"Funny Aneurysm" Moment cleanup

There's a lot of shoehorning on the subpages and works' YMMV pages.

Many examples are "[Character] dies, [actor] later dies", or "[Actor] appears, passes away years later", which the description states is not the trope.

And of course there are examples that weren't Played for Laughs to begin with, or have a tenuous at best connection to the real event.

Some might work better on Harsher in Hindsight, Life Imitates Art, Too Soon or Unintentional Period Piece.

I already did some cleanup on The Simpsons and Live Action Television.

edited 27th Jan '16 1:58:45 PM by maxwellsilver

I think it came up in TRS or some other discussion, and I remember cleaning up a bunch of examples, but from what I can recall, the connection needs to be strong. An actor just dying doesn't count if a character she played died, since everyone dies eventually. The actor needs to die in a way that resembles the way the character died. This goes for both Harsher in Hindsight and "Funny Aneurysm" Moment, whichever applies.

Anything about the Twin Towers still standing after the fact would go under Unintentional Period Piece.

There's also September Eleventh for examples where something relating to 9/11 was recalled or otherwise censored.

An example I removed was re-added to The Simpsons. The example is the World Trade Center appearing in "Homer VS New York". I removed it in the first place because there is no connection at all to the attacks. The line about Tower One being full of jerks is certainly cringe-worthy today, but that doesn't meet the description and since we don't have a trope called "Uncomfortable In Hindsight", it's not an example.

I removed it again and I'm thinking of adding a commented-out note that there must be a strong connection to 9/11, more than "WTC appears in pre-9/11 work", for it to be an example.

I think we should add a commented out note to the subpages that a) the World Trade Centre appearing in a work made before 9/11 is not an example if there is no connection to the attacks, and b) a real person who has since passed away appearing in a work, even if their character dies, is not an example if there is no resemblance to their real life death which was originally used as a joke.

I'm cool with those rule additions.

Ideally, we can separate the "harsher because of real-life events" to Harsher in Hindsight and "harsher because of in-universe events" to "Funny Aneurysm" Moment, but I'm aware there will be a bit of overlap.

Currently, what is the difference between the two tropes?

"Funny Aneurysm" Moment is for moments that were originally funny, light-hearted, or casual that become wince-inducing because of later events. Harsher in Hindsight is for moments that were originally played for drama that become even harsher because of later events. Both tropes cover in-universe and real life events.

How about something like this:

%%
%%Since all actors and creators are mortal, if someone mentions death or plays a character who dies, and then die themselves, that's not a "Funny Aneurysm" Moment unless there's some connection to the circumstances of the death which was originally Played for Laughs.
%%
%%The World Trade Center appearing in a work made before 9/11 is not an example. There must be a joke that mirrors the attack.
%%

edited 21st Feb '16 3:55:20 PM by maxwellsilver

Also there is Cerebus Retcon for deliberate in-universe examples.

Personally, here's how it should go. Cerebus Retcon: Something that was funny at first isn't because of in-universe events. "Funny Aneurysm" Moment: Something that was funny at first isn't because of real world events. Harsher in Hindsight: Something that was already not intended to be funny becomes harsher because of real world events.

Exactly. We need to move all in-universe examples to Cerebus Retcon, examples that better fit Harsher in Hindsight to that trope and cut anything that doesn't fit any of the three.

What's that definition based on?

Cerebus Retcon? Something that was Played for Laughs becomes Played for Drama due to later plot development.

Sorry, should've been more clear. I meant, what defines "Funny Aneurysm" Moment as being only about about Real Life events?

Hmm. The first paragraph of "Funny Aneurysm" Moment says:

"A "Funny Aneurysm" Moment is when a scene, joke, or offhand line that was originally meant to be funny or light-hearted makes the viewer cringe when it is seen in reruns due to the traumatic events in future episodes of a show or in real life. When someone says that a bit of comedy has been "overtaken by events", this is the trope in play."

It seems a bit redundant to have one trope that covers both real life events and in-story events and another for just in-story events.

Maybe another TRS thread should be opened to determine whether it should become real life-only and in-universe events be moved to Cerebus Retcon.

x6

Harsher in Hindsight covers both real life and in-universe events.

I think the difference lies in that Cerebus Retcon relies on the context of the earlier situation changes with new knowledge, so that it's no longer funny, while "Funny Aneurysm" Moment when the context is still the same, only that implications of later events make it less amusing.

The Trope Namer would be a good example of that. Calling something a "funny aneurysm" is a joke, and it's just as much of a joke regardless of later events. However, since the character later on had an actual aneurysm, the joke becomes cringeworthy in hindsight, even if the context of the joke itself doesn't change.

Something that would fall under Cerebus Retcon would be if someone acted funny, and someone joked that the character had a "funny aneurysm" that made her act like that in a way that's treated as a joke by the work itself. However, later it's revealed it actually was a real and life-threatening aneurysm, which changes the context from "looks like an aneurysm" to "was an aneurysm", which means wasn't a a joking matter in the first place (or at least after it was retconned into that).

I'm thinking of starting a YKTTW for Uncomfortable In Hindsight, or something along those lines, for examples where something is harder to watch due to later events, but doesn't qualify as a "Funny Aneurysm" Moment or Harsher in Hindsight.

I don't think that's a good idea.

How so?

In general it seems unwise to cave in to misuse by giving it its own trope (at least for an audience reaction), especially for something as widely diluted as that concept would be.

It's better than leaving the misuse or changing to suit the misuse, but I admit it's not perfect.

I definitely should have clarified earlier. My intention for that trope would be for instances such as Jim Saville turning out to be a pedophile, which makes it harder to watch his shows with that knowledge, but isn't a "Funny Aneurysm" Moment or Harsher in Hindsight because there is no connection between the content of his shows and the later revelation.

James Saville's show Jimll Fix It, was taken off the air because he allowed a prepubescent boy to strip down so he was half naked with the Dreamboys. It was one of the creepiest things I have ever watched. So his crimes DO have a connection to his work. He also was involved backstage with Mini Pops, which was children dressing up as their adult idols (complete with sexy clothing and make-up) and singing. He was kicked off "Children In Need" for "inappropriate behaviour around children." I think half the BBC knew he was a paedo.

edited 3rd May '16 11:33:05 AM by TheOneWhoTropes