Basic Trope: Smart people are mean or patronizing, dumb people are pleasant in manner.
- Straight: The intelligent Smith is an Insufferable Genius who is quick to anger and has a permanent scowl on his face whenever stupidity gets his raging point; Dunsworth is an extremely slow-witted but very good-natured, gentle person.
- Exaggerated:
- Smith is an Evil Genius; Dunsworth is very dull-witted and practically an All-Loving Hero by nature.
- Kindhearted Simpleton
- What is considered good disappears at the moment one has an IQ higher than 100. Every single genius in the world is a Nietzsche Wannabe who is willing to exploit the inherent good of the dumb for their own nefarious purposes.
- Downplayed: Both characters aren't outright good or evil. Smith just wears Jade-Colored Glasses while Dunsworth is a bit of a Wide-Eyed Idealist.
- Justified:
- Smith is unhappy because his intelligence allows him to perceive the half-empty reality. Dunsworth, being ignorant, has no reason to be anything but blissfully happy.
- Smith has everything, but he knows everything will become meaningless and he will one day die, Dunsworth has no such worry for he's an innocent person who believes in afterlife and is untainted by everything.
- Smith and Dunsworth are in a Crapsack World, where being neutral or downright evil are expected. Dunsworth simply wasn't smart enough to understand said norm.
- Smith is Enraged by Idiocy and being smart gives him more opportunities to spot others' stupid mistakes including Dunsworth's.
- Inverted: Dunsworth is an incredibly rude moron; Smith, on the other hand, is a incredibly polite smarty.
- Subverted:
- Dunsworth's stupidity makes him innocent and innocent does not equal good. He's a low functioning Sociopath who does whatever amuses him and doesn't have the intelligence to think about how his actions affect others or himself.
- Smith seems to be a far better person than Dunsworth.
- Dunsworth was Obfuscating Stupidity. He wants to fool Smith into thinking he's dumb. So he won't suspect his clever plan to defeat him.
- Smith was Feigning Intelligence. He's not really that smart.
- Double Subverted:
- ...But Smith is really an Evil Genius and a Villain with Good Publicity, whereas Dunsworth is the hero who is trying to stop him, and has gained some undeserved bad publicity in the process, making him seem meaner.
- Dunsworth is actually dumber than his faked idiocy and his plan was obviously going to fail.
- Dunsworth looks like he might intelligent after all. But it turns out he's just a Genius Ditz.
- ...at least, according to himself. Smith really is smart. He just has very low self-esteem.
- Smith was trying to make people believe he was Feigning Intelligence as a part of his Evil Plan.
- Parodied:
- The two men are literally only defined by their bits of intelligence.
- Stupid is actually used as a synonym for nice and smart for rude.
- Zig Zagged: Smith seems better than Dunsworth - but that's just because he's a Villain with Good Publicity. At least, that's the excuse that Dunsworth makes up...
- Averted: Intelligence is not a determinant of kindness.
- Enforced: "We need a comedy duo! The smart angry guy will smack around the dumb guy."
- Lampshaded:
- "Why's Smith bad? 'cause he's smart! It's a good thing I'm dumb, otherwise I'd know better than to be prejudiced!"
- "Why yes Dunsworth, I am aware of the hypocrisy that for all the things I know, I never learned to be happy or good."
- Invoked: Dunsworth hates Smith's guts, so he incites his bar buddies against Smith by saying how smart people keep normal Joe's down.
- Exploited: You think that being intelligent makes you evil? Let's take away your intelligence.
- Defied: Smith decides to become a nicer person; or Dunsworth decides to become smarter.
- Discussed: "Despite what the rumors may imply, intelligence has little to do with happiness and character."
- Conversed: "I'd ask if the writers have self-esteem issues for hating on smart people, but that would imply they're smart."
- Deconstructed: We get to see an inside look at both men; Smith is incredibly unhappy because everyone hates him for his intelligence; Dunsworth isn't particularly happy himself, because he's looked down upon for being a moron and would much rather be smart like Smith.
- Reconstructed: Both men realize that they've got to utilize their gifts. Dunsworth realizes that while he's not too bright, he enjoys being liked by people around him; and Smith realizes that while he's not the most popular guy on the face of the earth, he is incredibly intelligent and should value that.
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