History Main / GoodFlawsBadFlaws

* [[{{Pride}} Arrogance]] and/or [[ItsAllAboutMe Selfishiness]]

[[AC:Anime and Manga]]

[[AC:{{Comics}}]]

[[AC:{{Film}}]]

[[AC:WebComics]]

[[AC:WebOriginal]]
* Ghost of ''Radio/TrueCapitalist'' won't deny that he has a HairTriggerTemper, but accusing him of being racist, abusive, sexually deviant, [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking or a]] [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic brony]] is a sure-fire way of [[BerserkButton triggering his temper]].

* [[HatesEveryoneEqually Misanthropy]] or [[TheCynic cynicism]].

* Being a {{Jerkass}}.
* Being a murderer or committing other crimes like theft.

* Sexism (misogyny moreso than misandry)

* [[GayAesop Homophobia]] ([[ValuesDissonance depending on the author's culture or religion]])

* Being a murderer.

* Being a rapist.

* Eric Cartman from ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' is a horrible bigot, and is portrayed absolutely unsympathetically. He still has his fans, though.

* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'': Zuko exhibits some of the good flaws such as having a hot temper, a determination that borders on suicidal at times and is quite emotionally aloof a lot of the time until his character development starts kicking in at season 2. Interestingly enough, his sister Azula shares similar, acceptable flaws such as self-depreciation. But she also has negative flaws that she never outgrows like her snobbery and control freak tendencies.

* Being a [[TheKlutz klutz]].

* [[CuteClumsyGirl Clumsiness]] can be so endearing that it's often the single flaw given in an otherwise perfect character.

* Being [[CoolLoser too cool to socialize]].

Bad Flaws can be EasilyForgiven ''if'' the character casts them off and becomes a better person. TheAtoner atones for them. The BigBad may just have worse flaws. Sometimes they can be given the sympathetic point of view - there's good reasons why they have this flaw. LaserGuidedKarma also assists in forgiveness, as long as they learn from their punishment. If your prejudiced hero learns about other ethnic groups over the course of his journey and, at the end of the book, decides that he can now accept people of different ethnic groups as equal to himself; well, he was an egalitarian all along, just waiting for the right experience to let him grow, wasn't he? (Less idealistic works might have the hero retain his bad habits, but [[TroubledSympatheticBigot still strive to do the right thing in spite of himself]].)

A JerkWithAHeartOfJerk will be marked by ''both'' types of flaw, and might use the "good" ones to deliberately mask the "bad" ones. See also: GoodSmokingEvilSmoking for an in-depth discussion of tobacco as a signifier of morality.

Feel free to add more examples to the current list, but try to keep it general and widely applicable. Also, feel free to add lists of examples pertaining to other cultures and time periods. Also feel free to add to the list of examples below, but keep in mind that this sort of thing is often played with and changes over time, so there are going to be very few straight examples.

* Creator/AnthonyBurgess was inspired to write ''Literature/AClockworkOrange'' because he found it fascinating that Nazis during World War II would relax from a day of killing people by enjoying the beauty of Music/LudwigVanBeethoven 's music. The very idea that vicious criminals could appreciate beautiful innocent art was the reason Alex [=DeLarge=] became a Beethoven admirer.

* {{Domestic Abuse}}r ([[DoubleStandardAbuseFemaleOnMale especially when male]])

* Sam Vimes from the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' books claims to be a racist and a speciesist, but aside from the fact that he would risk his life for any of his citizens, he is a raging misanthrope so any racism/speciesism is just an extension of thinking ''everyone'' is a bastard. Even his outwardly promoted reverse snobbery doesn't prevent him from marrying Lady Sybil, heiress to one of the richest estates in Ankh-Morporkh, and having the title of Duke being bestowed (albeit unhappily) upon him. He's also a very heavy drinker who used to drink to forget, but has since forgotten what he was trying to forget, so he keeps drinking so he won't remember .Interestingly enough he's been moved off Alcohol and onto cigars by his wife.

* Even more intractable is the tendency to attempt to psychologically scan a historical subject to see if he ([[AlwaysMale and it usually is indeed a "he"]]) harbors any sensibilities that are currently abhorrent. This can be tricky for a number of reasons, not least of which is the fact that individuals who weren't particularly political or weren't social critics probably didn't put forth that many substantial opinions. Also, said person may merely be speaking or writing to others who ''do'' harbor those views, and pandering to them. Finally, despite what many seem to believe, irony and sarcasm were not twentieth-century inventions.