LogFAQs > #922195850

Today's trope is A**hole Victim. Here is the link: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AssholeVictim

Normally when something bad happens to an individual you feel some degree of pity for them. But then when that person is a Jerkass, when horrible things happen to them it's less sympathy and more satisfaction. They may not be directly responsible for THIS particular misfortune, as that would be Laser-Guided Karma, but their behavior means something like this was going to happen eventually. This can range from the victim merely being a dick to being a far worse criminal than the person he or she is a victim to.

In other words, when a corpse-shaped or victim-shaped hole in the plot is filled with a character who is in some way sufficiently repugnant, the audience feeling bad about their death.

This trope can show up for a variety of reasons, but a common one is to make the criminal (or Non-Malicious Monster) into a Sympathetic Murderer. This is especially likely if the Asshole Victim's dickery is what motivated the criminal to commit the crime in the first place. This often occurs in works that feature an Anti-Hero or Villain Protagonist; their victims are such horrible people that the protagonist looks heroic by comparison, and/or Start of Darkness stories will have the protagonist's first victims be terrible people so they don't lose audience sympathy at the beginning of the tale.

TL,DR: You don't feel bad when this character is victimised, because they're a jerk who had it coming.

Nominations:
Donald Gennaro (Jurassic Park)
The businessman who kills the dog (Snakes on a Plane)
Senator Davis (Resident Evil: Degeneration)