Needs Help: Table Space

OK, this should be a quick fix.

Table Space is now defined as a comedy gag or a situation used to show emotional distance between two characters. However, there is one examples from a professional setting — I added it, and it says that it's rare. However, I started to notice that it's not so rare as I thought. I know about several examples from prof setting:

• The X-Files: A rare example from a professional setting happens in "Fallen Angel" when Agent Scully and then Agent Mulder have a responsibility hearing with Section Chief McGrath. The FBI has never liked their little department investigating paranormal cases.

New potential examples:

• Star Trek: The Next Generation:
  • In "Chain of Command", Captain [whats-his-name] negotiates with the Cardassians, he lets them wait to show them who the alpha dog is. He then seats himself on the opposite end of the table to show them more hostility and gain the advantage over them.
  • In "The Child", Deanna Troy is seated very far from the rest of the senior staff when they are discussing her space rape pregnancy in their conference room.
• In "How to Dial Murder" of Columbo, the murderer who is investigated is a psychology expert and he lets Columbo sit at the opposite end of a very long table.
• In Those Wonderful Years that Sucked, the jerk of a manager Sperk has Quido's father sat at the very end of a huge table at work everytime he has to deal with him. Quido's father is not a member of Communist Party and he was thus harassed on a regular basis in Socialist Czechoslovakia.
• In Thank You for Every New Morning, Olga is seated very far from the school committe who tells her she won't be attending a prestigious high school. Because her parents are not part of the Communist Party and she's not in the Pioneer Organization herself.

I think it's still the very same trope, only the description needs a bit tweaking. It could said that it's used to show intimidating situations or when someone wants to antagonize others or make them as uncomfortable as possible.

What do you think?

edited 22nd Nov '14 6:10:05 AM by XFllo

Bump and clock (thread was already open).

I think it would do good to expand the definition.

You are talking about dropping the "comedy" aspect? Yeah, I am on board with this.

The thread wasn't opened immediately when I started it, and I admit that later I forgot about it. So sorry!

Well, it seems obvious (to me at least) that Played for Laughs is just how it's played and one of the variants, though very common.

edited 9th Jan '15 1:01:21 PM by XFllo

Bump.

I don't see how the proposed examples aren't examples of the trope as it currently is.

Comedy or drama doesn't change the nature of the trope.

Whether it's a dinner table or conference table doesn't change it either.

It's all about using the physical distance of the table seating as a psychological distance, whether horizontal or vertical.

edited 3rd Jan '15 6:28:47 AM by AnotherDuck

Agreed. It's not inherently comedic or dramatic. It can be played for either.

"The physical distance of the table seating as a psychological distance" That almost makes a pretty good laconic of the core trope.

I agree completely with making the description neutral.

edited 8th Jan '15 9:45:23 PM by pokedude10

I'm ok with making this comedy or drama neutral.

Yeah. That's needlessly narrowing it down. It's the excessively long table being used as a metaphorical space between them. It can be played for laughs, and it can be at home or at work. It's still the same idea.

Essentially there are two different uses for table space:

• To show the alienation between characters. Mostly this is not consciously set up by any of the characters. The creator puts them in a house with such a table.
• To intimidate a character. This is a conscious attempt by one character to manipulate another one.

A soft-split would be in order, I guess.

Btw, the most prominent case of table space intimidation isn't even mentioned on the page.

edited 1st Feb '15 3:21:56 PM by eroock

I like that analysis of the trope, though I generally really dislike soft-split pages. They are usually in a mess. If we were to split it, I would be for making two sister tropes. But I think it is not necessary.

I agree with X Filo and the other posts in this thread—tweak the definition to make it not necessarily comedy, since the principle is the same, regardless of whether it's comic or dramatic. Soft split not required.

A conscious attempt would be an Invoked Trope, I'd think.

OK, I'll try to write a new trope description and post it here to get your peer review.

Extending clock.

Clock is up with no progress; closing.