History Main / SymbologyResearchFailure

[[caption-width:200:They stuck Russian Orthodox Church architecture on a Communist War Factory.]]

This is a subtrope of DidNotDoTheResearch. Contrast it with FauxSymbolism. In that trope, the creator knows it has some symbolic meaning and tries to throw these ideas on top of the work, in vaguely appropriate situations to try to make things ''seem'' deep and meaningful. In SymbologyResearchFailure, the placement being out of joint with any appropriate context highlights the lack of intended depth.

This is a subtrope of DidNotDoTheResearch. Contrast it with FauxSymbolism. In that trope, the creator knows it has some symbolic meaning and tries to throw these ideas on top of the work, in vaguely appropriate situations to try to make things ''seem'' deep and meaningful. In this trope, the placement being out of joint with any appropriate context highlights the lack of intended depth.

Not to be confused with DanBrowned. Actually, it should be, since there is no field of study called symbology[[hottip:*:It's actually called [[UmbertoEco semiotics]]]].

Not to be confused with DanBrowned. Actually, it should be, since there is no field of study called symbology[[hottip:*:It's actually called [[UmbertoEco semiotics]].]].

Not to be confused with DanBrowned. Actually, it is. There is no such thing as symbology (well, there is, but it's properly called Semiotics).

[[quoteright:300:http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/st-petersburg_3776.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:300:This... is actually St. Basil's Cathedral]]

* Played straight in ''TheBoondockSaints''. Smecker interprets the McManus brothers' habit of placing pennies in the eyes of the dead to be a payment to Charon (Greek ferrymen of the dead across the river Styx), so they can cross over and atone for what they did in life. The payment to Charon was a coin ''under the tongue.'' Placing coins on the eyes simply served as a weight to keep the eyelids from opening on their own post-mortem. Not to mention that two ''very'' Christian Irishmen would probably not participate in a pagan Greek funeral rite.

* Played straight in ''TheBoondockSaints'' ([[TropeNamer also where the non-word "symbology" comes from]]). Smecker interprets the McManus brothers' habit of placing pennies in the eyes of the dead to be a payment to Charon (Greek ferrymen of the dead across the river Styx), so they can cross over and atone for what they did in life. The payment to Charon was a coin ''under the tongue.'' Placing coins on the eyes simply served as a weight to keep the eyelids from opening on their own post-mortem. Not to mention that two ''very'' Christian Irishmen would probably not participate in a pagan Greek funeral rite.

* The Soviet War Factory from ''[[CommandAndConquer Red Alert 2]]'', with an "onion dome" -- a traditional element of Russian Orthodox church architecture -- lodged on its roof. Several other Soviet structures in this game were given similar "attachments".

[[caption-width-right:300:This image... is actually St. Basil's Cathedral]]

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* The [[RuleOfThree Kremlin]] in ''a great deal of American source material'' [[RunningGag ...is actually St. Basil's Cathedral]]. This is probably due to Western journalism superimposing the later will announcing news during the former during much of the 20th century. Perhaps ironically, ''[[CommandAndConquer Red Alert 2]]'' does feature ''both'', having models for what is a incorrectly-designed Grand Kremlin Palace and the cathedral.
** It doesn't help that when you do a Google image search for "Kremlin," what shows up most prominently [[OverlyLongGag ...is actually St. Basil's Cathedral]]. It's a shame because there are some rather nice-looking churches on the Kremlin grounds.
** To clarify: The Kremlin is a fortress. With red walls and green roofs. Cathedral of Vasily the Blessed stands just outside the Kremlin. It is a colorful temple.

* Ever seen a tattoo or get a poster of a badass yin yang symbol with a tiger and Chinese dragon battling it out? Chances are, the dragon will be in the black part of the symbol, while the tiger will be in the white part, likely to match their colors (the tiger will ''always'' be a white tiger, in this case). If I were you, I'd chide the store or person who gave you the tattoo/poster for not knowing his Taoist philosophies, as this is quite backwards; while the tiger and dragon do indeed represent "yin" and "yang", they do so ''respectively''. That's right, the ''tiger'' represents yin (the black area), while the ''dragon'' represents ''yang'' (the white area). Likely, the mix-up comes from Western views of dragons as evil creatures automatically placing it in the "dark" side of the symbol, while the strong and noble ''white'' tiger is placed in the "good" side. Just remember this, if you want to keep them straight: the tiger waits in the darkness to strike at its prey, while the dragon charges forth brashly into the light of the sky.
** Also, {{Dark is Not Evil}} and {{Light is Not Good}}. Yin yang is not about Good vs. Evil, but about achieving balance between two opposing and complimentary forces. Birth (dark) must be balanced by death (light), or else populations would explode or wither away. Masculinity (light) is balanced by femininity (dark).

