the author. A bit of a subversion, as it is actually the family nickname for the family business: a funeral home.
22	* The final album of ''ComicBook/TheLifeAndTimesOfScroogeMcDuck'' is titled "The Richest Duck in the World". While Scrooge [=McDuck=] is in fact the literal richest duck in the world at that point, [[LonelyAtTheTop he's a sad, broken old man]].
23	[[/folder]]
24
25	[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
26	* ''WesternAnimation/ThePrinceOfEgypt'': Moses is the Prince of Egypt; his brother Rameses ascends the throne to become Pharaoh. However, Moses is a former Hebrew slave who specifically rejects his adoptive family's legacy to liberate the Hebrews from bondage.
27	* ''Animation/HeroicTimes'':[[note]](the original title, ''Daliás idők'' can also be translated as chivalrous, valiant, noble or manly times)[[/note]] The title is about the chivalry of medieval knighthood that the unnamed main character wants to be part of. The actual story briefly portrays knights as noble and heroic, but then the title is quickly [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructed]], showing the debauchery of the royal court, the horrors of war and the unwelcoming, flippant nature of society as our hero gets increasingly disillusioned and realizes "heroic times" only ever existed in his fantasies.
28	[[/folder]]
29
30	[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
31	* ''Film/AlphaDog'': Johnny Truelove would very much like to be top dog, but he is shown to be an [[StupidCrooks idiot wannabe gangster]] and DirtyCoward whose spur-of-the-moment kidnapping and later murder of Zack Mazursky was an overreach that puts him and his entire crew in jail.
32	* ''Film/TheAssassinationOfJesseJamesByTheCowardRobertFord'': The film actually shows the injustice of Robert Ford's reputation as a cowardly assassin as well as James' reputation as a murdered folk hero.
33	* Subverted with ''Film/TheDisasterArtist'', a {{biopic}} {{dramedy}} about the making of the legendary SoBadItsGood movie ''Film/TheRoom2003'', which had the WorkingTitle of ''The Masterpiece'' during production.
34	* ''Film/FairGame'' is about the decidedly ''un''fair things (from the creators' point of view, anyway) which have been done to Cassandra Delaney's character. The title is a play on words, because the phrase "fair game" also refers to animals that are able to be hunted.
35	* ''Film/Funhouse2020'': It's a house where people are murdered for an audience.
36	* ''Film/FunnyGames'': There is nothing funny about the premise of two serial killers tormenting and murdering families just for fun.
37	* Bobcat Goldthwait's ''Film/GodBlessAmerica'' is a scathing killing-spree BlackComedy.
38	* ''Film/GoodFellas'' refers to a nickname for mobsters, not good people at all.
39	* ''Film/TheGoodShepherd'': Edward Wilson, an emotionless robot of a man who built up the CIA, can hardly be called a good shepherd. Even in his private life he ultimately does more harm than good.
40	* Henry Evans in ''Film/TheGoodSon'' is [[EnfantTerrible anything but]].
41	* The titular ''Film/GrownUps'' act like the complete opposite in both films.
42	* ''Film/LakePlacid'': The lake isn't actually peaceful, it's being terrorized by [[NeverSmileAtACrocodile giant, invasive crocodiles]].
43	* ''Film/LittleDarlings'' is a teen sex comedy about a pair of girls at summer camp who make a bet as to which one will lose her virginity first. Lampshaded in one of the {{tagline}}s on the poster: "Don't let the title fool you."
44	* ''Film/MarriageStory'' is a film about a couple's divorce; the couple in question are already separated when the film begins.
45	* ''Film/ThePrincessBride'': The title is precisely what Buttercup doesn't want to be, since her betrothed Prince Humperdinck is the BigBad and her TrueLove is poor farmhand-turned-pirate Westley. The plot turns on the heroes saving her from becoming the princess bride.
46	* Once the title "Springtime for Hitler" got a veto, Creator/MelBrooks chose ''Film/TheProducers'' to invoke the irony of how bad the two leads are at making stage plays.
