Not Tropeworthy: Qipao

~Synchronicity gave permission for others to launch this thread with her OP so that's what I am doing:

Wick check: Sandbox.Qipao WC

The description of Qipao goes into some detail about why the style is such a popular costuming choice. However, the trope itself is just "character wears a qipao", which is People Sit on Chairs.

The biggest category in the wick check are just "character wears a qipao", while others attached "character is Chinese" and "fanservice" as meanings.

1. Character wears a qipao or an outfit inspired by one: 22/50 = 44%
2. Character wears a qipao for sexiness reasons: 10/50 = 20%
3. Character wears a qipao because they are Chinese/influenced by Chinese culture: 12/50 = 24%
4. ZCE/Other: 6/50 = 12%

In addition, it has a huge "wears this" ZCE issue. I was very generous with sorting non-ZCE, of those 44 wicks 20/44 don't even bother to say the character is wearing a qipao (marked in red in the wick check).

I don't think this is a trope at all. I think its examples can safely be moved to:

• Culture Equals Costume ("Alice wears qipao to remind the audience she is from Shanghai")
• Form-Fitting Wardrobe, Sexy Slit Dress, and maybe Cleavage Window ("Alice's qipao accentuates her [body part]")

Alternatively, we can combine the latter idea into a trope about qipao as fanservice, as a Sister Trope to Kimono Fanservice.

Other ideas?

Edited by MacronNotes on May 21st 2022 at 12:22:12 PM

Split/move examples, turn page into disambig, and no Qipao Fanservice unless it does something that Sexy Slit Dress doesn't?

Edited by Malady on May 21st 2022 at 9:35:31 AM

Opinion:

• Disambig:
  • Culture Equals Costume
  • Form-Fitting Wardrobe
  • Sexy Slit Dress
  • Cleavage Window
  • Kimono Fanservice
  • Kimono Is Traditional
  • Anime Chinese Girl
  • Dragon Lady
• Expand Kimono Fanservice (It doesn't exclusively talk about kimono anyway) to include Qipao.
  • Additionally rename it to like Asian Dress Fanservice.
• Leave the page as Useful Notes and give it some trimming.

All three can be done together.

Edited by Amonimus on May 21st 2022 at 9:48:25 PM

I like all of those suggestions.

As do I

Do we need a definition for Qipao? Is that term commonly used in story commentary?

apart from the disambig, i'm kind of opposed to the other suggestions. I don't really think a useful notes page on qipao is necessary (though I suppose if we have one for Kimono, it wouldn't hurt to have one for qipao) and I caution against lumping together qipao with kimono by expanding Kimono Fanservice to cover qipao. kinda feels like we're equating the two which can have some Unfortunate Implications regarding Interchangeable Asian Cultures.

(fwiw, I'm not even really sold on Kimono Fanservice being tropeworthy in of itself either and have a sneaking suspicion that the issues plaguing Qipao are also plaguing it)

Edited by amathieu13 on May 22nd 2022 at 7:30:28 AM

I agree with keeping this separate from Kimono if we move it to Useful Notes.

to a disambig IMO

Ayy thanks for making the OP.

I think disambiguating is the best option, personally. I think Sexy Slit Dress and Form-Fitting Wardrobe already cover most of what Qipao Fanservice could be without making it all about fetishizing Chinese women/dress.

Also, moving to Useful Notes and disambiguating wouldn't be mutually exclusive, even if doing both would mean we'd end up with both Main.Qipao and UsefulNotes.Qipao.

I'm fine with the Disambig, though I don't think Kimono Fanservice and Kimono Is Traditional should be included in the list of tropes for reasons similar to amathieu13's

Edited by Adept on May 22nd 2022 at 8:33:57 PM

for disambiguating + leaving Kimono Is Traditional and Kimono Fanservice off the disambig

I agree with leaving those two off the disambiguation page.

I'm good with disambiguating (with the above omissions) and converting it into a Useful Note.

+1 for disambig and changing to a UN.

Edited by Willbyr on May 23rd 2022 at 8:39:19 AM

If Kimono has a UN, I think Qipao deserves the same acknowledgement.

Edited by Yindee on May 25th 2022 at 11:13:00 AM

In general, I don’t think anything ”deserves” a UN page; it’s more if we need one. But I think this way of dressing is so common in fiction that a UN would be, well, useful. The trope page is more or less written like one already.

I guess that's a better way of putting it. I figured if Qipao's already written like a UN and is used frequently in media, it would be odd to cut that while Kimono exists as a UN for the same reasons.

Edited by Yindee on May 25th 2022 at 1:53:56 PM

Making this a Useful Notes article.

EDIT: Trimming.

Edited by RandomTroper123 on Jun 4th 2022 at 8:41:24 AM

~RallyBot2 - I noticed that you added a "cut" option to the crowner. I don't have a problem with it being on the crowner but for transparency's sake, please post any crowner suggestions you want added to the crowner on the thread first.