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Misused: Oedipus Complex

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Right now Oedipus Complex is heavily misused as basically a duplicate of Incest Subtext and Like Parent, Like Spouse.

The minimum useful definition is that it's a triangular thing between a child and both parents. Less than half of examples mention both parents.

The current page's actual definition is even stricter than that:

The son must supplant the patriarch or must extricate himself from his father's shadow and find his own place in the world. Much of the time this presents as the son's aim of removing his father to further himself in the eyes of his mother — not necessarily, but maybe, into her bed.

     Wick check 
Sandbox.Oedipus Complex Wick Check

  • Scenario involves both parents, and liking one but disliking the other (although not necessarily supplanting): 14/56 = 25%
  • Only one parent mentioned, Incest Subtext or Like Parent, Like Spouse: 25/56 = 45%
  • Shout-Out mentions of Oedipus: 1/56 = 2%
  • Zero-context: 16/56 = 28%

Note that (while not included among the 56 wicks) during the check I found that many (if not most) of the total wicks I saw were potholes, used in a jokey way, rather than a actual listings with any sort of explanation.

     Quote check 
I know this isn't a thing, but I feel it's illustrative of the flippant way the concept is used. In Quotes.Oedipus Complex:

  • 7/10 are Shout-Out, joke mentions of the concept
  • 1/10 is about the history of Freud
  • 2/10 are substantive (Hair the Color of Saffron and Psycho)

The quotes are similar to the pothole use. It's not substantive; it's a gag.

The options I see are:

  1. Change the meaning to a classic sort of triangle-between-a-child-and-both-parents type definition about closeness to one parent and antagonism toward the other.
  2. Stick with the page's current meaning of supplanting a parent, but rename it. That definition is simply not what most people associate with the phrase "Oedipus Complex", pairing them together just invites misuse.

Wick check:

As a note, many-if-not-most wicks (not the ones listed here) are potholes, rather than their own listing with any sort of explanation.

