Basic Trope: A girl brings home a man her dad doesn't approve of.
- Straight: Alice brings home her motorcycle-driving, leather jacket-clad boyfriend to meet her dad, Bob. He disapproves.
- Exaggerated: Alice brings home a motorcycle driver - who is also of a different race, and female. And to top it off, roots for the rival of Bob's preferred sports team.
- Downplayed: Alice's boyfriend is a little different from Bob. It took a while before Bob reluctantly approves of her relationship.
- Justified:
- Bob is extremely protective of Alice, but Alice is rebelliously annoyed by it.
- Bob is normally pretty laissez-faire towards Alice, but certain troubling recent changes in her behavior have not been lost on him, and after meeting her new boyfriend, Bob got the sense that he truly was bad news and also gained some insight into where Alice's recent behavioral shifts were coming from.
- Alice’s boyfriend is of a different race than Bob and Bob doesn’t approve of his daughter dating outside her race.
- Alice’s boyfriend is actually her girlfriend and Bob does not approve of same-sex relationships.
- Alice's boyfriend reminds Bob so much of his past days, which also involved having been Made a Slave by a rival gang, which means that Alice's boyfriend is liable to suffering the exact same things as Bob did.
- Alice's boyfriend is a criminal and a jerkass, meaning that he really is bad news. Bob can see it, and he's disturbed that Alice doesn't.
- Inverted:
- Alice's boyfriend is extremely similar to Bob, so he approves.
- Bob constantly brings home women Alice dislikes.
- Alice’s boyfriend does not approve of her dad, who is fine with him.
- Gender-Inverted:
- Albert brings home women who displease his mother, Roberta.
- Alice brings home a man, but while her father is fine with him, her mother disapproves of him.
- Subverted:
- Sure, the boyfriend drives a motorcycle and wears a leather jacket, but after Bob gets to know him he learns he's a responsible member of the community who pays taxes and votes.
- Alice's father pulls aside Bob, who expects to be scolded, but he instead calmly to inform him that he is being used.
- Double Subverted:
- Later, during their date, Alice mentions that Bob totally fell for the boyfriend's "goody two-shoes" act.
- Alice's father can't believe she would date a man like Bob, that he convinces himself that she is trying to piss him off.
- Parodied:
- Alice brings home a plush toy cat and Bob gasps in horror, thinking she'll spend the rest of her life as a Crazy Cat Lady.
- Alice is dating a Card-Carrying Villain that killed little girls and bragged about it on live TV, Alice and her mom don't really catch on to his cackling madness, while her dad is pretty much very distrustful of his daughter's new boyfriend, if only for the wrong reasons, like the wicked boyfriend mentions he hates sports programs, which Alice's dad loves to watch.
- Zig Zagged: Alice brings home her motorcycle riding boyfriend Steve and Bob tells him he's watching him. Steve and Alice decide to take Bob to a restaurant to make Bob like Steve and Bob is happy that they are being nice to him but then Steve is rude at the dinner making Bob angry. Later Steve buys Bob a gift to apologize.
- Averted: Alice is single, Bob approves, or Alice's parent's thoughts on the boyfriend are never made clear.
- Enforced: ???
- Lampshaded: "Why'd you bring this guy here now? Why don't you settle down with a nice friendly boy?"
- Invoked:
- Alice asked her boyfriend to dress up as a punk in front of her dad.
- Shock Value Relationship
- Exploited: Alice dates these men to get a rise out of Bob.
- Defied: Alice advices her boyfriend to keep a good impression.
- Discussed: "My dad hates my new boyfriend because he's a tattoo artist who owns his own shop and helps organize a lot of underground art events, not an insufferable WASP-y preppy fuckboy like he wanted. God forbid that he actually allows his daughter to be happy and make her own decisions for once."
- Conversed: "Look, you can either stop dating Steve on your own, or I can give you a compelling reason to stop dating him. It's your choice." "Dad, you barely even know the guy and you've never given him a fair chance. Every time he tried to win you over, you ignored it or acted like he was just trying to kiss ass." "Alice, let me tell you something. I work with his uncle. His uncle has told me in no uncertain terms to keep you far, far away from him. He told me more about Steve and what he's like than I probably even wanted to know because he's seen this happen before. That kid is bad news." "I know exactly who the uncle is and he understands Steve even less than you do. You don't know what you're talking about, he doesn't know what he's talking about, and I don't give a fuck about anything that either of you have to say."
- Implied: Alice's boyfriend expresses dread at the prospect of dinner with Alice's family.
- Deconstructed:
- Bob is attacking Alice's boyfriend because he threatens his abusive control over Alice.
- Alice’s boyfriend breaks up with her after he realises that the the only reason she is dating him is to make Bob mad.
- Alice’s boyfriend ends up being abusive prompting her to realise that Bob had a good reason for disliking him and breaks up with him.
Come back with me to Dating What Daddy Hates. Dad'll probably be pissed that I'm taking you though...
