Basic Trope: A prostitute gives someone a place to stay.
- Straight: Bob is down on his luck, and his friend Albert takes him to a brothel to cheer him up. He is introduced to a Hooker with a Heart of Gold named Rose, who lets him stay with her until things get better.
- Exaggerated:
- Bob becomes Rose's steady boyfriend or husband.
- Rose gives away use of almost all of her house as a homeless shelter including buying food. The only exception is her master bedroom and bathroom, which she keeps because she needs them available to gussy up and sell herself to support the place.
- Downplayed: Rose lets Bob sleep on her couch until he can find someplace else. She also happens to be a prostitute, but she doesn't bring clients back to her home, so neither fact has much bearing on the other.
- Justified:
- Rose is being nice.
- Rose feels that Bob (who couldn't afford her "services" and took up valuable time of hers by chatting with her all night) should pay her back by doing chores...and possibly sleeping with her.
- Rose fell in love with Bob.
- Rose is charging Bob rent, though at a reasonable rate.
- Inverted: Rose is down on her luck, and Bob lets her stay in his house or apartment.
- Subverted: Bob turns down Rose's invitation to live in her room at the brothel, saying he'll manage.
- Double Subverted:
- But he visits so frequently it's almost like he does, in fact, live there.
- Bob's luck takes a turn for the worse, and he comes back asking if he can stay with Rose.
- Parodied:
- Rose asks Bob if he'd like to live with her, and he says he would. Cut to Bob entertaining a client.
- Bob winds up living in a Cardboard Box Home in the alley Rose does.
- Bob becomes The Thing That Would Not Leave, much to the frustration of Rose.
- Zig-Zagged: Here and then, Bob stays with Rose at the brothel, but also has other places to stay.
- Averted:
- Bob does not stay with Rose at the brothel.
- Bob never meets Rose.
- Enforced: "We need to show that Bob is so down on his luck that he has to live with a prostitute! Oh, and for added drama, let's have her fall in love with him!"
- Lampshaded: "Dude, what's it like living with a hooker?"
- Invoked: Rose feels sorry for Bob.
- Exploited: Bob is on the run from the law and hotels are required to identify lodgers. Stays with prostitutes are not and they will gladly take money without doing the typical work.
- Defied: Bob turns down Rose's invitation.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed: ???
- Played for Laughs:
- Bob becomes a gigolo at the brothel, bringing in new customers.
- Bob doesn't get any sleep because he keeps getting Sexiled by Rose and her clients.
- Bob's friend Albert sees him coming and going from the brothel. He tries to explain the situation, but Albert says that how he spends his money is his own business.
- Bob does favours for Rose to earn his keep, including answering calls from clients and driving her to appointments. It's not until she buys him an expensive fur coat as a thank-you gift that he realizes he's inadvertently playing the role of her pimp.
- Played for Drama:
- Rose and Bob fall in love.
- Police come and shut down the brothel, and Bob loses his home (and possibly his girlfriend).
- Bob sees that Rose has it worse than he does (she gets paid, but most of her money goes to her pimp, and said pimp and some of her clients can be belligerent, and of course the concern about STDs), and decides to rescue her from this life.
- Rose gets in trouble with her pimp for keeping a boyfriend...not good for "business", you know?
Back to This Bed of Rose's