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<<|DidNotDoTheResearch|>>
<<|IndexFailure|>>

This is a subtrope of DidNotDoTheResearch. Contrast it with WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic. In that trope, the creator knows it has some symbolic meaning and tries to throw these ideas on top of the work, in vaguely appropriate situations to try to make things ''seem'' deep and meaningful. In this trope, the placement being out of joint with any appropriate context highlights the lack of intended depth.

* The Kremlin wonder in ''{{Civilization}}'' V really is the Kremlin... but the little icon for it is still St. Basil's.
* The [[RuleOfThree Kremlin]] in ''a great deal of American source material'' ....is actually St. Basil's Cathedral. This is probably due to Western journalism superimposing the later will announcing news during the former during much of the 20th century. Perhaps ironically, ''[[CommandAndConquer Red Alert 2]]'' does feature ''both'', having models for what is a incorrectly-designed Grand Kremlin Palace and the cathedral.
** It doesn't help that when you do a Google image search for "Kremlin," what shows up most prominently... is actually St. Basil's Cathedral. It's a shame because there are some rather nice-looking churches on the Kremlin grounds.

Not to be confused with DanBrowned. Actually, it is. There is no such thing as symbology.

This trope occurs when a creator will include religious or cultural symbols without realising that they are religious or cultural symbols for use in a particular context. They'll have seen the imagery turning up in the art of another culture and so use it for that ethnic or fantastical flavour. They'll use a saint's name because they like the sound or make every building look like a church because they like the pretty arches. This can confound any audience member who knows what those images really are about and wonder "what's it doing there?"

This is a subtrope of DidNotDoTheResearch. Contrast it with WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic. In that trope, the creator knows it has some symbolic meaning and tries to throw these ideas on top of the work, in vaguely appropriate situations to try to make things ''seem'' deep and meaningful. In this trope, the placement being out of joint with any appropriate context highlights the lack of intented depth.

* The Kremlin wonder in ''RiseOfNations'' ....is actually St. Basil's Cathedral.
* The Kremlin wonder in ''{{Civilization}}'' IV ... is actually St. Basil's Cathedral.

* The [[RuleOfThree Kremlin]] in ''a great deal of American source material'' ....is actually St. Basil's Cathedral. This is probably due to western journalism superimposing the later will announcing news during the former during much of the 20th century. Perhaps ironically, ''[[CommandAndConquer Red Alert 2]]'' does feature ''both'', having models for what is a incorrectly-designed Grand Kremlin Palace and the cathedral.

* {{Mayincatec}} castles in the ''AgeOfEmpires II'' expansion ''The Conquerors'' are very impractical sacrifice pyramids. Probably [[RuleOfCool done on purpose]] as realistic Mesoamerican fortresses wouldn't be as iconic.
** Similarly, in the ''The War Chiefs'' expansion of ''Age of Empires III'', where the Native American civilizations don't build temples - they get a fire pit where the villagers dance in exchange of new units and techs instead - the inevitable lack of pyramids in the Aztecs is solved by having pyramid-shaped barracks.

* A real life example: the Nazis appropriating swastikas. The swastika, previous to encounters with India and Buddhism, was already a very popular symbol in the West It was commonly associated with, among other things [[NorseMythology Thor]], the god of thunder. In fact, the swastika is so ubiquitous in world cultures that some, including Carl Sagan, theorized that it was, in fact, based off the image of a comet seen straight on. Others have hypothesized that it represents the sun. The Nazis made the mistake of assuming it to be an Aryan symbol above all else, and proved a connection between the mythic white Aryans (real Aryans, AKA Proto-Indo-Europeans, almost certainly weren't blonde-haired, blue eyed Nordics, and resembled North Indians or Iranians[[hottip:*:the words "Aryan" and "Iran" are cognates, incidentally]]) and the the Scandinavian cultures they admired.

