But Liquor Is Quicker
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Candy —Ogden Nash, "Reflections on Ice-Breaking"
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One of the most well known effects of alcohol is to loosen inhibitions, and if a specific inhibition is having sex with someone, that other person can use alcohol just for that.
Anyway, this trope is fairly common in fiction, but usually parodied nowadays.
Compare In Vino Veritas and Ten with a Two. Contrast Above the Influence. See also Slipping a Mickey.
No real life examples, please; this is a rape trope, and All The Tropes does not care to squick its readers. Yes, this is likely done in Real Life - "date rape" drugs are a thing - but in many jurisdictions, it is considered a form of statutory rape. That might just open a few cans of worms.
Examples of But Liquor Is Quicker include:
Anime and Manga
- In Monster, Eva's unflattering flashbacks of Roberto heavily imply that the only reason she had slept with him was thorough inebriation. Whether he supplied the alcohol is, however, unclear.
- In a Digging Yourself Deeper moment early in the AIR TV anime, Yukito frantically tries to tell Hijiri that he did not do this to Kano.
Film
- The ending of Superbad is all about this; it's a high school senior party where everyone is wasted. Discussed by several characters, most of whom believe that taking advantage of someone drunk is ok as long as you get drunk yourself.
- The trope namer is quoted in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory by Wonka himself when explaining why there's alcohol (specifically "butter scotch" and "butter gin") in his chocolate factory.
- The 40-Year-Old Virgin: Andy's friends try invoking this in order to get him laid. The drunken bachelorette he goes home with crashes her car and pukes on him. Great idea, guys.
- Subverted in 50 First Dates: one of the male lead's seduction techniques involves plying his dates with non-alcoholic beverages but telling them they're alcoholic for a placebo effect. This lets the women lower their inhibitions without reducing cognitive function, so nobody has to feel guilty.
- By Fridge Logic, Batman does this in the 1989 film - when Bruce Wayne has dinner with Vicki Vale, she drinks but Batman never imbibes alcohol, and then they have sex...
- Used for drama with Bonasera's daughter in the opening of The Godfather. A boyfriend and his friend made her drink whiskey with the intent of taking advantage of her, but when she resisted, they viciously beat her to the point that the undertaker says that "she will never be beautiful again." Bonasera's reason for coming to Don Corleone was to avenge this horrible wrong after the courts did not provide him with the justice he sought.
Literature
- A sleazy character plies an innocent young woman with booze and marijuana cigarettes for this purpose in Young Dr Kildare. It turns out she's a little too innocent, overdoses and passes out badly. The sleazeball panics, dumps her on the nearest bed and calls a doctor. She wakes up, clothing disarranged and lying on a bed in an obvious love nest, assumes the worst, and freaks out, running away. Sleazeball comes back to find her gone, and decides she's not his problem any more; he's wrong...
- In Rainbow Six (novel, not video game), a Casanova picking up girls in bars by getting them drunk turns out to be employed by the evil Animal Wrongs Group to abduct people to conduct bioweapon experiments on. If there's An Aesop there, it's rather heavy handed, Mr. Clancy.
- In The Forever War by Joe Haldeman, regimental doctor Diana Alsever tries some moonshine cooked up by, well, the regimental cook. She gets so plastered that she has no qualms about putting moves on the unit's commander, Major Mandella. Since this is a No Heterosexual Sex Allowed future—the major is the only member of the regiment old enough to be hetero—Diana must be really drunk. She passes out completely before anything interesting can happen, but Mandella makes a mental note to buy some good booze and get her alone if they ever make it back to civilization.
- Lot's daughters in Genesis 19:31-36, making this Older Than Feudalism.
- In one of the Company Z novels by J. T. Edson, one of the villains Company Z take vengance on is a rapist who plied a teenage girl with alochol-laced lemonade.
- Tried by a young woman on the protagonist in Jack Higgins' East of Desolation, with vodka added to his tomato juice. Unfortunately, she didn't know he's a former alcoholic whose ex-wife's parting gift was to have an addiction clinic dry him out permanently with drug-reinforced aversion therapy. The moment his stomach realizes it's got booze in it again ... he barely makes it to the ship's rail in time not to vomit all over the deck.
Live Action TV
- From some of the bad dating advice Dave is giving Quentin in Grace Under Fire.
- Used by the doctor in Picket Fences. His date did try to sue him for rape, but the judge threw it out, noting what the guy did was stupid, but not illegal (in that jurisdiction.)
- Kennedy, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, describing the lesbian dating scene:
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"It's like flirting in code, it's using body language, and laughing at the right jokes. And looking into her eyes and knowing she's still whispering to you, even though she's not saying a word. And that sense that if you can just touch her, just once, everything will be okay. For both of you... [suddenly flippant] Or, if she's really hot, you get her drunk and see if she comes on to you." |
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- From The Inbetweeners:
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Jay: If we're in charge of the alcohol, then we get our pick of the birds! The DRUNK birds! |
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- In an episode of Chuck, a suave Bond-like spy attempts to teach Chuck how to seduce women as part of his spy training. A mission requires Chuck to seduce a very dangerous Russian woman. His first attempt is botched when he attempts to buy her a drink (as per the spy's instructions), only to find out that she doesn't drink. This prompts the spy to exclaim, "How is he supposed to seduce her without alcohol?" This either indicates his low faith in Chuck's charm or a limitation of his own seduction skills.
