# Badasses eating apples **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 22, 2016, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/badasses-eating-apples/758047 "2016-06-22T14:19:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/badasses-eating-apples/758047/1 "2016-06-22T14:19:32Z")
Someone pointed this out in a YouTube video, and now I’m suddenly noticing it everywhere: [Leonidas](http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f4kviN0g8iw/TyzBydCPF4I/AAAAAAAAC9Y/XB-eGUa2lqw/s1600/frutoprohibido.jpg). [Kirk](http://thesurge.com/app/uploads/2015/07/a-short-convo.jpg). [Jack Sparrow](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/c7/dd/cf/c7ddcf0b74f1640601157ff22d51ea0b.jpg). Whenever you want a character to look especially badass, have them casually chomp on an apple. The most recent sighting was just today, as I was watching the movie _The Stanford Prison Experiment_. Sure enough, there it was: The [apple of badass](http://i.imgur.com/z7Zz8qI.jpg?1). And that’s when I thought: OK, this is worth starting a thread about. So: Is this a trope, or at least a mini-trope? If so, does it have a TV Tropes page? (I couldn’t find one.) Have you guys noticed any badass-related apple-chomping that you want to mention? Why does apples in particular make you look badass, rather than say, carrots? Or is this all my confirmation bias talking, and I’m simply missing all the casual banana- and peanut-eating? ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/badasses-eating-apples/758047/2 "2016-06-22T14:24:55Z")
In “Frenzy”, uber-creep Rusk takes a bite out of one as a prelude to one of the nastiest film scenes I’ve ever seen. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/badasses-eating-apples/758047/3 "2016-06-22T14:26:34Z")
I don’t know about TV tropes, but it is a sort of joke among fantasy writers, on par with having red hair or being the last of one’s kind. See here: [How to Tell if You Are In a High Fantasy Novel](http://the-toast.net/2015/01/23/tell-high-fantasy-novel/). It’s a little below the picture, on my display. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/badasses-eating-apples/758047/4 "2016-06-22T14:56:19Z")
It’s the crunch; it suggests that this is a guy who’s going to knock some heads and break some bones. The carrot, aside from being phallic, is unavoidably comedic among viewers old enough to have seen a lot of Bugs Bunny. ---
**Author:** ![GunnarFranz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/da6949/32.png) [@GunnarFranz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GunnarFranz)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/badasses-eating-apples/758047/5 "2016-06-22T14:59:04Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > It’s the crunch; it suggests that this is a guy who’s going to knock some heads and break some bones. The carrot, aside from being phallic, is unavoidably comedic among viewers old enough to have seen a lot of Bugs Bunny. You’re on to something, I can’t think of a food the average person eats more violently… ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/badasses-eating-apples/758047/6 "2016-06-22T15:03:01Z")
David Mamet’s underrated [Spartan](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmdqBJnKDVY): Delta Cadre Selection Member: You might want to eat something. MGySgt Robert ‘Bobby’ Scott: [pulls out an apple, slices off a piece with his autoknife] Delta: Real deal is, the boat went down…girl and the professor…washed up naked. Coked out. Coast Guard dresses them up. [beat] Nice knife. Scott: Yeah, got it off an East German fella. [hands knife to Delta] Delta: He give it to you for a gift? Scott: No, as I recall, he was…rather reluctant to part with it. Delta: [closing knife and sliding it back over to Scott] Yeah, I always knew you Marines were a weepy bunch of motherfuckers. Scott: I got something in my eye. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/badasses-eating-apples/758047/7 "2016-06-22T15:22:05Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > It’s the crunch; it suggests that this is a guy who’s going to knock some heads and break some bones. The carrot, aside from being phallic, is unavoidably comedic among viewers old enough to have seen a lot of Bugs Bunny. In the movie _Shoot 'Em Up_, uber-badass Clive Owen is constantly munching on carrots, and even uses them as weapons (for example, stabbing someone in the eye) from time to time. I never thought of it before, but it is probably a sly parody of the apple trope. ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/badasses-eating-apples/758047/8 "2016-06-22T15:24:02Z")
The TV Tropes page is [The Snack Is More Interesting](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheSnackIsMoreInteresting). Although it focuses on being more interested in the food than the action, it includes examples of the type you describe, where eating an apple makes someone look tough. The tagline for the page is _"“The director said ‘Here, eat an apple. It’ll make you look like even more of an asshole.’”_ ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/badasses-eating-apples/758047/9 "2016-06-22T15:31:23Z")