<<|IndexFailure|>>

* The picture in this article is the Soviet War Factory from ''[[CommandAndConquer Red Alert 2]]'', with an "onion dome" -- a traditional element of Russian Orthodox church architecture -- lodged on its roof. Several other Soviet structures in this game were given similar "attachments".
** You ''are'' talking about '''[[SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness Red Alert 2]]'''. The only way [[RedAlert3 the next installment]] could top the {{camp}} on that one was with [[LaserBlade Beam Katanas]], [[EverythingsWorseWithBears bear]] [[MemeticMutation cavalry]], and troop cannons (to say nothing of the [[LargeHam even more generous portions of ham]]). In [[TheSeventies the 1970s]].

[[CommandAndConquer http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/200px-Soviet_War_Factory.jpg]]
[[caption-width:200:[[CommandAndConquer What do you mean it's an element of religious architecture and doesn't by any means belong on a Communist-run factory producing military equipment?!]]]]

** You ''are'' talking about '''[[SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness Red Alert 2]]'''. The only way the next installment could top the camp on that one was with [[LaserBlade Beam Katanas]], [[MemeticMutation bear cavalry]], and troop cannons (to say nothing of the [[LargeHam even more generous portions of ham]]). In the 1970s.

** You ''are'' talking about '''[[SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness Red Alert 2]]'''. The only way [[RedAlert3 the next installment]] could top the {{camp}} on that one was with [[LaserBlade Beam Katanas]], [[EverythingsWorseWithBears bear]] [[MemeticMutation cavalry]], and troop cannons (to say nothing of the [[LargeHam even more generous portions of ham]]). In [[TheSeventies the 1970s]].

* A real life example: the Nazis appropriating swastikas. The swastika, previous to encounters with India and Buddhism, was already a very popular symbol in the West; it was commonly associated with, among other things [[NorseMythology Thor]], the god of thunder. In fact, the swastika is so ubiquitous in world cultures that some, including Carl Sagan, theorized that it was, in fact, based off the image of a comet seen straight on. Others have hypothesized that it represents the sun. The Nazis made the mistake of assuming it to be an Aryan symbol above all else, and proved a connection between the mythic white Aryans (real Aryans, AKA Proto-Indo-Europeans, almost certainly weren't blonde-haired, blue eyed Nordics, and resembled North Indians or Iranians[[hottip:*:the words "Aryan" and "Iran" are cognates, incidentally]]) and the the Scandinavian cultures they admired.

** You ''are'' talking about '''[[SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness Red Alert 2]]'''. The only way the next installment could top the camp on that one was with [[LaserBlade Beam Katanas]], [[EverythingsWorseWithBears bear]] [[MemeticMutation cavalry]], and troop cannons (to say nothing of the [[LargeHam even more generous portions of ham]]). In [[TheSeventies the 1970s]].

* A real life example: the Nazis appropriating swastikas. The swastika, previous to encounters with India and Buddhism, was already a very popular symbol in the West It was commonly associated with, among other things [[NorseMythology Thor]], the god of thunder. In fact, the swastika is so ubiquitous in world cultures that some, including Carl Sagan, theorized that it was, in fact, based off the image of a comet seen straight on. Others have hypothesized that it represents the sun. The Nazis made the mistake of assuming it to be an Aryan symbol above all else, and proved a connection between the mythic white Aryans (real Aryans, AKA Proto-Indo-Europeans, almost certainly weren't blonde-haired, blue eyed Nordics, and resembled North Indians or Iranians[[hottip:*:the words "Aryan" and "Iran" are cognates, incidentally]]) and the the Scandinavian cultures they admired.

** You ''are'' talking about '''[[SlidingScaleOfSillinessVersusSeriousness Red Alert 2]]'''. The only way the next installment could top the camp on that one was with [[LaserBlade Beam Katanas]], [[MemeticMutation bear cavalry]], and troop cannons (to say nothing of the [[LargeHam even more generous portions of ham]]). In the 1970s.