Needs a clearer title: Weeping Angel Artwork

Look, don't get me wrong. I love the Weeping Angels (which is to say, I think they're quite possibly some of the creepiest adversaries the Doctor has been up against, and I'm counting the genocidal pepperpots, the ur-Borg, and that big green thing which ate people and stuck their faces on its gut like that one monster out of Power Rangers).

But there's really nothing that "Weeping Angel" connotes that can't simply be said with "Animate Artwork." (Apart from the fact that it only moves while no one's looking.)

Rename. Even knowing the reference it's not clear.

Yeah, I'm a doctor who fan and familiar with the Weeping Angels, but I wouldn't have guessed what the trope was. Rename.

Possible new title: "Look Again". Doctor Who and Steven Moffat could still be the Trope Codifiers.

edited 23rd Jul '11 2:05:30 PM by Corvatis

That's even worse about being opaque.

OK. Animated Artwork is a much better title. Unfortunately, I'm not sure how to change it.

edited 23rd Jul '11 4:55:12 PM by jman94

Animated Artwork is broadened into uselessness. This trope is about inanimate pieces of art changing when off camera. So we need to indicate 1) inanimate objects 2) change of expression and 3) that it only happens when off camera. We can also imply it by the inverse- that they remain normal when on camera.

So I suggest Perception Paralyzed Paintings.

I swear there was a story with this, I think it was called Blind Side. That's got the technical term for some of it.

There is now a single proposition rename crowner for this trope here.

^ This was a recently launched YKTTW so the related counts don't carry much weight.

I understood what the title meant the moment I saw it... but I still support the rename.

It should be Animate Artwork and not Animated Artwork.

edited 26th Jul '11 5:28:58 AM by Worldmaker

I prefer Animated Artwork.

Both are bad, because this is only about paintings that change when you're not looking, not paintings that are actually animate or animated (like the ones in Harry Potter).

Creepy Changing Painting or something along those lines would be a lot closer.

edited 26th Jul '11 5:46:42 AM by Clarste

I'm okay with that one.

The trope is comparable to Mobile Shrubbery, right?

edited 26th Jul '11 7:06:16 AM by Stratadrake

Not at all. It has nothing to do with that save movement.

This is more a subtrope of Funny Background Event, only it's not always funny.

At the moment I prefer Creepy Changing Painting to mine. It actually makes me think of this trope automatically when I read it.

I like that one.

Yeah rename the title when I saw that title I thought it meant:The Angels killing you though the T.V and pictures.

OK at three days and a nearly fifteen to one ratio of votes, i think it is obviously time to call the single prop crowner. Here's an alternative titles crowner. Holler for the mods to switch them round.

Single Prop locked and unhooked at +28 (yeas:30 nays:2) in favor of renaming; Alternative Titles hooked.

Couldn't you change it to "Don't Blink"? It's an obvious reference to the Weeping Angels, but is also less of an obscure name for the trope.

edited 29th Jul '11 4:30:13 AM by Simski

Except that would imply a trope about situations where characters are not supposed to blink.=, not necessarily the same thing.

edited 29th Jul '11 4:55:53 AM by RedLunchBox

Maybe Animate Inanimate Artwork, though that's getting a bit long. But it does seem to sum up the whole thing.

If we really wanted to include a Doctor Who angels reference, I'd suggest Quantum Locked Artwork, which, while still technobabble, does reference the idea of observation. I don't think that's remotely a good name for the trope, though.