Does Not Illustrate: Trailer Park Tornado Magnet

The current is just a sign stating how many days it's been without a tornado at a particular trailer park. It doesn't actually show the trailer park or the tornado. Ideally, one should show both. Here's something that does, from Beavis And Butthead:

The art style is mediocre, sure, but this is just to get the ball rolling until we come up with something better than that.

Opened...does the episode the current's from actually show a trailer park getting hit?

So if someone wants to watch the episode just to see (or fast-forward it or something) that's up to them, but I'm guessing that if the episode showed the tornado the description would've said so.

Don't have the problem with the current, it being a lampshading of the trope in question.

By that logic, it may as well be a quotation. Lampshading is fine in conjunction with visually demonstrating the trope, but on its own, it means nothing.

If the Beavis And Butthead example isn't good enough, I'd say this may as well be imageless.

The lampshading won't work as a quotation without mentioning that it was written on the trailer park sign.

You mean like this?

Yes. The trope is "Tornadoes appear more often near the trailer parks". Lampshading works when the trope exist in-universe, and its characters are aware of that. The fact that it's written on the trailer park sign is crucial. It provides a context that simply writing "Royal King Trailer Park. 14 days without tornado" would not achieve. It could be an outside perspective (i.e. words of the narrator).

edited 19th Jul '17 10:18:23 AM by Millership