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Duplicate Trope: Second Act Breakup

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Deadlock Clock: Jun 13th 2014 at 11:59:00 PM
eroock Since: Sep, 2012
#1: May 10th 2014 at 10:18:39 AM

The more trope examples I encounter, the more unsatisfied I become with having the two tropes Second-Act Breakup and Third-Act Misunderstanding exist side-by-side. In both cases, we look at a situation where the Idiot Ball is being passed around in the following way:

  • There is a misunderstanding between two lovers
  • This leads to them being separated and later reunited

The only difference is at what point the misunderstanding occurs:

The earlier the misunderstanding happens, the bigger the conflict can be and the more time can be spend on the resolution. However, the time difference (and hence the impact on the story) is a gradual one, the trope ingredients seem to be same. Nowhere in the descriptions is the point of occurrence being addressed as significant for the trope to work.

My major complaint is that we have two tropes with their names focusing on complementary parts of the ingredients list (misunderstanding, break-up) while playing out the same way.

They did a better job with the sister trope Plot-Mandated Friendship Failure, which basically deals with the same scenario just not between lovers but friends. Here we are not so much concerned with as to when it occurs, just acknowledging that it usually happens in the transition between second and third act.

Similarly, we could resolve the overlap with Second-Act Breakup and Third-Act Misunderstanding by taking the "act" part out of the equation and merge the contents. Alternatively, if the consensus is that Tropes Are Flexible doesn't apply, there should be a mention as to

  • how the two tropes differ in nature or
  • how a difference in acts will make a difference in meaning.

edited 10th May '14 11:51:35 AM by eroock

Willbyr Hi (Y2K) Relationship Status: With my statistically significant other
Willbyr Hi (Y2K) Relationship Status: With my statistically significant other
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#3: Jun 14th 2014 at 6:06:04 AM

Clock's up; locking for inactivity.

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