Suggestion: Indignant Slap

This was cobbled together from various sources and clearly the quality is mismatched. If anyone is able, I'd like to use a better collage of this scene. All I have is my phone and no means of capturing stills.

Of course, the floor is open to other options as always, but they have to clearly show that a slap was delivered in a moment of indignation.

Not a big fan of the quality

yes, hence my asking for someone to recreate it from the source material. It was cobbled from various resources to give an example of what I sought, not to serve as the final product

If anyone knows how to connect an android phone to a blu ray via USB port, I can try and grab clean copies myself.

Even disregarding the quality, that's a bit too many panels for a slap trope, and the text doesn't make sense to those unfamiliar with the work. The subtitles are inconsistent color-wise, too.

How about these instead?

• 5.1:

• 5.2:

^ they both have potential. But the first one doesn't show that the slap was based on indignation and would need at least one more panel to do so, while the second one doesn't show what it was she said that offered indignation

How about this memetic moment?

If that's readable at wiki size then I'm to that, potentially with "The comic panel that launched an infinite amount of memes." as the caption.

Is it indignation or dominance, though?

I don't think you can get a slap that is not also an expression of dominance on some level. The indignation is there.

...it's a slight pity that memes themselves aren't allowed, since any of the many MY PARENTS ARE DEAD edits would use less text.

well there is some truth to that, I would like to keep this distinct as possible from Bitch Slap. And to that end I'd prefer a greater equality between the person striking and the person being struck then Batman and Robin. The power dynamic here is just too different.

@Librarian, Doesn't matter what was said. And she obviously mocked/belittled her opponents based on the text in the last panel.

@selkies Your first picture is good visually, but needs context to show the indignation. Your second has a very strong looking male hitting a n average looking girl, so I'd prefer her actual offense, lest it come across as abusive.

This is a slap trope; slapping someone is abusive no matter what, but that's not how it's portrayed in fiction or the trope.

Well, I can think of a specific situation where it's not abusive, and smacking in self-defense isn't either :P But that's beside the point.

The Batman image isn't perfect, but it's the only one that really seems to convey the indignation without requiring multiple panels.

Edited by WarJay77 on May 28th 2023 at 6:13:29 AM

We have pages with multiple panels, though, so that shouldn't really be a disqualifier. Like I said, selkies first image needs context, but doesn't convey an abusive imbalance.

It's not a disqualifier (I've voted for and pitched many multi-panel images before) but if there's an image that can convey it just as well without multiple panels, I find it the better choice.

And I also don't see the issue with an "abusive imbalance" as long as it doesn't distract from what the trope is about.

Edited by WarJay77 on May 28th 2023 at 7:12:38 AM

my point is that it does distract. The trope is about someone moved to violence by indignation, but if the person who's engaging in violence has all the power, it comes of either as Bitch Slap or Jerkass. That's why a clear affront without a power imbalance, or the imbalance being a clearly weaker person moved to violence, is what I think we should aim for.

Okay, and in my mind it DOESN'T distract, especially since without you bringing it up, power dynamics were never even on my mind. I don't tend to consider those things without context (power dynamics aren't always as simple as gender or age) and certainly wouldn't let it color my perception of a trope.

Edited by WarJay77 on May 28th 2023 at 7:43:57 AM

gender and age, not necessarily. But selkies second example, as I said, shows a very muscular looking male striking an average looking female, and clearly very hard. I've seen an abusive relationship close up, so that makes me very uncomfortable, and I would like to know the exact provocation for such a move. And as far as the Batman example, I know Batman and Robin. It's a father/son dynamic, and seeing a parental figure striking a non adult ward is also something that makes me uncomfortable.

Now, selkies first image comes from a source I'm unfamiliar with, but the work page, at least if I'm reading it correctly, has the person doing the slap serve as the Morality Chain for the person being struck. That interests me. But it offered no context as to why, and I could be missing it, but I don't see any references to that moment on the work page. So why did someone's Morality Chain feel the need to strike them?

A second panel providing context would go a long way, and if you do feel that the image fit the trope, @selkies, please do a write-up for the trope page. Every example helps.

I prefer 5.1 because her face shows the indignation well enough. But if it doesn't get enough support, I prefer 5.2 to Batman because while I generally prefer single panel images (especially from non-comics), 5.2 is less texty and thus it takes much less time to make sense of it. Alternatively, we could move the text to the first panel and remove the second. It's just a subtitle, after all.

As for the abusive relationship part, both 5.2 and 7 have it, or looks like having it, but 5.1 doesn't, so it's another argument for that image.

Edited by petersohn on May 29th 2023 at 4:38:41 PM

@Warjay, ^note Even in BDSM, it's a form of consensual "abuse", and I haven't heard of smacking in self-defense; it's always punching or hitting the attacker with an elbow. Slapping was never a self-defense technique.

We might need a crowner if there aren't enough votes/opinions.

^note It's not "abuse" if it's consensual and doesn't cause actual harm. That's the opposite of abuse. And I do feel like someone could hit in self-defense, even if it's not actually a technique. My point is, slapping someone is not always enough to constitute actual abuse depending on the situation. Depending on definition, slapping someone once only counts as assault at worst.

Anyway, I see what you're saying Librarian, but that was never one of the images I was considering anyway since the "indignation" part is extremely weak. So for the images that express the emotion properly, an abuse dynamic isn't as evident or present at all. (Even with Batman and Robin, the slap doesn't seem that hard if Robin can speak while it's happening, and they're both trained fighters who can take a lot of abuse).

Edited by WarJay77 on May 29th 2023 at 2:09:32 PM

A crowner might be needed, at that, unless someone has other images to offer.

And I did mean it, selkies, if you feel those moments fit the trope, you should add them. If they became the image, either of them, it would be strange to have them represented visually, but not on the page itself.

Bumping.