Line #19 Main/WrongGenreSavvy


1	%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1572020125029933200
2	%% Previous threads:
3	%% https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1317632236015689600
4	%% https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1549232128055410200
5	%% https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1564414704026434800&page=1#8
6	%%
7	%% DO NOT start a new thread without an image suggestion.
8	%%
9	[[quoteright:230:[[Webcomic/SluggyFreelance https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wrong_genre_savvy.png]]]]
10	[[caption-width-right:230:As it turned out, he was less of a main character, and more of a main course.]]
11	%%
12	->''"Kids, sometimes you think you're living out one story, but the truth turns out to be something else entirely. At the time, I thought the story was about whether Robin should be at the wedding. If only I'd understood what the real story was."''
13	-->-- '''Ted''' narrating in hindsight, ''Series/HowIMetYourMother'', "Shelter Island"
14
15	Sometimes, you can take being GenreSavvy too far, and wind up having as much GenreBlindness as the poor idiots who [[LetsSplitUpGang split up in a haunted house where]] [[Film/{{Clue}} one of you is a murderer]].
16
17	If a character in a series that has a FourthWall thinks mainly in terms of tropes, you've probably got a character who's Wrong Genre Savvy. Even if you're [[MediumAwareness correct about being in a story]], it's possible for you to guess wrong about your role in the story, the genre of the story, or where on the various sliding scales your story is. Any way you spin it, it's still a common way of subverting Genre Savviness.
18
19	This can be a minefield. Say a stranger turns up on your doorstep; if he's a [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire]], he can't hurt you unless you [[MustBeInvited invite him in]], but if he's an AngelUnaware or KingIncognito, you might damn yourself by [[SecretTestOfCharacter turning him away]]. And look at it from the visitor's point of view; if you're an [[KnightInShiningArmour honourable fairytale knight]], you [[SacredHospitality won't lay a finger on anyone who's eaten your food]], but if you're one of TheFairFolk, eating your food [[FoodChains will trap him there forever]]. What's a GenreSavvy guy to do?
20
21	This can also be used for [[DeconstructedCharacterArchetype deconstructing character types]], by placing a generic character in a realistic setting and exploring what happens when they act as if they are in a work of a particular genre.
22
23	Of course, a potential {{reconstruction}} can occur as well. While the character is Wrong Genre Savvy about the premise or a particular aspect, they can be ''right'' GenreSavvy about complementary aspects of that premise; this means that, while the character is hopeless in the aspect to which they're Wrong Genre Savvy, in their functional aspect their support is invaluable, which may lead to the resolution of the plot and an increase in the character's [[Main/SortingAlgorithmOfMortality chance of survival]].
24
25	See HeroicWannabe, WideEyedIdealist, BlackAndWhiteInsanity, PrinceCharmingWannabe, and LordErrorProne for characters with this trait and GenreSavvy and its [[DownplayedTrope downplayed cousin]] FunctionalGenreSavvy for when characters get it right. DeathByGenreSavviness is a related trope. See also ThisIsReality, HeroOfAnotherStory, EntertaininglyWrong, ThinksLikeARomanceNovel. WrongAssumption overlaps with a lot of these. May be confused with TooDumbToLive.
26
27	[[AC:Warning:]] It is very easy (and tempting) to list a character just because they are wrong about something, but that doesn't mean they are Wrong Genre Savvy. Even if they are wrong about their role ''in'' a story, that doesn't necessarily make them wrong about the type of story they are in. Before adding an example ask yourself "If this character was correct, would it change the genre?" if the answer is "no" then it doesn't belong here.
28
29	[[noreallife]]
30
31	----
32	!!Example subpages:
33
34	[[index]]
35	* WrongGenreSavvy/AnimeAndManga
36	* WrongGenreSavvy/ComicBooks
37	* WrongGenreSavvy/FanWorks
38	* WrongGenreSavvy/{{Film}}
39	* WrongGenreSavvy/{{Literature}}
40	* WrongGenreSavvy/LiveActionTV
41	* WrongGenreSavvy/{{Theatre}}
42	* WrongGenreSavvy/VideoGames
43	* WrongGenreSavvy/{{Webcomics}}
44	* WrongGenreSavvy/WesternAnimation
45	[[/index]]
46
47	!!Other examples:
48
49	[[folder:Blogs]]
50	* Zeke Strahm from ''Blog/SeekingTruth'' is a badass CowboyCop, who steadfastly refuses to believe he is in the midst of a CosmicHorrorStory. [[spoiler:[[AnyoneCanDie Then everyone he knows and loves dies (some of them by accident)]] [[HeroicBSOD and his life falls apart completely.]]]]
