History Main / SweetAndSourGrapes

* The remake of ''Film/Bedazzled2000'' has Eliot get out of his [[DealWithTheDevil contract with The Devil]] by making a selfless wish that the woman he'd spent the whole movie pining for would have a happy life. When he's released and finally gets the courage to ask the woman out, he discovers that his wish ended up fixing her broken relationship so she's no longer single, which he gracefully accepts and moves on. Then he returns home to find a new neighbor moving into the house next to his, a young woman with a striking resemblance to his former crush who has a bubbly, talkative personality much like his own. They hit it off immediately.

* ''WesternAnimation/WanderOverYonder'': The episode "The Time Bomb" has Wander and Sylvia compete in a race and the former has to help the latter control her UnstoppableRage. She ends up getting second, but she does not care about winning anymore because she managed to control herself and it's the thought that counts. [[DisqualificationInducedVictory But then the winners are disqualified for cheating]], giving her the victory by default.

** After his retirement from competitive sailing, he was asked, in 2012, whether he ever regretted not winning a top-three medal in the Seoul Olympics. He quipped that if he had, it wouldn't have brought him nearly as much lasting fame as winning the Coubertin Medal did, since sailors are not exactly rock stars among professional athletes.

* This is a ''huge'' problem on ''Series/FullHouse'', especially in later seasons when the writers began focusing on [[TheScrappy Michelle]]. But the seeds were there from the beginning:

* ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzer''.The protagonist, Miho, who doesn't think winning is everything, ''has'' to win, lest [[spoiler:her school shut down, resulting in her and her friends being separated]], something she finds out when she's prepared to surrender to prevent people from getting hurt. Her older sister Maho, who follows their family's ideology of winning at all costs, [[spoiler:does so in order to allow Miho the freedom to live and practice tankery the way she wants, and gladly accepts defeat against Miho, especially now that she's found a way of tankery that she can call her own]].

* ''WesternAnimation/BigCityGreens'': In the climax of "Green Christmas", Cricket realizes all those disasters were indeed no one's fault but his, and has no doubt he'll never get any presents from Santa. After pouring out his troubles to the real Santa on a bench, Santa offers Cricket a magical gift which can be any present he wants; Cricket refuses the gift, instead wishing for Tilly to be back on the nice list, because he discovered the only thing he wanted for Christmas didn't come in a box. On Christmas Day though, not only was Tilly back on the nice list, he was as well, as confirmed by Tilly discovering a present with Cricket's name, because of his selfless act of putting Tilly's needs before his which truly considered him nice.

->'''House''': As the philosopher [[Music/MickJagger Jagger]] once said, [[Music/TheRollingStones "You can't always get what you want."]]\\

* At the end of ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'', Lightning [=McQueen=] is literally inches away from winning the Piston Cup, racing's biggest honor and what he has dreamed of his entire life. However, [[JerkJock Chick Hicks]], angry at the prospect of coming in third behind Lightning and [[OldMaster Strip "The King" Wethers]], deliberately rams Strip as hard as possible, which sends the older car flying through the air and badly injures him. Upon seeing Strip's damaged body, Lightning pumps his brakes, leaves the track, and gets behind him while Chick speeds to victory. Lightning then pushes Strip over the finish line, ensuring that The King is able to finish his last race with dignity. This puts Lightning in last place and costs him the Cup, but since thousands of audience members (and millions more around the world) are watching the race, his humility and sportsmanship instantly win him more praise and respect than any racing victory ever could, ensuring that he'll go down in history for his HeroicSacrifice. Chick, meanwhile, is openly booed by everyone in the crowd--even his former fans--despite winning the Cup (to the point where the organizers literally throw the trophy at him instead of giving him a proper award ceremony).
** The trope continues immediately afterward: in addition to the trophy, the winner of the Piston Cup was promised the opportunity to become the spokesperson for Dinoco, the biggest fuel brand in the ''Cars'' world. Tex, the owner of the company, refuses to give Chick the deal and offers it to Lightning instead, but after a moment's temptation, he remarks that he prefers to stick with the much smaller Rust-Eze brand that has supported him for years. Tex is impressed by his loyalty and offers him any other reward he might like, and Lightning asks him for help in (literally) putting Radiator Springs back on the map, which restores the town to its former glory and wins him both true love from his girlfriend Sally and a place to call home.

