History Main / GenreBlindness

* Many characters in ''ComicBook/DraculaLives'' stories that are set in past centuries are ignorant to basic vampire weaknesses since many think vampires as nothing but legends. One man learns about them firsthand after stealing Dracula's journal and exploits this fact by selling the information to the villages on his menu.
* ''Franchise/GreenLantern'': For beings who have lived for millions of years, the Guardians of Oa are painfully genre blind. Some of their greatest hits include [[OldShame creating an army of conscienceless machines]] and acting surprised when they start committing genocide; inducting ''[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast someone named Sinestro]]'' into the Green Lantern Corps and acting surprised when he goes evil; banishing Sinestro to a universe full of the Guardians' worst enemies and acting surprised when he comes back and starts killing Green Lanterns; trying to stop a SelfFulfillingProphecy and acting surprised when [[Comicbook/BlackestNight it is fulfilled]]; and firing Hal Jordan after he saved their lives for the umpteenth million time. But probably the most egregious example of blindness is the fact that the Guardians demand absolute obedience from the Green Lantern Corps, an organization made up exclusively of the most willful {{Determinator}}s in the universe. It's gotten so bad at this point that the Guardians are set to become the BigBad of the current Green Lantern arc. The only reason for this is if the [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien Guardians]] were savvy they could turn every issue of ''Green Lantern'' into a CurbStompBattle. As it is, [[OnlySaneMan Ganthet]] usually manages to be savvy enough that the Guardians get by... [[TheCassandra when they listen to him]].
* ''ComicBook/{{Iznogoud}}'': How long will it take for Iznogoud to understand that the problem in his quest for power is not Wa'at Alahf, but himself?

* ''Tales to Astonish'' had a {{metafiction}}al story where a writer for that very magazine submits stories about the military fighting and eventually defeating a monster and attempting to keep it secret, then learns that the monsters he created actually existed and were defeated the same way as in his stories. This happens twice in a row. So what does the writer do? Ponder his typewriter and the slightly ominous circumstances under which he bought it? Not until he has written and submitted a third story, with a monster that is practically invincible and ''[[SequelHook not]]'' defeated by the end, and been encouraged to go on a vacation, [[TheFourthWallWillNotProtectYou with predictable results]].
* After being [[TapOnTheHead knocked out]] many times by being hit on the back of his head, you might have thought that Franchise/{{Tintin}} would at least watch his back whenever he's sneaking up on a villain's lair or on the villains themselves.
* The characters of ''ComicBook/TheWalkingDead'' have never seen zombie movies. Fine. But they still don't learn. Multiple characters die/are injured in the exact same zombie-attacking way. Zombies or no, the cop character never quite grasps the concept of "clear one room before going to next". In [[Series/TheWalkingDead the TV show]], however they have become considerably more savvy by the beginning of the third episode.

** ''Film/CabinInTheWoods'' is an inversion of this, in which the characters are supposed to act in genre-blind ways, and are pushed in that direction when they don't. For example they all resolve to stay together, but are dosed with a gas that confuses them and leads them to split up.

* In the ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendofZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]]'' [[Manga/TheLegendOfZeldaAkiraHimekawa manga adaption]], we have some soldiers being told [[TheHero Link]], who has built up a reputation as an expert fighter, is visiting, and when they see that he's an AdorablyPrecociousChild, they assume he's harmless. One panel later, we find he [[CurbStompBattle humiliated them, and broke some of their swords.]]

* In ''Literature/ExHeroes'', heroine Stealth is aiding other heroes battling the rise of a zombie virus in the world. As she sees a police officer bitten after refusing to shoot civilians in the head "because they're still human" and medical personn

** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS1E5WalkingDistance Walking Distance]]", Martin Sloan meets himself as an 11-year-boy but he does not realize that he has traveled back in time until a teenager tells him that his 1934 roadster is brand new.
** In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS2E52APennyForYourThoughts A Penny for Your Thoughts]]", Hector B. Poole spends half an episode reading people's minds before realizing that no, they're not talking out loud while somehow keeping their mouths closed.

