Basic Trope: Disappointment is worse than anger.
- Straight: Al, Bob's father, tells him how disappointed he is with him although he isn't quite angry. Bob realizes that he feels worse about disappointing his father rather than merely making him mad.
- Exaggerated: Al tells Bob how much he's disappointed him in the most stoic way possible, leaving Bob quite ashamed.
- Downplayed: Al tells Bob how disappointed he is, and even if he doesn't look angry, Bob gets the impression that he is.
- Justified: Whenever Al is angry with Bob, it only lasts for a short period of time. Usually, the things that make him angry are relatively minor. Despite this, Bob usually betters himself to make him happy again. However, when Al is disappointed, this gives Bob the impression that he has seriously let him down.
- Inverted:
- Anger is worse than disappointment.
- So Proud of You
- Subverted: Al's Disappointed in You monologue doesn't break Bob, possibly because he's told him so, whether with words, physical contact, or just by walking away.
- Double Subverted: ...until later, when Bob realizes everything Al said was completely correct.
- Parodied: Bob sits in the chair smiling and laughing as Al screams in Angrish at him. Then Al turns on a dime to whisper his disappointment to Bob. Bob is reduced to Inelegant Blubbering.
- Zig-Zagged: Al says Bob has disappointed him for whatever reason. Bob doesn't take it to heart. Then, when Al says he's mad at Bob, he takes it less well. But the next time Al expresses disappointment in his son, it hits very close to home for Bob.
- Averted: Disappointment and anger are equally bad.
- Enforced: The author has felt worse when they've disappointed others than when they've made them angry.
- Lampshaded: "You're not mad like you always are?"
- Invoked: Al thinks expressing disappointment will make Bob more miserable, and thus more motivated to improve himself, than anger will.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: "Do I look like I care about your approval?"
- Discussed: "How can disappointment be worse than anger? At least he isn't trying to strangle him."
- Conversed: ???
- Implied: Bob talks about getting this speech from Al. He says, "It was somehow harder to hear 'I'm disappointed' than 'I'm angry' coming from him."
- Played for Drama: Focus falls on Bob's angst over having let his father down.
Back to Disappointed in You