47	* ''Film/StarshipTroopers2HeroOfTheFederation'': While Captain Dax was a genuine war hero, he hated the Federation and would have detested the epithet bestowed on him post-mortem.
48	* The titular characters in ''Film/RuthlessPeople'' are not ruthless at all: even when they kidnap Barbara, it's because her husband copied their business idea and made a fortune out of it, and they only want ransom money and never actually intend to hurt anyone. Rather, the title comes from their attempts to be ruthless, which fail because they're genuinely kind and decent people.
49	* The 1988 documentary ''Film/TheThinBlueLine'' is titled after the iconographic motif representing law enforcement as the sole barrier between peace and chaos in society. The film itself is about a miscarriage of justice in which a man was convicted of a murder that he didn't commit, with director Errol Morris using it as an attempt to obtain sufficient evidence for an overturning.
50	* ''Film/WorldsGreatestDad'': The movie is about the dad in question taking advantage of his son's death for his own personal gain.
51	[[/folder]]
52
53	[[folder:Literature]]
54	* ''Literature/BraveNewWorld'': The title is a [[Creator/WilliamShakespeare Shakespeare]] quote, in which "brave" means "good" or "beautiful". The point of the book is that the new world it describes is [[{{Dystopia}} anything]] ''[[{{Dystopia}} but]]'' [[{{Dystopia}} brave]].
55	* ''Literature/EndlessLove'': The antagonist is [[StalkerWithACrush actually obsessed]] with Jade.
56	* ''Literature/GirlsDontHit'': The book is about a very skilled hitwoman, who trains a female apprentice too.
57	* ''Literature/TheHeroIsOverpoweredButOverlyCautious'': The title of the series is based on how the POV character, Rista, perceives the hero, Seiya, as being far more cautious than common sense would dictate. However, most of Seiya's worries and countermeasures turn out to be justified when the demons keep using increasingly ruthless and cunning tactics that would have killed a less prepared hero, making him sufficiently cautious rather than overly cautious.
58	* ''Literature/AHeroOfOurTime'': Pechorin is one of the great [[VillainProtagonist villain-protagonists]] of literature and highlights what the author saw as the problems of Russian society at the time.
59	* ''Literature/JohnnyGotHisGun'': A book which is fiercely and {{Anvilicious}}ly anti-war. The title comes from the American UsefulNotes/WorldWarI rallying slogan "Johnny get your gun".
60	* In ''Literature/AModestProposal'', Jonathan Swift's proposal is that the British solve their "[[UsefulNotes/TheIrishQuestion Irish problem]]" by literally [[ImAHumanitarian eating the Irish]] -- specifically, [[KillThePoor poor]] Irish [[EatsBabies babies]] -- since they had been figuratively doing this for years.
61	* Creator/GeorgeOrwell's essay ''Such, Such Were the Joys'' is about his miserable childhood at a BoardingSchoolOfHorrors.
62	* ''Literature/TheseWordsAreTrueAndFaithful'': Many of the characters either lie or believe others' lies.
63	* ''Literature/TrueHistory'' begins by stating that everything in it is an utter lie.
64	[[/folder]]
65
66	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
67	* ''Series/{{Euphoria}}'', about a group of dysfunctional teenagers doing harmful and self-destructive things in an attempt to feel something, is not a very happy show.
68	* ''Series/{{Glee}}'' actually gets its name from being about a high school choir, or "glee club". The show is a {{dramedy}} that's frequently anything but gleeful.
69	* ''Series/TheGoodPlace'' is about people that have died and gone to Heaven, except that they're there by accident and their character flaws are screwing the place up and turning "the Good Place" not-so-good. And then the first season finale reveals that [[spoiler:[[ThisIsntHeaven they were never in the Good Place]] to begin with]].
70	* ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' is a ''seriously dark'' series about five jerks regularly upending the lives of one another and perfectly innocent people throughout the City of Brotherly Love. That said, the title also refers to the ItsAlwaysSpring trope, which the series does adhere to unironically.
