Why is it called....: Circle Of Extinction

I don't get the name. Description needs a slight less scene-setting and more getting-to-the-point, and the page image isn't doing it much justice, either.

What a great trope. What a terrible name: you have to know The Lion King has a song called "Circle Of Life", and then make the leap from the song to Scar circling Simba. Then replace "extinction" with "final negotiations". As it stands the name sounds more like two or more species wiping each other out in a cycle.

Suggesting a better replacement seems challenging. All I have is: Circling Shark Sophistry.

This trope is, "villain circles the hero while monologuing", right? What about Circle Of Death? It has fewer syllables, and is more obviously close to "Circle of Life", which is meaningful even if you haven't seen The Lion King. It is also very "punchy". Whereas Circle Of Extincti-...*snore*...

I'd also suggest Predatory Postulation, but alliteration makes me ill. Oh, oops.

edited 26th Oct '10 5:25:05 PM by rodneyAnonymous

Shark Circling Monologue?

Now you've got me thinking Predatory Persuasion Promenade.

(I like Shark Circling Monologue.)

edited 26th Oct '10 6:02:51 PM by Camacan

I kinda like Circle Of Death and kinda don't. How about Circle Of Doom?

Wait, no... I guess that could be too easily confused. Ah well.

edited 26th Oct '10 6:55:53 PM by SenseiLeRoof

Thirding Shark Circling Monologue.

If we were to go with the shark metaphor, I would prefer Circling Shark Monologue. The grammar feels more fluid (especially without the hyphen in Shark-Circling Monologue—this is definitely not a trope about sharks who are swimming in circles around a monologue).

edited 26th Oct '10 7:14:45 PM by troacctid

agree and lol cowpie

If this was named after a song from TLK, I'm guessing the song was named to contrast with its other song, "Circle of Life". Still a bad source for the name.

I'm seconding/fourthing/whatevering Circling Shark Monologue.

edited 27th Oct '10 5:05:19 AM by Gaunt88

Circling Monologue. The shark business just confuses things. 100% chance it will fill up with examples about sharks.

Orbitting Monologue? Satellite Monologue? Admittedly, these lose the villainous connotations; but villains aren't the only people capable of such monologues.

edited 27th Oct '10 8:57:03 AM by rhebus

Eh, I think Circling Monologue is a little better than those; same concept, just a simpler way of expressing it.

edited 27th Oct '10 9:13:03 AM by Willbyr

Circling Monologue works, even though it's not strictly a monologue in some cases.

Should the trope require that there be a monologue? I can't think of any examples off the top of my head, but I'd be inclined to want to include a case where the hero and villain circle each other before the climactic battle, silently. It's a similar scenario and it still fits the spirit of the trope.

Yeah. It's not strictly a monologue, sometimes it involves dialogue, or the lack thereof.

So maybe like Pre Showdown Circling or something?

I meant monologuing in the sense of Evil Gloating (The Incredibles), not monologue in the sense of one person talking (the dictionary). Hm. Is "monologuing" vs "monologue" important? Or should it be a different word entirely?

(I disagree that "hero and villain silently circle each other" fits the trope, but then again, it is poorly defined, so it would be pretty lame to argue that very hard. But I thought it is key that the villain circles like a wolf/shark and makes a last-ditch attempt to sway the hero, which is a common scenario.)

edited 27th Oct '10 6:21:29 PM by rodneyAnonymous

The Incredibles verbed "monologuing" as a form of Evil Gloating.

Right, I mean, if you're a villain monologuing that doesn't necessarily rule out other people speaking; but if it's a monologue, it does. Even if "monologuing" is a New Real Word (tm), that verb means something different than the noun it's based on. So the title should maybe have "monologuing" in it, and maybe something else, but either way not "monologue".

Maybe. I am splitting hairs, so what if now and then it's not technically a monologue? Circling Monologue is more svelte than Circling And Monologuing.

edited 28th Oct '10 3:48:43 PM by rodneyAnonymous

btw, does it have to be villain and (at least semi-)serious situation? I'm thinking about Ministry of Silly Walks sketch from Monty Python. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqhlQfXUk7w#t=2m8s

^ Probably counts as a parody.

Pre Climax Circling? Possibly with a sub-trope for Circling Monologue.

Showdown Circling

I agree that the name isn't awesome, but just to clear some things up: to the best of my knowledge, this was never named after the song "Circle of Life" or anything Lion King related. The Lion King picture just happened to be the best one to illustrate it, and then the caption was added as a silly joke on "Circle of Life". (I know that, because I came up with that caption.)