How to clean.: WTH Casting Agency

I was advised in natter alert to create a thread here about this page, since it's a nattery mess. The concept of the page is entirely dependent on the individual viewer's reaction, unlike most fandom pages where it's about the majority view.

Example Sectionectomy? Move to Troper Tales?

I support the latter.

edited 17th May '11 3:59:26 PM by SpellBlade

I would actually support eliminating examples but troper tales are okay I guess, the trope is clearly too open-ended to support reasonable objective criteria.

Exactly.

This trope is a mess, it started out interesting but it quickly became clear that since the trope isn't clearly defined people just began adding examples that are mildly surprising at best, and is basically people being surprised that actors can act. Just get rid of the examples and think about getting rid of the trope entirely (it's only use is to have a picture of John Wayne as Ghengis Khan).

cut the examples (Troper tales and appearing on trivia pages are okay though) but the trope should be kept as it is a valid one.

edited 18th May '11 5:44:27 AM by CrypticMirror

I think they should go to Troper Tales too. A lot of the examples seem to go in subtropes, like Race Lift or Fake Nationality or Dawson Casting.

Bump.

Should we list our options and create a crowner?

I agree with the move to Troper Tales. It's generally not contentious.

Bump. Are we gonna do something or what?

Well, the suggestion that seemed to have the most support was "Move the examples to Troper Tales", and that's off the table as an option, so...

I support an Example Sectionectomy.

edited 31st Aug '11 9:39:12 PM by Madrugada

I add a vote for sectionectomy. Examples are *fun* but there seems to be almost no way to keep this page from becoming a sprawling mess.

...we could limit it to in-universe examples. Unless that's what Example Sectionectomy means. I see that a lot and don't know what it is. I should go read that page...

~walks out of thread~

That's just eliminating examples because there is no way we can keep examples even reasonably subjective, let alone objective.

The issue at large is that examples aren't merely strange casting choices (John Wayne as Genghis Khan) but wondering how they got a well-known / respectable actor for a low-key role (Edward Albert in Power Rangers), a Ruined Forever type "Don't they DARE put that actor in an adaptation of my favorite story" (Zac Efron as Light Yagami) or mere casting rumors (and thus have no real basis to be used as an example cause rumors are just rumors). The title itself is very much a kneejerk reaction and thus it will be open up to that kind of use, regardless if a strange casting choice works out really well (Heath Ledger as The Joker).

edited 5th Sep '11 12:14:25 PM by KJMackley

I also think this should be In-Universe, where characters note the casting of a real life work or a Show Within a Show.

Clocking the thread. Let's make a decision and do it.

Wow, wish I'd noticed the banner on top of the page saying this thread existed before I started cleaning up the examples. (Luckily, I decided not to finish, or I wouldn't be done before midnight.) Very much support an Example Sectionectomy given the natter, the complaining, the fan myopic examples, the justifying edits, and, yes, the Trope Decay. Valid examples can go in subtropes, such as Playing Against Type, and they're probably already listed there anyway.

edited 16th Sep '11 10:11:02 AM by Antheia

The problem once again isn't the trope — it's the examples. Which shouldn't be cut, because that's happening altogether too often and it's making the wiki a pointless bore. I think pretty much everyone can agree that it's just plain weird to cast John Wayne as Genghis Khan, or, say, Lance Bass as Sephiroth. Most of the examples, however, are not that. They're reactionary freakouts. Kristen Bell on Heroes? Come on, that's not even odd, let alone odd enough to merit a place on this page. Maybe a note could be made in the description, but I think in order to post an example here, the editor should at least be familiar with the actor's body of work before flipping out and putting everything in boldface type.

Yea we should cut the examples, there's no way for the page to devolve in anything but complaining.

Actually, I don't agree on either of those. When Wayne was alive, there were essentially no stars of Asian descent in Hollywood, so that sort of thing is just what they did. And, while I might have a hard time with Bass playing Sephiroth in a live-action work, that's only because I think he's a bit chunky for the role. I have no idea what's supposed to be wrong with him doing the voice. And please don't tell me. You have no idea how much I don't care. :)

On the other hand, what the heck, it's already YMMV. It does seem to be attracting excessive natter (I checked the edit history, since Antheia mentioned a partial cleanup), so no objections to a sectionary, but I really don't have a problem with people posting their opinions on a YMMV page in general.

I almost feel like suggesting that the examples should be moved to the appropriate works YMMV pages, but then someone would probably want me to help with the effort... :)

edited 22nd Sep '11 2:15:38 PM by Xtifr

Are we gonna do something or what?

Well, the consensus here seems to be to cut the examples. Are they any other objections?

Thread was clocked, clock has expired, the time for further comments has run out. I think we have a decision here, if someone wants to implement it.

Done, we can lock this.