Mama Didn't Raise No Criminal: Difference between revisions

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Line 1: {{trope}} [[File:hollyjjba 8509.png\|link=JoJo's Bizarre Adventure\|~~right~~frame]] {{quote\|''Oh, please, Judge... my Tony, he's a good boy.'' \|"I Love a Film Cliche", ''[[A Day in Hollywood, A Night in the Ukraine]]''}} It's not unusual for fiction to depict the effects crime can have on the criminal's family. This trope is about when the criminal's family reacts with either disbelief, disavowal of responsibility, or, if they're hedging their bets, both. When confronted with evidence of serious wrongdoing, they often go through [[Five Stages of Grief\|predictable emotional processes]], most prominently denial. Denial as a psychological phenomenon can manifest in many forms. Line 21 ⟶ 25: {{examples}} == Anime and Manga == * In ''[[Death Note]]'', Light Yagami uses the title notebook to murder criminals, earning himself the name "Kira". His father, Police Chief Soichiro Yagami, gets put in charge of the investigation to find Kira and bring him to justice. His own son quickly becomes the prime suspect, causing much angst. Line 28 ⟶ 31: * The page picture comes from ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]'', and shows Holly Kujo referring to her son, Jotaro Kujo. It's also a subversion in that Jotaro ''hasn't committed any crimes'' - he locked ''himself'' in a prison cell out of fear of his "evil spirit" (read: Stand). == [[~~Fanfic~~Fan Works]] ==▼ * Averted in ''[[Ultimate SpiderWoman~~\|Ultimate Spider-Woman~~: Change With the Light]]'' when Spider-Woman's [[Arch Enemy]] Jack O'Lantern is revealed as {{spoiler\|Steven Mark Levins}}. Instead of irrationally denying it, Jack's relatives instead react with horror and dismay when they hear the news, along with the pure shock that they're related to a psychopathic mass murderer.▼ ▲== [[Fanfic]] == ▲* Averted in ''[[Ultimate SpiderWoman\|Ultimate Spider-Woman: Change With the Light]]'' when Spider-Woman's [[Arch Enemy]] Jack O'Lantern is revealed as {{spoiler\|Steven Mark Levins}}. Instead of irrationally denying it, Jack's relatives instead react with horror and dismay when they hear the news, along with the pure shock that they're related to a psychopathic mass murderer. == Film == * The 2009 Korean film ''[[MOTHER]]'' is about a mother's attempt to exonerate her son, who has been convicted of murdering a teenage girl based on shoddy evidence. It turns out {{spoiler\|he actually did kill her}}. == Literature == Line 44: * In the Japanese novel ''Kokuhaku'' ("Confessions") and its film adaptation, Student B's (Naoki's) mother is like this, absolutely refusing to believe her son had any role in the death of Moriguchi's daughter. {{spoiler\|It's revealed he is the one who really killed her; he threw her into the pool to drown, as he desperately wanted Watanabe/Student A to be his friend.}} * The [[Agatha Christie]] book ''Pocket Full of Rye'' has old Miss Ramsbottom who refuses to the police's questions about the murder of her brother-in-law because, "Living in this house are two of my dead sister's children, and I refuse to believe anyone with Ramsbottom blood could commit murder." {{spoiler\|The murderer was in fact one of her sister's children, and based on her conversation with [[Miss Marple]] at the end, Miss Ramsbottom knew, at least subconsciously.}} == Live-Action TV == Line 50 ⟶ 49: * [[Long Runner]] that it is, listing every single time this has happened in ''[[Law & Order\|Law and Order]]'' and its various spinoffs would take up far more space than the database has. In fact, it'd probably be easier to list the [[Crime and Punishment Series]] that '''don't''' have this happen on a semi-regular basis. * In ''[[Wiseguy]]'', Vinnie's mother thinks he is a criminal, when he's actually working undercover for the Organized Crime Bureau. {{spoiler\|She eventually finds out the truth... but then worries that he's gradually becoming more and more like the criminals around him.}} * In the ''[[Star Trek]]'' episode ~~''[[~~"The Ultimate Computer]]",'' ~~The~~the "M-5" is a living computer which commits murder, but Dr. Richard Daystrom, its creator, defends the events as "accidents." Dr. McCoy says that "even when a child kills, a parent will usually continue to defend that child." * ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' dealt with this in season three: {{spoiler\|it turns out that the perpetrator of the Galen murders was a mentally impaired man who didn't really understand what he was doing. When his father found out, he covered it up on the grounds that his son wasn't a bad person, and he made the killer send the victims' kids stuffed animals every year on the anniversary of the murders so that his son wouldn't forget that he's capable of terrible things and would be careful never to let it happen again}}. In a season one episode, Gideon brutally deconstructs this trope with a father who continually makes excuses for his serial killer son. Also appears in another episode of season one where a mother easily accepts that her son's murders aren't her fault. {{spoiler\|It was her fault, but it wasn't her son's murders. She was the killer.}} * An episode of ''[[The Fugitive (TV series)\|The Fugitive]]'' has Kimble reuniting with his family. His father and sister are handling his situation well, but his brother is bitter over his difficulties holding a job once his bosses find out he's the brother of a supposed fugitive murderer. * ''[[Day Break]]'': During one of the [[Groundhog Day Loop\|repeating days]] Detective Hopper visits his mother's home to further the investigation by digging up information on his dead father. When she ~~chastizes~~chastises him for not visiting her more often he explains that he's too busy at the moment since he's wanted for murder in Los Angeles, [[Frame-Up\|although he didn't actually do it]]. Her Response? "Well of course - I didn't raise no murderer!" * Ghoulishly subverted on an episode of ''[[CSI]]'' when a murder suspect mistakenly thinks that his son is dead. When the victim's body is found bricked up in his house, he nonchalantly attempts to pin the entire crime on his son...unaware that the son is alive and well and watching the interrogation through a one-way mirror. This leads to an [[I Have No Son\|I Have No Father]] moment from the son. == Newspaper Comics == * ''[[Dick Tracy]]'' has frequently addressed the problems that go with being the innocent relative of a criminal. One of the most notable examples is Junior's first girlfriend Model Jones, who was overwhelmingly ashamed of her crook brother and alcoholic parents. In the end, she was {{spoiler\|accidentally shot and killed by her own brother during a fight with the cops.}} == Radio == * [[Neal Boortz]] is annoyed by this trope so much, he will preemptively suggest that the family will say such a thing when covering stories on criminals. == Theatre == * One of the examples given in the song "I Love a Film Cliche" from ''[[A Day in Hollywood, A Night in the Ukraine]]'' is a woman with a heavy Italian accent pleading {{quote\|"Oh, please-a, judge, my Tony, he's a good boy."}} == Video Games == Line 71: {{reflist}} [[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]] [[Category:Parental Issues]] [[Category:Drama Tropes]] Line 76 ⟶ 77: [[Category:Truth in Television]] [[Category:Crime and Punishment Tropes]] ~~[[Category:Mama Didn't Raise No Criminal]]~~ [[Category:Depressing Tropes]]