Misused (alt names crowner 27 Jan 2021): Reality Ensues

^ Both operate on the Bait-and-Switch logic. I think the difference is in how the trope is prevented from playing out. Subversion seems to be the broader application where any cheap trick to "switch" the result is allowed while RE may be a subcatergory where the reason is a clash with reality.

Reality Ensues came off as surprise realism to me. It doesn't have to be tied to a trope, it just has to be something realistic you don't expect to pop up in a story. As a result, I feel Reality Ensues and Deconstruction don't really mix as you EXPECT realism in a deconstruction.

Honestly, judging by the amount of misuse and the debate here, maybe it would be best to re-tool it to "Surprise Realism". Instead of worrying about how certain tropes would work with it / if it's covered by a Playing With concept, it'd be more about when a story, that has relied on fictional logic for most of the run, suddenly takes a shift into realistic territory when the audience isn't expecting it. This would include the examples that we all agree are valid, but would leave a little more wiggle room.

IDK, what do ya'll think?

That sounds like a good idea.

Sounds good to me.

Good idea.

Anything that works with what the cleanup thread has already been doing is a good idea.

Is there any chance we could keep the Reality Ensues name? I know it's unlikely, but if we're retooling the whole trope anyway, then maybe.

The problem with Reality Ensues (and as discussed, Hilarity Ensues) is that they're too easy to use as pothole magnets or just as meaningless additions to mean "something realistic/hilarious happens". I just feel like the titles are partially responsible for the amount of misuse.

Yep, change the name to Surprise Realism, better than the snowclone of a name we currently have.

Surprise Realism. That's beautiful. I love it. Definitely a step in the right direction.

Uh, Reality Ensues has 14496 wicks. You really want to change those?

I feel like the trope as discussed is inherently suited to use in the context of other tropes (perhaps analogously to Playing With), and being potholed is not necessarily a bad thing.

If it prevents more misuse from happening, yes. Yes, I would opt for changing the trope name rather than taking a gamble.

We'd have to go through all the wicks anyway, so we may as well change the name.

I accept that the trope is misused, but I am not convinced that the misuse extensive enough to warrant such a massive clean-up. It would likely take years, especially since we wouldn't be cutting wicks but attempting to re-write/salvage good ones. The core problem is not the name (which still fits the new definition), but the fact that nobody until now could agree what the trope was about.

A renaming can fix the pothole misuse but there is still the problem of users having different opinions on what's surprisingly realistic in a story. How to manage this grey area?

There are plenty of ways to tell if it's a "surprising" moment or not. Examples could fall under the current definition, where a trope/convention is broken in a moment of realism; or it could be when the work takes a realistic turn where the rest of it wasn't firmly grounded in reality; the narrative itself would likely treat such moments as unexpected just based on the way they're framed and portrayed, emphasizing the moment more than others.

The issue is that the name is too broad and vague. "Reality Ensues". Great, in what way? Does it mean realistic things happen? That's what most people seem to think it means. Does it mean a convention is broken, which is what the trope itself is? I don't get that from the title, but I can see how it might imply that. Hell, it could even be taken to mean that there's a meta or real-life moment that "ensues".

Reality Ensues is a bad title because it doesn't tell you how the ensuing is supposed to happen, why it happens, what's supposed to happen when said reality does ensue; it doesn't tell you anything about the actual trope.

That's where the misuse is coming from. I'm convinced of that, because Hilarity Ensues has a very similar problem and I always thought that one was just "funny things happen".

Yeah but... almost 15K wicks.

I'm not denying the name is a problem. I'm just wondering, since the retool is ultimately not a huge deal, if adjusting the troper hivemind on the precise definition might be easier than cleaning 15K wicks. As naturalironist said, it's not even a "zap 'em and we're done" situation, it's a full cleaning, with trying to determine if individual wicks are viable.

Especially since we've already got a cleanup thread that's been doing a good job.

Edited by Discar on May 8th 2020 at 7:28:38 AM

And said cleanup thread had decided the misuse was so pervasive, it'd be best to go to TRS. If we thought we could handle it on the thread alone, this TRS wouldn't exist in the first place.

I have to bring this up if we're changing the name to Surprise Realism.

Would Unexpectedly Realistic Gameplay be a subtrope to Surprise Realism if Reality Ensues gets its name changed (among other things)?

Okay, okay, I think we need a crowner here, but I'm not sure what the options would be. I know we're throwing around ideas like "Rename", "Redefine" "Make into a Playing With trope", etc.

Edited by WarJay77 on May 11th 2020 at 5:37:16 AM

It's been brought up before but I hadn't thought to check it. I'm pretty sure I only ever see Hilarity Ensues Pot Holed to mean "and then the comedic part of a story happens", but it's supposed to be when only comedy is a consequence of something that would have much more serious consequences in real life?

Like, Hilarity Ensues Instead Of Actual Consequences?

I'm not sure if the name is as much of a problem for Reality Ensues. Like I said on the first page, the description is a bigger problem because it dances around the point and actually leaves an important distinction as a note.

Surprise Realism sounds like Surprise Creepy. It could be taken to be about the tone of the work overall.

Hmm, good point... Sudden Realism, maybe?

Could be confused for Medium-Shift Gag, but the trope definitions are distinct enough from each other that maybe that wouldn't be an issue.

Something explicitly mentioning fiction/genre convention and the breaking from it? Maybe a reference to Acceptable Breaks from Reality?

New to the thread, here. I like Eroock's Surprisingly Realistic Outcome as it underlines the trope perfectly

May I add other Trope name variations?

Hilariously Realistic Outcome and Tragically Realistic Outcome as possible subtropes are a good way to split the trope.

Also, as a small aside, Surprisingly Realistic Worldbuilding is also good but I'm obvs spitballing here.