71	* ''Series/TigerKing'': Joe Exotic indeed named himself "Tiger King", but the series painstakingly documents his CultOfPersonality and very unregal behavior. At the very end, when Joe is sitting in jail and his zoo has been seized by others, he doesn't even have a kingdom anymore.
72	* ''Series/{{Utopia\|2014}}'' is about the Nation Building Authority, a government agency charged with infrastructure projects intended to create a better Australia. Needless to say, the results are nowhere near a utopia.
73	* ''Series/{{Workaholics}}'': The guys are total stoner slackers who try to do as little work as possible. You can almost hear the title snarking, "Yeah, these guys, real workaholics they are."
74	[[/folder]]
75
76	[[folder:Music]]
77	* "Another Day in Paradise" by Music/PhilCollins is about a homeless woman who is either ignored or rejected by whomever she begs for help. The title applies to the much more fortunate people who ignore her. Collins was inspired to write the song after witnessing homelessness and poverty in UsefulNotes/WashingtonDC in TheEighties.
78	%%* "With God On Our Side" by Music/BobDylan, from ''Music/TheTimesTheyAreAChangin''.
79	* "Für meine Fans" by Music/{{Knorkator}}. The title means 'for my fans' in German, implying that the work is meant as a tribute to the band's fans; however, the chorus starts with '''Ich schäme mich für meine Fans''' - 'I am ashamed of my fans'. The song is one big long TakeThatAudience
80	* "Jezus Redt" (Dutch for 'Jesus Saves'), by Robert Long. It's a [[ReligionRantSong long rant against religion in general and the Roman Catholic Church in particular]]. Interestingly, it shares its title with a Music/{{Slayer}} song which is ''also'' an example of this trope; see below.
81	* "Land of Hope and Glory" from ''Music/OneStepBeyondAlbum'' by Music/{{Madness\|Band}}. The title was borrowed from a well-known British [[PatrioticFervor patriotic hymn]]; the lyrics cynically tell the story of a young man imprisoned in a Borstal institution.
82	* "God Save the Queen" by Music/TheSexPistols pulls the same trick with the British ''[[RefugeInAudacity national anthem]]''.
83	%%* "Jesus Saves" by Music/{{Slayer}}.
84	* "Born in the U.S.A." by Music/BruceSpringsteen. It's a cynical song about a poor and disillusioned [[TheVietnamVet Vietnam veteran]], but the title makes it sound like a patriotic song - UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan was among the many who [[IsntItIronic didn't pick up on the sarcasm]].
85	* Swamp Dogg's song "God Bless America For What" would have been an example if he had titled it simply "God Bless America", as he intended to. He had to change the title to avoid looking like he was plagiarising the well-known patriotic song by Irving Berlin.
86	* "Good Day" by {{Music/IU}} is about the day a girl gets rejected by her LoveInterest.
87	* "Mr. You're a Better Man Than I" by Music/TheYardbirds. All the verses follow the same pattern: '''if'' [insert opinion The Yardbirds didn't agree with] is true, then mister, you're a better man than I.'
88	* The AntiLoveSong "Love Song" by Music/SaraBareilles.
89	* "North American Scum" by Music/LCDSoundsystem is a song about how Americans are looked down upon because of their flaws while ignoring all of the good things about North America.
90	* Music/FaithNoMore named their last album before their break up ''Album of the Year'', because... they weren't particularly happy with the finished product.
91	* {{Music/XTC}}'s "Don't Lose Your Temper", with some wordplay involved. The narrator of the song has a love interest who has a hot temper, but he finds this endearing, to the point of becoming concerned because she seems a bit calmer lately. Thus when he tells her "don't lose your temper", he means he doesn't want her to "lose" that aspect of her personality.
92	* Music/{{The Rolling Stones\|Band}} song "Sympathy for the Devil" is a VillainSong about {{Satan}} singing about all the evil he's caused throughout history, and doesn't portray him sympathetically at all.
