History Main / GlorifiedSpermDonor

-->'''Angela''': You're a glorified sperm donor. Don't get emotionally attached.

* This trope is often played up to insanity in fanfiction. In particular, [[TheSmartGuy Hermione]] [[HarryPotter Granger]], [[BadassAbnormal paragon of muggle-born]] and [[FriendToAllLivingThings champion of the rights of the underdog]], will [[CharacterDerailment immediately]] [[FaceHeelTurn switch sides]] and become a [[KickTheDog House Elf kicking]] bigot the moment she finds out that [[FanNickname Daddymort]] [[LukeIAmYourFather is her father]].

** It's consequence-free sex with JulianneMoore in her prime. What sane non-gay man would turn that down?

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* In ''{{Watchmen}}'', [[spoiler:the Comedian, who is referred to positively in the end by both the first Silk Spectre (the mother) and the second Silk Spectre (the daughter). This left a bad taste in many a fan's mouth, as most of the things he does in the story are rather gruesome (among other things, he murders a Vietnamese girl who was several months pregnant with his child)]], this is greatly due to the GreyAndGreyMorality that ''Watchmen'' enjoys.

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* Some portrayals of the {{Hercules}} myth show Zeus as being distinctly hands-off, allowing other Gods to harass Hercules at will. Admittedly, Zeus' parenthood here is glorified for good reason, since his parentage is what makes Hercules a Greek SuperHero. In fact, more often then not in Greek Mythology, the spawn of the gods get some kind of nifty powers which at least make the being dumped off by your parents pill a little easier to swallow.
** Zeus... and ancient patriarch and/or warrior gods in general... have a habit of leaving little bundles of Demi-joy all over the mortal landscape and then doing bupkis about them.

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* A Dutch TV show, airing in spring 2011, will attempt to take (voluntary) DNA tests of everyone who has donated to, or was conceived by, artificial insemination.

<<|TheParentTrope|>>
<<|ParentalIssues|>>

-->"I'll be a better single parent than all of my high school girlfriends combined!"
-->-Captain Hero, DrawnTogether

* This trope is often played up to insanity in fanfiction. In particular, [[TheSmartGuy Hermione]] [[HarryPotter Granger]], [[BadassNormal paragon of muggle-born]] and [[FriendToAllLivingThings champion of the rights of the underdog]], will [[CharacterDerailment immediately]] [[FaceHeelTurn switch sides]] and become a [[KickTheDog House Elf kicking]] bigot the moment she finds out that [[FanNickname Daddymort]] [[LukeIAmYourFather is her father]].

* Deconstructed in ''The Kids Are All Right'', which takes a serious look at the ethical ramifications of this trope. Paul's apparent status as an instant parent comes off as insulting to Nic, as she and Jules were the ones who actually raised the kids. At the same time, the kids' desire to know their bio-daddy is shown as nuanced and reasonable- he is, after all, the only biological connection between them.

* ''Fresh Prince of Bel Air'' devotes a full episode to that. Will's birth-dad Lou comes and Will's excited about taking a trip with him, only to be abandoned again. The episode ends with Will sobbing in Uncle Phil's arms and realizing he's the closest to a real father he could ever ask for.
* ''ER'' does it with Sam's son Alex. Just as Luka (Sam's boyfriend) has become a suitable role model and father figure, his felon birth-father Steve appears for the first of several times, causing a lot of conflict. The long plot has its ups and downs including Alex visiting his dad in prison and ending dramatically with Steve abducting Alex and Sam, raping the latter and being shot by her.

* This trope is often played up to insanity in fanfiction. In particular, [[TheSmartGuy Hermione Granger]], [[BadassNormal paragon of muggle-born]] and [[FriendToAllLivingThings champion of the rights of the underdog]], will [[CharacterDerailment immediately]] [[FaceHeelTurn switch sides]] and become a [[KickTheDog House Elf kicking]] bigot the moment she finds out that [[FanNickname Daddymort]] [[LukeIAmYourFather is her father]].

* A Dutch TV show, airing in spring 2011, will attempt to take (voluntary) DNA tests of everyone who has donated to, or was conceived by, artificial insemination. This Troper will be on the show, and will report about it in TroperTales.

