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"A bully, thought Susan. A very small, very weak, very dull bully, who doesn't manage any real bullying, because there's hardly anyone smaller or weaker than him, so he just settles for making everyone's life that little bit more difficult..." |
Someone who is obsessed with doing everything rigid, proper, and by the bookâeven (or especially) if it interferes with doing it right.
On TV, a Control Freak is usually not the big boss; they act the way they do because they're stuck in a professional rut and they want out. Most end up as big fish in small ponds, abusing what little authority they have and hopelessly trying to impress the boss by forcing underlings to fill out all forms in triplicate with identical number-two pencils.
Every Control Freak specializes in endless stories about their past achievements, usually involving the military and usually bogus. (See The Neidermeyer.)
With a bit more power, they're the Obstructive Bureaucrat. Ten steps beyond that is The Chessmaster. Often closely related to Pride.
Not to be confused with the Teen Titans villain named Control Freak.
Anime and Manga[]
- Chiri of Sayonara, Zetsubou-sensei, who, like everyone else in the show, is an extreme exaggeration. Even her Cross-Popping Veins appear neatly and symmetrically.
- In Mirai Nikki Yuno Gasai had control-freak parents (especially her mother, Rea) who measured everything she did from how many hours she got to sleep to how many calories she had a day. They also kept her in a cage and starved her in an effort to raise her to be a model person.. Eventually, Yuno snapped in despair and managed to lock them up in the cage; initially she did it in an attempt to get them to reconsider how they treated her, but when they didn't, she kept them there until they starved.
- In Sherry Belmont's backstory from Zatch Bell, her mother is shown to be one of these, dictating pretty much how she lived her life, putting her through Training from Hell, and coming inches from sending her over the Despair Event Horizon.
- Not to mention Sherry herself seems to be very pretty particular over her friend Koko's state of mind and lifestyle. Did she learn a little too much from her mother?
Comic Books[]
- Leetah in Elf Quest considers herself one of these: she wants to have complete control over her healing powers, going so far as to stab herself in the stomach to force her powers to surge. Granted, she was reacting to severe emotional trauma at the time, but she's admitted that the attitude extends to her daily life and her family. Often, her first reaction to panic is to take charge, heal everything in sight, fix what can be immediately fixed (even if it's a terrible idea to do so) and have a proper emotional breakdown later.
- Sally Acorn had shades of this in the earlier more comical issues of Sonic the Hedgehog (and it's animated counterpart), usually butting heads with the reckless and free spirited Sonic as a result. This was diluted as the stories matured, the rare occasion she delves back in this trope are more Played for Drama.
Fan Works[]
- Notably, while Paul is a Real Life Control Freak, he doesn't exhibit much of that in With Strings Attached, probably because he's not got a lot of control over his own body, let alone the circumstances the four have been thrust into.
Film[]
- All the characters in Brazil who are not heroes, love interests, or ninja plumbers are this.
- First Officer Lieutenant Martin Pascal in Down Periscope.
- Abby from The Ugly Truth.
- "Ace" Rothstein in Casino. Such a perfectionist that he insists on an equal number of blueberries in every muffin.
- Mr. Huph, Bob's boss in The Incredibles is certainly a cut from this mold. Granted, Bob isn't a great employee for an insurance firm (given his conscience won't let him deny any claims), but Huff's pure bullying nature and reactions of offended dignity point to Bob not quite being the problem here. He even gives Bob a pre-planned disciplinary speech much like the "monologues" given by the super-villains Bob used to fight as Mr. Incredible. While cartoonish, his comeuppance is way too satisfying to watch. The commentary on the DVD reveals that director Brad Bird, who had been fired from his first two jobs, had middle-management bosses like Huff.
- Wanda Maximoff in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. As the film progresses, it becomes more and more apparent that Wanda wants America's power to micromanage a perfect life and have access to an endless pool of resources to govern that life. Fittingly enough the film sees Doctor Strange shed his Control Freak tendencies and come out the other side as a better person whereas Wanda, who clung to this mindset, dies with nothing and no one.
