Parental Marriage Veto/Playing With

Basic Trope: The parents don't approve of the Love Interest.
 * Played Straight: Alice brings Bob over to meet her parents, who act very cold towards him.
 * Exaggerated: Alice's father chases Bob away with a gun.
 * Alice and Bob are killed by Alice's parents.
 * Alice is sent by her parents to live with a relative in a foreign country, because they don't want her to see Bob again.
 * Alice's parents hate Bob despite never having met him even once.
 * Justified: Alice's parents already know Bob, and they know he's a terrible person.
 * Alice is already betrothed to someone else.
 * Bob is well into his 20's or 30's, and Alice is still in High School
 * Bob has no manners or social skills.
 * Alice is still living with her parents, and therefore still subject to their rules and expectations.
 * Inverted: Bob does not like Alice's parents.
 * Alice's parents really like Bob, and encourage her to keep seeing him.
 * Subverted: Alice's parents are very polite to Bob during the visit.
 * Double Subverted: But once he leaves, they have nothing but bad things to say about him.
 * Deconstructed: They may be making a rush to judgment, based on Bob's appearance or social class or simply out of concern for Alice.
 * Reconstructed: But Bob proves what a good person he is, and proves his love for Alice, and her parents eventually accept him.
 * Parodied: Alice's parents reject Bob for having a pulse.
 * Lampshaded: "But Daddy, he loves me!"
 * Enforced: Alice's social class
 * Values Dissonance
 * The author remembers this happening to him/her.
 * Zig Zagged: Alice's parents like some of her boyfriends, and hate others.
 * Averted: Alice's parents really like Bob.
 * Alice and Bob are not a couple and/or Alice's parents have never met Bob.
 * Invoked: Bob shows up at Alice's house looking like a punk-rocker or other such "undesirable" (as defined by the likes of Alice's parents)
 * Defied: Alice and Bob's parents make an effort to accept Alice's Love Interests just the way they are, and get to know them before judging or critiquing them.
 * Discussed: "Now, I have to warn you, baby, my parents are tough to impress."
 * Conversed: "What the hell does it matter what Mr. and Mrs. Troper think of Bob, as long as he loves Alice?!"
 * Played For Laughs: Alice's father slams the door in Bob's face.
 * Played For Drama: Alice suffers Honor-Related Abuse for getting together with Bob.

Back to Parental Marriage Veto