* Then there's the story of the man who accompanies a dog to heaven, only to be told that he can only enter the gates if he leaves the dog behind. He refuses to abandon his companion and turns his back on heaven... and then is informed that it was a SecretTestOfCharacter and his compassion has earned him and the dog entry to paradise.[[note]]''Series/TheTwilightZone'' used this plot for the episode "The Hunt". Though in ''The Twilight Zone'', it was secretly Hell, trying to trick people, and [[EvilDetectingDog dogs can tell the difference]], which is why it refused to go. [[SpaceWhaleAesop So get a dog, or you'll go to Hell!]][[/note]]

* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', Harry is urged by Aberforth to save himself and leave the task of killing Voldemort to someone else. Harry refuses to do so, despite this goal causing him to separate himself from Ginny and lose all hope of a safe, normal life, on the grounds that he'd rather sacrifice his personal desires to ensure no one else is hurt by Voldemort. Even when he learns that [[spoiler:he needs to let Voldemort kill him to ensure Voldemort's demise, completely removing any chance at all of returning to his loved ones]], he goes through with it. [[spoiler:It turns out the whole thing was a gambit set up by Dumbledore. Turns out that Voldemort damaged his soul so much that when he tried to kill Harry and gave him that scar as an infant, he made Harry into an ''8th [[SoulJar Horcrux]].'' This explains their connection, Harry's ability to speak Parseltongue and so on. Harry willing letting himself be killed instead kills off the soul fragment in him and leaving Voldemort more vulnerable (with the last horcrux being destroyed in Nagini thanks to Neville) and leaves him just as himself. Not only that, but because Harry willingly died to protect everyone helping him, he invoked the same magical protection his mom gave him, ensuring that Voldemort really ''can't'' hurt anyone else for the rest of the battle. Voldemort loses when he tries to use the Elder Wand on Harry (but due to wand rules and disarment, Harry became the master after disarming Draco who became it after disarming Dumbledore). The wand refuses to kill its master and backfires, ending Voldemort once and for all.]] And then the WhereAreTheyNow epilogue confirms that Harry ends up marrying Ginny and having the family he's always wanted.

** In the episode "Wonderbolts Academy", Rainbow Dash chooses to drop out of the Wonderbolt training program rather than stay with an organization that seemingly encourages cadet team leader Lightning Dust's dangerously reckless behavior (and endangering of innocent bystanders) in its members. Just as she's explaining to her friends why she chose to give up on her lifelong dream rather than her honor, Captain Spitfire runs up and points out that she ''agrees'' with Rainbow Dash that--contrary to the belief of everyone involved, including Lightning Dust--Lightning was grossly out of line, and if Rainbow'd bothered to stick around for ten more seconds after dropping out, she'd have been told that sooner. After unceremoniously booting Lightning Dust out of the program, Spitfire makes Rainbow Dash the new cadet team leader at least in part that the Wonderbolts need a new recruit of such character who is willing to sacrifice her dreams on a matter of honor.
** In "Rarity Takes Manehattan", Rarity has her designs stolen by a rival competitor in a dress competition. The stress of designing replacements in time causes her to lash out at her friends, who do their best to help her. When the competition starts, Rarity sees that her friends aren't in the audience, causing her to think that she drove them away by acting so horrible (It's later revealed that they just overslept). She runs out of the competition, and with the judge being portrayed as very strict, it seems certain that she'll lose. Instead, she's later told that she actually won first place, meaning that she had to sacrifice precisely nothing in doing the right thing.

* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zquu9E8DpL4 one episode]] of ''Series/SesameStreet'', Telly wants to join the Bear Scouts (a Cub Scouts {{Expy}}). While he passes most of the tests, he still needs to perform a good deed before he can become a member. He tries several times throughout the day but fails each time. Finally, the end of the day comes, and he still hasn't done any good deeds. Scout Master Papa Bear is extremely upset and [[ItsAllMyFault blames himself]], convinced that he's a terrible Scout Master. Telly comforts him, reassuring him that he's a ''great'' Scout Master and that Telly can try again tomorrow. Baby Bear then points out that there's no need - by cheering up Papa Bear, Telly has done the good deed he needs to join the Bear Scouts.

* A minor example in ''Theatre/LesMiserables'': for almost as long as she's onstage, Eponine is constantly pining after Marius, but he just doesn't see her. She eventually gives up the chase in "On My Own", saying that "she knows that he is blind", and that while she won't stop loving him, she knows that he'll never love her and admits defeat. A few songs later, in "Little Fall of Rain", she finally has Marius hold her in his arms after she tells him how she feels. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, she's just been shot, and [[DiedInYourArmsTonight is slowly bleeding out]]]].

** And again: Valjean spends the entire show running from Javert. In "[[spoiler:Javert's Suicide]]", Valjean promises to turn himself in if Javert will let him take Marius to safety. [[spoiler:Immediately afterwards, however, Javert kills himself, and Valjean is presumably allowed to go free]].