93	* Music/{{PSY}}'s music video [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ASO_zypdnsQ "Gentleman"]] shows him acting like a huge {{Jerkass}} toward everyone, and then finding a woman who [[SlapSlapKiss treats him the same way]].
94	* The group Music/TheFunBoyThree firmly pitched their tent at the other end of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism to that suggested by their name.
95	* When EMI decided to make a compilation out of what the Music/RedHotChiliPeppers had done for them - four albums, only the fourth having any success - it had a very adequate title for a supposed GreatestHitsAlbum, ''What Hits?!''
96	* "Gangsta's Paradise" by Music/{{Coolio}} uses its title ironically because the song spells out how the thug life is dangerous and violent. In short, anything but a paradise.
97	* ''Music/TheMarshallMathersLP'' is almost entirely dedicated to Slim Shady. The few appearances of Marshall Mathers on the record fictionalise him as (at best) an [[DramaticIrony insensitive idiot unintentionally responsible for murder]], and in other songs as an abusive psycho -- in short, indistinguishable from Slim Shady. ''Is'' Marshall Mathers the real Slim Shady? ...Well, he doesn't seem to be [[WaxingLyrical standing up]] on the cover, so it's ''probably'' sarcasm. Toying with the [[TheNewRockAndRoll moral panic]] about Music/{{Eminem}}'s lyrics and the fact that critics took his Slim Shady VillainProtagonist character literally. [[SplitPersonalityMerge Probably.]]
98	** By extension, ''The Marshall Mathers LP 2'' is also this, being largely about Eminem and Shady and (by WordOfGod) not even being a sequel to ''The Marshall Mathers LP'' but a 'revisitation'. The album opening track, "Bad Guy", even has a character mocking the idea of making a sequel to ''The Marshall Mathers LP'' "just to get people to buy".
99	* Music/PinkFloyd had a compilation titled ''A Collection of Great Dance Songs'', which as the cover with dancers tethered to the ground implied, were mostly undanceable.
100	* {{Music/Oasis}}, Music/TheBlackCrowes, and Spacehog once toured North America together in what was billed as "The Tour Of Brotherly Love" - all three bands [[BandOfRelatives had pairs of brothers in their lineup]] who weren't exactly known to get along, with Oasis' Gallagher brothers being particularly infamous for public feuding.
101	* Sheffield, England group Longpigs titled their debut album ''The Sun Is Often Out'' - Sheffield is known for its frequent overcast or rainy weather.
102	* Music/GilScottHeron's album titled ''I'm New Here,'' which was his final album after making music for ''forty years.''
103	* Music/CharliXCX debut album ''True Romance'' largely consists of bitter [[BreakUpSong break-up songs]].
104	* Music/XiuXiu's "Support Our Troops OH!" is absolutely ''not'' supportive of the troops at all.
105	[[/folder]]
106
107	[[folder:Theatre]]
108	* The opera ''Theatre/LaTraviata'', which translates as "The Woman Gone Astray," "The Fallen Woman" or "The Corrupted Woman." It highlights the HighClassCallGirl heroine Violetta's status as DefiledForever. The plot revolves around Violetta proving herself to be a person of outstandingly noble, selfless character and deep love, yet doomed to misery because her society unfairly judges her as a "traviata."
109	* There's been speculation that Creator/WilliamShakespeare wrote ''Theatre/AsYouLikeIt'' as a PanderingToTheBase exercise to his audience, so the title should be read as ''As '''You''' Like It'', i.e. "well, here's one of those comedies that you people eat up--me, I'm really not that crazy about it."
110	[[/folder]]
111
112	[[folder:Video Games]]
113	* ''VideoGame/FearAndHunger'': One of the S-Endings is titled "Happy Ending", yet it is one of the more bleaker endings, with [[spoiler:Cahara left unable to enjoy his newfound life of opulence as the trauma of the dungeons has rendered him a ShellShockedVeteran]].