51	[[/folder]]
52
53	[[folder:Podcasts]]
54	* Several characters across several ''Podcast/CoolKidsTable'' games.
55	** In ''Creepy Town'', Walter shows up to the haunted house dressed as a fantasy wizard.
56	** Mickey and Roc are zany, gaudily-dressed men who don't take things very seriously. However, they're characters for ''Firefly: The Zelda Chronicles'' and as such are stuck in that 'verse's in the dramatic SpaceWestern setting. Jake describes them as having walked out of a Music/DavidBowie music video.
57	** Yuki from ''Podcast/{{Sequinox}}'' plays the story very straight, knowing all about magical girls thanks to being from Japan and her mom being an anime localizer. However, she doesn't realize that she's in an AffectionateParody alongside absolute maniacs Sid and Chell, as well as Hannah who wants nothing to do with it.
58	* ''Podcast/TheThrillingAdventureHour'':
59	** In the "Beyond Belief" universe, Will O' The Wisps are creatures who are aware of narrative causality, and the stories they tell come true. One of them is actually narrating the adventures of Frank and Sadie. Another Will O' The Wisp named Crispin tries to reboot an adventure whose resolution he didn't like - a story involving murderous skeleton creatures, two [[CuteMonsterGirl Cute Monster Girls]], and an earnest young delivery boy - but he completely misinterprets what the story is about. This appears to have been a lifelong problem for Crispin: he tells the story about watching an old film serial in his younger days, and thinking that the main character was ''a random car.''
60	--->'''Frank Doyle''': Has it occurred to you that perhaps the love story here is between Ken and one - or both - of the Frankenstein Girls, and the skeletons aren't involved at all?!
61	[[/folder]]
62
63	%%[[folder:Roleplay]]
64	%%* In "Roleplay/WeAreOurAvatars", Asagi Asagiri views the world as a massive video game...when it's really a [[ExactWords massive]] ''[[ExactWords forum]]'' [[ExactWords game]], which upgrades into GenreSavvy whenever any mechanics from video games worm their way into the situation.
65	%%[[/folder]]
66
67	[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
68	* The ''TabletopGame/{{Cyberpunk}} 2020'' adventure module "Carlsbad Caverns'' features a vampire as the primary villain. Not a normal person who's been cybered with the appropriate implants to pretend to be a vampire, but an honest-to-God supernatural blood-sucking creature of the night. GM notes for this adventure module suggest that the referee allow the players to keep thinking they're in a gritty {{cyberpunk}} science fiction story, while they're actually being thrust into a gritty survival horror story.
69	* The background of ''TabletopGame/{{Deadlands}}'' includes all manner of supernatural horror. In one short adventure, though, the players encounter a man who's suffering from purely natural maladies but who is ''mistaken'' for a zombie by the paranoid townsfolk. Keeping them from executing the "monster" is the meat of the adventure.
70	* On a MetaGame level, a player can be wrong genre savvy if they don't get tabletop role playing games or don't get the game they're playing. Imagine a typical ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' player jumping feet first into the CosmicHorror game ''TabletopGame/DeltaGreen'', and you can just imagine how quickly they're going to get killed. Can even lead to out of character hurt feelings or misunderstandings.
71	** Likewise, a Delta Green player who picks up Dungeons and Dragons later might have trouble adapting to a world where the light at the end of the tunnel ''isn't'' an oncoming train. The first variant tends to be more common because D&D is much more popular and more likely to be the first game one plays, but it's not unheard of for someone who usually plays something like ''TabletopGame/CallOfCthulhu'' to do stuff like refusing to pick up genuinely beneficial magic items or running away from a monster that they could actually kill.
