HighConcept clarification

Continuing from here as asked to. (I've tried to ask where to post since it's my first time, but it came out as a unintended rhetoric question about the description)

The definition of High Concept, "The premise can be accurately summarized in one sentence." is too abstract and subjective, which results in people still adding examples indistinguishable from Laconic Wiki or X Meets Y. Changing it to "The premise is summarized in one sentence.", as in reserving to production trivia and lampshading, is clear and would prevent miuse.

Edited by Amonimus on Sep 3rd 2021 at 7:53:58 PM

It's already the supertrope to things like "Die Hard" on an X and A Boy and His X. Given it is an industry term, the most we should do with it is make it trivia.

Truthfully, from the wick check I don't really see evidence that it is being used wrong. It is a fairly broad idea and so is maybe used where it doesn't need to be sometimes. I will also note that it has less than 200 wicks, which makes misuse innately small.

Er, why is this written like a TRS OP?

Sorry, I wanted to make a point across as best as I could and went like that. Really should have finished the list before posting (it is now). My point is that IMHO 66% of examples are shoehorned and either leave out too much or should belong in "X meets Y" or Laconic. I believe it's inherent problem with the Trope since "can be summarized" is too broad and would be better as "is (already by someone) summarized", but couldn't think of another way to ask how to proceed with the question.

Sure; the issue however is that Trope Talk isn't designed to solve issues, only discuss things.

I was suggested to do so by GastonRabbit. I don't expect any decisions to be made right away anyway and wanted to confirm with someone if my concerns of "people practically can add High Concept to every work that has a Laconic page" are reasonable, then move from there to cleanup/repair if necessary.

Maybe it would help defining what is not high concept: Star Wars. Star Wars is both influenced by WW 2-Era Air combat and Samurai. Remember, that Japan was an Enemy of the USA in WW 2, and that Samurai are a Japanese thing, so this combination is weird, and can't be easily descriped. Also Star Wars is not highbrow, clarifying the "High Concept is Lowbrow" stereotype.

May as well address this one.

I can High Concept Star Wars easily, "A classic fantasy adventure about a farmer boy rescuing a princess, Recycled In Space". Or, as its Laconic says, "A sprawling Science Fantasy Space Opera franchise about the forces of good and evil fighting A Long Time Ago, in a Galaxy Far Far Away..."

You're missing the unique aspect. Both of those summaries can be applied to works from before Star Wars. An elevator pitch is similar to a summary, but the goal is to convince someone to sponsor the work. It has to use familiar elements in a different way. A New Hope would be better summarized as "The Hidden Fortress set in space", but it misses several important details about the premise, including the WWII influences, magic system, and hidden destiny of Luke.

The suggestion that examples should be limited to when creators used them instead of allowing user-generated descriptions has some merit to it for similar reasons as you described.

"Z would be better summarized as X but with Y, but it misses several important details about the premise" is pretty much what's happening on High Concept page, which is why I've brought this up.

I would say Word of God is good, but trailers or actual dialogue in a show that comes across as a High Concept pitch would work too.

I do wonder how overused the trope is in the general wiki. This might just be an issue with curating the trope page itself. There are less than 200 wicks which is less than what is on the trope page, which likely means that the page is a magnet for snappy high concept pitches rather than being misused.

Edited by EmeraldSource on Sep 3rd 2021 at 11:50:14 AM