Literature[]
- In Stephen King's The Shining Ullman the hotel manager is like this. Jack Torrance thinks he is an "officious little prick" and this opinion is shared by more than one member of the Overlook's staff.
- Even though most of the staff consider Ullman an officious little prick, they admit that he's good at his job. Watson, the maintenance man, who HATES Ullman admits that Ullman is good at at what he does and definitely earns his salary. Ullman is the first manager of the Overlook who's ever turned a profit for the place.
- In Pride and Prejudice, there is only one correct way to do things, and that is Lady Catherine de Burgh's way... at least, in her head it is, and she's very fond of loudly and at length explaining to people what they should be doing. And as she's one of the landed gentry, people are very reluctant to disagree with her. This leads to a certain amount of tension when she eventually meets Elizabeth Bennet, who is not the sort of person to let other people push her around and bully her. Especially when one of the things that Lady Catherine believes is the "wrong" way of doing things is Elizabeth getting married to Mr. Darcy...
- Charlie, a middle-manager in the tooth-fairy operation in the Discworld novel Hogfather, and the subject of the above quote. Takes severe pride in his work (making sure the cart-driver signs his paperwork), is quick to make it clear that any problems are someone else's fault, would be on a tropical island if the organisation didn't need him; and has never wondered what happens to the teeth, because that's not his job.
- Brother Jerome in the Brother Cadfael novels and television series.
- Dolores. Fucking. Umbridge.
- In the Descent novelization, this is St. John's largest character flaw. To his credit, he does recognize this after the first book and begins taking steps to tone it down.
Live-Action TV[]
- Gareth Keenan, The Office (and his counterpart on the American version of same, Dwight Schrute).
- So is Angela Martin as the head of the party planning committee.
- Captain Peacock, Are You Being Served
- Arnold Rimmer Red Dwarf (example: he insists on meticulously inventorying the ship's massive food stocks, even though there's only two living creatures left on board and he isn't actually one of them).
- Monica Geller, Friends. Things either run to her design or they don't run at all.
- Dexter
- Barney Fife, The Andy Griffith Show
- Kate Gosselin, Jon and Kate Plus Eight.
- Kathleen Mead, Degrassi Junior High
- Liberty Van Zandt, Degrassi the Next Generation
- Also, Emma Nelson. To the point where she developed anorexia.
- Holly J for the later seasons.
- Major Frank Burns, M*A*S*H
- Mr. G, Summer Heights High.
- Carlton Lassiter from Psych.
- And also Henry Spencer, who once informed his son Shawn that Shawn wanted to be a cop. Shawn did not agree.
- Taylor Doose, perennial Town Selectman (among other things), on Gilmore Girls.
- Chloe in Smallville.
- Which is nothing compared to Lex.
- Lois on Malcolm in the Middle has been called this, but doesn't fit it to a T.
- Georg Bjarnfredarson in Naeturvaktin is a textbook example.
- Cindy from Season 19 of The Amazing Race admitted to being one of these, and pretty much confirmed it by controlling her fiance throughout the season. Before the race she made him prepare with her for any possible situation, including studying geography, intensive language courses, and rock climbing
- Casey McDonald of Life with Derek has these tendencies, exemplified when she was making a documentary about her family for a school project. She actually fired family members from the cast when they wouldn't behave the way she wanted to portray them.
- Rosa Diaz in Brooklyn Nine-Nine. She demands absolute control over every aspect of her life and even uses her intimidating demeanour to impose control on the lives of others, sometimes out of Tough Love, sometimes just to convenience her.
- Clara Oswald on Doctor Who. When under the influence of a Truth Field in "The Time of the Doctor", she admits that her bubbly personality masks this attitude.
Music[]
- Dennis DeYoung, former lead singer of the American rock band Styx. He's the reason, ultimately, that the band originally broke up in the early 1980s. When they reunited in the 1990s he started trying to take things over again, resulting in him getting kicked out. These days he tours under his own name, and the rest of the band remains Styx.
- Axl Rose. Offend him in the slightest and you'll end up without a job.
