Shawn Hunter: It does if you've seen as many horror movies as I have. This is classic. The locked door, the scary janitor, the bloody warning and… our soon-to-be first victim.
[everyone looks at Kenny]
Kenny: Me? Why me?
Cory Matthews: Well Kenny, it's certainly not going to be any of us!
A Genre Savvy character doesn't necessarily know they're in a story, but they do know of stories like their own and what worked in them and what didn't. They may attempt to apply the lessons they've learned from movies, books, or other fiction to their own situation, or they may restrict themselves to snarky asides and observations. The exact opposite of Genre Blindness.
For cases when a Genre Savvy character attempts to apply the tropes of a different genre of story to their own situation, see Wrong Genre Savvy. When a person becomes too Genre Savvy for their own good and offs themselves, see Death by Genre Savviness. If a character uses his Genre Savviness just to make humorous observations, he's a Meta Guy. When characters are not consciously Genre Savvy but regularly act within the limitations of the genre they're in anyway, they are Functional Genre Savvy. If a character acts like a Genre Blind person due to their Genre Savviness, this is Contractual Genre Blindness. Compare with Medium Awareness where the character knows that they're in a story and what medium they are in. May result in You Watch Too Much X.
Not to Be Confused with a character who has observed what works and what doesn't in their own world, which is Taught by Experience.
For specific tips on surviving the world of fiction, see The Universal Genre Savvy Guide.
Example subpages:
- Anime & Manga
- Comic Books
- Fan Works
- Film
- Literature
- Live-Action TV
- Podcasts
- Roleplay
- Tabletop Games
- Video Games
- Webcomics
- Web Original
- Western Animation
- X Minus One's "The C-Chute": Stuart describes Mullen's plan as something that you might see in a "video" (that is, a film).
- RWBY: In Volume 6, the heroes are forced to fight a Humongous Mecha. As Oscar uses his vantage point in the airship to try and identify the location of the mecha's shield generator, Ruby suggests over comms that it might be on the back because, in the video games she plays, that's where they're always located. Weiss interrupts the conversation to complain that Ruby's being stupid because this isn't a video game. However, Ren identifies the location of the shield generator to be exactly where Ruby anticipated.
