Ambiguous Name (Runoff Crowner 8/13/13): Pillow Fight

So you'd expect this to be about fights with pillows, right? That's certainly the impression you'd get from the page image and half the examples. Turns out, however, that it's supposed to be about any light-hearted contest involving women for the purposes of titillation.

Something's broke here. Let's go about fixing it.

Why is it that half the time people come up with tropes, they decide that it must be used for sexual reasons?

I mean, pillow fights are hardly a purely or even a mostly sexual thing. All the pillow fights I've seen in stories involve kids, and are intended as a display of childish mischievousness and fun, not titillation.

edited 14th Mar '12 12:16:16 PM by Catbert

I have a theory that if a trope is used for fanservice even once, then the fans it serviced will connect that meaning with every single instance.

Well most of the examples that I have come across Hotel Yukata are almost always falling off in various ways and it is always a group of just girls never a guy in the mess.

A Sexy Pillow Fight is for sure at least an anime stereotype and required for an all girl show. It is always at a hotel, in Hotel Yukata, in trip episodes like Beach Episode or Festival Episode s.

Hell Seitokai Yakuindomo had the Shutter Bug go nuts in their Pillow Fight. [1]◊ [2]◊ [3]◊ [4]◊ [5]◊ [6]◊ [7]◊

Negima's pillow fight◊ was the same thing.

edited 14th Mar '12 10:54:21 AM by Raso

Wait. What if this page was made with fanservice in mind (as in the less aggressive form of Cat Fight), but the name chose was just stupid? This will likely need a Trope Transplant.

edited 14th Mar '12 10:56:22 AM by DragonQuestZ

Pillow Catfight?

The point is it's not a cat fight. It's just related.

Whatever we do with it, this name should be repurposed for actual pillow fights (titillating or otherwise).

Yeah, I support a Trope Transplant.

@Raso: I think that says more about the media you consume than anything else.

Pillow-fights can be used for fanservice. That is far from the only way in which they're depicted, though.

A Trope Transplant sounds like an excellent idea.

edited 14th Mar '12 11:44:41 AM by Iaculus

Kitten Fight?

Almost Angels is a good (if somewhat obscure) example of a work with non-fanservice example.

A group of choirboys get into a pillow fight when they are supposed to be sleeping. It is treated as childish mischief, like a Food Fight. I think it is safe to say that Walt Disney did not have titillation in mind when they made it, and if any our editors see it as fanservice, I'd rather they keep that to themselves (see the recent threads on not being creepy).

Also, the fact that it is named Pillow Fight but includes more than pillow fights means that is is being vastly underused for non-pillow examples. It is also attracting, even on the page, examples of pillow fights that don't seem to have anything to to with female fanservice.

EDIT PS

There are several examples of this page that are troublesome, given the definition. A number of the examples simply say things like "Character X and Y have one" without specifying what type of Pillow Fight activity (Trope) the characters have. The editor simply assumed that because the trope name was Pillow Fight, that referring to the trope automatically means you are refering to an actual pillow fight, even though things like volleyball can count, under the right circumstances.

You also have examples like:

• Happens commonly in Madeline.

You go to Madeline and find out that "Madeline is a series of children's picture books first published in 1939 by Ludwig Bemelmans, about a little French boarding school student, her eleven friends, her teacher..."

So what we are saying that a 1939 children's book about a little girl at boarding school contains the following:

• A gathering of female characters in a not particularly serious battle or physical challenge for purposes of [[ Fanservice titillation ]]. Often, literally, a pillow fight (i.e., at a Slumber Party) but may include [[ Fetish Fuel similar situations ]] like volleyball, particularly when [[ Stripperific wardrobe is skimpy ]] and the action is bouncy.

I think not.

edited 15th Mar '12 6:32:36 AM by Catbert

You missed the My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic example.

My Little Pony.

Cat Fight Lite / Sex Kitten Fight / whatever should be a supertrope to Sexy Pillow Fight and Mud Wrestling (which is also too broad of a name, methinks).

Pillow fights for childish mischievousness and innocence should get their own trope, but I don't think it should be the main Pillow Fight article, but rather something with a narrower title.

We should either make Pillow Fight the supertrope to both Innocent Pillow Fight and Sexy Pillow Fight, or else make it a disambig.

edited 15th Mar '12 12:18:39 PM by ccoa

The supertrope could perhaps be called Playful Fanservice Fight?

I don't think we need a separate trope for when pillow fights are used for fanservice. Just make a Pillow Fight trope and put a note at the bottom of the description saying "when the participants are older, this may be used for Fanservice" or similar.

Why not? Pillow fights for fanservice are exceedingly common. I know there is a prejudice against fanservice tropes, but it's a very different trope with very different connotations than a pillow fight between children, and they really shouldn't be lumped together.

Fair enough. Anything is better than what we currently have, that's for sure.

So Sexy Pillow Fight vs. Childish Pillow Fight?

I think the sports examples should be split off to something else.

Bikini Ballgames perhaps?

Clock is set.

Crowner's hooked.

edited 16th Apr '12 5:57:23 AM by Willbyr

Crowner called.

So, we're turning Pillow Fight into a supertrope for Innocent Pillow Fight and Sexy Pillow Fight, and split? If that's the case I can YKTTW Innocent Pillow Fight.

I think just Pillow Fight will be enough for the innocent variant. The other could be Sexy Pillow Fight or something similar.

Feel free to YKTTW it.

I'll probably do Sexy Pillowfight then. But Pillow Fight's description and over half of the examples are describing pillow fights for titillation, more than they do innocence. So, if we indeed keep Pillow Fight for innocence, we'll have to rewrite the description and move most of the examples to Sexy Pillowfight.