What Observations Have You Made About Fictional Works?

I just realized, most often when a band has one female member, then, if she's not the singer, she's either the drummer or the bassist.

I notice that fans tend to ship characters with other even when the ship makes any sort of sense.

In any work that is not literature much of everything is made due to the limitation of formats, such as an epic story being forced to be crammed in only two episodes.

I'm looking at you, MLP:FIM.

In a setting where we have the established authority and the group rebelling against it and trying to bring it down, it'll usually be the rebels that are the good guys.

Few stories ^note I say "few", because I know of some, in Star Wars for one, but in that general setting, the Empire is of course still evil. about the troops heroically defending the empire against the ruthless, criminal guerillas, it'll always be a brave group of freedom fighters against an oppressive government.

edited 30th Mar '13 3:01:58 AM by Catfish42

That's because most settings you see are likely written by Statesians, who live in a country based on FREEDOM! and the frontier mindset. If you live in a non-frontier country where domestic terrorism is common, you very much cannot glorify the "righteous rebels", because that would send the wrong message, where terrorism = good.

edited 30th Mar '13 3:04:59 AM by Khantalas

Personally, I'm sick to death of this. Mostly because they fallacious way it's used to portray a short-term good coming from revolts and rebellions. At most, it's a long-term benefit you can hope for.

It reeks of bullshit and is getting really damn stale.

In any story where the main character starts off with a best friend, that best friend is almost always someone they've known since they were really little. I'm guessing this is because that's the absolute easiest best friend backstory one can come up with.

Oh man, is this a tired storyline. There are certain cliches that I adore, but I think this one needs to die or at least be deconstructed in a well thought-out way. It's not realistic at all, especially considering the negative attitude we have toward terrorism today.

Another thing I've noticed: In anime in particular, the main character or The Hero archetype always carries a sword. I know that the sword has meaning in Japanese culture, but they're very modern now, aren't they?

The 3rd book in the Matched series had an interesting twist on that plot. La Résistance is revealed to have been infiltrated by the ruling authority so that when the resistance takes over, it almost turns into business as usual.

I noticed that most European dramas are very depressing compared to American dramas.

I noticed that Xemnas is very obsessed with HEARTS!

About the establishment/rebels thing, I actually wouldn't be surprised if that might change relatively soon. The whole "plucky rebels, evil empire" thing seems like it may be rooted in World War II/Cold War-era fear of dictatorships; these days there aren't all that many really powerful dictatorships left (unless China counts, which is a topic I'd rather not discuss), so now the "plucky rebels" are the scary ones.

edited 30th Mar '13 12:49:44 PM by HamburgerTime

What about this guy?

edited 30th Mar '13 1:00:40 PM by SaintDeltora

The word "rebel" itself still has a lot of romantic connotations. When you do see organized, militant resistance to a government that is portrayed negatively, it's more likely that the movie or show will call them terrorists if its a smaller group or collection of groups, or insurgents for bigger uprisings. Or they might just always call the group by however they refer the themselves as to give the bad guys a name to recognize.

Kim Jong-Un has now got another subscriber, btw.

On the topic theme, well, I have found that crime never pays. Especially if you are a cool Cubano in an 800 dollar suit and have skied down an Olympic sized pile of cocaine.

And ESPECIALLY not if all the crimes you commit are in the name of justice! No jury would ever let you off easy if you have good intentions in a fictional work!!

On that note, I have learned that if I'm ever in court, I can just put the blame on my parents and be instantly exonerated! (Thanks, MST 3 K!)

I have to agree that the concept of the noble rebellion taking down the evil empire is at least a Discredited Trope. There are already examples of turning it into a Deconstructed Trope:

• The Ninja Warriors: The good news is that the Ninja Terminators (my nickname for them) kill off Banglar The Tyrant. The bad news is that Mulk and La Résistance, who you practically have not seen at all, blow them up and become a government no better than Banglar's.
• The Ninja Warriors Again: Same as the above, and at least the English version has a line saying that the people, upon realizing what happened, think to themselves "Some things never change".
• Revolution: The Monroe Republic is bad to the bone, and the rebels are mostly desperate idealists trying to fight back. Still, it's played more realistically by showing both sides to be incompetent on a number of levels. Not only that, but there are even hints that even if the rebels do take down the Republic, whatever they set up may prove to be no better.
• StarCraft: Raynor certainly fights the good fight. Too bad Arcturus Mengsk turned out to be Evil All Along. He gets killed off, but it remains to be seen if the status quo will improve....

edited 31st Mar '13 5:09:06 AM by TiggersAreGreat

I agree with that last part. In that one mission, I chose to help the colonists and find a cure; I thought it fit with Raynor's new "Robin Hood" image.

That is another thing I notice in fictional works in general. Everyone important has a tragic back story, and if they do anything that is reprehensible, it's because they had a tough home life.

It may be slightly Truth in Television, but it shouldn't be the only thing that makes a character interesting.

I also realize that in some works some just want to see the world burn for no reason because it amuses them. You don't even need a 'tragic' past to horrible things, they are really some people who just want to do bad things although they may not necessarily be bad themselves.

Prominent elderly characters seem to be rare outside of a Time Skip, in certain genres. Compare the number of old characters in Batman The Animated Series to that of Batman Beyond, for example.

People care too much about how or how much other people enjoy or don't enjoy works.

You're bound to see people really invested in something get angry at "casuals" and "normal people" poking fun at others for their habits

The latter moreso than the former

Compare an episode of Hollyoaks with that of, say, OneTreeHill. They're basically the same thing, really. But Hollyoaks is so much more grittier and dirtier.

Not fiction, but in a musical duo with one male and one female, the latter's more likely to be the singer and the face. For example, La Roux, Karmin, MS MR, etc.

edited 31st Mar '13 3:50:19 PM by chihuahua0