Just a Face and a Caption: Living Prop

sorry but no I feel explaining it would go into great detail of existentialism and how it makes you feel and what the and what the symbolism of the empty cardboard cutouts of people standing around a man with multiple copies of himself following himself around while he walks around in an empty room, talking to fake people representing a modern society and blah blah blah....

Its best we just forget it all together.

I think the current would be improved if it was part of a montage of scenes all with her in the background. (If this was suggested in the original thread, my apologies, but I really do think it would get the point across better.)

It wasn't mentioned no but there was a nice TRS-esque discussion on what made a Living Prop different from an extra.

Which one? I was starting to wonder what's the difference between this trope and Recurring Extra myself...

The one from last April, seems to explain what the difference is.

I'm not entirely convinced by the distinction mentioned there, to be honest - doesn't seem relevant enough that it can't be attributed to Tropes Are Flexible. But since this is an IP thread and not TRS, I suppose I'll just drop it for now.

On a side note, it was mentioned that Living Props are characters that are so integrated with the show's background/setting that they might as well be cardboard cut-outs, so I don't think that the somewhat literal illustration in @15 would confuse the trope too much.

An Extra can have lines (according to SAG rules, no more than six words, though) or can interact with the main characters in some way. The usher at the door of the movie theatre who says "Tickets?" is an extra. The people sitting at the next table over in the coffeeshop who don't interact with the main characters at all are extras. The guy who walks out of the bathroom stall the main character was waiting for is an extra

A Recurring Extra is a subtype of Extra; an extra who shows up more than once, in the same role. The waitress who works in the diner the main characters go to in every episode but who never does anything more than take their order and bring them their food is a recurring extra. The guy running the newspaper stand outside the main character's apartment where she always buys a paper is a recurring extra.

A Living Prop is a subtype of Extra who never has lines, and does not have any interaction with the main characters; they could be replaced by a cardboard cutout with no difference in the way the scenes they are in play out. In Welcome Back, Kotter, all the students in the class with the exception of the Sweathogs (and any potential love interests) were Living Props. They had no interaction with the main character, no lines, and all they contributed to the classroom scenes was that they filled seats. They could just as easily have been cardboard cutouts or mannequins.

Any issues we have with this surely are better discussed at TRS right?

If a Living Prop is an extra who has very few if any spoken lines, and no significant interaction with the main cast or involvement with the plot, I think the trope needs some major clean up.

Just a few examples that come to mind after a quick glance:

Emiri Kimidori? Going just by the anime adaptation, she had an important role in one episode (and even got a character album!). And in the original light novel series, she has further appearances of significance.

Miles O'Brian? Even if we limit ourselves to his time on TNG, he was a pretty important reoccurring character, even having multiple episodes that put him in a spotlight.

Oz from Buffy? He was a reoccurring character before joining the main cast, but one with dialogue and interaction with the cast, hardly a nobody in the background.

Having examples like that make it really hard, even after reading the other linked discussion thread, to know exactly what makes this trope unique and worthy of its own entry separate from other extras tropes such as Recurring Extra or Ascended Extra... I can see how the trope can be used, for example a series with a classroom setting where 90% of the students just sit in desks or walk in halls without ever speaking or in any way interacting with the characters and/or plot. (Which is what the current image is attempting to show.) But many of the listed examples on the trope's page seem to be not this.

Of course, none of this is really relevant to Image Pickin'... Does this trope need a thread in Trope Repair as well?

It's kinda relevant because we need to establish what we're trying to illustrate, if we don't know then we're probably going to end up picking the wrong one entirely. I'd say this needs to be carted to TRS, three IP threads all questioning what it is we're depicting means there's something significant broken.

That is, I suppose, a good point. If the Trope itself needs work, is it even worth discussing the image until after the repair work is done?

Anyway, I suppose (unless someone else has done it in the last fifteen minutes) I'll pop over to Trope Repair and start a thread...

Edit: Actually, turns out I can't. "There are 101 threads open in this forum. The limit is 100."

edited 25th Jan '14 9:20:10 AM by Yotsuyasan

I wouldn't worry, the trope nor the issues are going anyplace.

Then let us wait till a slot's available before opening up another one. (Which may take awhile due to how slow the threads get discussed there.)

I suggest that this trope needs to be cleaned up first before we carry on with choosing an image.

Agreed.

Moving on...

Made a Trope Repair Shop thread.

Locking this then. It can be revived (or better, started fresh) if it's needed once the TRS is done.