Needs Help: Symbolic Blood

Symbolic Blood is in need of a better description that represents the examples provided and reflects the wider range of ways the trope may appear in media.

The current description is rather limiting: "When a fluid (or highly flexible solid) falls and/or spreads in a way that it is made to look like blood".

The page image and quote are also rather poorly illustrative. The image is dark and spilled water isn't a particularly clear example of symbolic blood — or at the very least, I feel there are probably better images that can be used. The page quote should at least evoke Does This Remind You of Anything? without additional context, whereas the current one only uses "blood-red" as a descriptor.

Finally, some of the examples could use clean-up, as a few are actually A Bloody Mess (when something that isn't blood is mistaken for blood by a character, no symbolism required). I might also suggest creating another trope in which oil is akin to the "blood" of a machine (Mecha Blood and similar situations), whereas this trope can be strictly symbolic.

Wick Check of works pages and character sheets. I've split these into three categories:

• Zero Context or Debatable Examples: Self-explanatory, ranging from "definitely not an example" and "zero context" to "seemingly coincidental" and "may fit in one of the broadly-defined other categories)".
• Mecha Blood / Alternative Blood: Most of these are oil or other fluids as the lifeblood of machines, but more broadly, bleeding something that is not blood; in some cases this may be Getting Crap Past the Radar. Sub or sister trope of...
• Actually Symbolism: actual instances of something symbolizing blood (wine, tomatoes, etc.) or blood symbolizing something else (usually an abstract concept like guilt). If your high school English teacher would call it symbolism, it goes here.

167 total wicks.

Edited by mahidevrans on Feb 21st 2019 at 6:14:14 AM

Excellent OP. Unlocking.

Is there overlap with Bring My Red Jacket or Little Dead Riding Hood (other tropes involving "symbolic blood")?

Edited by naturalironist on Feb 26th 2019 at 12:50:44 PM

• Not seeing the problem with the current description.
• The image looks fine to me as is, but I know the character so that may be a bias but it's something for IP.
• I am in favor of the new Robot Blood trope as there seems to be quite a pool of examples.
• Clean up of ZC Es, alright

Edited by eroock on Feb 26th 2019 at 11:56:45 AM

Thanks Fighteer, I really appreciate it.

Little Dead Riding Hood isn't really a subtrope, per se, although it carries symbolic weight as mentioned in the trope description. I think it'd certainly be worth mentioning as a related "see also/compare" trope.

Bring My Red Jacket on the other hand seems broader and, while connected to blood, seems to have more practical applications than symbolic ones. That said, it could probably be mentioned as a trope to contrast with Symbolic Blood.

The problem with the description is that it a very poor explanation and exploration of blood symbolism/symbolic blood. It should delve deeper into how it is used, what it means, how the use of other tropes (such as juxtaposition) can help convey meaning. "Pooling from underneath a person" just doesn't cut it.

Restricting the usage to red liquids and semi-liquids would also be my recommendation (unless, perhaps, the media concerns characters with differently-colored blood). It would cut down on many of the far-fetched examples from the wick check.

With that in mind: based on the example text that describes the image, I struggle to see how it's an example of Symbolic Blood. It's a woman in a pool of water that was spilled from a cup when she was knocked out. That's a huge stretch and I'm not seeing an organic connection.

Edited by mahidevrans on Feb 26th 2019 at 4:35:56 AM

^ It works for me. Watch the scene here.

Sorry, I still honestly don't understand — I'm not seeing any suggestion that spilled water is symbolic blood, even when paired with an attack.

Compare this to some of the other examples, such as the scene from Return of the King, which is crafted in a rather evocative matter.

The pose makes it looked like she got stabbed and is bleeding to death, but it's just water.

I can see that, but it doesn't make it symbolism or metaphor. It's a pretty insubstantial connection. Nevertheless, it's a poorly illustrative image, especially when there are probably much clearer examples.

Image discussion should probably follow improving the current article, however. I'm glad there's agreement on splitting the trope off for "Robot Blood" examples, which while related clearly exists as a separate concept with a different use.

As for "Symbolic Blood" itself, the article definitely needs rewriting. The current manages to be at once too restrictive and too broad, and really fails to delve into the actual symbolism component, and how the writer/artist/filmmaker uses it to creative effect / craft meaning.

Additionally, while I foresee it will be unpopular, red should be an "almost always" condition of the trope. "Liquid" alone is indicative of blood. "Red" is.

This will surely cut down on Trope Decay and the litany of not-actually-symbolism examples that populate the first list. Others will need to be sorted, especially those that lack context, to determine if they can fit in one of the existing categories.

Feel free to sandbox an improved description. We may want to vote on the color issue though.

I'll definitely start working on something like it this weekend.

Any other discussion points are desired in the meantime and would be really helpful.

I agree with splitting off Robot Blood into its own trope.

Shit, I totally forgot about this. I'll get going on that draft right now.

How's the sandbox doing?

Count me in for wanting a separate trope for "You are not knowing your fluids. This is battery fluid, he is bleeding to death!"

Maybe Machine Blood would be more encompassing.

Machine Blood strikes me as very How Did We Miss This One? tbh. it's been around as long as automata have appeared in fiction. did the YKTTW ever get anywhere?

I prefer the name Machine Blood over Robot Blood.

So do I, if I didn't make that clear in my last post.

Machine Blood just sounds better IMO

+1 for Machine Blood.

Machine Blood.

Is there a trope for robots doing other biological functions such as using toilets or shivering?

Edited by Brainulator9 on Jun 13th 2019 at 7:33:37 AM

Ridiculously Human Robot?