* In one arc in ''GilmoreGirls'', Luke's nephew Jess comes to live with him. Jess has never known his father. The string of stepfathers he's lived through are implied to be pretty unreliable. Luke is the closest, most stable thing to a father he knows. But when his Bio Daddy comes to town--doesn't even say anything, mind you, just rocks out to a Bowie song with him--Jess drops Luke, his girlfriend, and everything he's come to care for just to spend some time with Daddy out in California. Yes it was an [[PoorlyDisguisedPilot aborted attempt at a spin-off]]. Doesn't stop it from being a WallBanger.

* Some portrayals of the {{Hercules}} myth show Zeus as being distinctly hands-off, allowing other Gods to harass Hercules at will. Admittedly, Zeus' parenthood here is glorified for good reason, since his parentage is what makes Hercules a Greek SuperHero.

* In ''{{Watchmen}}'', [[spoiler:the Comedian, who is referred to positively in the end by both the first Silk Spectre (the mother) and the second Silk Spectre (the daughter). This left a bad taste in many a fan's mouth, as most of the things he does in the story are rather gruesome (among other things, he murders a Vietnamese girl who was several months pregnant with his child)]], this is greatly due to the GreyAndGreyMorality that ''Watchmen'' enjoys. Note that this trope's subtext is much more explicit in the ending of TheMovie. In the graphic novel, it's much more toned down.

* Whether this applies in ''{{Scion}}'' is on a case-by-case basis, and usually connects to how the Scion's mortal parents were. In general, the worse a Scion's birth family, the more likely they'll be relieved to discover they had a divine parent. Most of the sample characters are still a little bitter at the circumstances; in the opening fiction for ''Scion: God'', Donnie Rhodes makes a point of barging in on his mother (Aphrodite - a rare glorified ''egg'' donor) to inform her that his (mortal) father is dead - and showing no surprise at her lack of reaction.

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* A more horrible example than most occurs in ''Blood+'': [[spoiler:Diva rapes poor little Riku after he because Saya's chevalier, and then murders him. She then is pregnant with vampire twins for the rest of the series - who grow in cocoons.]]

* In ''{{Watchmen}}'', [[spoiler:the Comedian, who is referred to positively in the end by both the first Silk Spectre (the mother) and the second Silk Spectre (the daughter). This left a bad taste in many a fan's mouth, as most of the things he does in the story are rather gruesome (among other things, he murders a Vietnamese girl who was several months pregnant with his child). This might have been part of the point.]]
** Note that this trope's subtext is much more explicit in the ending of TheMovie. In the graphic novel, it's much more toned down.
** ''Watchmen'' greatly enjoys GreyAndGreyMorality. In fact, that's the entire point of that sequence; [[spoiler: Silk Spectre II comes to her mother's realization that no matter how evil someone may seem, they're still capable of doing good things. The Comedian, who until that point appeared to be simply a CompleteMonster, is revealed as a very flawed person, just like the rest of the characters; the difference is, the Comedian gave into his flaws, whereas the others attempted to hold them at bay.]]

* In ''SupermanReturns'', Superman fills this role. He ditched Lois for five years without giving an explanation to anyone. Even if he didn't know Lois was pregnant at the time, it was rather irresponsible, at best, for him to have unprotected sex and just ditch. It gets even worse than ''that'' when you consider that Richard White must be an outright awesome guy to want to be married to Lois and raise a child that isn't his, but Lois Lane is Superman's love interest, so tough luck fella.
** I personally thought Richard White was the real hero of the story.
** Who said he didn't use protection? But since when has puny Earth rubber been able to stop Kryptonian single cells, If You Know What I Mean...
*** [[{{Mallrats}} It's amazing he didn't blow through her back like a shotgun.]]
** This troper was under the impression that Louis got together with Richard not too long after she slept with Superman and thus was under the impression that he was the father. Or at least that's the way Jimmy seemed to imply it, when he mentioned her being a mommy and then the possibility of her marrying Richard at the same time.
*** It seems this way, right up until the kid starts doing things humans can't. Like no one saw that twist coming. Apparently parallel evolution is really intersecting evolution.

* Maude Lebowski takes the "glorified" out of this when she has the Dude become the father of her child. She doesn't want to have to see the father socially, nor does she want the father to be invested in the raising of the kid. The Dude, of course, is cool with this.