Basic Trope: Someone slaps someone else for doing or saying something that is seen by the slapper as dumb.
- Straight: When Alice says, "I wonder if storks really do deliver babies" upon reading about the Delivery Stork in a book, Bob slaps her on the head.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob slaps Alice several times.
- Bob delivers a blow with a Hyperspace Mallet.
- Get A Hold Of Yourself Man.
- Bob gives Alice a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
- Downplayed:
- Bob only gives Alice a slight tap on the back of her head.
- Bob taps Alice on the head with a knuckle.
- Bob roughly ruffles Alice's hair.
- Justified:
- Bob is a little bit ill-mannered while being a good sort at heart. Thus, he is not above slapping Alice and implying she's stupid but at the same time, he knows she doesn't offend easily and it won't really hurt.
- Alice is about to make an Innocently Insensitive remark and Bob is trying to get her to shut up.
- Boke and Tsukkomi Routine
- Inverted:
- Bob slaps Alice for being smart.
- Bob is a Token Evil Teammate who gives up slapping Alice when she says something dumb.
- Subverted: It turned out that Bob didn't mean to slap Alice.
- Double Subverted: He'd meant to slap Charlie, who'd agreed that he wondered if storks delivered babies.
- Parodied:
- A robot that is sometimes The Ditz, which can be fixed by hitting.
- Alice immidately follows it up with saying something even more absurd.
- Zig Zagged: Bob slaps Alice after she asks the stork question, but he looks a bit guilty. It's hard to tell if it was intentional and then he regretted it or it was an accident.
- Averted:
- Alice does not say or do anything stupid.
- Bob does not slap Alice, even if she does.
- Enforced: To set Bob up as being a bit impolite and Alice as a bit ditzy.
- Lampshaded: "It's not like hitting me will make me any smarter, Bob.".
- Invoked:
- Alice wonders what being hit in the head feels like, so she is intentionally stupid in order to get dope slapped.
- Alice tells Bob to slap her over the head if she says anything really dumb or embarrassing, wanting to correct her behavior over time.
- Exploited: Due to some sort of Zany Scheme, Alice is forced to slap a Fat Idiot with glue on her hand... and when she tries to slap him, she has a hard time moving.
- Defied:
- Alice, in order to avoid being dope slapped, avoids doing or saying anything that could be seen as stupid.
- Bob refuses to hit Alice, either because he wouldn't hit Alice in particular because she's his Love Interest/best friend/crush/wife/sister/cousin/mother/auntie/daughter/whatever, or wouldn't hit anyone.
- "I don't care how much you think I deserve it, Bob; if you ever raise your hand against me again, I'll have you tried for assault. Do you think you have a chance against a jury?"
- Discussed: "So why do some people hit others for being stupid?"
- Conversed: "I wish that character will stop slapping the others when they say something dumb. It's not their fault."
- Implied: Bob slaps Alice off-screen and she's not sure why, but whenever Charlie and Diane call Bob out on it, he just calls Alice an idiot.
- Deconstructed:
- The others sternly lets Bob know that slapping Alice, or anyone else, won't be tolerated.
- Slapping Alice all the time for saying stupid things causes her to lash out and give Bob a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.
- Alice's father Charles berates Bob.
- Played for Laughs:Alice: "I wonder if storks do deliver babies."
Bob: "Idiot!" (slaps Alice)
Alice: "Hey, it's not like hitting me will make me any smarter, Bob."
Bob: "Actually, you seem smart now. Maybe you're not an idiot, just uneducated. Sorry." - Played for Drama:
- This incident starts a Feud Episode.
- Somebody sees Bob slapping Alice and immediately assumes that it's abuse, leading to Bob having his life destroyed. For further drama, maybe for all of Bob's and Alice's denial, this ritual of theirs has begun to become abuse.
Back to Dope Slap, but don't do or say anything dumb, or you might get hit.
