Ok, I do know the trope that this is talking about. It's when one character ends up braving the elements for the sake of another character, or to save the world, or whatever plot important thing needs doing only to get gravely ill upon his arrival.
Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick
Seems tropeable: I'm seeing "Bob gets sick rescuing Alice from a blizzard. Romance ensues' Am I wrong?
It's not always romance ensues. Sometimes it just has characters finally admitting that they like and trust each other.
Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
As it's written, this is unambiguously a romance trope. We would need to generalize it to fit what you're suggesting.
The "Romance ensues" bit is the problem; that's the Florence Nightingale Effect.
I guess what I'm getting at is, should we redefine this to concentrate more heavily on "Bob gets sick after doing something for someone else" and to downplay the romance aspect that was the original intention of the trope?
Regardless, the name doesn't suit.
I agree the name doesn't fit. I think generalizing it would stop it from overlaping other tropes so much.
Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick
So if both the name and definition need changing, should we cutlist this and salvage its remains into one or more YKTTWs? Or skip that step and just repurpose the trope?
Also, the current description is quite explicit in that the ill person is Always Male and the caregiver is Always Female. This implies a role-reversal situation where a weaker character tends to a stronger one, which is tropeable if you make it genderless/Unfortunate Implicationless.
There are several possible tropes here:
- Using the trope name: A character immediately falls ill or shows tell-tale symptoms after exposure to the elements or Applied Phlebotinum.
- Using the "chivalrous" description: A character falls ill after completing a task on someone else's behalf, usually something done for the greater good, for the one they love, or out of pure kindness.
- Using the "role-reversal" description: A character that is presented as strong or dominant falls ill and depends on a character who is weaker or more submissive to take care of them.
In any case, the "romance ensues" definition is a duplicate of the Florence Nightingale Effect and it overlaps too much with other romance tropes. I would cut it from the description entirely and just include a footnote saying "May result in...".
Bump. (So are we renaming this trope?)
Re-bump this. Is a literal Instant Illness tropable? If so, should this become that trope?
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
9: Yes. How can their be any romance in this trope. Plus, the cold-cold example is already it's own trope. I suggest rename it Really Fast Illness, and edit the article to fit as such.
edited 17th Apr '12 2:49:25 PM by spacemarine50
I would be very inclined to transplant the current trope here to another name and to plug in a trope about diseases in fiction being much faster in development than in Real Life.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Bump for votes.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Ravenous Sophovore
Calling in favor of a trope transplant. Need to find a name for the transplanted trope and write the new definition of Instant Illness.
Waiting on a TRS slot? Finishing off one of these cleaning efforts will usually open one up.
Ravenous Sophovore
Any progress here?
Waiting on a TRS slot? Finishing off one of these cleaning efforts will usually open one up.
No, I got sidetracked by other issues. I'll try to get a description for the trope together (and it must be run through YKTTW, right?), but I am at a loss at finding a name for the transplanted trope.
OK, here we go:
This unrealistically speedy disease progression, apart from the need to squash a 24-hour or week-long disease into the 1 or 2 hours you can keep viewers interested, is motivated by the Rule of Drama: Nobody cares about an illness that takes weeks to develop.
See also Travelling at the Speed of Plot. Contrast Soap Opera Disease and Victorian Novel Disease
Ravenous Sophovore
Crowners swapped.
Waiting on a TRS slot? Finishing off one of these cleaning efforts will usually open one up.
Ravenous Sophovore
Bumping for votes and names.
Waiting on a TRS slot? Finishing off one of these cleaning efforts will usually open one up.
Wow, this isn't doing well. Can we have some alternate names, please?
"If you aren't him, then you apparently got your brain from the same discount retailer, so..." - Fighteer
Does this even need to have "romance" in the name? People earlier suggested it can be about any change in a relationship, romantic or otherwise.
Votes!
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
I'd like to reiterate my point from above: this is not necessarily a romance-exclusive trope, and it's been suggested that the romance part be downplayed anyway to distinguish this from the Florence Nightingale Effect.
I don't know if it needs romance, but if it doesn't, it needs better alt names.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Bumping this to the top to resolve the crowner:
- Conveniently Romantic Illness 12 yea/ 5 nay
- Romantically Convenient Illness 10 yea / 4 nay
I added Plot-Induced Illness since I agree, it doesn't need to be romantic. It can be two refugees trying to save one another and suddenly one can't go on. It can happen between a brother and a sister especially if the sister is an Ill Girl. It's about using an illness as a plot device for character development.
Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick
Crown Description:
What would be the best way to fix the page?
Article currently has 12 wicks (4 are indexes) and 10 inbounds.
According to the description, Instant Illness is the use of Catch Your Death of Cold as a way introduce or foster a romance subplot, though half of the examples are simply instances of characters instantly becoming ill. We already have several tropes about using illness or vulneration in general as a vehicle for romance (Florence Nightingale Effect, Intimate Healing, Hurt/Comfort Fic), and the initial paragraph about how symptoms develop can better be put down to Acceptable Breaks from Reality or Rule of Drama.
I'm still intrigued by the assumption that the subject brings the illness upon himself for the sake of a love interest prior to any Intimate Healing, but is that tropeable?