* ''Series/KitchenNightmares'': Anyone underestimating Gordon (i.e. backtalking him, disregarding his advice, et cetera) counts, but the standout example has to be Amy of ''Amy's Baking Company''. It's pretty clear she brought in Gordon to tell off the 'haters' -- i.e. everyone who'd set foot in her restaurant that wasn't her or her husband Samy. ''Creator/GordonRamsay''. The guy who's made a television career out of being [[BrutalHonesty brutally honest]] and [[SirSwearsALot cursing out]] people who aren't up to standards or try to get one over him. She thought ''that'' guy would be her YesMan. Suffice to say, she was wrong.

* In ''Series/TheWalkingDead2010'', at first the characters don't realize the walkers behave in zombie-like fashion. This is explained by WordOfGod that George Romero's ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead'' series was never made, and zombies remained an obscure West Indian phenomenon.

* In ''Anime/GurrenLagann'', [[spoiler:when the Anti-Spiral sends the Moon on a collision course with the Earth, Rossiu decides that it is impossible to stop it and attempts to escape with only a portion of the population, even if this meant leaving the rest to die. Reasonable in real life or a grittier series like ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'', [[WrongGenreSavvy not so much]] in a superlatively HotBlooded series where [[BeyondTheImpossible kicking logic to the curb]] is not only possible with enough HeroicWillpower, but ''a regular occurrence''. Sure enough, Simon (who he had betrayed and imprisoned in order to bring this plan into fruition) arrives and stops the collision by fighting the Anti-Spiral forces.]]

* Everyone in the whole world who isn't a member of Tribulation Force, in the ''Literature/LeftBehind'' series. Not one person on Earth seems to have ever seen ''The Omen'' or any other movie featuring the AntiChrist; not one seems to recall any popular culture or '70s-style paranormal documentary that would tip one off to the true nature of a strangely charismatic world leader. One would assume that even the most hardcore agnostic or atheist would take one look at Nicolae Carpathia and say, "hey, this reminds me of that special I saw on History Channel", but... In the LB-verse, most people are staggeringly ignorant about the Bible, too.

* None of the characters in the ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' universe appear to have ''ever'' heard of vampires beyond referencing a few pop culture vampire tropes or mythology.

* In ''Series/TheWalkingDead'' at first the characters don't realize the walkers behave in zombie-like fashion. This is explained by ''WordOfGod'' that George Romero's ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead'' series was never made, and zombies remained an obscure West Indian phenomenom.

* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'': If Robin wasn't so good at [[IndyPloy improvising]] (and so [[BadassNormal well-trained]]), he would've been dead a ''long'' time ago. The boy simply has no concept that things may not be what they appear to be. ''He gave a frickin' communicator to a villainess who was masquerading as one of his own team'', which was how the season's BigBad and his EvilMinions almost defeated the Titans. There may be nothing wrong with giving a communicator to someone you think is a friend of yours and who you think might be in trouble soon... but there ''is'' after you just spent the whole episode fighting a ''shapeshifting'' villainess.

** Combined with a dose of WrongGenreSavvy, Clark often gets confused by normal superhero tropes. For example, when he catches a cold and gains {{super|Breath}} {{sneeze|OfDoom}}s, it does not occur to him to weaponize them until the more GenreSavvy Chloe points it out.

* In the ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendofZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]]'' [[Manga/TheLegendOfZelda manga adaption]], we have some soldiers being told [[TheHero Link]], who has built up a reputation as an expert fighter, is visiting, and when they see that he's an AdorablyPrecociousChild, they assume he's harmless. One panel later, we find he [[CurbStompBattle humiliated them, and broke some of their swords.]]

* One episode of ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'', "The New Breed", began with a [[ScienceIsBad scientist]] holding a press conference to announce that his new nanotechnological discoveries would allow him to "[[TheseAreThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow improve upon]] [[ScaleOfScientificSins God's design.]]" ''What series did he think that he was on!?!''