Unclear Description: It Was A Dark And Stormy Night

From the title, it sounds like this trope is referring to the phrase It Was a Dark and Stormy Night and it's endless parodies and variations. However, several of the examples are simply referring to dark and stormy nights, without any references to the phrase. The Parent Trap example looks particularly bad.

Simply having bad weather sounds too vague and general to trope, and the phrase is referenced so commonly that it's a valid trope by itself. Most of the examples are good, but there are enough bad examples that I thought it might be worth changing the description to clarify this.

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In my mind, for fixing this one we'd have to establish what the phrase refers to. I can see both the literal usage and the phrase use fall under the same trope or being completely different things depending.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

I would redefine It Was a Dark and Stormy Night to be about stormy weather as a scene-setting device to open romantic tales ("romantic" in the old sense of the word, not as in Romantic Comedy). I don't think that's "too vague and general to trope."

I think the trope is confused about whether it is specifically about the words spoken, written or said, or whether it is about the actual setting of the story. Then the laconic points out that it also is about parodies. Very confusing.

Maybe the trope should have two sections in which one section lists examples of the actual words being written, said, etc. And the other section about the story beginning very obviously during a dark and stormy night.

Is that legal? :)

It is what it is.

The way I've always interpreted it is that it's an instantly recognisable scene-setter line that's supposed to add a manner of tension from the get-go. It's a cliché that exists in forms other than that specific line and references to it, while still a subtrope to Weather Report Narration.

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Even if we make a page for Stormy Weather Opening Scene, we should keep this page focuses on various usages of this exact phrase to for the sake of Shout-Out or parody of a famous cliche.

Just to revive this one, I have to say that it makes sense to have the trope about the actual setting, not just the words. The words almost sound like a Stock Phrase. It is, isn't it?

Maybe the page examples should be sorted into two categories: Dark and Stormy Nights played seriously, and romantically, in the classical sense. :)

And the second category could be for parodies of The Dark and Stormy Night opening.

It is what it is.

Clock is set.

If this is about the setting and not the exact words, how about a Dark And Stormy Opening? A relatively simple name tweak....

An Ear Worm is like a Rickroll: It is never going to give you up.

But the thing is, those exact words have been referenced often enough as a Shout-Out/Parody to be a trope in and of themselves. So you can split it into two pages, but it should not be at the expense of no longer covering a valid trope.

Re-clocking; is anything going to happen here?

I still think there should be a soft-split between the stock phrase and settings that use a dark and stormy night to push home mystery or horror settings.

edited 17th Apr '14 9:16:16 AM by Lakija

It is what it is.

I'm in favour of a hard-split. Crowner?

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.

That would be cleaner.

But if quotes get their own page, what about No New Stock Phrases? Even though Dark and Stormy Night is a Classic.

edited 17th Apr '14 11:51:41 AM by Lakija

It is what it is.

• Okay. This has to get off the ground somehow if we're gonna fix it. First of all, I strongly suggest soft-splitting because the current page has 608 inbound links. That's not too shabby.
• Second, the page image has got to go; it's got nothing to do with the trope, and although we all know Snoopy for the most part, it's kinda JAFAAC with words.
• Last, the description is unclear of course; let me take a stab at rewriting the description. The historical details are certainly nice, but they just pad the description rather than actually explaining the trope at hand accurately and clearly.

---

This trope is both a well-known story-opener and a popular setting in fiction. Both are usually used to set up a mystery, horror, thriller, or suspense work. When used as a setting for any of those genres, it will be at night, and there will be a thunderstorm to set up a romantic, tumultuous atmosphere and mood.

This phrase can be attributed to one Edward Bulwer-Lytton, the inventor of other such catchy cliches as "the pen is mightier than the sword", "the great unwashed" and "the pursuit of the almighty dollar." However he is not remembered for any of these. "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night..." keeps him alive as a multimedia sensation beyond anything he could possibly have imagined — a constant in Purple Prose and the star of campfire ghost stories everywhere.

Thanks to the power of lightning, opening a story with a stormy night scene such as this, or even just featuring one, has been a Horror trope since Universal's Frankenstein and before.

The phrase has been thoroughly mocked and re-used so frequently that it should be a Dead Horse Trope if it were not an Undead Horse Trope: it's simply too much fun. In fact, two yearly writing contests are held (and named) in Lytton's honour.

A Sub-Trope of Weather Report Narration. Compare with Hostile Weather. A story featuring this trope may also feature Stop Motion Lighting for drama's sake.

Not to be confused with the Larry Blamire film Dark And Stormy Night.

edited 20th Apr '14 8:59:50 PM by Lakija

It is what it is.

Anyone there? >.>

<_<

It is what it is.

I imagine there needs to be some sort of consensus to change the description at this point... Well, let me at least suggest a new image.

This image captures it. I wish I could find a different one.◊

It is what it is.

Please, please, I'm begging someone, anyone, to help me get some action on this.

• Got a new image, and a couple other possibilities in mind.
• New description here (same as above):

---

This trope is both a well-known story-opener and a popular setting in fiction. Both are usually used to set up a mystery, horror, thriller, or suspense work. When used as a setting for any of those genres, it will be at night, and there will be a thunderstorm to set up a romantic, tumultuous atmosphere and mood.

This phrase can be attributed to one Edward Bulwer-Lytton, the inventor of other such catchy cliches as "the pen is mightier than the sword", "the great unwashed" and "the pursuit of the almighty dollar." However he is not remembered for any of these. "It Was a Dark and Stormy Night..." keeps him alive as a multimedia sensation beyond anything he could possibly have imagined — a constant in Purple Prose and the star of campfire ghost stories everywhere.

Thanks to the power of lightning, opening a story with a stormy night scene such as this, or even just featuring one, has been a Horror trope since Universal's Frankenstein and before.

The phrase has been thoroughly mocked and re-used so frequently that it should be a Dead Horse Trope if it were not an Undead Horse Trope: it's simply too much fun. In fact, two yearly writing contests are held (and named) in Lytton's honour.

A Sub-Trope of Weather Report Narration. Compare with Hostile Weather. A story featuring this trope may also feature Stop Motion Lighting for drama's sake.

Not to be confused with the Larry Blamire film Dark And Stormy Night.

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Voting for a soft-split because of the No New Stock Phrases rule: if it's hard split, just mentions of the words is going against that rule.

edited 23rd May '14 9:56:30 PM by Lakija

It is what it is.

I somewhat like the description proposal but I would like to hear from more people whether these two things ought to be both here.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman

I think that's pretty good.

It does not matter who I am. What matters is, who will you become? - motto of Omsk Bird

I think it's less romantic and more tense, but otherwise it's a good description.

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It is romantic in the older sense (Gothic, Sturm-und-Drang) rather than romantic as in "pertaining to a love story". (Though the fact that the two meanings are so different means that it might not be the best word to use.)

edited 25th May '14 1:36:13 AM by DoktorvonEurotrash

It does not matter who I am. What matters is, who will you become? - motto of Omsk Bird

That's kinda what I thought. But it's the modern meaning people will read, and I still think it's more about the tension of it whichever definition you use.

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Yay! Other humans, and one duck!

So yeah, let's use a different word for romance, or pothole it to something. like I Thought It Meant, or some other pothole I don't know about pertaining to old words.

Either way, what about a better image? The current is bad. It needs to be a stormy sky over a (large) house (manor). To IP or can we do that here as well? I can open up an IP thread over there.

edited 24th May '14 6:52:46 PM by Lakija

It is what it is.

Images are usually done in IP, not here.

Link to TRS threads in project mode here.