You know how, in our culture, there is an overused scene where a parent is dissatisfied with their kid’s bad grades?

“But mommy, little Timmy got an ever worse grade!”

“I don’t care what your little Timmy has! An A is not good enough! Little Susan has an A-plus! Why can’t you be like little Susan? Talk to me when you have an A-plus!”

“I HATECHOO!!” screams the kid, with a little creak in his little voice. He runs away and, with a loud BANG, closes the door to his room.

I am honestly tired of these cliche relationships. Do humans act like that often? I don’t remember anything similar in my life.

But I will never forget the opposite treatment.

When I had a suboptimal exam result, around 83%, I phoned my private tutor to tell him the bad news.

“Hey, I just call to tell you my exam result like you asked… I’ve got 83%.”

“Phew! Really? Wow, I am so glad for you! You worked hard and totally earned it. Well done!”

I tried to mirror my tutor’s seemingly genuine joy. But at that moment I knew: all along, I was taken for garbage that was unlikely to achieve anything greater.

Why don’t we see THAT in our movies, TV series, or books? It can be a neat part of a villain arc.

Don’t worry. I myself am too apathetic, lazy, introverted, and infantile to be a worthwhile villain.