Basic Trope: People are eerily calm, even in the most intense situations.
- Straight: The entire room is on fire, but Bob couldn't care less.
- Exaggerated:
- The world is being destroyed, but Bob's cool as a cucumber.
- Nobody in the room even seems to notice that the room is on fire.
- Downplayed: Bob gets his right leg cut off, but he does not freak out as much as one would expect him to.
- Justified:
- Bob doesn't know that the room is on fire.
- Bob is resistant to fire, so he doesn't think the situation is that serious.
- Bob is in shock.
- Bob is brainwashed or possessed into believing everything is okay.
- Bob is a psychopath, so he doesn't really care.
- Bob is a stoic, so he doesn't lose self-control no matter what.
- Inverted: Felony Misdemeanor/Faux Horrific: Bob hears his least favorite song on the radio and panics uncontrollably.
- Subverted: Bob seems calm, but then he asks if he can panic.
- Double Subverted: ...because he's out of beer.
- Parodied: ???
- Zig-Zagged: ???
- Averted: Bob begins to panic appropriately.
- Enforced: The executives want the villain to appear strong, so the author makes the villain dissonant to every type of danger.
- Lampshaded: ???
- Invoked: Bob knows that his enemies expect him to panic, so he practices being calm in dangerous situations to throw them off guard.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: "Uh, Bob? Everything is on fire! Quit standing around!"
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Deconstructed:
- Bob's friends think Bob is creepy due to his lack of reaction to danger or major news.
- Bob's lack of reaction to danger causes him underestimate the situation.
- Reconstructed:
- Bob's friends call out Bob for his behavior, but Bob do not care at all.
- Bob's calmness helps him think clearly in dangerous situations where most people's instincts would be to panic and make bad decisions.
- Implied: Bob returns from war which is considered by many soldiers to be absolutely horrifying, but for some reason Bob is the only soldier to not react with fear in the aftermath of the war.
- Played for Laughs: Bob watches multiple funny videos which many of his friends laugh at, but Bob is the only one to not laugh.
- Played for Drama:
- Bob is put into a war zone and his lack of responses towards the danger causes him to get seriously injured or die from his injuries.
- Bob's friends are completely fed up with his laissez-afire way of life, his stony "meh" approach to everything from being told a joke to finding out his mother died, and get really, really angry at him: "Would it kill you to pretend you give a shit about anything!?"
- It turns out that Bob is visibly serene about everything because he is mentally scarred to the point it's impossible to traumatize him any further. That half-lidded look he gives to everybody? That's a Thousand-Yard Stare and he can't open his eyes any wider because of the reconstructive surgery for his wrecked face.
- Played for Horror:
- Bob is a serial killer who has killed hundreds of innocent people and is able to get away from the police due to his lack of reaction towards the deaths of the victims he killed.
- Bob kidnapped multiple people and put them in his basement, one by one Break Them by Talking before releasing them, mentally scarring them for the rest of their lives. All with a relaxed demeanor.
Back to Dissonant Serenity. What a beautiful day, even if we're getting attacked.
