Main Tropes Index

Troperville

Editing Help

Tools

Toys

Narrative

Genre

Media

Topical Tropes

Other Categories

Custom Search

Darkness Induced Audience Apathy
Meaningful conflict is the soul of drama.

Quick Definition: "When the audience finds the story lacking in dramatic tension because they cannot support any faction."

Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy occurs when the soul of drama has died from an overdose of Darker And Edgier and is now stretched out on the autopsy table, staring blankly into the eyes of the coroner with all the elegance one expected from Calvin Klein during the 'heroin chic' days.

Dispensing with metaphors, Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy occurs when there is no meaningful conflict in the first place because all sides are abhorrently, equally evil. As such, consumers of media affected by Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy tend to approach conflict between parties or factions with remarkable indifference; because no matter who wins, the universe will still suck. (And while it would be really nice to see them all lose, it ain't going to happen.)

This is basically the emotional result of Black And Black Morality. Because the conflict between the equally evils is essentially meaningless, there is no dramatic tension. Maybe one Eldritch Abomination eats you in a slightly less painful manner than the other one, but either way, you're still screwed. You can't support any factions or hold on to any ideals after this effect has set in. All you can do is sit agape as the writers apparently attempt to outdo themselves at making the setting even worse and more unpleasant and more nihilistic to the point where the media is as monotone-miserable as Joy Division.

Humans perceive things by differentiation and similarity (both of which only have meaning in relation to each other). For instance, a square of white paper sticks out more against a background of black paper than it would on a background of equally white paper. The same applies to ethics; the horror one feels towards evil only exists because of the affection one feels towards the good. When there is no moral differentiation within the world of the story, dramatic tension is the casualty because you just cannot care.

For games, this trope has its advantages. It allows people to choose sides with no interest other than the technical interest of playing one side or the other. Eastern Front games set in World War II are popular among wargamers, partly because there were interesting displays of tactical skill. But partly it was because of Evil Versus Evil and therefore the player could be on either side without feeling awkward. In this situation, the tension is derived not so much from the plot itself ("which side will win?") but rather from the competition between the players.

A variant is basically when Shoot The Shaggy Dog meets True Art Is Too Angsty; a story is simply too bleak, angsty and without hope for the audience to really care what happens.

Because this trope has to do with audience reactions to material (see Audience Reaction Tropes), Your Mileage May Vary on particular examples.


Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Anime & Manga 

    Comic Books 

    Films 

    Literature 

    Musicals 

    Tabletop Games 

    Western Animation 

    Real Life 


Base BreakerAudience Reaction TropesDancing Bear