History Main / TrophyChild

* ''ComicBook/Robin1993'': Tim accused his father of only caring about how his son reflected on him instead of Tim as a person; though Tim felt guilty about it immediately, Jack's behavior makes the accusation seem fairly accurate.

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11669575/1/For-Love-of-Magic For Love of Magic]]'', Harry was adopted by a rich couple who only wanted him as a status symbol.

* In ''Fanfic/ThisIsAWildGameOfSurvival'', Na-yeon’s parents only had a child in order to have an heir that will maintain their status and legacy, otherwise neglecting her and disregarding her feelings and emotions. She feels like a disappointment due to her not being particularly smart or talented like they wanted her to be.

[[folder:Films - Animation]]

[[folder:Films - Live Action]]

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': In Harry's earliest detailed case, described in the short story [[https://www.jim-butcher.com/books/dresden/side-jobs/restoration "Restoration of Faith"]], Harry and his mentor Nick are hired to find a runaway who left home because her rich parents do not care for her at all save for how she reflects on them. Her parents report her as kidnapped and describe Harry and Nick as the kidnappers before they return her to them because that will get them more clout than their daughter running away. Harry realizes the child has been driven to be a DeathSeeker by her worthless parents.
* In ''Literature/AFrozenHeart'', a TieInNovel to Disney's ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'', Prince Hans of the Southern Isles' parents [[ArrangedMarriage married only]] [[AltarDiplomacy for politics]] and to expand the Westergaard clan's lineage. Hans' father sees his wife as a BabyFactory, giving birth to 13 sons. Likewise, the king encouraged his 12 older sons to produce more heirs for the kingdom: these sons were also molded to be reflections of their father to fuel his own ego, while forcing them to be obedient and emotionally dependent.
* A lot of noble parents in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' exhibit this behavior, to varying extents, but nobody plays this straighter than Tywin Lannister: he had it drilled into his children's heads since they were very young that their whole purpose in life was to bring glory to the Lannister name and doesn't give a damn about their personal happiness or emotional well-being. Even when they're well into adulthood, Tywin routinely forces his children to do things they don't want to do if he thinks it'll improve the family's social and political standing; part of the reason he hated his youngest son Tyrion so much was because he saw Tyrion's dwarfism as a stain on his reputation.
* ''The Nanny Diaries'' and its film adaptation satirizes upper Manhattan society, particularly wealthy couples' tendency to treat their children like accessories and foist the more inconvenient aspects of parenting off on as many paid staff as they can.

* ''Series/MadMen''. Don and Betty Draper seem to be the living embodiment of the wholesome 1960s nuclear family with a professional dad, a stay at home mom, and two perfect kids, one girl and one boy; however, the Drapers are more in love with the idea of marriage and children than their actual spouse and kids: neither spends much time with their children and the emphasis is placed on the children looking immaculate and behaving well at all times. Once Don and Betty have their third child and divorce, the kids are used as chess pieces to punish each other with most of the child care falling to nannies and respective step-parents: in one episode, both Don and Betty and their respective spouses spend most of the episode thinking the other is taking care of the kids while the kids are actually in Don's apartment with a house burglar who is pretending to be an old friend of Don's while actually robbing the place.

* ''Webcomic/{{Dreamkeepers}}'': [[spoiler: Tinsel]] conceived Namah in order to blackmail the Viscount with an illegitimate child, whom she left on his doorstep.

* The ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode [[Recap/FamilyGuyS14E11ThePeanutButterKid The Peanut Butter Kid]] involves Lois and Peter exploiting Stewie after his success in a peanut butter commercial, so he could become a child star and they could make money; they went so far as to keep him drugged and stimulated so he can rehearse non-stop.

[[/folder]]

* WesternAnimation/CorpseBride: Victor is treated by the Dorts as a door to the high society, and nothing more than this. The Everglots are even worse, singing about how surprised they are that their "disappointing" daughter Victoria will finally be useful, bringing them money through her marriage to Victor.

