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G.G. Since: Dec, 1969
#1: Mar 22nd 2011 at 2:49:27 PM

I read that IJBM page on this trope but as some fans pointed out, it can be a bit jarring. The message I receive from this si that, "You are sick! You seem to delight in seeing X character suffer, you people are sadists who are so desenstized to violence in fiction that you don't care if you see real people suffer and die!" It is true that I do possess something of a sadstic streak, I have to wonder why writers call out the reader in enjoying the suffering that they have no control over?

In real life, you wouldn't want to do such horrible things to people no matter how 'evil' they are but at the same time, there are cases where the use of violence is justified. There was even a case of fridge logic ont he same page and I quote:

One thing that bothers is me; if we're bastards for watching a violent movie or playing a video game. What does that say about the creators?

^ I kind of agree with this, what does make the creator if they invoke this trope to call out the readers on the same thing that they are doing themselves? Sounds like a broken aesop to me but still on the same page, it points that we can become so desensitized to things that we become unable to see the difference between reality and fiction. I know its fiction and all but at same time, you become attached to the characters you are reading about and they become real to you. Is the 'You Bastard' thing a broken aesop?

nrjxll Since: Nov, 2010 Relationship Status: Not war
#2: Mar 22nd 2011 at 5:07:03 PM

Is the 'You Bastard' thing a broken aesop?

I think it partially depends on the circumstances. If a game offers you both Video Game Caring Potential and Video Game Cruelty Potential, and you pick the latter, it's quite apt for the game to call you out on it, especially if it's the petty sociopathic behavior that much Video Game Cruelty Potential is. Yes, you could argue that the creators put the possibility in there in the first place, but on the other hand, my school of thought is if you're forced to take the "good" option, then it's both immersion-breaking and not particularly "good" anyway.

Now, outside of video games, it gets a little more fuzzy, but there are definite cases where the trope is entirely fitting. You Bastard! definitely has the potential to be a Broken Aesop, but it's not one in and of itself.

Incidentally, I'm glad you took this to the forums rather than putting it on the IJBM page - I'm one of those who doesn't approve of IJBM pages for tropes.

feotakahari Fuzzy Orange Doomsayer from Looking out at the city Since: Sep, 2009
Fuzzy Orange Doomsayer
#3: Mar 23rd 2011 at 1:38:45 AM

This trope also assumes a specific reason the reader is still reading, which may not be the case—for instance, I kept reading The Changewinds not because of the disturbingly high amounts of deviant Fetish Fuel, but because I liked the main characters (and kinda wished they weren't stuck in such an Author Appeal-filled story.) Of course, The Changewinds doesn't use You Bastard!, but it's in the same vein as a lot of stories that do.

That's Feo . . . He's a disgusting, mysoginistic, paedophilic asshat who moonlights as a shitty writer—Something Awful
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