114	* ''VideoGame/LiesOfP'' has the ending named "And They All Lived Happily Ever After". Naturally, it is the bleakest of the three endings [[spoiler:and where more or less [[EverybodyDiesEnding everyone dies]]]].
115	* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'': The second game has a chapter near the end titled "Dearest of All My Friends." In it, Max has to protect his long-time enemy Vinnie Gognitti [[EnemyMine against their common foe]] [[spoiler:Vladimir Lem's men]], despite the fact that Max and Vinnie still hate each other. [[TitleDrop The title is dropped]] at the end by Vlad [[spoiler:who proceeds to try to kill his former ally Max.]]
116	[[/folder]]
117
118	[[folder:Visual Novels]]
119	%% Please do not wick the following work as it has already been evaluated as not passing 5P. Thank you.
120	* [=ClockUp=]'s ''Euphoria'' concerns a group of people locked in the middle of nowhere and forced to perform numerous sickening and depraved acts with and to each other -- in short, exactly the opposite of euphoric.
121	[[/folder]]
122
123	[[folder:Web Animation]]
124	* ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlueSeason14'': "The 'Mission'" has "Mission" in ScareQuotes in the title to indicate that it's not a real mission.
125	* The entire point of ''WebAnimation/UnbiasedHistory'' is that it's comically biased and one-sided.
126	[[/folder]]
127
128	[[folder:Web Original]]
129	* Website/TVTropes:
130	** The JustFriends trope is all about characters who, in [[DoggedNiceGuy one way]] or [[UnresolvedSexualTension another]], are anything but.
131	** WithCatlikeTread is about ''failing'' at stealth.
132	** The OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent is a character who gets put through just about everything except going to school and doing their work, and even ''[[WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld that's]]'' variable.
133	** ItWillNeverCatchOn is when it does, in fact, catch on. Its sister trope ThisIsGoingToBeHuge is when the thing never goes huge.
134	[[/folder]]
135
136	[[folder:Web Videos]]
137	* "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xV-WIUsrt8 Fire Emblem Engage Is Maddeningly Easy]]" is a video about A Boy playing ''VideoGame/FireEmblemEngage''(which is considered one of the harder games in the franchise) and frequently losing units or otherwise struggling on maps, often after TemptingFate.
138	* "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Af8ZESLRWs This video]], titled, "VideoGame/FireEmblemEngage Quick Review, Very Brief," is almost an hour long.[[note]]Which is rather short compared to some review videos that are hours long, but that's beside the point[[/note]]
139	* Some ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne'' videos, such as [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_u_-m3wpLO8 this one]], are titled "Skill Issue," or something along those lines. They often consist of the player being caught in an ambush and being wiped out before they can even get a turn, often as a result of the enemy getting lucky critical hits and/or focusing on the [[PlayerCharacter Demi-Fiend]].
140	* ''WebVideo/CityNerd'': The subtitle for [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3v537SEfDag Stroad vs. Stroad: Land Use, Traffic Engineering, and What Happens When Suburban Arterials Intersect]], a video focusing on the dangers and unattractiveness of stroads, is "The Joy of Suburban Intersections".
141	[[/folder]]
142
143	[[folder:Western Animation]]
144	* ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'' is actually a QuirkyWork about anthropomorphic animals working in a park for an anthropomorphic gumball machine and getting into weird adventures. The tagline is ''literally'' "It's anything but".
145	* ''WesternAnimation/SevenLittleMonsters'': The seven monsters tower over everyone else.
146	* In-universe example from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', parodying the use of this trope in independent cinema, comes when Marge attends the Sundance Film Festival. She walks into films called ''Regularsville'' and ''Candyland'', expecting feel-good entertainment, and is horrified to find out they are about crossdressers and drug addicts, respectively. She deducts that ''every'' movie in the festival is like that, and walks into ''Chernobyl Graveyard'' expecting to love it. She doesn't.
147	[[/folder]]

Context Main / SarcasticTitle