What exactly is this trope?: Playing To The Fetishes

I can't seem to parse a definition from the trope description and the Laconic is about as helpful as most laconics are. So far what I'm getting from the trope description is that this is about works that focus on particular fetish instead just vanilla hot girls/guys. Honestly, I'm sure though since the examples are all over the place.

Problem it was a very specific trope that was expanded.

• Original trope: Music Videos usually have Fetish elements for no good reason other than to get viewers.
• Current trope: A given work has Fetish Fuel elements to gain a Periphery Demographic.

edited 26th Jun '11 1:46:59 PM by KiTA

And here I thought it was Troperriffic but for Turn On Tropes. (fetish-riffic?)

edited 26th Jun '11 1:47:56 PM by Raso

BTW, why did it need to be limited in the first place?

Whenever definitions of trope are based off intentions, that's usually not a good sign.

edited 26th Jun '11 6:43:03 PM by captainpat

This is going to be iffy no matter what, because one person's fetish is another person's completely neutral thing. I see works on this page that, in addition to Turn On Tropes and personal attractiveness tropes, contain tropes like Arranged Marriage or Ugly Guy, Hot Wife. Sure, they are someone's fetishes, but I think it's fair to say that most creators don't include those tropes for the purpose of Fetish Fuel.

That would make this an Audience Reaction which I have no quams with. We should probably just specify that this page as Troperiffic for Turn On Tropes, which seems to be how it's being used right now, and put a YMMV banner on the page.

For what's it's worth, I was originally under the impression that Playing to the Fetishes was the author/artist either invoking or enforcing Fetish Fuel.

edited 7th Jul '11 10:21:40 AM by MarqFJA

Would I be mistaken in guessing that the "fetishes" to which they are "playing" is, in most cases, BDSM or derivatives thereof?

I'm not sure how an author can invoke or enforce Fetish Fuel without it coming across as Fanservice or Author Appeal. Need an example.

Most of the Manga examples are good ones, the Amazume Ryuta ones in particular, as they are part of a growing trend recently in re-purposing Fetish Fuel and the like as plot points — which is what this trope is about at it's core.

For example, Boku No Futatsu No Tsubasa. There's the very obvious fetishistic element of one of the main characters being a Hermaphrodite... but she's also an alien, and the actual fallout of the situation (including the government's attempts to capture her) is what drives the plot. It's not just "ha ha, look, girl with a penis, how kinky", its "Is she ever going to be able to have a romantic relationship with a body like that?"

Other ones include Change H — there's a distinct Gender Bender fetishistic element to it, but at the same time, the series is actually about the romance building between the two characters going through the situation.

Nana To Kaoru is an even bigger example. Yes, the series is full of BDSM Fetish Fuel... but anyone whose read the manga knows that Nana and Kaoru's relationship building up because of the fetishistic situations they're in is the point, not just the Fetish Fuel.

Are all these examples abusing Fetish Fuel and Author Appeal? Absolutely. Are they aiming to gain a Periphery Demographic due to the addition of the Fetishism? You bet. Are they more than the sum of their parts? No doubt.

Now like any trope, there are varying levels of this. Some of the other examples are of the subtle, "grab the Periphery Demographic" variety. Totally Spies is the biggest example of this I can think of — no joke at all, every single episode has some nod to some sort of obscure fetish — be it Furry, GTS, Glue and other Stuck fetish, Muscle Girls, what have you.

Is it just Fetish Fuel and Author Appeal? Not exactly — it's more than that. It's intentionally invoking, Deconstructing, and playing with Fetish Fuel in order to grab viewers.

edited 31st Jul '11 6:23:17 PM by KiTA

Bump

Er, did you bump for any specific reason? Did you have any comments on my reply? The page still needs cleaning up, I suppose.

Well, a couple problems. A Periphery Demographic can not be an intended audience and if there's sexually content is a work that intentionally trying to appeal to an audience I'm pretty sure that's just fanservice. Also, Totally Spies?

Oh yes, Totally Spies is the most blatant example of this trope on the page. And yes, you can intentionally aim to gain a Periphery Demographic — Parental Bonus / Parent Service, for example.

That sound like Multiple Demographic Appeal. I know Totally Spies has some material that appeal to people with obsecure fetish but I highly doubt any of it was intentional.

Then you weren't paying attention to the show. It was absolutely blatant.

Listen, It appears like you don't like this trope, and I can understand that, but so far your input hasn't been super constructive. Do you have any ideas on how to fix it or are you just bumping in hopes that someone else will suggest it get cutlisted or something?

I reworked the laconic.

Blatant how? The characters turn into cat people one episode or they get balloon belies etc....

Unless the person watching it has a fetish for those then it's not going to mean anything to then. As far as what to do. This page to me read like, "works that contain a lot Fetish Fuel for people with my fetish". So we should probably just make this a redirect to Fetish Fuel, kinda like what we did to Fetish Fuel Station Attendant.

edited 3rd Nov '11 8:09:09 AM by captainpat

When it's one fetish from a Transformation Comic it's a coincidence. When it's literally every single episode containing a different out there fetish, it's Playing to the Fetishes. The only way they could have been more blatant is if they had a guy openly lampshading it every time it happened. "Transformation Ted" or something pointing winking at the camera or somesuch.

For another obvious example, look at just about every anime with a female character in the past 10 years, especially magical girl serieses.

Again, this is a blatant, obvious attempt to play Fetishes to boost a work's appeal amongst a Periphery Demographic. While the trope page needs cleanup, you appear to be bumping just in the hopes of getting support to nuke the page, which is nonsense.

In fact, why is this TRS thread still even open? It's over 6 months old and pretty much a dead issue.

As Captain Pat correctly says, you can't cater to a periphery demographic. You can seek to expand your fanbase, but if you cater to them, it's not a periphery demographic.

This Totally Spies debate got me curious enough to click on the fetish fuel wiki page. What I saw there doesn't support it being an example of anything. Alleged evidence of the show playing to fetishes:

• Women in catsuits. That's not a fetish. That's normal sexiness.
• Handsome, shirtless men; male gaze; sexual subtext: ditto.
• Exploding bubblegum. This Troper got off it because he has a bubblegum fetish.
• People changing form, allegedly playing to transformation fetishes.
• Giants, allegedly playing to giant fetishes.
• One episode concerns "addictive cookies." A troper blames it for their "weight gain fetish."
• Foot fetish, which could be an example, for all I know, but we have a page for that.

Catsuits technically cater to leather/latex/spandex fetishists, which is separate from their more mainstream "form-fitting outfit" aspect.

edited 3rd Nov '11 6:49:45 PM by MarqFJA

Yea but not every instance of a character wearing a catsuit is meant to appeal to people with leather, or spandex fetishes, especially if that character's from a kid show.

I personally am of the opinion that if this really did Trope Decay from the "music video" idea someone mentioned earlier, it's best to try and reverse it - that sounds like much more of a trope (as opposed to another fetish page) then what currently exists here.

What Routerie's Totally Spies analysis shows: