We need a thread for tropes that perhaps don't warrant their own thread (like
this one, in retrospect).
Here's one that I've run into twice in the last week. And inexplicably I couldn't find it on tvtropes.
"Is that what you want to hear?" is what I'll call it.
It goes like this:
(1) Boyfriend suspects girlfriend of cheating, confronts her.
(2) Girlfriend denies cheating, and we know she didn't, but the confrontation continues to escalate.
(3) Reaching an argumentative breaking point, the girlfriend says "okay it's true, I did it, we had sex,* is that what you want to hear?"
(*) To intensify the escalation, she might describe the sex as great, note that the boyfriend is inadequate in comparison, etc.
(4) It is clear to the audience that this provocation was meant to be sarcastic and facetious ("is that what you want to hear?" being an important clue), but the boyfriend is in such a boiling rage that it bypasses his logical brain and is processed as a literal confession.
(5) In some rare cases, the boyfriend might recognize the facetiousness of the statement but still be enraged by his girlfriend's intent to wound.
(6) The boyfriend's rage does indeed boil over, resulting in domestic abuse or murder.
« Last Edit: August 18, 2020, 01:22:47 PM by Jeremy Blackman »
"Hunger is the purest sin"
