Misused: Casting Gag

Issues of misuse surfaced when an Image Pickin' thread started to pick an image for the page. Some suggestions fielded depict characters in roles related to their actors' past roles. The trope, on the other hand, is actually for roles with a connection to the actor's life or career.

When performing the wick check, I also came across examples that were a different type of gag (an actor was chosen as a joke, or an actor having a Punny Name). Those will be counted separate.

I suggest we rename this to be clearer. It appears we may have a duplicate issue as well, as indicated in post 4.

edited 25th Sep '17 8:50:51 PM by Berrenta

she/her | TRS needs your help! | Contributor of Trope Report

Of course, we need to make sure that it doesn't overlap with Actor Allusion. An actor playing a role that references a previous role is AA, not CG.

I had a dog-themed avatar before it was cool.

Bump. Anyone else got any suggestions for this trope?

I remember this coming in the trivia thread. What exactly makes it different from Actor-Shared Background?

Now that you bring that up... (Actually was unaware of that trope existing!)

Hmmm, not much different, really. Guess rename's off the table.

edited 25th Sep '17 8:50:04 PM by Berrenta

she/her | TRS needs your help! | Contributor of Trope Report

So, would merging be a good idea?

We can merge it into Actor-Shared Background. The misuse can break off into something else, probably.

she/her | TRS needs your help! | Contributor of Trope Report

Nah, I prefer making Actor-Shared Background a subtrope to Casting Gag instead.

Would that be redefining Casting Gag into the general "Gag about casting"? I could get behind that.

I would say Casting Gag is a subtrope of Actor-Shared Background where the reference is tongue-in-cheek.

Btw, the last line on Actor-Shared Background about being a subtrope of Actor Allusion makes no sense. Apparently, there happens to be quite some confusion about these similar looking trivia tropes.

edited 27th Sep '17 4:09:15 PM by eroock

I think part of the problem may stem from the Casting Gag page literally saying "in some way mirrors or parodies his or her Real Life circumstances and/or career and other roles he or she is famous for".

It's directly contradicted further down the page by "A Casting Gag relies upon casting an actor in a role that reflects on his or her Real Life history. An Actor Allusion is any character, plot, or situation that references a previous plot or role for the actor."

Maybe simply editing out the contradiction would help?

Not all those who wander are lost.

It would definitely help, but the combination of the vague name and most tropers already having it in their perception of the trope would require something bigger.

^ Yeah, I am just looking at the trivia for Get Out (2017) where Casting Gag is basically used for ironic/funny cases of Actor Allusion.

I think we should leave Casting Gag as is, but make it a subtrope to either Actor-Shared Background or Actor Allusion.

But it and Actor-Shared Background are nearly identical.

^^ We are struggling here to place Casting Gag. There are different definitions out there and the most popular one would mean misuse on a bigger scale (see wickcheck OP). So we should to do something about it.

Just noticed that Meta Casting has following definitions:

• Casting Gag: Using an actor's history with another actor or an older franchise incarnation.
• Actor Allusion: A nod to other roles an actor played

I don't think that's a meaningful distinction and only leads to confusion. In fact, a good portion of examples on Meta Casting could go onto Casting Gag if it was just defined as "role parallels actor's RL history". Also, the trope name Casting Gag is really not helping as it makes the trope appear broader than it actually is. Merge with Actor-Shared Background may be an option but even that name is too ambivalent to go along with. Perhaps something like Role Imitates Life.

edited 30th Sep '17 6:18:49 PM by eroock

We'll have to do something other than merging Casting Gag with another trope...

...like what? If you think there's a better idea, why not share it so we can discuss it?

she/her | TRS needs your help! | Contributor of Trope Report

We can just rewrite Casting Gag to distinguish it more from Actor-Shared Background and remove misused examples.

Distinguish in what way? I think the general "Gag involving casting" with Actor Allusion and Actor-Shared Background as subtropes is the best course of action if we're not just going to cut it.

Good idea—let's make Actor Allusion and Actor-Shared Background subtropes of Casting Gag.

Not a bad idea.

she/her | TRS needs your help! | Contributor of Trope Report

^^ Then you need to redefine (and probably rename) Casting Gag in order to make it broad enough to cover Actor Allusion. I think we have Meta Casting as a supertrope which we can use as a reference to properly place Casting Gag and Actor Allusion.

I think "An actor was chosen as a joke, or an actor having a Punny Name" could work as the definition of Casting Gag.

Then we can't use it as a supertrope to AA or ASB.

Also, the line between considering a casting decision funny/ironic or not can be blurry. Isn't this just replacing one ambiguous definition by another? Take this example from The Force Unleashed:

• Darth Vader is voiced by Matt Sloan, who played him in the web comedy Chad Vader. This is even lampshaded in an achievement/trophy unlocked by killing 12 stormtroopers called "Worst Day-Shift Manager Ever," referencing Vader's job in the aforementioned comedy.
  • Is this funny enough to count as CG or does it remain an AA?

I had look at a couple of Trivia pages and most examples of AA and CG are interchangeable, coming in the form of:

• It's not the first time actor X is doing Y (with Y hyperlinking the previous work)

As a lumper I down with merging AA with CG (regardless if ironic or not, intentional or not, conceived during casting or later) for references to previous roles of the (voice) actor. And for RL references there are a couple of specific tropes on Meta Casting to pick from.

edited 7th Oct '17 3:28:20 AM by eroock