History Main / FallacyOfDivision

->''"The whole is greater than the sum of its parts."''
-->-- '''Aristotle''', [[AvertedTrope averting]] the fallacy.

!! '''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fallacy_of_division Fallacy of Division]]''':
Generalizing from a whole to the parts.

->A colony of ants can destroy a tree.\\
Therefore, this ant can destroy that tree.

Opposite of the FallacyOfComposition, which it is argued that a whole necessarily inherits traits from its parts.
----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* This was responsible for UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks. ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' and ''ComicBook/BatmanTheDarkKnightReturns'' were dark, edgy, and had a lot of moral ambiguity, and they were widely praised and treated as classics. So dark, edgy things are automatically good, even in the absence of intelligent, thoughtful plots and well-rounded characters, right?
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'': a Clone Wars movie? The Warsies will love it, even though it is not directed by [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars Genndy Tartakovsky]] or Creator/GeorgeLucas and it's CGI. (The derived TV series fared better, though.)
* The film studio in ''Film/LooneyTunesBackInAction'' makes this fallacy by firing WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck from their next movie, based on the fact that WesternAnimation/BugsBunny has far more fans than he does. It ends up a spectacular failure without the classic Bugs/Daffy interaction.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/TrailOfThePinkPanther'', ''Film/CurseOfThePinkPanther'', ''Film/SonOfThePinkPanther'': Everyone likes a ''[[Franchise/ThePinkPanther Pink Panther]]'' movie regardless of whether Inspector Clouseau (as played by Creator/PeterSellers) is actually in it, right?
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* [[{{Spinoff}} Spinoffs]] are frequently based on such logic. When a LongRunner wraps, producers often try to build a new series around one or more characters.
** The supposed ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' curse is a classic example disproving this fallacy.
** ''Joey'': A spin-off of ''Series/{{Friends}}'' that flopped horribly. Apparently the developers fell afoul of this fallacy.
** There are some notable aversions of this as well. ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' matched its [[Series/{{Cheers}} predecessor's]] run and won a ton of Emmys and acclaim. ''Series/TheJeffersons'' ran ''longer'' than its [[Series/AllInTheFamily predecssor]]. ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' has run longer than ''Series/{{JAG}}'' and now has spawned [[Series/NCISLosAngeles two]] [[Series/NCISNewOrleans spinoffs]] of its own.
* "Hey, ''Series/MythBusters'' is popular, and it has explosions in just about every episode! Let's make a [[Series/SmashLab show]] centered around StuffBlowingUp!" Leads to a great deal of FollowTheLeader behavior. For any successful premise, particularly in cheap-to-produce game shows and reality shows, expect to see numerous imitators.
* ''Series/{{MASH}}'':
** Subverted in the episode "Rumor at the Top" in which the gang thought the Army was planning to send one of them to a new [=M*A*S*H=] being set up because the 4077th was so efficient. However, it turned out that the Army was planning no such thing as they realized that the 4077th only worked so well because of the combination of people.
** Applied full-force to the ''Series/{{MASH}}'' television franchise itself, which had ''two'' unsuccessful spinoffs - ''Series/AfterMASH'' and ''W*A*L*T*E*R'' -- that, for the most part, banked on the popularity of the second-tier cast and connections to the parent show itself. A third, ''Series/TrapperJohnMD'', was ''more'' successful than the other two, but did not include any of the original actors and was legally recognized as a spinoff of the movie.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* Many side-projects and solo works made by musicians who are/were part of bands that have already established a popular reputation can fall into this when they don't live up to the glory of their other/former, more popular band. i.e. [[Music/SexPistols Sid Vicious']] solo project and [[Music/TheSmashingPumpkins Billy Corgan's]] band Zwan.'
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Pro Wrestling]]
* This trope's application is a sure sign that any given promotion or region's {{tag team}}s and or [[PowerTrio trios]] have become devalued. Thankfully, as pro wrestling is a [[ThreeMonthRule long]] [[SevenYearRule game]], it isn't too hard to fix.
* Wrestling/BillyGunn and the Road Dogg Jessie James, two {{jobber}}s who could basically only beat each other as individuals. As a tag team they were the ultra successful New Age Outlaws.
* Wrestling/{{SHIMMER}} had an amusing example. Wrestling/MercedesMartinez was known for beating Lacey whenever she could get her one on one in WXW and IWA Mid-South, while Rain put up a valiant effort([[VillainousValor for her standards]]) against Wrestling/SaraDelRey, she was so physically outclassed Rain couldn't even walk after their match was finished, having to crawl out of the arena. So what happens when Martinez and Del Rey take on the Minnesota Home Wrecking Crew Together? Rain and Lacey win. Before the match Lacey laughed at the idea of Martinez and Del Rey teaming up.
* As individuals, ACH, [=TaDarius=] Thomas, Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander were slightly better than Wrestling/RingOfHonor's jobbers. As the tag teams Adrenaline Rush and the C&C Wrestle Factory, they were much better but still noticeably behind the main ROH teams. All four together were able to handily beat an equal number of their usually higher ranked opponents at ''Death Before Dishonor XI'' however. Sadly, baby {{face}}s rarely do [[PowerStable super stables]] so this didn't last.
* In Wrestling/{{WWE}}, Wrestling/TheShield were nigh unstoppable as a unit, no matter how many main event wrestlers were thrown their way. [[Wrestling/TheUndertaker Brothers]] Of [[Wrestling/{{Kane}} Destruction]][=\=]Wrestling/TeamHellNo? Not enough. But give one of them to [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]] or The Undertaker? It is only somewhat competitive with Bryan/Taker winning handily. Wrestling/SethRollins, Wrestling/DeanAmbrose and Wrestling/RomanReigns did eventually become main eventers in their own right though...''eventually''.
* After TK O'Ryan was inducted into The Kingdom they never lost a match he was involved in. On the other hand, O'Ryan proved unable to win any matches in ROH when he wasn't working with the rest of The Kingdom. Matt Taven and Vinny Marseglia would go on to lose to two on two to combinations of teams they beat three on three with O'Ryan after his leg was broken on the fifteenth anniversary show.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* The underlying logic of stereotypes: personality Z is associated with group A, you are a member of group A, so you have personality Z.
* Happens in sports all the time. It's almost guaranteed that some starter from a championship team, regardless of how much they contributed to the actual championship, will land a huge contract that next off-season.
** One cliched sports saying is "a champion team will beat a team of champions".
** In tennis, it is rare for two top-ranked singles players to be as successful as a doubles combination, and vice versa.
* Can be a problem in social justice discussions. Just because Group A is more powerful and wealthy than Group B, does not necessarily mean each and every individual member of Group A is more powerful and wealthy than every individual in Group B.
[[/folder]]
----

