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Media Adaptation Tropes

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When a story existing in one medium is adapted into another medium (or several) and the pitfalls within. These tropes also apply to the differences between canon and fanfiction since fanfics are fan adaptations of some original material they love.


Tropes about the media, format, or quantity of the sources and adaptations:

Tropes about the details of the development and release of the adaptation:

  • Ability over Appearance: The adaptation's crew casts an actor who best acted the part, not who looked the part of a character from the original work.
  • Adaptation First: The adaptation is localized before the original work.
  • Adaptation Title Change: An adaptation of a work has a different title than the source material.
  • Ascended Fanfic: A fan-fiction that has been revamped into an original version of its source material.
  • Freestyle Version: An artist uses someone else's music for a song, but sings their own lyrics.
  • Hard-to-Adapt Work: A work is considered difficult to adapt to other mediums.
  • No Adaptations Allowed: The creator refuses to allow adaptations of their work to be made.
  • Overtook the Manga: The adaptation wraps up the story before the original work reaches its conclusion.
  • Patched Together from the Headlines: Multiple news stories and hot-button issues are mingled together in an adaptation.
  • Self-Adaptation: The adaptation is created by the same person who made the original work.
  • Title: The Adaptation: The adaptation's title consists of the work's title, with a subtitle specifying the medium of the adaptation (e.g.: Trope Adventures: The Graphic Novel).

Tropes about the audience and critical perception of the adaptation:

Tropes about changes to the overall tone or style within the adaptation:

  • Actionized Adaptation: The adaptation is more action-oriented than the original work.
  • Adaptation Inspiration: The adaptation has the same premise as the original work, but not the same tone or presentation.
  • Adaptational Mundanity: The adaptation tones down or even flat out discards any supernatural and fantastical elements from the source material, making the story more grounded in reality.
  • Big Damn Movie: A film adaptation is more dramatic than the source material.
  • Bleached Underpants: A work featuring mature content is given an adaptation that is more kid-friendly.
  • Bloodier and Gorier: The adaptation is more violent than the original work.
  • The Cover Changes the Meaning: The song cover plays the song in a different tone or context from the original version.
  • Darker and Edgier: The adaptation is darker, grittier, and more mature than the original work.
  • Denser and Wackier: The adaptation is sillier and more comedic than the source material.
  • Early Adaptation Weirdness: An adaptation varies heavily from the later, more standardized canon of the source.
  • Hotter and Sexier: The adaptation contains more nudity and/or sexual content than the original work.
  • Human-Focused Adaptation: An adaptation reduces non-human characters' roles so the work focuses on newly-created human characters.
  • Indecisive Medium: A work in one medium uses stylistic quirks from another medium.
  • In Name Only: The adaptation differs so much from the original work that the shared title is the only indication that the work is an adaptation.
  • Kinder and Cleaner: The adaptation uses cleaner language than the source material.
  • Lighter and Softer: The adaptation is more lighthearted than the original work.
  • Lost in Imitation: The adaptation is influenced more by previous adaptations than the original work.
  • Pacified Adaptation: An adaptation is less action-filled than the original.
  • Recycled with a Gimmick: The adaptation is basically the original work with a gimmick added.
  • Ruder and Cruder: The adaptation is more profane than the original.
  • Softer and Slower Cover: A song cover that is quieter and slower than the original song.
  • Tamer and Chaster: The adaptation has less sexual content than the original work.
  • Truer to the Text: When an adaptation is more faithful to the source material than previous adaptations.
  • Very Loosely Based on a True Story: A work is essentially an exaggerated account of real-life events.

Tropes about specific in-universe character or storyline changes in the adaptation:


Alternative Title(s): Adaption Tropes, Adaptation Tropes, Media Adaption Tropes

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