Ambiguous Name (Alt Names crowner 2/16/16): It Gets Better

I've made a thread before, but it wasn't opened. Here is the original OP.

The Article has a ambiguous name. A lot of the time, it's being used as an antonym for From Bad to Worse, or for a character overcoming their problems. It also seems to be used for a synonym for Growing the Beard. The article doesn't even have a clear definition itself. It seems to be "Work is bogged down in the beginning, but gets better as it goes along", but it's still unclear.

Here's a wick check of the first few articles.

• A Bridgeoncebroken-Misuse
• A Christmas Story-Correct
• Action Prologue-Correct
• Adventure Time-Correct
• Adventure Time-Wrong
• Adventure Time-Wrong
• AeternoBlade- Correct
• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.- Correct
• Ah! My Goddess- Wrong, used for art.
• Alice: Madness Returns- Correct
• Allen the Alien- Correct
• Alouette- Wrong, used for character.
• American History X- Wrong
• Anime & Manga- Wrong, used for character
• Anime & Manga- Wrong, used as a Justifying Edit
• Anime & Manga- Wrong, used as an opposite to From Bad to Worse.
• Anime & Manga- Wrong
• Animorphs-Correct
• Another Earth- Correct
• Anything But Normal- Incorrect, used for a character
• Arc Fatigue- Correct
• Armitage III- Incorrect, used for a character
• Arrested Development- Correct
• Articles- Correct
• At the Mountains of Madness- Correct
• Audience Reactions-Correct.
• Audition- Correct
• Ben10- Misuse
• Beta Couple- Misuse
• Beth Phoenix- Correct
• Big Brother Instinct- Misuse.
• Big Windup!- Misuse
• Black Rose- Unclear
• Bodacious Space Pirates- Misuse
• Bojack Horseman- Correct
• Boogie Nights- 'Misuse
• Brainless Beauty-Misuse
• Bridget Jones- Misuse, used for the project.
• Calvin at Camp- Correct
• Carrusel- Misuse
• Cannon God E Xa X Xion- Correct
• Castle Series- Correct
• Castlevania64- Correct
• Chaotic Monki- Correct
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory-Correct
• Cherry Tapping- Misuse
• Child of the Storm- Correct
• Chuggaaconroy- Misuse

This would be why we have No New Stock Phrases.

I don't know what to do here. The name and definition are both a mess, and what it's being used for is super similar to Growing the Beard.

edited 10th Jan '16 10:31:26 PM by Karxrida

Some of the aspects of this trope are also redundant with Prolonged Prologue and Forced Tutorial.

We could narrow the definition, maybe make it something like "major Infodump right at the beginning of a work" without the more redundant aspects, like the stuff about pacing. It'd definitely need a new name, though.

Change the name back to Get On With It Already, because I didn't even know the page had it's name change and thought It Gets Better was a broader form of growing the beard. If growing the beard is a significant moment that corresponds with a quality increase, so I it gets better could be reasoned to be about gradual improvement. Stock phrases aren't the issue, being a Non-Indicative Name is.

Get On With It Already more clearly illustrates Pacing Problems. I've changed all the wrestling examples to growing the beard...though Black Rose's example could count for "pacing problems" for how clumsily WWC went about reviving its women's division but that's on the promotion as a whole, not her. I'm leaving them as growing the beard until I find a more precise YMMV page for them.

edit:I also left the Rock, Stone Cold and Angle examples on the main page, just with further clarification.

edited 11th Jan '16 5:26:13 AM by IndirectActiveTransport

Indeed; it really needs a rename. The suggestion could work as a better name.

Also, nixed the Justifying Edit noted in the wick check.

That sounds like a good idea. The trope should be solely about pacing and not synonymous with Growing the Beard. Perhaps it should be renamed to something that doesn't come off as a stock phrase too.

Trope creator here - I think there was some rationale as to why the name was changed (someone thought it might be mixed up with Monty Python..? It was something like that), but I do think the original "Get On With It Already" conveys the meaning of the trope more effectively.

Does the article itself require cleanup? If so, what needs to be adjusted?

Get On With It Already is a dialogue name bordering on Stock Phrase, which I don't think would be appropriate even if people didn't mix it up with Monty Python's Life of Brian.

The first thing we should do is figure out what the hell this is supposed to be (and make sure it's not a duplicate of something else), then worry about the rename.

edited 14th Jan '16 12:10:09 AM by Karxrida

We already know what it's supposed to be. It's a pacing practice where too much time is spent establishing things to result in anything actually happening in the beginning, which get on with it already perfectly alludes to.

But if you find a duplicate to it, I'll be all for a merger or something.

edit:And I'll admit one thing else, the descriptions of the Pacing Problems index don't match up well with the descriptions on the pages itself, like the misleading laconic issue all over again. That kind of goes beyond the scope of this page but then again, we did bring an audience reaction to the trope repair shop.

edited 14th Jan '16 1:55:25 AM by IndirectActiveTransport

The TRS is also for YMMV, Trivia, Useful Notes, and Work articles. If it has a page, we fix it here.

It Gets Better has a case of Trope Namer Syndrome.

How so? Does it even have a Trope Namer?

Apparently Monty Python and the Holy Grail is the Trope Namer. I don't watch Monty Python.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is indeed the Trope Namer for "Get on with it", but "It gets better" does not, as far as I know.

"She turned me into a newt!"
Beat
"I got better."

edited 26th Jan '16 3:28:59 PM by crazysamaritan

"I got better" was the former name for Unexplained Recovery, but was so rampantly misused, it joined the Permanent Red Link Club. I'm pretty sure "It gets better" is simply a common phrase for when someone is telling someone else that a series that begins mediocre gets better as it goes on.

That may be so, but it's a Stock Phrase I've seen used in enough other contexts that the title should warrant changing.

Seems a rename is the obvious solution. Front Loaded Exposition? Slow Start Story Pacing? Slow-Paced Beginning? Easing Into The Story (a la Easing into the Adventure)?

Slow Start Story.

Hmmm, Slow-Paced Beginning and Slow Start Story seem to be worthwhile candidates. for either of these two.

I pick Slow Start Story for the Added Alliterative Appeal.

No new stock phrases doesn't apply here, because it predates the mandate and the rename has caused more trouble than it's solved. Classical fixing what aint broke. There's a stock phrase and you know exactly what it means.

I think that Slow Start Beginning is the best one.