In _Game of Thrones_, there is a scene with Ramsay Bolton and an apple. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/badasses-eating-apples/758047/10 "2016-06-22T15:52:06Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > It’s the crunch; it suggests that this is a guy who’s going to knock some heads and break some bones. I think the implication is more like what SpoilerVirgin describes. It’s supposed to highlight the character’s superiority over the people around him. While everyone else is losing control, he’s having a snack and only giving part of his attention to the crisis. It’s a way of signalling _“My abilities are so much better than yours that I’m not even getting excited by the situation that is putting you into a panic.”_ ---
**Author:** ![Don\_t\_Panic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/don_t_panic/32/398_2.png) [@Don\_t\_Panic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_t_Panic)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/badasses-eating-apples/758047/11 "2016-06-22T16:10:49Z")
> [@SpoilerVirgin](#): > > The TV Tropes page is [The Snack Is More Interesting](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TheSnackIsMoreInteresting). Although it focuses on being more interested in the food than the action, it includes examples of the type you describe, where eating an apple makes someone look tough. > > The tagline for the page is _"“The director said ‘Here, eat an apple. It’ll make you look like even more of an asshole.’”_ Ah! Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![AlsoNamedBort](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alsonamedbort/32/3213_2.png) [@AlsoNamedBort](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AlsoNamedBort)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/badasses-eating-apples/758047/12 "2016-06-22T16:14:57Z")
George Costanza is the ultimate badass: > [@](#): > > Jerry: So you called. > > George: Right. And, and to cover my nervousness I started eating an apple, > because I think if they hear you chewing on the other end of the phone, it > makes you sound casual. > > Jerry: Yeah, like a farm boy. ---
**Author:** ![divemaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/divemaster/32/78_2.png) [@divemaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/divemaster)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/badasses-eating-apples/758047/13 "2016-06-22T16:15:58Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > …It’s a way of signalling _“My abilities are so much better than yours that I’m not even getting excited by the situation that is putting you into a panic.”_ “Well, I got her number. How do you like them apples?” ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/badasses-eating-apples/758047/14 "2016-06-22T16:52:05Z")
::crunch!!:: Sorry - you were saying something? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/badasses-eating-apples/758047/15 "2016-06-22T16:56:46Z")
My fave sub-sub-trope is the heavy using a knife to slice up the apple. It inevitably ends up crossing with the alt-trope of Chekov’s Knife. ---
**Author:** ![Defensive\_Indifference](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/defensive_indifference/32/6502_2.png) [@Defensive\_Indifference](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Defensive_Indifference)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/badasses-eating-apples/758047/16 "2016-06-22T17:02:49Z")
ISTR seeing a movie or two where the badass ate walnuts. He’d casually crack two or three of them one-handed, so you got a nice crunch as well as a display of strength. I never watched _The Sopranos_ – was that how Paulie Walnuts got his nickname? ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/badasses-eating-apples/758047/17 "2016-06-22T17:10:49Z")
What about [pistachios](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-TCvaNuKNQ)? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/badasses-eating-apples/758047/18 "2016-06-22T17:11:45Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > I never watched _The Sopranos_ – was that how Paulie Walnuts got his nickname? Wiki says he got it from hijacking a truck that he thought contained tv sets but actually held a shipment of walnuts. I always had assumed that it was because his last name, Gualtieri, sounded vaguely like “walnuts.” ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/badasses-eating-apples/758047/19 "2016-06-22T17:14:45Z")
Apples always seemed like a way to avoid using cigarettes for the 100th time. Just another prop for the actor to look cool with. It also takes more acting ability than a cigarette does to get right. If you do it wrong, you just look like a slobbering pig. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2016, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/badasses-eating-apples/758047/20 "2016-06-22T17:36:26Z")
> [@Bayard](#): > > ISTR seeing a movie or two where the badass ate walnuts. He’d casually crack two or three of them one-handed, so you got a nice crunch as well as a display of strength. I never watched _The Sopranos_ – was that how Paulie Walnuts got his nickname? Irene Adler does this in the “Sherlock Holmes” movie with Robert Downey Jr. It’s even more badass since she’s a petite female. Of course, cracking two or three in one hand is much easier than cracking one, since you’re squeezing two hard surfaces against each either. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/badasses-eating-apples/758047.md?page=2)