** Applied full-force to the ''Series/{{MASH}}'' television franchise itself, which had ''two'' unsuccessful spinoffs - ''Series/AfterMASH'' and ''W*A*L*T*E*R'' -- that, for the most part, banked on the popularity of the second-tier cast and connections to the parent show itself. A third, ''Trapper John, M.D.'', was ''more'' successful than the other two, but did not include any of the original actors and was legally recognized as a spinoff of the movie.

* "Hey, ''Series/MythBusters'' is popular, and it has explosions in just about every episode! Let's make a [[SmashLab show]] centered around StuffBlowingUp!" Leads to a great deal of FollowTheLeader behavior. For any successful premise, particularly in cheap-to-produce game shows and reality shows, expect to see numerous imitators.

: Generalizing from a whole to the parts.

Pretty much opposite to FallacyOfComposition, which argues that the whole ''must'' have the same traits as the sum of its parts, among other things. In reality, it depends on the parts; peanut butter and chocolate might taste better together than any one component, while ketchup and chocolate, not so much.

* Wrestling/{{SHIMMER}} had an amusing example. Wrestling/MercedesMartinez was known for beating Lacey whenever she could get her one on one in WXW and IWA Mid-South, while Rain put up a valiant effort([[VillainousValor for her standards]]) against Wrestling/SaraDelRey, she was so physically outclassed Rain couldn't even walk after their match was finished, having to crawl out of the arena. So what happens when Martinez and Del Rey take on the Minnesota Home Wrecking Crew Together? Rain and Lacey win.

