Needs Help: Bourgeois Bumpkin

Crediting Azorius 24 for the OP

The Problem:

Bourgeois Bumpkin looks like it's got just about every issue a trope can have, by the looks of things:

• It's only got 46 wicks, despite dating back to 2013, and even then 20 of these (43%) are potholes, ZCE, clear misuse, or indexes. As a result there are only 13 examples on the main trope page. (The wick check has 50 since some pages have multiple examples).
• There are only 15 examples (30%) that match the primary definition as a character who complains about being disadvantaged while being privileged.
  • Of these 15, three are from Dragon Age II and four are from Mrs. America.
  • 10 examples (20%) appear to use the trope as a general term for unflattering depictions of blue-collar American conservatives. While the "ungrateful privileged asshole" trait is rather common among these depictions, these examples don't mention said character trait.
  • 4 examples (8%) match a characteristic mentioned in the trope depiction: a well-off character who identifies with the working class but really cares little about them. However, they don't match the primary definition.
• The name is rather non-indicative of this primary definition. In fact, two of the 'misuse' examples, for The Last Starfighter and William Regal seem to fit what the name actually suggests: a wealthy person who pretends to be part of the elite but hails from a blue-collar background.
• The trope is also to some extent a duplicate of Angry White Man, being a similar 'victim' of perceived 'injustices' against them. The description for that trope even acknowledges this, noting that the character doesn't have to be white or male, referencing this trope.

---

Potential solutions:

• Merge with Angry White Man. (It dates back to 2011 and has over 100 wicks). And a possible rename.
• Burn the trope entirely.
• Keep & clean (unadvisable in my opinion as it would be barely tropeworthy afterwards)
• Any of the above, but also make a TLP draft for the "out of touch rich working class guy" definition.

Macron's notes

~Azorius 24 ~The Mayor Of Simpleton

Macron's notes

Ah yes. I asked to be pinged because I did some digging in the trope history and I discovered that the creator of this trope, Hawkture Shorts 155 (who disappeared in 2014), created this trope without TLP and got suspended for repeatedly creating bad tropes without TLP.

I agree with merging with Angry White Man.

TRS Queue | Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall

I don't feel creating another trope would be needed after some thought, as there aren't really enough examples.

"The only thing which is certain, is that something will happen".

Yeah, this should probably be merged with Angry White Man, and maybe some of the BB description worked into that of AWM.

Ukrainian Red Cross

I agree with merging.

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.

Seconding the TLP. Though I don't have any examples, "working-class elitist" sounds like it has promise.

Vehicle-Based Characterization | Grief-Induced Split | Locker Mail

I'm against sending this to TLP unless someone in this thread volunteers to sponsor the draft. Otherwise, Yarding would be a better option.

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.

Agree with the merge proposal. TLP and Yard are equivalent in TRS, right? If there are some good examples of a "working-class elitist" trope, I'm down with punting into the Yard.

There’s the two in the OP, I didn’t find another that was too similar.

I'd be happy to create a draft.

Edited by Azorius24 on Aug 23rd 2022 at 7:43:00 PM

"The only thing which is certain, is that something will happen".

Yeah, merging with Angry White Man and yarding the uppity elitist concept sounds like the move.

Edited by prettycoolguy on Aug 23rd 2022 at 2:49:17 PM

That sounds like the best course of action.

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.

Not confident on merging. Angry White Man's definition (racial) is very specific and Bourgeois Bumpkin by the looks of it is broader than that. Bourgeois Bumpkin sounds very close to First-World Problems though, so unless I've misunderstood something I'd like to question if it can be merged with that instead.

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup

Angry White Man has "Figuratively, the character doesn't have to be white, or a man. The trope can apply to any type of supposedly privileged character who is constantly railing against supposed discrimination against them."

Maybe disambig with Angry White Man and First-World Problems (and possible future trope)?

First-World Problems seems to be more light-hearted and based on one-off moments. Bourgeois Bumpkin (and Angry White Man) focus more on the specific of a privileged person having a victim complex or a paranoid feeling of being persecuted.

I'd be fine with disambiguating that way.

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.

Disambig, move applicable examples to Angry White Man, is my vote.

"Grandmaster Combat, son!"

I'm not in favor of merging with Angry White Man for reasons similar to Amonimus.

Angry White Man specifically focuses on a specific kind of race based victim/persecution complex of those in the majority race in a society, whereas Bourgeois Bumpkin hss a much broader conception of privilege that includes class, as the name indicates. AWM can apply to non-white groups, if they are presented as the racial majority complaining about being marginalized/facing prejudice akin to racial minorities. If they don't it wouldn't apply, otherwise that trope would be infringing on other straw character tropes like Angry Black Man.

I think disambig-ing the page between Angry White Man, Obnoxious Entitled Housewife, First-World Problems and moving any applicable examples to those pages is the best option as all tropes play with the idea of "this person perceives themself as marginalized when they are objectively not".

That might work.

TRS Queue | Works That Require Cleanup of Complaining | Troper Wall

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.

Amatheiu's proposal looks good.

Ukrainian Red Cross

Hmm... could the original definition still be yarded, or would it be too redundant with Angry White Man and other existing tropes?

You mean the fourth bullet point in "possible solutions" of the OP, or "working-class elitist" as described by Yindee, or something else?

Edited by Tabs on Aug 25th 2022 at 11:56:56 AM

I'd like to suggest adding Nouveau Riche to the disambiguation page.

The Revolution Will Not Be Tropeable