Berserk Button with only a single incident?

I would assume an example qualifies for Berserk Button only if we see at least two cases where the character gets triggered. However, I have seen a number of cases listed where there was only a single incident leading to an overreaction. We could imagine that this has happened before and will happen again but the work doesn't acknowledge it. Could these still be valid examples or do we have another trope for it. Latest example: Parasite (2019).

Edited by eroock on Jan 24th 2020 at 1:46:36 AM

A Berserk Button has to be an established sensitive point for the character, it doesn't have to result in an over-the-top reaction every time but it should follow some sort of Chekhov's Gun markers. A Rage Breaking Point is probably closer to the one-off incident people may be referring to like in Parasite, as that is not so much a "sensitive" issue (most people would be upset at it) but more the culmination of a lot of bad things happening.

That is correct. A Berserk Button is a distinct event that consistently throws a character into a rage. Anyone can snap under enough pressure; that is not this trope.

If Joe always starts knocking buildings down whenever anyone brings up cherry pies, that's a Berserk Button. If Alice goes on a revenge spree because someone murders her grandmother, that is not.

To reiterate, a Berserk Button must:

• Be distinct to the character, as opposed to something that would make anyone mad.
  • Cherry pies don't normally make people fly into a rage. On the other hand, most people would be angry if someone murdered their grandmother.
• Be narratively established or at least foreshadowed as something the character particularly dislikes.
  • Joe should have a reputation for getting angry at cherry pies. One hopes that Alice does not have a reputation for repeatedly avenging murdered grandparents.
• Be consistent and predictable, not a one-time occurrence.
  • Joe should get angry every time he sees a cherry pie, not only when it's convenient to the plot. While it is predictable that Alice would get angry at her grandparents being murdered, it's an inherently finite narrative resource. In other words, she'll eventually run out of them.
• Trigger an Unstoppable Rage, or at least make the character uncontrollably angry.
  • Joe can't just be irritated by cherry pies; he has to lose control of himself and cause actual harm. Ironically, Alice's Roaring Rampage of Revenge is premeditated violence and so would not be uncontrollable in this sense.

Edited by Fighteer on Jan 24th 2020 at 4:54:48 AM