Markup View

Author: 69BookWorM69

Sep 24th 2012 at 9:48:24 AM

Right. So here's some of the relevant dialogue from ''ItHappenedOneNight'':
--> '''Mr. Andrews:''' Everything's set. Creating quite a furore, too. (Pause) Great stunt King is going to pull. 
--> '''Ellie:''' Stunt? 
--> '''Mr. Andrews:''' Yeah, he's landing on the lawn in an autogyro. 
--> '''Ellie:''' (Flatly) Yes, I heard. 
--> '''Mr. Andrews:''' Personally, I think it's silly, too.

Oh, and Ellie and her father aren't the only ones to find it a bit silly:
--> '''Peter:''' I'd like to get a load of that three ring circus you're pulling. I wanna see what love looks like when it's triumphant. I haven't had a good laugh in a week.
I'm pretty sure that makes this trope OlderThanTheyThink.

On reflection, I'm inclined to support GratuitousHelicopter for a title. Getting back to Routerie's objection  above, I think the word gratuitous is actually quite good for what we're getting at here. Most dictionaries define "gratuitous" to mean "unwarranted; being without apparent reason, cause, or justification: as in the phrase, 'a gratuitous insult'." In other words, it's deemed excessive and seemingly done for the sake of it. While this sort of reaction could be on the part of the audience, often the intention to invoke is quite clear; since ''FamilyGuy'' is ostensibly about a middle class man and his immediate family/neighbours, the example  [=Psi001=] gave would seem to fit (besides, isn't the toddler son depicted as a stupefyingly well-equipped mad scientist at least once?).

Now I grant you, a medical evacuation in the aftermath of a blizzard doesn't fit most people's criteria for unwarranted excess, but I cited it because several characters in the book reacted that way. As I said before, I'm with Arivne that the criticism should be in-universe. I'm pretty sure Columbo asked if the helicopter was necessary, but it's been a while since I watched that as well.

As for other points in the description, I suppose there should be some stress on the ways the unwarranted excess might be perceived as such. Using helicopters when there are perfectly good roads available? Expending emergency resources on a non-emergency, or something less than urgent? Demonstrating wealth and importance? Sheer publicity value? Mostly, there should be a distinction between these issues and simply having a particularly spiffy chopper with weaponry/gadgetry (which would fall under CoolPlane).