* ''Fanfic/BlackbirdArrow'': It gradually becomes clear that this is what Sara really is to Dinah. Her favoritism of Sara isn't because of any notable achievements, but rather because Sara is the child that resembles her the most, [[{{Narcissist}} which is probably why Dinah does everything she can to excuse and absolve her youngest daughter of any wrongdoing]]. Combine this with the fact that Dinah's main motivation for saving Sara is to absolve ''herself'' of the guilt of letting her daughter go on the ''Gambit'', it suggests she's mainly using Sara to make herself look like a good mother without actually ''being'' a good mother.

* ''Fanfic/BlackbirdArrow'': It gradually becomes clear that this is what Sara really is to Dinah. Her favoritism of Sara isn't because of any notable achievements, but rather because Sara is the child that resembles her the most, [[{{Narcissist}} which is probably why Dinah does everything she can to excuse and absolve her youngest daughter of any wrongdoing]]. Combine this with the fact that Dinah's main motivation for saving Sara is to absolve ''herself'' of the guilt of letting Sara go on the ''Gambit'', that suggests that she's mainly using Sara to make herself look like a good mother without actually ''being'' a good mother.

* ''Fanfic/BlackbirdArrow'': It gradually becomes clear that this is what Sara really is to Dinah. Her favoritism of Sara isn't because of any notable achievements, but rather because Sara is the child that resembles her the most, [[{{Narcissist}} which is probably why Dinah does everything she can excuse and absolve her youngest daughter of any wrongdoing]]. Combine this with the fact that Dinah's main motivation for saving Sara is to absolve ''herself'' of the guilt of letting Sara go on the ''Gambit'', that suggests that she's mainly using Sara to make herself look like a good mother without actually ''being'' a good mother.

* ''Fanfic/BlackbirdArrow'': It gradually becomes clear that this is what Sara really is to Dinah. Her favoritism of Sara isn't because of any notable achievements, but rather because Sara is the child that resembles her the most, [[{{Narcissist}} which is probably why Dinah does everything she can excuse and absolve her youngest daughter of any wrongdoing]]. Combine this with the fact that Dinah's main motivation for saving Sara is to absolve ''herself'' of the guilt of letting Sara go on the ''Gambit'', that suggests that she's mainly using Sara to make her look like a good mother without actually ''being'' a good mother.

* In "The Ballad of Sara Berry" from ''35MM: A Musical Exhibition'', a major reason behind Sara's SanitySlippage was her father's pressure to be popular and become the prom queen.

[[folder: Animated Films]]

* ''ComicBook/Robin1993'': Tim accused his father of only caring about how Tim reflected on him instead of for Tim as a person; though Tim felt guilty about it immediately Jack's behavior makes the accusation seem fairly accurate.

** Implied with Rainflower, as after her favorite child Stormkit breaks his jaw and becomes Crookedkit, she begins to ignore and insult him based solely on his imperfect looks compared to his brother Oakkit. This was after she neglected Oakkit in favor of Stormkit, originally having seen him as the stronger and more attractive of the two. This attitude continues even after she dies, where she [[CatsHaveNineLives doesn't give him a life]] during his leader ceremony. However, Shellheart (his father) tells him that she did attend the ceremony, and still cared about him and loved him, but could not give him a life due to his closer relationship with Shellheart or giving him another was more than he was supposed to get.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': In Harry's earliest detailed case, described in the short story [[https://www.jim-butcher.com/books/dresden/side-jobs/restoration "Restoration of Faith"]], Harry and his mentor Nick are hired to find a runaway who left home because her rich parents do not care for her at all save for how she reflects on them. Her parents report her as kidnapped and describe the Harry and Nick as the kidnappers before they return her to them because that will get them more clout than their daughter running away and Harry realizes the child has been driven to be a DeathSeeker by her worthless parents.