72	** And even within systems, if everyone isn't clear what the campaign is going for, this issue can crop up. Someone can bring a character built for courtly intrigue into a pure dungeon crawl, or one built for busting heads to a heist.
73	* Most of the [[{{Splat}} splats]] in the TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness resemble classically known monsters, but each species has been surrounded by superstition. A very large number of mortals will think they're the protagonists in a GothicHorror movie and try garlic against vampires, look for curse marks on werewolves, or assume mages are incompetent in close combat. By the time they realize it's closer to Dark UrbanFantasy from the monsters' perspective, it's generally too late.
74	* The Tau Empire in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'' believes in The Greater Good, and that the aliens they encounter can be brought into the fold with enough diplomacy or firepower. If they ''were'' correct, then there is hope for a brighter future where there is peace, and war will be in small scale. As it turns out, most of the other major factions are either impossible to negotiate with,[[note]]Tyranids, Necrons, and to a lesser extent, Orks[[/note]] or [[DealWithTheDevil should not be negotiated with.]][[note]]Chaos, Dark Eldar[[/note]] One story had them actually prepare a celebration for the Necrons who smashed the Tyranid armada threatening one of their worlds, only for the Necrons to vaporize the planet as well.
75	** On a smaller scale, an Avatar of Khaine was once raised by an Eldar Craftworld to take down the Swarmlord creature leading a Tyranid invasion. The Avatar, manifestation of martial strength and fury, singled out the commanding organism of the opposing army, and challenged it to a duel. The Swarmlord, manifestation of "I'm hungry", promptly ordered a dozen Carnifexes to tear this strange, rambling, exposed living statue apart.
76	[[/folder]]
77
78	[[folder:Web Animation]]
79	* ''[[WebAnimation/TeamFortress2 Meet the Spy]]'' has the [=BLU=] Soldier shooting the [=BLU=] spy after the latter made the point that [[EveryoneIsASuspect any one of them could be the RED spy]]. The joke here being is that [[GameplayAndStorySegregation had Soldier actually been in the game]], this action would've been an entirely rational choice. There were four people in the room: Soldier himself (he knows he isn't a spy), the Heavy (a poor choice for a Spy's disguise because Spies are faster than Heavies, making their identities obvious to an observant player), the Scout (also a poor choice, this time because Spies are ''slower'' than Scouts and can't double-jump), and the [=BLU=] spy (who had been [[ButHeSoundsHandsome emphasizing RED spy's dangerousness the whole time]]), and attacking the Spy would have [[FriendlyFireproof done no damage had he been friendly in-game]]. Of course, since the machinimas run on (somewhat) more realistic logic, Soldier just murders one of his teammates on a minor suspicion.[[spoiler: The [=RED=] spy was the BLU Scout all along, something Soldier would've noticed if he'd been as observant as players should be when playing against Spies.]]
80	* ''WebAnimation/MetaRunner'' has Theo, the protagonist of an [[FictionalVideoGame in-universe video game]] who is [[MediumAwareness aware he is a character in a game]]. Except once he's brought to the real world, he believes that he is still in a video game and wrongfully thinks that the world will operate on the same logic as his video game.
81	* The main character of ''WebAnimation/PokemonRusty'' thinks he exists in the world of the Pokémon games, complete with the logic of said games. However, he's in a DeconstructiveParody of those games, where [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome Surprisingly Realistic Outcomes]] occur and such thinking is an example of DidntThinkThisThrough. Not to mention, Rusty thinks he's the hero till the very end, not realizing, or capable of realizing, that he's in fact a terrible trainer who gets his Pokémon killed and they all hate him.
82	* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': General James Ironwood, while a ReasonableAuthorityFigure and FourStarBadass, would still be a lot more at home in a cynical, MilitaryScienceFiction story like ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', where he could comfortably assume the "grey" in BlackAndGreyMorality. Unfortunately for him, he's in an {{Animesque}} action series that runs on SillyRabbitCynicismIsForLosers. The consequence is that his force-over-finesse way of thinking and ends-justify-the-means philosophy cause more problems than they solve, despite his genuine best intentions. Ultimately, [[spoiler:this culminates in him [[ShootTheDog trying to leave a city to die when he considers it beyond saving]]; something that ''might'' be presented as a NecessaryEvil in a more cynically-minded series, but here functions as a MoralEventHorizon that cements him as an unhinged antagonist who must be defeated]].
