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alt title(s): Flanderized; Flanderisation
The act of taking a single (often minor) action of a character or event within a work and exaggerating it more and more until it's huge and cartoonish and almost entirely consumes the character or work in question. Sitcoms and Sitcom characters are particularly susceptible to this, as are peripheral characters in shows with long runs.

This can become very annoying if the character's aspects were originally unique and subtle, only to become more stereotypical as the story progresses, to fit the requirements of more cliche plots. Especially dangerous if executives think doing this will appeal with their demographic better and boost ratings.

However, Flanderization is not necessarily a bad thing. In some cases, viewers may find the over the top version of a character more entertaining than their original, subtler version.

Named for one of the examples in The Simpsons, Ned Flanders, who was originally just a clean and quiet-living, somewhat religious fellow (contrast to Homer), in other words, the archetypical example of the American family-man who went to Church on Sundays, before becoming the meek super-religious guy most people know him as.

See also Never Live It Down for when the character is more associated with something than the character actually changing, and Fat Monica, when realistic quirks (usually weight) are mishandled by the writers. When this happens through adaptation, it's Character Exaggeration.

Contrast Hidden Depths. For examples specifically involving comedic aspects developing within once-serious villainous characters, see Villain Decay and Goldfish Poop Gang. If it's more of a flanderization of lifestyle than personality, it may be Corrupt The Cutie. When this makes early behavior seem odd in retrospect, that is Characterization Marches On.

See also Took A Level In Dumbass, Trope Decay, Flanderized Tropes. Not to be confused with Stupid Sexy Flanders.

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