What Observations Have You Made About Fictional Works?

I have made two, and here they are:

1. For every film out there, there is at least a 50% chance that it will be based off of a book.
2. For every film out there, there is at least a 50% chance that it will have a Video Game based off of it.

How about you?

Oh, Equestria, we stand on guard for thee!

Just because a story is a Cliché Storm doesn't automatically mean it's bad. The important thing is how well and creatively it executes that story.

edited 21st Mar '13 2:26:50 PM by Mort08

Looking for some stories?

Just because a piece of music or a film or a cartoon or a book is geared towards a female or a male market, doesn't mean to say that it will not appeal to the opposite sex.

As a very obvious case in point, I give you Card Captor Sakura, whose original Japanese spoken dialogue and English subtitles was FAR more popular with the male demographic than the butchered and bowdlerized adolescent boy-focused abomination known as Cardcaptors.

edited 21st Mar '13 3:50:24 PM by TamH70

Cardcaptor is usually romanized as a single word. I don't know why.

Anyway, I observed that Brits do it quicker.

"..."

Cardcaptors is a crime against humanity.

Also, Brits do it less glossy, as a general rule, and more...dunno.

Complicated - because simple is simply too simple.

I've noticed that there is some kind of ethnic conflict in a lot of fictional works. Even if it's not set in our world, there's Fantastic Racism. That may be because racism is still very much a thing in our modern times, and the authors are trying to address it, even with Dwarves an Elves instead of other races.

edited 22nd Mar '13 9:30:24 AM by Misuki

Even when your hope is gone, move along, move along just to make it through

It could be because racism is expected to be endemic in any sapient and racially diverse species.

Racism is, fundamentally, a fear of something which is different or unknown (and thus potentially dangerous—an example being a dark cave, which might be empty and might be home to a bear), which is an instinct that all animals, including humans, have, and thus it is reasonable to assume that other sapient species would have it as well.

Bigotry makes a lot of sense when you think about it. It doesn't mean it's good.

Anyway... Making "observations" about fictional works is what led me and probably a lot of others to TVT. A persistent habit of noticing trends in fiction ("Hey, you know that thing where...") leads us to seek out other people whose imaginations have been infected by it. In more Genre Savvy people can become kind of a sixth sense and enable you to spot a trope at a mile. It's practically part of our DNA. Anyone who's lived with film knows when a Jump Scare is coming. You know that a character who's just gotten married or announced their retirement is automatically ten times as likely to meet a violent end. Monsters never truly die and can be resurrected ad infinitum for the benefit of filmmakers and their coffers—expect the monster's hand to burst out of the grave after the credits.

Following that rationale, it is impossible to overstate the importance of fiction and storytelling in human society. It's one of the things which defines us most. Cracked did a marvellous article about this, but I can't find it... It was titled something like "Ways in Which Stories Have Defined the World", but searching with keywords ("stories") gets me nowhere.

You need an adult.

I'd argue that if it passes the test of making "clichés" seem new and exciting/interesting, it's not really a cliché storm.

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.

A funny thing about Japanese works and English dubs I've noticed: there is at least a 95% chance the original Japanese work will be the best version and the English dubbed version will be hilariously bad in comparison. Unless it's on Adult Swim. Then the English dubbed version will be decent at least, maybe as good as the original version, or...maybe even better than the original version.

Case in point: there's a clip on You Tube titled "Jagi vs Kenshiro English Dub" by Hokutoabridged. Youtube comments point out that Jagi is voiced by the guy who did Paxton Fettel from First Encounter Assault Recon, and Kenshiro is voiced by Lex Lang. Some of them even say that Lex Lang actually makes Kenshiro sound like a person, while the original Japanese voice actor made Kenshiro sound like a force of nature. Some even dare to say that the dub actually improves on the original in some ways.

Oh, Equestria, we stand on guard for thee!

I guess it's Kick the Dog-ish, but when I watched a horror movie a day last October, I quickly realized that if the main characters have a dog, that dog is not going to survive the movie. Enough so that when I watched High Tension and Alex's whole family got murdered, but the dog was already nowhere to be found, I figured it just got Genre Savvy and had already run away.

Earth is the only planet inhabitable by Nicolas Cage.

I've noticed that they don't tend to be a telling of events that have actually happened. They, in fact, tend to spring from a person, known as the "creator's" imagination.

True story.

"It's so hard to be humble, knowing how great I am."

It is possible for a work to be both intelligent and stupid at the same time. For example, a medical drama may have a well written, compelling plot, but get several of the fundamentals of the medical practice hopelessly wrong.

I'm so sorry that my avatar doesn't appear fully in the shot, but the cat was threatening the photographer.

Of course! Just look at Veronica Mars! [/cheapshot]

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.

In terms of medical accuracy, Scrubs does a relatively good job. As for the writing, although it can get pretty good, I cannot say the same for the whole series.

I'm a (socialist) professional writer serializing a WWII alternate history webnovel.

I just realize that most action stories are mostly about Good and Evil even in supposedly grey works, it all comes down who is the least grey.

"Analay, an original fan character from a 2006 non canon comic. Do not steal!"

1. In romantic novels aimed at teens (very specific, I know), the main character almost always either has a cutesy name or a strange but also cutesy name. You never see the main character named like, Helga or something.

Hm... To think of the most popular young adult works I know of with romantic themes...

Katniss Everdeen. That counts for sure.

Harry Potter. Fairly common, and not at at all strange (especially in the UK), but I guess you could say it's "cutesy".

Bella Swan and Edward Cullen. The former sounds like a typical Mary Sue name, the latter English and obscure—perfect for a dark, brooding Marty Stu male.

Then there's Stephenie Meyer's other YA novel, The Host... With its main character, Wanda (or Wanderer).

I suppose it's because such works tend to be prone to Mary Sues (or at least flirt with them) and Romantic Plot Tumours.

edited 24th Mar '13 7:29:38 AM by Alma

You need an adult.

Well, to me at least, having "Cullen" as one's last name sounds like the person is related to Optimus Prime.

edited 25th Mar '13 12:49:12 AM by SimplyWhatever

whatever

One YA book has the protagonist's name as "America".

It's a dystopian novel.

Genocide is a distressingly common solution in Mass Effect.

Of course, don't you know anything about ALCHEMY?!- Twin clones of Ivan the Great

Something in anime I've noticed; the common cold will result in flu-like symptoms after spending a few minutes in the rain.

"What a century this week has been." - Seung Min Kim

I've noticed people take them way too seriously. It's fine to like or dislike fiction, but, for instance, writing a "fanfic" where the author of a controversial story burns to death in his home is never okay.

The pig of Hufflepuff pulsed like a large bullfrog. Dumbledore smiled at it, and placed his hand on its head: "You are Hagrid now."

...please tell me that doesn't exist.

Insert witty and clever quip here. My page, as the database hates my handle.

It's real. From 4chan, unsurprisingly.

The pig of Hufflepuff pulsed like a large bullfrog. Dumbledore smiled at it, and placed his hand on its head: "You are Hagrid now."

These people often can't be bothered to get worked up over something that in the greater scheme of things actually matter, but can get worked up over the media of the week.

Eating a Vanilluxe will give you frostbite.