83	[[/folder]]
84
85	[[folder:Websites]]
86	* Website/{{Cracked}}'s ''[[http://www.cracked.com/blog/new-york-a-soft-look-at-hard-lives/ Infiltrating a Gang Based on My Knowledge of West Side Story]]''.
87	[[/folder]]
88
89	[[folder:Web Videos]]
90	* In Creator/AchievementHunter's ''[[LetsPlay/AchievementHunterGrandTheftAutoSeries Let's Play Grand Theft Auto V]]'' episode "Lindsay's Heist", Michael stops Lindsay during the live-action segment and asks if there was anything she wanted to tell him. She just looks at him in a confused manner, says "no" and walks on. [[spoiler:This was because, in "Michael's Heist", Michael had done this with Lindsay as he plotted to betray everyone save for Gavin.]]
91	* In ''WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall'', during the "Sleepwalker" story arc, Harvey Finevoice informs the (as of yet unnamed) female intruder that Linkara is locked in his room and weird things are happening in there, thinking that she's the one responsible. The intruder theorizes that Linkara is asleep and being tortured by [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Kreuger]], since he was reviewing ''[=NoES=]'' comics and [[WebVideo/MediaHunter this cliché]] [[WebVideo/{{Phelous}} has been done several times]] [[WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd since the AVGN first did it]]. Harvey shoots down this assumption with evidence showing that Linkara is very much awake.
92	* In ''WebVideo/EscapeTheNight'' Jesse tells [[TokenMinority Destorm]] that he’ll be the first to die. Humorously, Jesse is the first to die, with the group saving Destorm instead and leaving him to his [[EatenAlive fate.]]
93	%%* ''WebVideo/FateStayNightUnlimitedBladeWorksAbridged'': When forced into a fight with Rin, Shirou presumes that, being a Magus, she follows the SquishyWizard trope, and thus he could get an advantage on her if he just managed to get in hand to hand combat. As it turns out, Rin actually is a KungFuWizard capable of enhancing her own reflexes and physical prowess, and he quickly finds himself running for his life ''before'' he could even approach her.
94	* WebVideo/MattMcMuscles: In Matt's ''Flophouse Plays'' of ''VideoGame/GexEnterTheGecko'', Matt sees a sign in a "Scream TV" stage that says "Go into the light". Matt believes this is a ShmuckBait trap and that doing so will let the ghosts get to him, but in reality, the light ''prevents'' the ghosts from attacking the player. The hint is sincere.
95	* ''WebVideo/SuburbanKnights'':
96	** [[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment The Spoony One]] tries to apply {{LARP}}ing rules in the first encounter with [[QuirkyMinibossSquad The Cloaks]] (Specifically throwing bird seed at them, saying "Two magic!" and expecting them to give up). He eventually realizes that [[AndYouThoughtItWasAGame they're not playing by the rules.]]
97	--->'''Spoony:''' Suddenly I've decided that I'm terribly afraid of you.
98	** Just in case, he tries the same thing on the BigBad, who throws down his staff in exasperation when he does it, making it look for a second as though that somehow actually worked.
99	* In ''WebVideo/TenLittleRoosters'', the titular ten Creator/RoosterTeeth creators are in the midst of a MurderMystery, but Chris, decked out in his Hobbit-like outfit, has his mind set on ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' and other fantasy settings. This goes to the point where Burnie gives Chris a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech because he just wouldn't stop and say who the killer was. Even worse, when the killer ''does'' show up to confront the two, [[spoiler:Chris decides that ''now'' is the perfect time to pull off a HeroicSacrifice. Three times. And each time, he blocks Burnie's shot of the killer! By the third time he hops up, Burnie's just had it and when he croaks, he just says "Yup, I'm done here" and leaves him.]]
100	[[/folder]]
101

Context Main / WrongGenreSavvy