Just a Face and a Caption: Cute Mute

As it stands, the image is just a picture of one of the Marx Brothers with a harmonica. Nothing in the image suggests he is mute. You need to recognize the character to know that.

Yep, textbook JAFAAC. Pull.

A big part of the trope is that the character is cute or innocent and this is, in part, shown by their being mute. The current image shows the cute or innocent part, but lacks the mute bit. That said, would the context of the page itself imply that this is a mute character?

I leaning toward "no" and leaning toward voting to pull, but I'm not totally sure so I'm tentatively not voting without some feedback on that.

I'm thinking of a cute person with Visible Silence as a replacement pic. Also, pull.

edited 4th Dec '17 5:28:54 PM by TroperNo9001

I think that's enough of an argument for a keep. If an aspect of the trope that isn't literally in the trope name is illustrated, and the only part that isn't shown is a literal and obvious part of the trope name, then the image works within the context of the page.

If something is hard to illustrate, it's better to have an image that illustrates the trope somewhat without being misleading than just continuing the trend of axing anything remotely not crystal clear.

This is another Eddie fiat pic from way back in the day. I get the arguments against it, but at the same time I'm inclined to give it a weak Keep Until Better Image Suggested.

I'll go with keep for now.

Perhaps Maggie Simpson◊ does a good enough job of showing both cute and mute at the same time.

I was actually trying to find an image of Fennec from Zootopia in the elephant pajamas with a pacifier but the only image I can find also has him with a stack of money which takes away from the effect.

edited 5th Dec '17 4:52:32 AM by Daefaroth

I'm not sure babies count. Being mute isn't quite the same as haven't yet learned to speak. It's the cart before the horse. It's not that the muteness makes the character more childlike and innocent, but that being a baby in the first place is what makes the character "mute".

But that leads us back to the poor choice of someone you would expect to be mute from the image who is also cute, or someone who is cute with no indication of why the mute part applies.

I love the Marx Brothers, but from just the picture I would assume that Harpo is The Tramp rather than this trope.

edited 5th Dec '17 5:44:34 AM by Daefaroth

"Mute and also cute" isn't the trope, though. "Cute because mute" is closer to the trope meaning.

I think the current's more JAFAAC than anything; I vote pull, but no ideas on a suggestion.

Keep Until Better Image Suggested, given the above responses.

Also, Maggie and babies would be more like The Speechless except they're babies so it might be a totally different trope (e.g. Talking Babies but inverted).

"Cute because mute" will be virtually impossible to properly show in an image.

I'm leaning towards pull.

[1] [2]◊ [3]◊?

I think 15.3 is the best of those.

Inclined to agree with that.

Yuu's certainly a good example, and I think I suggested her previously, but she's fairly stoic, so it's a little hard to get it to work as well in an image.

15.3 for the reasons above.

None of the examples in 15 indicate mute to me.

The suggestions in 15 are all Talking with Signs, which I suppose could indicate muteness, but still not particularly great.

It illustrates not talking, which suggests muteness.

It's pretty much impossible for an image alone to prove 100% that a character is incapable of speech, but showing them using non-verbal methods of communication does strongly imply it, so it's the best we've got. The added context from the page itself will fill in the "blanks" that the image can't show us.

I also like 15.3 the best, since the other suggestions kinda lack in the "cute" department.

You don’t have to be completely mute to be this trope you know, you just don’t talk to indicate childlikeness, extreme shyness, and cuteness.

An actual mute is The Speechless and those are never shown speaking is The Voiceless.

edited 6th Dec '17 10:33:11 AM by Memers

15.3.

If we’re gonna make a change, then I lean toward 15.1 as 15.3 strikes me as possibly just being really shy instead of mute.