Screening the Call: Difference between revisions

[[The Hero]] would be [[Jumped At the Call|happy to answer]] the [[Call to Adventure]]. After all, he's been waiting in the [[Call ReceivalReception Area]], waiting for [[The Call Left a Message|the message]] to appear - but he learned that someone's been clearing the voice mail behind his back. It seems that some well-meaning family, friends or loved ones are [[Screw Destiny|preventing]] the Hero from catching the call.

Why? Maybe the Hero's [[Love Interest]] knows the [[The HerosHero's Journey]] is dangerous and, [[I Want My Beloved to Be Happy|well...]] Maybe the Hero has [[My Beloved Smother|really]] [[Overprotective Dad|overprotective]] [[Meddling Parents|parents]] who [[Mama Bear|don't want]] their child harmed. Maybe some [[Downer Ending|tragedy]] has occurred in the past and it's known that [[Turn Out Like His Father|adventure]] [[It Runs in The Family|runs in the family]]. Maybe the Hero is in store for some [[A Fate Worse Than Death|really nasty fate]]. Maybe the town is uncomfortable with the Hero's [[Stock Super Powers]] and would really rather he were [[Why Couldn't You Be Different?|just normal]]. Maybe they have an interest in making sure [[Nothing Exciting Ever Happens Here]] (after all, adventure is [[No Endor Holocaust|really bad for property values]]). In really extreme circumstances, those Screening the Call might take the Hero [[Offing the Offspring|out of the equation]].

* In ''[[Suzumiya Haruhi]]'', the rest of the characters are constantly working to keep Haruhi [[Locked Out of the Loop]] regarding her own powers. They have a ''[[The End of the World Asas We Know It|very]]'' good reason, though.

== [[Fan Works]] ==

* Played with in ''[[With Strings Attached (Fanfic)|With Strings Attached]]'': After Ringo crops up psychic and John starts flying in front of the others, the Fans decide they'd better get the other two some magic to prevent group friction. They maneuver George to his [[Amulet of Concentrated Awesome|shapeshifting ring]], but before they can deal with Paul they're kicked off their computer by an official because their school is closing for Winter Solstice Vacation. Paul spends an undetermined amount of time drinking and jealous because of this, though the Fans finally do get to him once they return to school.

* The Fan Fiction ''[[White Devil of the Moon]],'' has Fate preventing the [[Sailor Moon|Sailor Senshi]] from finding [[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha|Nanoha]] because a) Nanoha has just been badly injured ''and'' is a workaholic, and b) if Nanoha gets involved, she will overwork herself trying to solve the Senshi's problem, putting her back in the hospital.

* Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru seemed to be doing this to Luke Skywalker in Episode IV of ''[[Star Wars]]'', at least before [[The Call Knows Where You Live|the Empire caught up with them]]. Uncle Owen was the staunchest proponent of Luke staying home despite Beru's insistence that "Luke's just not a farmer, Owen. He has too much of his father in him." Owen's answer: "That's what I'm afraid of." We're initially led to believe that they're afraid Luke's going to get himself killed just like his father, but after [[Luke, I Am Your Father|a certain reveal]] in ''The Empire Strikes Back'', we learn that what they're really afraid of is the possibility that Luke might fall to the Dark Side and [[In the Blood|go evil like his father]].

* In the latest [[Transformers (Filmfilm)|Transformers]] movie, Dark of the Moon, Sam's new girlfriend Carly is playing this trope when Sam starts assembling the clues to a new adventure. She would prefer that he leave his dangerous ways in the past while he safely basks in their glory in the present. She fears that if he goes off to war again that it will be a repeat of the tragedy that claimed her brother. Unfortunately for her when she leaves Sam she unwittingly walks straight into the thick of the plot and becomes a [[Damsel in Distress]].

* Lyra's mother in ''[[His Dark Materials]]'' hides her in a cave and keeps her in a drugged sleep to prevent her from fulfilling her destiny.

* In ''The Rowan'', all the [[Psychic Powers|psychic]] [[Differently -Powered Individual|Primes]] who handle interstellar teleportation were trained by the [[There Are No Therapists|neurotic, agoraphobic]] and overbearing Siglen who telepathically impressed her own inability to handle personal travel into all the other Primes, making travel off their homeworlds a [[Heroic BSOD|mind-scarringly traumatic experience]] and leaving The Rowan unable to assist her [[Mindlink Mates|distant lover]] in a [[Bug War]] that threatens to kill his entire planet. Luckily, [[The Power of Love]] leads her to ovecome the effects by [[Epiphany Therapy|realizing that it's just psychological baggage]], not an inherent trait of Primes.

== [[Live -Action TV]] ==

* On ''[[Chuck]]'', it was revealed that Chuck was targeted for CIA recruitment during college, but [[The Ace|his friend Bryce]] got him expelled so he wouldn't get involved with spy work. Later on, it becomes apparent that {{spoiler|Chuck's dad Stephen Bartowski has been [[Screening the Call]] since Chuck was a child}}. Needless to say, it doesn't work.

* [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer|Buffy]] is adamant about keeping [[Annoying Younger Sibling|Dawn]] out of combat. That's all well and good, but considering Dawn's a [[MacGuffin Girl]] and the sister of the Slayer who is quite literally bound by destiny to be in the wrong place at the wrong time and fight the evil that results, it becomes fairly obvious to everyone that trying to keep Dawn out of danger only serves to make her an [[Distressed Damsel in Distress|easy target]]. By season 7 and the comics, Dawn has received training, and [[Took a Level Inin Badass]], becoming a hell of a lot more useful and less likely to be kidnapped.

* The Seers of the Throne, the major antagonist group in the roleplaying game ''[[Mage: The Awakening|Mage: the Awakening]]'', make it a point to interrupt Awakenings if the mage won't throw in their lot with the Seers. According to the game's [[Karma Meter]], this is a ''very bad thing''.

** The more benign version of this is done by the Guardians of the Veil, who (quite understandably) believe Awakening should be a [[Comes Great Responsibility|privilege, not a gift to be handed out willy-nilly]]. As a result, they create a sort of pseudo-conspiracy, called the Labyrinth (a trail of supposedly world-controlling organizations and conspiracies that also happen to be [[The Schizophrenia Conspiracy|complete bunk]]) meant to mislead people only in it for the power away from Awakening and people [[Genre Savvy]] enough to realize they're being fooled towards it. More than one Guardian is proof that it works.

* In ''[[Psychonauts (Video Game)|Psychonauts]]'', Raz's father forces Raz into rigorous acrobatics training in order to keep him from mastering his psychic potential. Not because he's overprotective but due to his prejudices against psychics. {{spoiler|It turns out, during [[The Reveal]], that the father he meets in the mental realm was built on Raz's exaggerated perceptions of his father and his real father appears to tell Raz he really was trying to protect him.}}

* In ''[[Girl Genius]]'', Agatha's uncle gave her a locket that {{spoiler|seals her [[Science -Related Memetic Disorder|Spark]]}} and her parents aren't who they seem.

** But without it, she would have been killed by a mob of angry villagers...or or {{spoiler|had her personality wiped and replaced with that of her mother - which came awfully close to happening anyways}}... or would have been the cause of a civil war that she would have been ''very'' unlikely to survive. At least now, she has the resources and ingenuity to survive what's going to be thrown at her (hopefully).