- Roger Waters. If David Gilmour is to be believed, his control-freak mode kicked in around 1977's Animals. It Got Worse with The Wall, which was almost entirely his writing, and culminated in The Final Cut, which infamously had the words "Written by Roger Waters; performed by Pink Floyd" printed on the back cover. Then he left the band and a series of lawsuits ensued involving who had the right to use the Animals pig and whether the rest of the band had the right to use the name "Pink Floyd."
- Paul McCartney, during the final years of The Beatles. Semi-justified though, in that Lennon was preoccupied with his side projects/relationship with Yoko Ono and generally pissing off George Harrison and Ringo Starr off, to such a degree, that McCartney had to literally take over the recording sessions with an iron hand just to keep things going.
- Even after the Beatles broke up. When The Beatles version of Twist and Shout" became a hit again after being in the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off McCartney was upset because a marching band in the movie was playing horns on it. Never mind the original Isley Brothers version actually did have horns on it!
- Exhibit A: "Let It Be, Naked"
- Even after the Beatles broke up. When The Beatles version of Twist and Shout" became a hit again after being in the movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off McCartney was upset because a marching band in the movie was playing horns on it. Never mind the original Isley Brothers version actually did have horns on it!
- Noel Gallagher joined Oasis on the condition of taking creative control of the group and becoming its sole songwriter.
- John Fogerty
- Don Henley was one; this was a major force in the Eagles' 1980 breakup.
- So was David Byrne. The Talking Heads finally broke up when the other members had had enough.
- Lawrence Hayward of Felt. (Actually, he was Felt.) Among other things, he once fired a drummer for having curly hair.
Newspaper Comics[]
- Calvin once asked his father what the term meant. The very favorable definition he received (along the lines of "It's what lazy people call someone who cares enough to do the job right") led Calvin to wonder aloud, "Am I in the presence of their king? Should I kneel?"
Sports[]
- Former Indiana University basketball coach Bobby Knight, also known for his General Ripper tendencies off the court. Of course, when he was actually winning titles, nobody cared about his behavior...
Theatre[]
- Lucy from Thirteen is going to get her way. Or else.
- ENGINES MUST OBEY CONTROL!! ENGINES MUST OBEY CONTROL!! DO!! WHAT!! YOU'RE!! TOLD!!!
- Subverted once everyone shouts: "Shut it, control!!"
Tabletop Games[]
- Exalted: She Who Lives In Her Name is the literal embodiment of control freakishness. Her Charmset has large chunks devoted to stripping those annoying little hairless apes of their free will so they have to do what they're told. There's a reason she's known as the Principle of Hierarchy.
Video Games[]
- If you're a villain with The Joker as your mentor in DC Universe Online, he'd comment that Brainiac is a Control Freak that "makes Batman look slightly neurotic".
- House of Rules: Alexis tells the woman shortly after she signs the contract that she should read the work rules, because if she is caught breaking any of them, she will be instantly fired. Oh, and there are a lot of work rules.
- One of the female bullies, Meg, from Rule of Rose. Highly intelligent, but inflexible, she holds the third highest spot under the Princess of the Rose.
- Samhain: If the boy tries to go downstairs after Mr. A brought him up to the third floor, Mr. A will reveal himself to be this. He really hates it when kids never do what they are told, and so he will kill the boy.
- Andrew Ryan became this by the time of BioShock (series) 1 as he started implementing more extreme measures to stay in control of Rapture, eventually turning Rapture into an elitist dictatorship, the kind of thing he despised.
- The Allies in Red Alert 3 Paradox control freak tendencies end up isolating the United States when they take over the government to prevent infiltration.
Webcomics[]
- In Misfile, Ash's father Edward used to be this, to the point that Ash's mother abandoned them both when Ash was three. Edward has since learned from his mistakes, and subscribes to a Hands-Off Parenting approach with Ash.
- Miwa in Never Mind the Gap has tendencies of this kind, especially when aggressively playing matchmaker.
- Cyanide & Happiness illustrates.
Western Animation[]
- Mr. Herriman, Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends.
