Blapper of Water
Idiot Plot is already listed on YMMV.Home Page. That said, it is also listed on Stupidity Tropes and Contrived Stupidity Tropes, which seems to imply someone thought it was a trope...? Moreover, the "related to..." page
shows that there are quite a few works wicking to Idiot Plot. Perhaps a clean-up effort is in order?
It doesn't help that Idiot Plot is not flagged as YMMV in example lists like this one.
Pronounced YAK-you-luss
Anyone else got any further thoughts on this?
What's precedent ever done for us?
Idiot Plot was coined by Roger Ebert in regards to how "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot if someone actually acted intelligently. It's been manhandled by editors to be "I thought the plot was stupid" but that's not what it was ever supposed to be.
Edited by KJMackley on Feb 13th 2020 at 4:52:25 AM
This trope seems split into two - a subjective, complainy trope which is 'I don't like how stupid everyone's decisions are in this story, and it breaks my Willing Suspension of Disbelief', and a (usually comedic) objective trope where the whole point of the story is that it's about a bunch of ridiculous idiots making life worse for themselves. I certainly don't feel that for a work like, say, My Monster Secret or Burn After Reading, Idiot Plot should be on the YMMV page, because that is the central joke of the story. Should we maybe do something about this, like either splitting the trope or removing the YMMV elements?
Edited by Iaculus on Feb 8th 2020 at 10:54:28 AM
What's precedent ever done for us?