* ''Series/MadMen''. Don and Betty Draper seem to be the living embodiment of the wholesome 1960s nuclear family with a professional dad, a stay at home mom, and two perfect kids, one girl and one boy; however, the Drapers are more in love with the idea of marriage and children than their actual spouse and kids: neither spends much time with their children and the emphasis is placed on the children looking immaculate and behaving well at all times. Once Don and Betty have their third child and divorce, the kids are used at chess pieces to punish each other with most of the child care falling to nannies and respective step-parents: in one episode, both Don and Betty and their respective spouses spend most of the episode thinking the other is taking care of the kids while the kids are actually in Don's apartment with a house burglar who is pretending to be an old friend of Don's while actually robbing the place.

* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'': Helga's older sister Olga is the favorite child in the family because of this: she is a straight A student, concert pianist, spelling bee champion and is popular and admired by most who meet her. Her parents are constantly showering attention and praise on her because she is " a winner", much to Helga's jealousy; however, Olga secretly hates being this because of the insanely high expectations her parents place on her, leaving her to be very neurotic and spiral into a deep depression when she thought she made TheBGrade (she didn't, it was a prank Helga did out of jealousy).

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': Defied in the episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS7E19AFishCalledSelma A Fish Called Selma]]": Troy [=McClure=] marries Selma to be his [[TheBeard Beard]], which she's actually OK with because [[MarriageOfConvenience even if they don't love each other, it benefits her as well]]; however, when Troy's agent suggest they have children to improve his image even more, Selma balks (even at Troy's suggestion to adopt).

* In ''Fanfic/{{Fake}}'', Sachiko's parents are more concerned with image than her own opinions and mental well-being.
* In [[Fanfic/TheMasksWeWearTeenTitans The Masks We Wear Teen Titans]] Samantha Vanaver views Rachel Grayson as a trophy child, but unlike the typical example of this trope, she's a constant reminder to Samantha that she was able to overpower the object of her lust, John Grayson, putting a wedge between him and Mary, straining their marriage.

-->-- '''Tim Drake''', ''ComicBook/RobinSeries''

* ''[[ComicBook/RobinSeries Robin]]'': Tim accused his father of only caring about how Tim reflected on him instead of for Tim as a person; though Tim felt guilty about it immediately Jack's behavior makes the accusation seem fairly accurate.

** Implied with Rainflower, as after her favorite child Stormkit breaks his jaw and becomes Crookedkit, she begins to ignore and insult him based solely on his imperfect looks compared to his brother Oakkit. This was after she neglected Oakkit in favor of Stormkit, originally having seen him as the stronger and more attractive of the two. This attitude continues even after she dies, where she [[CatsHaveNineLives doesn't give him a life]] during his leader ceremony.

* In [[Fanfic/TheMasksWeWearTeen Titans The Masks We Wear Teen Titans]] Samantha Vanaver views Rachel Grayson as a trophy child, but unlike the typical example of this trope, she's a constant reminder to Samantha that she was able to overpower the object of her lust, John Grayson, putting a wedge between him and Mary, straining their marriage.

* In ''Literature/AFrozenHeart'', a TieInNovel to Disney's ''Disney/{{Frozen}}'', Prince Hans of the Southern Isles' parents [[ArrangedMarriage married only]] [[AltarDiplomacy for politics]] and to expand the Westergaard clan's lineage. Hans' father sees his wife as a BabyFactory, giving birth to 13 sons. Likewise, the king encouraged his 12 older sons to produce more heirs for the kingdom: these sons were also molded to be reflections of their father to fuel his own ego, while forcing them to be obedient and emotionally dependent.

** Yuki Sohma's parents basically sold him to Akito, the head of the family, for wealth and status since he was the Rat of the EasternZodiac; as part of the Sohma family's HeriditaryCurse, the Rat is viewed as a "special" child since they're the first animal in the Zodiac. Yuki ended up being physically and emotionally abused during his time with Akito.

[[folder:Films - Live Action]]
* In ''Film/ProblemChild'', Flo Healy is desperate to have a child, albeit more because she doesn't get invited to social parties with children as she doesn't have one. Contrast this with her husband Ben, who is more interested in ''being'' a father rather than the social privileges that come with it.

[[/folder]]

->"Sara", her father said, "life is a prom. I know you won't disappoint me and mom".