This is an index of Audience Reactions. An Audience Reaction is objectively not present in the work at all. It's something fans emotionally go through from experiencing the work.

Audience Reactions are opinions. Some of them may be very prevalent opinions, or may have inspired an author to play or avert a trope or may even be what a work is most known for, but in the end they are still just opinions. We put a name on them and categorize them because they're a point of interest to both fans and writers, but they should not be confused with tropes. They are highly subjective, argument-causing and aren't a building block of storytelling the way tropes are. For this reason we have restrictions for when and where they can be listed or potholed.

An Audience Reaction can't be played with (Played Straight, Exaggerated, Justified, Subverted...)—because it never "gets played" intentionally to begin with—but for three exceptions:

When the authors are trying for the reaction in question.
When the work is self-aware enough to lampshade the audience's probable reaction.
In-Universe usage of an Audience Reaction (Meaning, a character has this reaction to a Show Within a Show or something to that extent).

If it falls under one of these exceptions, it's acceptable to list the reaction in question on a work's main trope page.^note Otherwise, please place it on the YMMV subpage.

Compare Character Reaction Index.

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