* ''Trail of the Franchise/PinkPanther'', ''Curse of the Pink Panther'', ''Son of the Pink Panther'': Everyone likes a Pink Panther movie regardless of whether Inspector Clouseau (as played by Creator/PeterSellers) is actually in it, right?

** Applied full-force to the ''{{MASH}}'' television franchise itself, which had ''two'' unsuccessful spinoffs - ''Series/AfterMASH'' and ''W*A*L*T*E*R'' -- that, for the most part, banked on the popularity of the second-tier cast and connections to the parent show itself. A third, ''Trapper John, M.D.'', was ''more'' successful than the other two, but did not include any of the original actors and was legally recognized as a spinoff of the movie.

:: Generalizing from a whole to the parts.

-->A colony of ants can destroy a tree.
-->Therefore, this ant can destroy that tree.

!!!Examples:

[[AC:ComicBooks]]

[[AC:{{Film}}]]
* ''Trail of the PinkPanther'', ''Curse of the Pink Panther'', ''Son of the Pink Panther'': Everyone likes a Pink Panther movie regardless of whether Inspector Clouseau (as played by Creator/PeterSellers) is actually in it, right?

* ''WesternAnimationStarWarsTheCloneWars'': a Clone Wars movie? The Warsies will love it, even though it is not directed by [[WesternAnimation/StarWarsCloneWars Genndy Tartakovsky]] or Creator/GeorgeLucas and it's CGI. (The derived TV series fared better, though)

[[AC:{{Live-Action TV}}]]

* "Hey, ''Series/MythBusters'' is popular, and it has explosions in just about every episode! Let's make a [[SmashLab show]] centered around StuffBlowingUp!"
** Leads to a great deal of FollowTheLeader behavior. For any successful premise, particularly in cheap-to-produce game shows and reality shows, expect to see numerous imitators.
* Subverted in the ''Series/{{MASH}}'' episode "Rumor at the Top" in which the gang thought the Army was planning to send one of them to a new [=M*A*S*H=] being set up because the 4077th was so efficient. However, it turned out that the Army was planning no such thing as they realized that the 4077th only worked so well because of the combination of people.
** Applied full-force to the ''{{MASH}}'' television franchise itself, which had ''two'' unsuccessful spinoffs - ''Series/AfterMASH'' and ''W*A*L*T*E*R'' - that, for the most part, banked on the popularity of the second-tier cast and connections to the parent show itself. A third, ''Trapper John, M.D.'', was ''more'' successful than the other two, but did not include any of the original actors and was legally recognized as a spinoff of the movie.

[[AC:{{Music}}]]

[[AC:Professional Wrestling]]

[[AC:{{Real Life}}]]

* ''StarWars: TheCloneWars'': a Clone Wars movie? The Warsies will love it, even though it is not directed by [[StarWarsCloneWars Genndy Tartakovsky]] or GeorgeLucas and it's CGI. (The derivated TV series fared better, though)

* As individuals, ACH, [=TaDarius=] Thomas, Caprice Coleman and Cedric Alexander were slightly better than Wrestling/RingOfHonor's jobbers. As the tag teams Adrenaline Rush and the C&C Wrestle Factory, they were much better but still noticeably behind the main ROH teams. All four together were able to handily beat an equal number of their usually higher ranked opponents at ''Death Before Dishonor XI'' however. Sadly, baby {{face}}s rarely do [[PowerStables super stables]] so this didn't last.

* In WWE, Wrestling/TheShield were nigh unstoppable as a unit, no matter how many main event wrestlers were thrown their way. [[Wrestling/TheUndertaker Brothers]] Of [[Wrestling/{{Kane}} Destruction]][=\=]Wrestling/TeamHellNo? Not enough. But give one of them to [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]] or The Undertaker? It is only somewhat competitive with Bryan/Taker winning handily. Wrestling/SethRollins, Wrestling/DeanAmbrose and Wrestling/RomanReigns did eventually become main eventers in their own right though...''eventually''.

