name modification (Crowner changed 1/2/12): The Firstlaw Of Sitcom Acoustics

The name is a little misleading as this is a phenomena not solely confined to sitcoms. It is even noted that this is primarily a live action theatre trope, but you can just as frequently see it played straight in films, dramas, and all other entertainments when that foot of solid nothing somehow means a dramatic conversation or revelation can be kept quiet from a third party. I suggest dropping the word "sitcom" from it's title, replacing it with "narrative", and modifying the description to reflect that.

Usage: The Firstlaw Of Sitcom Acoustics found in: 5 articles, excluding discussions.

This title has brought 53 people to the wiki from non-search engine links since 20th FEB '09.

53 inbounds isn't that bad, but of the 5 internal wicks, only one is to its use in an article and that is a Doctor Who recap page (which I brought up myself).

edited 29th Apr '11 6:46:27 AM by CrypticMirror

Sitcom Acoustics just by itself would be a shorter (though not necessarily clearer) title.

For interest, Google reports only 250 hits for the exact phrase "sitcom acoustics", dominated by TV Tropes pages. This is not even remotely an established phrase, and considering the original date on its YKTTW, certainly not catching on either.

edited 29th Apr '11 9:24:03 AM by Stratadrake

Support. Suggest Stage Whispering.

No, stage whispering isn't always the same as The First Law of Sitcom Acoustics, although they can overlap. A stage whisper is the convention that "turning aside from the other characters and toward the audience means "Hey, just assume that I'm really whispering here, even though I'm still using my normal voice, OK?" " The First Law of Sitcom Acoustics is "as long as you slightly hush your voice, anyone who's more than a meter away will be unable to hear a word you say." There's no convention that the audience is supposed to believe that they're actually whispering.

sometimes it isn't even hushing voice. It's two steps away and suddenly you are mute to everyone else. Or a pair of criminals plotting a robbery in the back of taxi and the driver cannot hear there is a crime being planned.

Though, it serves the same purpose as a Stage Whisper, does it not? The audience needs to still be able to hear the characters, but there still needs to be some indication that the characters are whispering.

Actually, having read both trope descriptions, I really don't see much of a distinction.

They serve the same purpose, but in different ways. Stage whispering is a way of leaning on the fourth wall, acknowledging that the actor can't really whisper because the audience has to hear him.

The First Law of Sitcom Acoustics would be better stated as "When two or more characters are having a conversation, the probability that another character nearby can hear it is inversely proportional to the amount of humor that can be derived from having them not hear it." That would cover both the "Can't hear them even though they're only three feet away talking at normal volume" and the "Can hear them through three walls and down the hall, even though they're whispering" version.

In that case, though, it's just Rule of Funny. This trope still seems superfluous.

Well, a sub-trope of it, certainly.

Perhaps we should redefine this trope as the "Can hear them through three walls and down the hall, even though they're whispering" version?

I don't see why Stage Whisper can't cover the "three feet away" version.

Agree that this is close enough to merge into Stage Whisper, if you broaden Stage Whisper a bit to correspond.

The "first law" title also presumes the possibility of a second or nth law. Unlike First Law of Gender Bending I don't see that here.

edited 30th Oct '11 6:39:21 PM by Elle

Total merge? No, that's not what I said. A total merge just means Stage Whisper is merged into this. I just meant half of the trope, because while the purpose is the same (Rule of Funny), the execution is wildly different.

This should be merged into Stage Whisper. Anything that is a Stage Whisper and played straight by the rules in which stage whispers are used will fall under this law.

Pretty sure I saw a YKTTW recently called "Acoustic License" that sounded related. Need to double-check that though....

I second merging to Stage Whisper, there is no real difference between the two.

Thirding a merge.

I agree with Madrugada's take, and think a description rewrite would make sense. The trope actually doesn't have much to do with stage whispering, except in a tangential sort of way.

Those that think this should be merged, when a character is actually whispering and another character, who wasn't even in the same room, comes charging in because they heard it... Does that count as a Stage Whisper?

Stage Whisper is a tool so that the audience can hear the conversation when other characters can't (or shouldn't). That is its core (straight) definition, and it does seem noticeably different from gags involving a character mishearing a bit of conversation that wasn't meant for them in the first place.

There is now a page action crowner for this trope here. Feel free to add options as you see fit.

Perhaps we should consider how Pose of Silence fits into this.

Pose of Silence needs a bit of repair. Right now, it implies that any Stage Whisper fits. It could be narrowed to when the character addresses the audience specifically, but I think there's already a trope for that, so it needs some time in the trope repair shop itself.

edited 13th Dec '11 1:51:44 PM by crazysamaritan

The crowner seems to be favouring a split, should we call it?

At 9:3 it's low, but the name itself is so poor, I want to say yes.

It's also 7 points ahead of the 2nd-most-popular option.

edited 20th Dec '11 5:30:33 PM by HiddenFacedMatt