* In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zquu9E8DpL4 one episode]] of ''Series/SesameStreet'', Telly wants to join the Bear Scouts (a Cub Scouts {{Expy}}). While he passes most of the tests, he still needs to perform a good deed before he can become a member. He tries several times throughout the day but fails each time. Finally, the end of the day comes, and he still hasn't done any good deeds. Scout Master Papa Bear is extremely upset and [[ItsAllMyFault blames himself]], convinced that he's a terrible Scout Master. Telly comforts him, reassuring him that he's a ''great'' Scout Master and that Telly can try again tomorrow. Baby Bear then points out that there's no need - by cheering up Papa Bear, Telly has done the good deed he needs to join the Bear Scouts.
** In [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwVLsoNhDT0 another episode]], Count Von Count reads a poem about a Countess who lived in the woods. In the poem, the Countess attempts to count socks, bagels and lox, and tissues, but each time she is interrupted by animals who need the things she's trying to count. Being kind-hearted, she willingly gives the things away but is saddened when she realizes that she has nothing left to count. Happily, her kindness is rewarded when all the animals thank her by allowing her to count them.

** In "Marks for Effort", the Cutie Mark Crusaders want to attend Twilight Sparkle's School of Friendship but are turned away because they already know so much about friendship. They later meet a struggling student named Cozy Glow and offer to help her study for an upcoming friendship test. However, when Cozy flunks, Twilight believes the CMC intentionally set Cozy Glow up to fail in revenge for not being allowed to attend the school and bans from the school grounds. Fortunately, Cozy Glow later admits her mistake; she deliberately failed her test in hopes that it would convince Twilight to let the CMC be students like they wanted, and Twilight allows them to come back to the school not as students but as official friendship tutors.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "Lisa's First Word", Homer tries to get Maggie to talk, but his attempts fail miserably. After he decides that he would be better off if Maggie didn't talk (mainly so she doesn't backtalk to him) and leaves Maggie alone in her room, she says her first word: "Daddy."

* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' In the episode "Tapestry", Picard suffers a complication with his artificial heart (the complication involving a [[spoiler:phaser shot to the chest after a peace talk went horribly awry]] and dies, only to find himself in an "afterlife" with [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien Q]]. Picard regrets picking a fight in his youth that led to the need for an artificial heart in the first place, so Q allows him to go back to that moment in time and [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong change things so he doesn't die]]. Unfortunately, as he learns in a new timeline, not having gone through that brush with death caused him to never take risks and ultimately never truly succeed in life. So Picard asks Q to change things back to the way they were before, accepting the eventually fatal consequences of the fight along with the valuable lessons that helped him lead an accomplished life. And then he wakes up in the present, once again captain, and ''his heart is working again''. So much for the ''negative'' consequences of rash actions.

->'''House''': As the philosopher [[Music/MickJagger Jagger]] once said, "You can't always get what you want."\\

When executed poorly, the audience will pick up a different message: HardWorkHardlyWorks, so don't bother pursuing what you want -- the universe will provide it (but only when you decide that you don't need it after all).

** Another reality TV show, ''For Love or For Money'', did something similar: the women are told firsthand that if they win the heart of one man, they'll get a check for one million dollars too. What they don't know is that if the man does pick them in the end, they have to choose between him and the million dollars because they can't have both...except that, as the man is helpfully informed of in secret, if they ''do'' pick love over money, they'll get the money ''anyway!'' And then additional twists like the final check having a very good chance of being for just one dollar instead of a million and the woman who actually chose the money over the man being invited back to compete for double the money rendered whatever moral the show was trying to aim for practically moot anyway.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'': Lightning [=McQueen=] is offered the Dinoco sponsorship despite placing third, which is what he dreamed of since the beginning of the movie, but he politely turns it down, as he realized how important it means to have friends and there's more to racing than just winning.

* ''Film/JingleAllTheWay'': Howard finally wins the toy action figure that his son Jamie wanted, but then he decides to sacrifice the toy to Myron so he can have a present for ''his'' son, because he lived his gift and thought it was the best of all.

* ''Series/{{Jessie}}'': In "All the Knight Moves", Zuri is close to winning the chess tournament and giving Jessie the opportunity to go to Paris, but then she ultimately decides to sacrifice her victory and let her opponent Clem win so he can use the trip to make amends with his family.

* ''WesternAnimation/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'': Dr. Facilier offers Tiana the restaurant she's always dreamed of, in exchange for his voodoo talisman. She almost gives in but realizes that [[ThePowerOfLove those she loves]] are even more important than her dreams, so she smashes the talisman. After Charlotte's kiss fails, she and Naveen decide to marry anyway. However, since she has just married a prince, Tiana becomes a princess, and their kiss breaks the spell. Then, with a little "aggressive persuasion" from Louis, Tiana is able to buy her restaurant, and she and Naveen deck out the place in splendid fashion.