Basic Trope: A character denies a criticism made of him, but in a way that validates it.
- Straight: Alice complains to Bob, "Are you always this angry?" To which Bob fires back with a loud "NO!"
- Exaggerated:
- Alice asks Bob, "Are you always this angry?" Bob punches her and shouts, ""NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!"'' Cut to any random location(s), where the viewer can still hear it.
- Alice asks Bob, "Are you always this angry, rude, vulgar, immature and violent?". Bob's response is "Hell no, you fucking poopy-headed bitch!", beating her up and crying.
- Every time Alice criticizes some aspect of Bob, he always denies the criticism in a way that proves it correct.
- Downplayed: Alice asks Bob, "Are you always this angry?" Bob says, "No," but in a grouchy tone.
- Justified:
- Bob always is angry and he can't cover that up even when denying it.
- Bob may always be angry, but he isn't always as angry as he is at that point.
- Inverted:
- Alice complains to Bob, "You are always so angry!" Bob cheerfully says, "no".
- Alice compliments Bob for his patience. He replies, "Thank god! I thought you'd never finish talking".
- Subverted:
- Alice asks Bob if he's always angry and he says calmly, "No, I'm not always that angry. I just lost my temper that moment."
- Alice calls Bob violent, and he hits her in return.Alice: Doesn't that prove my point?
Bob: Exactly. - Alice was relentlessly hounding Bob. Anyone would be a little grumpy if someone did that to them.
- Double Subverted: Alice thought he was calm, but he was actually showing Tranquil Fury, or heavily restrained fury at that.
- Zig Zagged: ???
- Parodied: Bob's Berserk Button is being accused of anger. Otherwise, he's always calm and composed.
- Averted: Bob calmly says that he just snapped, and that he's normally calm and composed.
- Enforced: The networks want to show that Bob Can't Take Criticism.
- Lampshaded: Alice answers, "You can't expect me to believe you're not always angry when you're yelling at me."
- Invoked: Alice accuses Bob of always dismissing her criticism of him. He can't deny that without (partially) validating it.
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: Bob purposely calms down before he responds.
- Discussed: "He does realize that's not helping his case, right?"
- Conversed: "It's pretty funny when a character is told they're being too immature, for example, and they deny that by throwing a tantrum."
- Implied:
- Alice comes in with a black eye. Charlie says, "You didn't ask Bob if he's always mad, did you?"
- Bob's clipped voice and balled fists imply he is trying very hard to supress an outburst.
- Played For Laughs:
- Alice asks Bob, "Are you always this angry?" Bob punches her and shouts, ""NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!". She believes him, because the punch gave her amnesia.
- Hypocritical Humor
- Played For Drama: Bob is an abusive husband trying to gaslight Alice into believing nothing is wrong with their marriage.
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