* This was responsible for UsefulNotes/TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks. ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' and ''TheDarkKnightReturns'' were dark, edgy, and had a lot of moral ambiguity, and they were widely praised and treated as classics. So dark, edgy things are automatically good, even in the absence of intelligent, thoughtful plots and well-rounded characters, right?

** There are some notable aversions of this as well. ''Series/{{Frasier}}'' matched its [[Series/{{Cheers}} predecessor's]] run and won a ton of Emmys and acclaim. ''Series/TheJeffersons'' ran ''longer'' than its [[Series/AllInTheFamily predecssor]].

* The film studio in ''LooneyTunesBackInAction'' makes this fallacy by firing WesternAnimation/DaffyDuck from their next movie, based on the fact that BugsBunny has far more fans than he does. It ends up a spectacular failure without the classic Bugs/Daffy interaction.

* The film studio in ''LooneyTunesBackInAction'' makes this fallacy by firing DaffyDuck from their next movie, based on the fact that BugsBunny has far more fans than he does. It ends up a spectacular failure without the classic Bugs/Daffy interaction.

* This was responsible for TheDarkAgeOfComicBooks. ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' and ''TheDarkKnightReturns'' were dark, edgy, and had a lot of moral ambiguity, and they were widely praised and treated as classics. So dark, edgy things are automatically good, even in the absence of intelligent, thoughtful plots and well-rounded characters, right?

* This trope's application is a sure sign that any given promotion or region's {{tag team}} and or [[PowerTrio trios]] have become devalued. Thankfully, as pro wrestling is a [[ThreeMonthRule long]] [[SevenYearRule game]], it isn't too hard to fix.

* This trope's application is a sure sign that any given promotion or region's tag team and or trios have become devalued. Thankfully, as pro wrestling is a [[ThreeMonthRule long]] [[SevenYearRule game]], it isn't too hard to fix.

* In WWE, Wrestling/TheShield were nigh unstoppable as a unit, no matter how many main event wrestlers were thrown their way. [[Wrestling/TheUndertaker Brothers]] Of [[Wrestling/{{Kane}} Destruction]][=\=]Wrestling/TeamHellNo? Not enough. But give one of them to [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]] or The Undertaker? It is only somewhat competitive with Bryan/Taker winning handily. Wrestling/SethRollins, Wrestling/DeanAmbrose and Wrestling/RomanReigns did eventually become main eventers in their own right though...''eventually]].

* In WWE, Wrestling/TheShield were nigh unstoppable as a unit, no matter how many main event wrestlers were thrown their way. [[Wrestling/TheUndertaker Brothers]] Of [[Wrestling/{{Kane}}Destruction]][=\=]Wrestling/TeamHellNo? Not enough. But give one of them to [[Wrestling/BryanDanielson Daniel Bryan]] or The Undertaker? It is only somewhat competitive with Bryan/Taker winning handily. Wrestling/SethRollins, Wrestling/DeanAmbrose and Wrestling/RomanReigns did eventually become main eventers in their own right though...''eventually]].

* Many side-projects and solo works made by musicians who are/were part of bands that have already established a popular reputation can fall into this when they don't live up to the glory of their other/former, more popular band. i.e. [[Music/SexPistols Sid Vicious']] solo project and [[Music/TheSmashingPumpkins Billy Corgan's]] band Zwan.

* ''Trail of the PinkPanther'', ''Curse of the Pink Panther'', ''Son of the Pink Panther'': Everyone likes a Pink Panther movie regardless of whether Inspector Clouseau (as played by PeterSellers) is actually in it, right?

* Subverted in the ''Series/{{MASH}}'' episode "Rumor at the Top" in which the gang thought the Army was planning to send one of them to a new [=MASH=] being set up because the 4077th was so efficient. However, it turned out that the Army was planning no such thing as they realized that the 4077th only worked so well because of the combination of people.
** Applied full-force to the ''M*A*S*H'' television franchise itself, which had ''two'' unsuccessful spinoffs - ''Series/AfterMASH'' and ''W*A*L*T*E*R'' - that, for the most part, banked on the popularity of the second-tier cast and connections to the parent show itself. A third, ''Trapper John, M.D.'', was ''more'' successful than the other two, but did not include any of the original actors and was legally recognized as a spinoff of the movie.