Complaining: Darkness Induced Audience Apathy

I think Too Bleak, Stopped Caring is now my preferred name. I prefer the use of "Too Bleak" instead of "So Bleak".

Edited by GastonRabbit on Apr 11th 2021 at 1:10:22 PM

I like that name.

Would Too Bleak So Stopped Caring be better grammatically.

I have to admit, it's not entirely clear to me how any of these names are an improvement over Darkness-Induced Audience Apathy.

The Stopped Caring suggestion implies the audience did used to care.

Too Bleak, Stopped Caring would be custom titled as "Too Bleak, Stopped Caring". It's a reference to the phrase "too long, didn't read".

Also, I disagree that "Too Bleak So Stopped Caring" would be better grammatically. It would be better grammatically if it had a noun (such as "They") between "So" and "Stopped".

Edited by GastonRabbit on Apr 12th 2021 at 12:28:47 PM

Too Bleak Didnt Bother would fit the reference better though.

I suppose that's true.

I'm a dude who isn't capable of handling dark/sad scenes when I'm watching something. Does it make me normal and does it make me instantly judge, say a TV show, as So Bleak, It's Boring, even if someone doesn't see it that way? Or maybe it might be a case of Angst Aversion?

Since it's been a while, I made a do-over crowner for the names that were suggested.

Switched it in.

I screwed up and accidentally put So Bleak Stopped Caring when I meant to put Too Bleak, Stopped Caring. Since the former already has votes, I added the latter as a separate option.

How does Too Bleak Didnt Bother differ from Angst Aversion?

That's a good question. I'm surprised Too Dark to Digest and the options with "care" or "caring" aren't doing better.

I checked the Canonical List of Subtle Trope Distinctions and I'm surprised there isn't an entry for this and Angst Aversion.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Apr 16th 2021 at 3:25:47 AM

This thread deemed AA should be addressed in a separate cleanup.

I was PM'd asking if we are at the point where we should start large-scale removal of DIAA. Are we?

Does the rename evidence of apathy thing we decided DIAA? I'll add it unless I hear anything.

Question: how does "Too Dark To Digest" or the other candidates avoid being general complaints about darkness that So Bleak, It's Boring attempted to fix?

Edited by Ferot_Dreadnaught on Apr 20th 2021 at 7:18:00 AM

I agree that Angst Aversion is outside this thread's scope, and I'm pretty sure I previously commented on that. I was replaying to a post that was commenting on how the Too Bleak Didnt Bother name suggestion would make this Audience Reaction sound too similar to Angst Aversion.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Apr 20th 2021 at 11:57:45 AM

...so is this not a subjective/YMMV trope anymore?

The trope page seems to indicate that if anyone enjoys the work, it's not an example of the trope, which would seem to make this outright not a trope (or at best, a Chairs Sit On People situation). One person's "so bleak, it's boring" might be incredibly engaging to someone else; for example, one of my favorite manga is Berserk, and "it feels utterly meaningless because of how bleak the setting and characters are" is one of the most common complaints leveled at that series by its detractors.

Does the fact that I, and many others on the site (and across the broader anime/manga fandom), like the series and disagree with this mean it's no longer a valid example? Because that just strikes me as bizarre for a trope that's... supposed to be subjective.

Edited by WickedIcon on Apr 21st 2021 at 8:45:13 AM

This, like most audience reactions, is supposed to describe the general consensus of the audience. It doesn't have to be hated by literally everyone to qualify, but it's not an example if people are more or less evenly divided or generally like the work.

Huh. I never really thought of YMMV as a "general consensus," due to the inherent difficulty in finding any real consensus in fandom (Broken Base is as common as it is for a reason), so much as just generally collating audience reactions that are reasonably common (even if not the majority).

It does make more reasonable sense from that perspective, though. I still would err on the side of letting works where there's a Broken Base or similar lack of consensus fly, but I at least see why this was a problem to begin with, now.

Edit: Never mind this post... Serac already covered it.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Apr 21st 2021 at 1:47:39 PM

Move done; let's resume wick cleaning.

2055 wicks, 1970 of them still on DIAA.

I submitted a custom title request to display it as "Too Bleak, Stopped Caring" with a comma, and I'm in favor of having Too Dark to Digest as a redirect.

Edit: I updated the Renamed Tropes entry.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Apr 23rd 2021 at 11:48:37 AM

Found a rare case of misuse where DIAA is used...In-Universe with no actual "audience". Just someone going through a place apathetically rambling about what he was seeing.

Wick in question was in Bill... Bill... Junk... Bill... (already handled).

Removed on Overdosed Tropes. Judging by wicks we're cleaning up, new name's unlikely to be added.