- In Community, the ill-advised decision is made to serve alcohol at an STD fair offering free condoms, leading to the expected consequence of a lot of horny, drunk young people planning on having sex with each other and with plenty of contraceptives available which, unfortunately, turn out to be faulty. Dean Pelton is apparently unaware that alcohol can remove inhibitions: "It makes me sleepy!"
- In Glee, Quinn gives her reason for sleeping with Puck as "[he] got me drunk on wine coolers and I felt fat that day." Getting her drunk in order to have sex with her was definitely Puck's intention.
- Has happened many times on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, sometimes in combination with date-rape drugs
- On My Name Is Earl, Joy (six months pregnant, with no idea who the father is It's Earl) is out with her friends at a bar, worried about how she's going to survive without a man since her parents kicked her out of the house. Joy then notices Earl, and knowing that he probably won't go for a pregnant lady on his own, she conspires with her friends to get him wasted, which they do. Then they introduce Earl to Joy. The next morning, Earl wakes up in a hotel room in Las Vegas, completely naked, with Joy...and a new wedding ring.
- Also subverted in the episode where Earl and some friends form a garage band and try to have sex with some groupies after the show. The woman Earl was trying to score with was passed out from the alcohol, so Earl didn't bother with her. He did however, sleep with his bandmate's mother ("She wasn't young, but she was conscious.")
- In another episode, we have the following exchange:
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Randy: "Are you drunk enough to go home with me?" |
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- How I Met Your Mother often portrays drunken hook-ups. In particular, in "Shelter Island" Barney sets out to get Robin drunk at Ted's wedding so that she'll sleep with him again. When he finds out the wedding only serves non-alcoholic beverages, he freaks out.
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Barney: "Berry Blaster Brain Revitalizer"? My God, some of these drinks can make a girl smarter. What sort of hell has Ted brought us to? |
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Music
- The Flanders and Swann song "Madiera, M'Dear" is about a sly old man who attempts to get a young maiden drunk to sleep with her.
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Unaware of the wiles of the snake in the grass, |
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Theater
- The Bad Idea Bears in Avenue Q:
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"Take her home! She's wasted!" |
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- In Guys and Dolls, Sky takes Sarah to Havana and gets her drunk. Since Sarah is a missionary who gives sermons on drunkenness, Sky needs to use a little finesse:
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Sarah: Dulce de Leche... What's in it, besides milk? |
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- In La Ronde, the married gentleman seduces the young girl with wine. There may be something else in there too.
Video Games
- The prevalence of this trope raises some Unfortunate Implications in Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude. As Larry Loveage, your overall goal is to score with as many women on the college campus as possible. With several girls, especially Luba, this is done by getting them drunk via one or more minigames. However, it notably fails to work each time, because Larry is a Casanova Wannabe and has no luck whatsoever.
- A Dance With Rogues requires your character to be at least a little drunk to get into bed with Pia. Then again, the entire scene was staged for your "benefit"...
Web Original
- Hbi2k's running gag of "Barry White and jello shots".
- Yuri tried to get Momoko drunk in Wedding Peach Abridged.
- The Nostalgia Chick was once far too happy about Todd in the Shadows getting himself wasted (i.e there was more chance of sleeping with him) on a date that she'd forced him to take her on.
Web Comics
- In Eight Bit Theater, Black Mage attemptes to further loosen-up the already confused White Mage with liquor. He ends up having to settle for paint thinner. The Dead Baby Comedy that might have ensued is only barely avoided by White Mage's Heel Face Turn.
- A recurring incident in Girls with Slingshots is Hazel and Jamie getting wasted. Naturally, at one point it ends with Hazel seducing the bouncer, and Jamie waking up in bed with the (female) bartender. This leads into the storyline of Jamie exploring her possible bisexuality.
- Out There: In a slight tweaking of the trope, Rod gets falling-down drunk while attempting to seduce Miriam, who is spending a rare evening abstaining from alcohol. [1] Miriam doesn't want Rod to attempt to drive in his condition, so she insists he come home with her. Not wanting to be tempted, she gives him her bed while she sleeps with Sherry. It is not until the morning, when both Miriam and Rod are completely sober, that she succumbs to his advances. [2]
- May have caused a Broken Base for Sailor Sun when the much-debated origin of the gender-bent heroine's Kid From the Future was finally revealed as "Got drunk, woke up pregnant".
- June pretty much uses this method to take advantage of Pembroke in Femmegasm
- Chydossa tricks Graham into getting completely trashed in Wizard School with the line: "My God. I get so horny when a man has money and I drink lots of alcohol." (Bear in mind, she didn't exactly have to force him...)
- This Cyanide & Happiness comic [3], in which a waiter tries to help a client get laid.
- Dilbert once had a vendor who invited Alice for drinks. To call about his product.
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Alice: You're a hanshum man and so ish your twin bruver. |
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Western Animation
- Quagmire of Family Guy is always trying to get the girls he meets drunk, though in general that also involves other date rape drugs. His favourite bar serves roofie coladas specifically for him.
- Phil from Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law was in the court isle during the episode "Death By Chocolate", in which charges are pressed against Boo Boo Bear. He says to a bunch of monks, "You know what I always say. Ghandi is dandy, but liquor is quicker." The monks then begin to ponder on the subject
- HA HA HA! ...Quicker
- On Clone High USA, Abe and Ghandi want to provide the beer for a party to loosen up Cleopatra. But, because they are underage, they are only able to get nonalcoholic near beer and lie to everyone.