- Hermes Conrad, Futurama is a parody in two ways; first, he knows what he is and revels in it; second, he also has elements of the stereotypical laid-back Jamaican interspersed with his Obstructive Bureaucrat persona.
- Frylock from Aqua Teen Hunger Force is usually the straight man and voice of reason, but some of his more pathetic moments approach a Control Freak (especially when he's trying to entertain anyone).
- Mechanicles in Aladdin, the animated series; though he was more of an obsessive-compulsive flavour, with dashes of scheduling mania.
- Principal Skinner has shades of this, though his war stories are never to impress anyone, more to traumatise them. This is the main reason he'll never impress his boss, the more laid-back Superintendent Chalmers, since he gets on Chalmers' nerves.
- When her world view and slice of normalcy is challenged, Marge Simpson reveals herself to be one, seeking to either shut down whatever new fangled thing has shown up (in "The Great Wife Hope", she all but admits to this) or drag Lisa back into line such as in "She of Little Faith" or "D'oh Canada".
- One showed up in the last Courage the Cowardly Dog episode. Courage defeats her when his imperfectness proves to be too much for her to handle.
- Jen from 6teen, being pretty obviously the Monica of the Friends-based group, gets accused of being this fairly often.
- In American Dad!, Stan Smith is a massive control freak, dictating all the things that his family must do and thinking himself allowed to but into their private lives when their hobbies or desires negatively affect him to the point that he once subjected his family to six months of Laser-Guided Amnesia to have the perfect Father's Day. How successful he is, and how much people go along with him, depends on the episode. It's even implied that the only reason he, nominally, identifies as a conservative is because preaching conservative policies allows him to better restrict other people's freedoms.
- He's such a control freak that the Almighty Himself called him out on it:
God: Stop trying to control everything! |
- Played with in Tale Spin with Rebecca Cunningham, the boss of Higher for Hire. While she has a rather shrill attitude and frequently manipulates or bullies Baloo and the others into following her schemes, she fails to have much intimidation over them or take much action against their own incompetent or obnoxious habits, leading her to come off more as a bossy friend than a domineering boss.
- Rabbit of Winnie the Pooh whose over-attention to detail and zero tolerance for his friends' nonsense often leads to him acting as this. A Nightmare Fuelish dream sequence in Springtime For Roo portrays his overbearing demeanor as becoming so intolerable that everyone in the Hundred Acre Wood leaves home just to get away from it all.
- Menlo from Recess.
- Horde Prime from She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. His status as a Galactic Conqueror isn't born out of some grand desire to bring peace to the universe as much as it's a desire to place the universe perfectly under his thumb and so that he, and only he, can make any decision in the universe.
- White Diamond from Steven Universe. White designed the entire Gem Empire and everything runs to her design. Her Villainous Breakdown in "Change Your Mind" comes from her not getting exactly what she wanted for once in her immortal life.
- Emperor Belos in The Owl House. As indicated by his Coven system, Belos has no respect whatsoever for the desires and freedoms of others, simply wanting everything to run to his whims. The Titan lampshades this to Luz in "Watching and Dreaming".
Real Life[]
- Of course, this is also Truth in Television. There are people at school or work who either demand that they tell the rest of the group what to do since they know best or forcibly push their own ideas onto the others without listening to the opinions of the other people, especially when they think that they are faultless.
- Whether it's school, college, or business, no matter how "well-intended" the control freak's contributions and/or help may be, it never ends well for anyone involved... the controllers themselves included.
- Control freaks can also pop up in cooperative video games. In games where massive teamwork is necessary, there will sometimes be a player who will constantly tell other players what to do and treat them like they never played the game before.
- And more often than not, the people who constantly bark orders are usually the players with the least amount of skill in the team.
- "Stop Having Fun!" Guys can also be this, insisting on playing the game a certain way and criticizing you if you "do it wrong".
- A Scrub can also do the same thing, telling people that you should play their way because it's more fair.
- Manga author Natsuki Takaya has been accused of being this. i.e., she wanted to control near everything in the first Fruits Basket anime and butted heads with director Akitarou Daichi on near every single issue they could.