Exploited versus Invoked trope

Isn't every invoked trope done to exploit it and also the other way around? Where is the distinctive quality between the two?

Exploited Trope is when a Genre Savvy characters knows how a trope will play out and exploits that. Invoked Trope is when a character sets a trope up. The difference is that in the former, they are exploiting a trope while in the latter they are setting a trope up.

(PS: I wonder if Trope Savvy would make a good alt name for Genre Savvy).

Phrased differently:

Exploiting a trope is recognizing that the trope is about to happen/will happen/is happening and using that.

Invoking a trope is making it happen/trying to make it happen.

edited 8th Sep '14 5:32:35 AM by Madrugada

Invoked: I am not satisfied yet. In order to set up (invoke) a trope, you must be genre savvy (know what the outcome will be). Otherwise it is the writer setting it up for the character. Now, how is this not exploiting the trope? Only, if the result is not in favor of the person invoking it, which will be rare.

Exploited: If I understand correctly, this is when the trope is happening without the character being the initiator, he is merely taking advantage of the outcome. Am I on the right track?

>>(PS: I wonder if Trope Savvy would make a good alt name for Genre Savvy).
Funny enough, I had the same idea (post 4)

edited 8th Sep '14 11:33:49 AM by eroock

Obviously, invoking a trope requires that the character be sufficiently Genre Savvy to recognize that it exists to be used. In that sense, Invoked Trope is a subtrope of Exploited Trope.

>>Invoked Trope is a subtrope of Exploited Trope.

And where is the difference for you?

edited 8th Sep '14 11:38:27 AM by eroock

Again, Exploited Trope is recognizing that a trope is occurring and taking advantage of it, while Invoked Trope is deliberately arranging for the trope to occur.

Frankly, I am not sure the difference is significant enough to highlight. Playing with a Trope has had a lot of very fine distinctions added since it started a long while ago, and Exploited is newer than Invoked.

Got it.

edited 8th Sep '14 2:02:16 PM by eroock

Make a note: exploited is not a sub of invoked. A trope savvy person can exploit a trope either by invoking it himself, or by noticing a trope and plays it for his advantage.

For example, one of the earliest example of Exploited Trope I saw is an example of an Exploited Trope without having the same trope being invoked by the same person: a genuinely Ill Boy exploits Ill Boy to effect Karma Houdini, as no one's going to physically attack a frail little thing like him—he knows this, and exploits it. Since the character did not make himself sickly, Ill Boy was not invoked.

edited 9th Sep '14 11:56:04 AM by SamCurt

As a note, unless your universe explicitly runs on narrative causality, like some comedy works, deliberately making oneself sick to invoke the Ill Girl trope will typically backfire spectacularly, as Karma abhors a jackass.

Wouldn't narrative causality punish a jackass for trying to take advantage of that, though? I mean, it would probably work, but there would be strings attached. A Karma Houdini is usually seen as such because of the lack of narrative causality (or narrative justice, which is closely tied).

In a work like Discworld, you're as likely to make an attempt to play Ill Girl work as you are to have it backfire, because in that world, it's accepted that people will attempt to invoke tropes on a regular basis.

I'm talking about less tongue-in-cheek works.