Markup View

Author: LordGro

Feb 13th 2014 at 1:07:50 PM

This is not at all ready to launch. ''What is this about?'' The description offers little substance and a lot of foam.

"The Delicate Pianist is [...] usually (but not always) very attractive and slim, sometimes a little fragile." So they're not necessarily attractive and slim, sometimes a little bit fragile and sometimes not. In other words, it's not really important how they look. So, what ''is'' important? The only thing we know for certain about how this trope looks is that it's a piano player at his/her piano.

"In fiction this is frequently used to tell us that a character is very sensitive, deep, artistic, talented, musical etc., or to show us the Hidden Depths of a Deadpan Snarker/Jerkass." At least an attempt at defining a trope, but it's unfortunately rather blurry. There's a whole list of adjectives; do they all have to apply or does any single one count?

Also, that a musician is artistic and musical sounds logical; but it's also trivial. Doesn't really add anything.

There's also no true explanation of the meaning of the piano, or why other instruments are excluded from the trope. "The piano is an obvious choice here as piano pieces an the instrument itself are also very elegant, but not necessarily too fancy since it's an inherent part of classical music as well as Pop/Rock." Are violins or flutes not elegant? And why is the degree of "fanciness" important?

To me, the examples seem to be mostly a list of characters who are seen playing a piano. Since the description is so vague, everyone can pick his own interpretation to shoehorn a show in.

"Delicate", "fragile", "graceful", "slim" is a body type. "Sensitive", "deep", "artistic", "gifted" are personality traits. "Handsome", "comely" is an appearance, resp. judgment of attractiveness. "Piano player at a piano" is a pose. Some examples interpret the trope as "of tender health", "sickly". ''About what exactly are we talking?''