http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/InterrogationByVandalism

Advertisement:

A character needs to get information from someone, but Cold-Blooded Torture or the Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique would make him or her seem too nasty, or would simply be ineffective. So instead they threaten to destroy... the priceless Ming vase

Usually only used by heroes on characters that show a distinct regard for possessions over human life, so it seems a bit like they deserve it. However, when push comes to shove, villains are vastly more likely to actually go through with the threat, and will typically choose an item with sentimental value to their target, such as a Tragic Keepsake.

Often Played for Laughs (see Torture for Fun and Information), with a common punchline being the victim's retort that "that wasn't even mine". However, nobody actually does this in real life except for maybe your parents throwing something of yours in the trash, or during a lovers' quarrel. The police especially do not do this - it's illegal to destroy property.

See also Shame If Something Happened, Cool and Unusual Punishment, Contrived Clumsiness.

Advertisement:

Examples

open/close all folders

Anime & Manga

Ah! My Goddess: In episode 9 of the 2005 series, Sayoko tortures Keiichi by smashing toy cars in front of him with a small hammer. She notes that this technique seems to be particularly effective against him. Note that the toy cars are hers to begin with, and it's implied that she bought them just for this purpose.

In Soul Eater, Gopher tortures Kid by vandalizing his body. He plays on Kid's Super OCD by doing things like drawing an asymmetrical pattern on his stomach in permanent marker and scratching one of Kid's body parts and not the other. He only tried this because he noticed Kid's OCD and that the usual "beat him til he talks" technique wasn't working.

Comic Books

Batman: In "Officer Down", Nightwing and Azrael are interrogating a dealer of stolen art at his gallery. Owner : Young man, I do not believe even you are enough of a Philistine to destroy my sculptures.

Nightwing : You're right. : Young man, I do not believe even you are enough of a Philistine to destroy my sculptures.: You're right. But my friend here? He's real Philistine.

In The Further Adventures of Indiana Jones #6, Marion escapes from the mansion of a mob boss by holding a pistol to his treasured (and irreplaceable) recording of opera singer Enrico Caruso and threatening to shoot if anyone attacks her.

Les Innommables: Inverted when Tony is kidnapped by an antiques collector, who clearly loves his treasures (talking about a ceramic figurine that was dipped daily in the blood of a just-killed man to attain its unique color). Tony gets up and swings his chair into the kidnapper's trophy shelf, causing him to faint.

Usagi Yojimbo: in The Hidden, inspector Ishida is trying to get information from a shady merchant who deals in western works of art and has a collection. Usagi makes him talk by pretending to be very clumsy around the priceless collection, nearly breaking a statuette in half.

V for Vendetta (the original comic) has V take Lewis Prothero, formerly a death camp commander and currently the "Voice of Fate" for the government's radio broadcasts, hostage and threatens him with the incineration of his collection of priceless dolls unless he tells him everything that happened at Larkhill. And then he does it anyway, driving Prothero insane and depriving Norsefire of its major voice of propaganda. Prothero's concern for the dolls is in stark contrast to his callous disregard for the human beings he disposed of in similar incineration chambers.

It wasn't an interrogation, but in X-Statix, Vivisector was tied to a chair and forced to watch as his prized book collection was burned. He had recently been administered the mutant cure, and his powers can be activated by emotional distress; the idea was to see if he had truly been cured (he had).

Films — Animation

Toy Story 3: After Ken refuses to tell her how to turn Buzz Lightyear back to normal, Barbie goes to town on his accessories and wardrobe. He manages to hold out until Barbie threatens his precious Nehru jacket.

Advertisement:

Films — Live-Action

Literature

Several ancient sources record an anecdote about a dinner party attended by the emperor Augustus, where the host ordered a slow and painful death for a slave who accidentally broke one of a set of valuable drinking cups. In one version of the story, Augustus had his own servants gather up the remaining cups and smash them one by one until the host agreed to let the slave off.

Brotherhood of the Rose, a novel by David Morrell: The heroes force the English member of the Abelard conspiracy to talk by shooting his priceless roses. However he doesn't tell the full truth, as it turns out.

Devil in a Blue Dress, Easy Rawlins bashes the beloved marble countertop owned by his barman friend with a hammer to force him to tell the truth about the job he's been given. Also shows up in The Film of the Book.

Happens at least twice in The Dresden Files. In the short story "Last Call", Murphy knocks some delicate geodes off a shelf while Harry questions the shop owner. (She gleefully declares herself "the good cop.") In the novel Small Favor, Harry is trying to get past an administrative assistant who is insisting that her boss is out of the building. He asks his vampire friend, Thomas, to "give her a visual." Thomas promptly twists a pair of heavy barbells together, while Harry details what else he can break.

In Feet of Clay, Detritus uses this to coerce a troll drug smuggler (and pottery merchant) into assisting the Watch. Though that was more a case of "accidentally" smashing a rather valueless statue, thereby revealing a massive cache of drugs, and using that evidence of trafficking to blackmail said smuggler into cooperating.

Taken Up to Eleven in a hilarious moment in The Lost Conspiracy. They get in a massive hostage stand off... Character A: I smash this

Character B: You do that, and I'll burn this valuable scroll!

Character C: You do that, and I'll cut her

(beat)

Character A: Okay, this is just getting ridiculous... I smash this fish! You do that, and I'll burn this valuable scroll!You do that, and I'll cut her throat. Okay, this is just getting ridiculous...

In Metagame by Sam Landstrom, D_Light interrogates an Analyst by smashing some of his computer equipment. The Analyst estimates that the destruction of just one monitor will reduce his efficiency by 0.5%, which is a huge blow for someone created to be obsessed with work.

A Piece of Resistance, a novel by Clive Egleton set in a Soviet-occupied Britain. The protagonist breaks a landlady's Dresden china heirlooms to get her to reveal where she's hiding the people he's after.

In Wolves of the Calla, Enciro Balzar pressures Calvin Tower by threatening to burn Tower's most valuable books.

Live-Action TV

Video Games

Action Doom 2: Urban Brawl: An informant gives you a lead, but he's not being entirely sincere, and the only way to get him to tell you the truth (and get the best ending) is to smash his priceless car.

One of the first Thieves' Guild quests in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim has you threaten shopkeepers to break items they're fond of (A Dwemer urn and a goddess' statue respectively) to get them to pay their protection money.

An option in The Godfather: The Game, where the player can extort shop owners by smashing up their stores.

In Late Shift, the protagonist may interrogate someone by smashing their valuables with a golf club.

In Mass Effect 2, Kasumi's loyalty mission has a combination of this and Shut Up, Hannibal!, where Shepard can interrupt the villain's ranting by casually shooting one of his priceless statues.

The Wolf Among Us: In episode 2 Bigby threatens to destroy several items in Georgies club with a cricket bat. Whether or not he does is up to the player.

Web Comics

Western Animation