Basic Trope: A character is called out for having a cynical worldview.
- Straight: Chris thinks that he's right about his worldview of how the world works, but Tom rebukes him for having this kind of thinking.
- Exaggerated: Chris endlessly mocks people for their idealistic attitudes and worldviews. This is an instant Berserk Button to Tom. The topic ends up inciting an argument any time it's even remotely brought up.
- Downplayed:
- While he doesn't mock those who are idealistic, Chris is cynical about life, but Tom tries to comfort him in an attempt to not let his cynicism grow further.
- Chris's cynicism gets the better of him sometimes but Tom helps him to go on with a more optimistic attitude and encouragement.
- Chris is a Knight in Sour Armor while Tom is a more conventional idealist; they're basically on the same page, but Tom frequently gets the better of Chris in friendly banter.
- Tom is a cynical Knight in Sour Armor, but he also chews out Straw Nihilist Chris for "not even trying".
- Justified:
- Tom finds Chris' cynicism to be pointless and annoying and so he tells him to cheer up.
- Chris constantly uses "nothing matters anyways" and "the world is a fucked-up place and everyone's a snake" as catch-all excuses for his laziness, unreliability, and frequent selfish acts, and Tom finally has enough and rips into him about how much of a shitty person he is and how the problems that he chalks up to the world being a terrible place are really of his own making.
- Chris' cynicism, justifiable or not, has devolved into him making stupid decisions and thinking they are correct because "he is the hard man who makes the hard choices". Emphasis: he. He who refuses to find facts, refuses to be flexible, refuses to treat people as anything other than pawns (when he can be bothered to think of working with others) and refuses to be proportionate — and these are just the tip of the iceberg. He is a huge cog in the machine making the world suck more each day, he is not the solution.
- Tom is speaking from experience, he was in Chris' shoes once and ended up miserable, he only managed to build his character for better once he stopped being a cynic. With Chris, he feels like looking at the mirror of his own past, so he'd want Chris to stop being miserable in his own cynicism.
- Some cynical a-hole hurt Tom and those he loves and dared try to justify his actions as "giving Tom a lesson in growing up". If being The Pollyanna is the only way to not let that jerk win, then that's the way it is.
- Inverted:
- Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids!
- Chris is convinced that idealism is the only way to solve problems, but is met with hostile responses from Tom, a cynic.
- Subverted:
- It seems like Chris is going to get chewed out for his cynicism, but Tom seems to understand that he may have a point.
- Chris is not so much as cynical as much as he is suffering from depression, and a result royally calls out Tom for the
unintentionally condescending implications of his speech for boiling down to "You just want to be better, now quit your whining!".
- Double Subverted:
- But this doesn't stop Tom from calling him out for using it as an excuse to do nothing.
- Tom apologizes for misunderstanding, and shifts from "calling out a cynical worldview" to something more sympathetic now that he understands better.
- Parodied:
- Chris lives in a idyllic world where the punishment for being a cynic is to watch The Care Bears.
- Chris is asked about his opinion on the world; he simply responds in a deadpan tone "the world sucks". Cut to a scene where Chris is chased out by an angry mob of optimists.
- Chris is the class dunce and his parents and teacher keep telling him his cynicism is holding him back. He decides to go into a test with just a little optimism and gets an A easily.
- Zig Zagged: Chris' cynicism is frowned upon by some people, laughed at by others but some don't care and others agree with him. It depends on the episode and/or the writer.
- Averted:
- Chris isn't called out for his cynicism.
- There are no cynics, nor people to call out said cynicism for that matter.
- Enforced: The writer is making a work which discourages cynicism.
- Lampshaded:
- "Come on man, if you talk like that, you're not gonna get anything done."
- "Don't you see that your cynicism makes you lazy and apathetic?"
- "Chris, either say something helpful, or don't say anything."
- "If you spent less time-much less time-whining about the world, you might actually see the good parts of it."
- "If the world really is this fucked-up place where everyone is a snake, then the shitty things you yourself regularly do to people and use that reasoning to justify it are actively helping make it that way. YOU are the common denominator here, Chris."
- Invoked:
- Bob tells Tom to get Chris into realizing that he is ruining his own life with his cynicism.
- In an art competition, Chris enters the last place because his art is so dark and depressing when he thought it was actually an artful, detailed masterpiece that can be relatable with human struggles. Meanwhile, Tom's art also uses dark colors and is similarly detailed but overall expresses a more hopeful atmosphere. He won 1st place. When Chris complains, the jury gave their reason: Too Bleak, Stopped Caring.
