History Main / ShorterMeansSmarter

%%* Mr Pin and Mr Tulip from ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Discworld/TheTruth''. ----ing right.

* ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'': Even though they're lab rats and already pretty small by default, Brain is also shorter than Pinky, who's also an idiot.

* Another Creator/DustinHoffman example: in ''Film/MidnightCowboy'', Ratso Rizzo has the street smarts that 6-foot 2-inch DumbBlonde Joe Buck lacks, though in different ways both men are tragically naive. Comparisons to ''Literature/OfMiceAndMen'' are easy.

* ''Disney/TheLionKing'':

* Disney usually inverts this trope with villains, with the taller one being the smarter one and the short one being the dumb comic sidekick. Honest John and Gideon from ''Disney/{{Pinocchio}}'' and the Walrus and the Carpenter from ''Disney/AliceInWonderland'' are notorious inversions. Subversions of inversions include Napoleon and Lafayette from ''Disney/TheAristocats'' and Gaston and Lefou from ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast''.

* In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the smartest people are also the shortest. Tony Stark is 5'9", Bruce Banner is 5'8", and Peter Parker and Princess Shuri are both 5'6".

* ''Manga/DeathNote'' plays with this in the cases of Mello and Near. While Mello is average-short for a man (5'7) his companions in the Mafia are all a good six inches taller than he is. Near is only 5 feet, but he's [[spoiler: the one who takes Kira down in the end, so he must be fairly intellegent.]]

* Zigzagged with the ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'' series. The smarter characters are typically dwarf-sized scientists (Drs. Neo Cortex, N.Gin, N. Brio and even N. Trance to some people), youngsters (Coco Bandicoot and Nina Cortex) or floating masks (Aku Aku and Uka Uka), yet Dr. N. Tropy is among one of the taller ones. Ripper Roo is completely insane due to a botched experiment, but still managed to educate himself by the second game. Crash himself is dimmer than both his tall girlfriend Tawna (as evidenced by ''Nitro-Fueled''). ''and'' his somewhat taller sister (the aforementioned Coco). As for the [[AmazonBrigade Nitro Squad]], Megumi is the shortest member and is mentioned to have made perfume in ''Team Racing'''s epilogue, yet Isabella is the most knowledgeable about cars and is Amazonian compared to the others.

* Zigzagged with the ''Franchise/CrashBandicoot'' series. Some of the smarter characters are typically dwarf-sized scientists (Drs. Cortex, N.Gin, N. Brio and even N. Trance to some people), actual youngsters (Coco Bandicoot and Nina Cortex) or floating masks (Aku Aku and Uka Uka), yet Dr. N. Tropy is among one of the taller ones. Ripper Roo started out completely insane due to a botched experiment, but still managed to educate himself by the second game.
Crash himself is less smart than both his tall girlfriend Tawna (as evidenced by ''Nitro-Fueled''). ''and'' his sister (the aforementioned Coco).

* In the movie adaptations of ''Film/{{Hellboy}}'', compare Bruiser Hellboy to his partner Abe Sapien, who's both smarter/more well-read and psychic. (Note that this is AdaptationDisplacement at work; in the comics Hellboy is a GeniusBruiser and Abe has no psychic powers.)

* In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the smartest people are also the shortest. Tony Stark is 5'9" Bruce Banner is 5'8", and Peter Parker and Princess Shuri are all 5'6".

* In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the smartest people are also the shortest. Tony Stark is 5'7' and Bruce Banner, Peter Parker and Princess Shuri are all 5'6'.

* [[SonicTheHedgehog Miles "Tails" Prower]] of SonicTheHedgehog is a [[ChildProdigy mechanical genius]], and his IQ is implied to be [[ImprobablyHighIQ 400]]. He's two and a half feet tall.

Naturally, seen often with TheSmartGuy and TheBigGuy of the FiveManBand. Interestingly enough, the TropeMaker of the modern FiveManBand, Anime/ScienceNinjaTeamGatchaman, had a TagalongKid as the Smart Guy, who was only 'smart' in the {{trickster}} sense rather than the technical sense. The two roles would become conflated later.

* ''Comicbook/{{Batman}}'': Tim Drake, traditionally considered the "smart" Robin, is also the shortest. PlayedWith when Damian eventually takes up the role--he's a genius and even shorter than Tim, but also quite a bit younger; his growth rate and the occasion {{Futureshadowing}} seem to indicate that he'll [[BigLittleBrother outgrow his brother]] eventually.

* Zexion of ''KingdomHearts''. Compare him to every one else (except Roxas and Xion), and you'll find he's the shortest out of them, especially the other "Basement Members." Then again, he's the youngest apprentice...

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales'' has [[IronicName Big Time Beagle]], who is about as tall as Huey, Dewy and Louie, and is easily the smartest of the Beagle Boys.

* Disney usually inverts this trope with villains. Honest John and Gideon from ''Disney/{{Pinocchio}}'' and the Walrus and the Carpenter from ''Disney/AliceInWonderland'' are notorious inversions. Subversions of inversions include Napoleon and Lafayette from ''Disney/TheAristocats'' and Gaston and LeFou from ''Disney/BeautyAndTheBeast''.

* Another Creator/DustinHoffman example: in ''Film/MidnightCowboy'', Ratso Rizzo has the street smarts that 6'2'' DumbBlonde Joe Buck lacks, though in different ways both men are tragically naive. Comparisons to ''Literature/OfMiceAndMen are easy.

* Another Creator/DustinHoffman example: in ''Film/MidnightCowboy'', Ratso Rizzo has the street smarts that 6'2'' DumbBlonde Joe Buck lacks, though in different ways both men are tragically naive. ''Literature/OfMiceAndMen comparisons are easy.