- Exploited: The antagonist exploits Chris's cynical attitude by easily convincing him it's pointless to stop anything he does.
- Defied:
- Chris likes being cynical and is at least a moderately successful person.
- Chris is cynical, but decides to keep it to himself so that he doesn't end up getting singled out by the people close to him that disagree. Could very easily lead into a Deconstruction or Playing the trope for drama.
- "I don't want to hear it. Heaven help me, Chris, I don't want to hear it!!! If you can waste time and breath wanting to say it, and you don't wanna see me waste time and money talking you back about it, so we can both make better use of that time and breath making something!"
- Discussed:
- "Not gonna lie, Chris, that's a pretty lame edgelordy take on the matter. Having some bad experiences with people and some rough breaks isn't a justification for being a selfish asshole who keeps screwing other people over and doing lots of short-sighted douchey things that aren't going to end well, but if you're looking to reinforce your own childish perceptions of the world, you're a man in the know."
- The following exchange:
Chris: "Dude, you know what, fuck it. You can try doing things the 'right' way and get bit yet again by another snake in the grass while they slither off with everything and leave you with nothing, or you can stop caring, shed your skin, and become another snake in the den of serpents and get yours, fuck everyone else."
Tom: "Okay doomer."
Chris: "Whatever bro, have fun getting through life being that naive."
Tom: (pick one)>"Actually, Chris, I get through life just fine because I don't hyper-fixate on all the worst and most unpleasant aspects of it just to have a convenient justification for being the kind of person who allegedly made you this way. Most of the things that you cite as evidence that you're correct are the consequences of the choices that you made in furtherance of this worldview, and/or the result of associating with the company you keep. If it smells like shit everywhere you go, you really oughta check your shoes."
>"That's exactly how I used to think and say in the few years past, Chris. And you know what I think from my experience? Those are the worst days of my life where I achieved nothing and felt so miserable all day long. I'm only here today because I do not discard my idealism. I use it to temper my cynicism to create a balance and awareness, allowing me to act and achieve something. Looking back, I feel that the old cynical edgelord me wasn't wise or enlightened at all, but overly cringe and childish, a naive try-hard in attempting to look mature and wise without acting like it. If that's how you wish to be forever, then be my guest." - Conversed: "Can't these two just... Y'know, find a middle ground? It's not like there's a Golden Mean Fallacy in place here."
- Deconstructed:
- 1.) Tom tries to convince Chris out of his cynicism and Chris says he might have a point. After all, a true cynic is cynical about their own cynicism.
- 2.) Tom putting down Chris' cynicism and Chris ignoring Tom's advice to end his cynical attitude further puts a strain to their friendship and eventually destroys it.
- 3.) Tom, for continuing to call out Chris for his beliefs, eventually winds up being royally chewed out in turn for pushing his beliefs on Chris.
- 4.) Tom realizes that offensive tactics and anger are worst ways to disprove cynicism, because cynicism is, after all, anger and hatred manifested as a form of philosophy, and any insult directed at it will simply be assimilated.
- 5.) Tom ends up being Wrong Genre Savvy. Because he believes that cynicism is for losers, he ends up refusing to be cynical until tragedy hits him like a truck because of his recklessness and overidealism. Chris walks to his side and says "I Warned You."
- 6.) Chris has severe clinical depression and is incapable of thinking positively. Tom constantly pushes him to do so anyway and acts like it's Chris' own fault he's so cynical, which makes his condition worse.
- Reconstructed:
- 2.) Tom accepts that not everyone accepts idealism like he does, but he can still be idealistic in repairing his friendship with Chris. The Power of Friendship can transcend these disagreements.
- 3.) Chris admits that his cynicism led him to failure and while he doesn't want to drop cynicism entirely, he decides to hear Tom out and realizes he has a point too.
- 4.) Tom resolves that in order to justify that cynicism is for losers, he needs to prove it realistically too.
- 5.) Tom then strives to balance between idealism and cynicism in his life from that point on. He admits that Chris has a point about keeping cynicism, but he still disagrees with going overly cynic. As a result, he ends up bouncing back from the tragedy and ending up as an even better, stronger man because he never abandoned his idealism.
- 6.) Instead of preaching toxic positivity at Chris, Tom helps him get therapy, medication, and any other treatment he needs to manage his depression and develop a more balanced worldview.
Back to Silly Rabbit, Cynicism Is for Losers!