    Both parents mentioned (14) 
  1. Abel: Abel at times competes with his father for the attention of his mother.
  2. Conspiracy (2001): Kritzinger relates a story to Heydrich about an old friend of Kritzinger who hated his abusive father but loved his doting mother. To the friend's surprise his mother's death didn't affect him all that much, but his father's death made him cry uncontrollably. The tragedy was that the son's hatred for his father became more important to him than his mother's love, turning him into an empty shell after the man's death.
  3. Crooked House: Philip and Roger both harbour a deep resentment towards their father Aristide, and wish to supplant him as head of the family. For his part, Aristide took a great pleasure in keeping his sons solidly under his thumb. To add to the mix, Philip's son Eustace admits to having the hots for his step-grandmother.
  4. Funeral Parade of Roses: Yup. Eddie kills her mother, and has sex with her father. Although Eddie doesn't know who Gondo is, she clearly has some possessive feelings about her mom, as part of her whole messed-up persona.
  5. Human Nature: Puff grows up in the lab calling Nathan "father" and Gabrielle "mother." He plots to murder the former and bed the latter.
  6. Only God Forgives: Big time. There's some serious sexual tension between Crystal and Julian right from her first arrival, which is made overt when she starts caressing his bicep. In a later scene, she talks about the comparative penis sizes of her two sons. To top it off, we learn that Julian killed his father.
  7. The Master: Heavily implied with Freddie, who tells an Army psychologist that he had a dream involving his mother and father but refuses to divulge what happens in it, and tries to poison a fellow farm worker whom he claims looks like his father.
  8. The Squid and the Whale: Frank hates his father and is very attached to his mother, which disturbingly shades into sexual attraction. Inverted with Walt, who hates his mother and is very loyal to his father — until his father becomes his sexual rival for Lili.
  9. Thor: The Dark World: Loki genuinely loves his mother, and overthrows his father — whom he now loathes after being disowned and nearly executed — usurping the Asgardian throne in the process.
  10. We Need to Talk About Kevin: Kevin couples an unnerving obsession with his mother with absolute contempt for his father (who is so oblivious to his son's antipathy that it skirts Unknown Rival territory). Kevin has a peculiar habit of making sure his mother knows (and hears, and as far as possible sees) when he's getting to grips with himself — she feels like she's being sexually harassed by him. He's always had a special connection with Eva — she's somewhat pleased that her son shows his true personality to her, but never to his father. Alarmingly, Kevin actually succeeds in living out the desire at the centre of the Oedipus complex (albeit without the sexual part): removing his father so that he has his mother all to himself. The ending strongly implies that Kevin will move back in with Eva when he's released.
  11. Literature.Back To The Future: Seemingly played straight, hilariously (and weirdly) enough. Marty continually insults his father, calling him a nerd every chance he gets (B to the F goes as far as to use the phrase "nerd racist"), and hating him for his severe lack of a spine. While he does insult his mom as well, and expresses disbelief at Doc's creepy "She hasn't given birth to you yet, so it's O.K. to get down and dirty with her" comments, during the actual make-out scene with her, he seriously gets into it. The movie, on the other hand, falls on the side of inversion. Ahhh, the things that change when you script doctor a movie...
  12. Hayley Powell Food and Cocktails Mysteries: In book 1 (Death of a Kitchen Diva), while meeting with Bradley Applebaum, Hayley gets the definite uncomfortable feeling that he's got one of these with his late mother, even mentally describing the "oedipal undertones" in his voice when he talks about her (and that he seems to be transferring them to her), while he clearly doesn't trust his father and sees him as a rival for Karen's affections.
  13. Masters of Rome: Part of Servilia's Troubling Unchildlike Behavior involves her idolization of her father Caepio and contempt for her mother Livia.
    Servilia: Tata, if you won't kill her, leave her here! She's not good enough for you! She doesn't deserve you! Who is she, after all? Only a plebeian—not patrician like you and me! If you leave her here, I'll look after you, I promise!
  14. 1Q84: Tengo struggles with his father, and convinces himself that the man is not his biological father. Tengo overcomes his father by reading to him, while he is in a coma. (Taking on a role-reversal of sorts, but also allowing Tengo to self-reflect, almost at his father's expense). In the same place, the town of cats, Tengo spends the night with one of the nurses, Kumi Adachi. He does not sleep with her, but he smokes hash with her and has a vivid memory of her luxuriant pubic hair (a sign of maturity). Later on after Tengo's father passes away, it is hinted that Kumi may be the reincarnation of Tengo's mother, though Tengo himself never comes close to making this connection.

    Incest Subtext or Like Parent Like Spouse (25) 
  1. Enter the Void: It's heavily implied that Oscar has wanted to bed his mother since childhood and his father doesn't figure much into his trips to the past unless he's right next to or having sex with his mother.
  2. Fifty Shades of Grey: While defining that he's a sadist and not a dominant, Christian admits he gets sexually aroused from punishing women...who resemble his dead mother. Not surprised, considering that almost all his former submissive lovers resemble his mother vaguely in looks. Also his Freudian Excuse.
  3. Identity: Rivers's mother was a prostitute, and one of his personalities is as well - and most of the male characters find her very appealing.
  4. Jupiter Ascending: The driving force of the movie is the conflict between the Abrasax siblings and Jupiter, the genetic recurrence of their mother. While the Abrasax patriarch is never mentioned or seen, the two Abrasax brothers definitely have an unhealthy interest in their mother.
  5. Leave Her to Heaven: Mrs. Brent bluntly snaps that Ellen monopolized her father so much that "it's a wonder she didn't sleep with him!" She later falls for Richard because of his resemblance to him.
  6. Mona Lisa Smile: Giselle's father left his family, and it's implied that is the reason why she seeks sleeps mostly with older men.
  7. Mortdecai: Combined with Screw Yourself, Krampf wants the Goya because it reminds him of his mother who he believes he takes after in terms of looks. The subject of the painting is, incidentally, naked.
  8. Silent Night Deadly Night 5 The Toymaker: Pino appears to have a creepy obsession with Sarah. He addresses her as "Mommy", despite her not being his mother, and starts dry humping her in the climax while saying that he loves her and wants her.
  9. Sleepy Hollow (1999): Ichabod falls like a brick for the cute witch Katrina. His mother was "an innocent child of nature" "condemned, murdered to save her soul" by his father, a "Bible-black tyrant hiding behind a mask of righteousness." That won't happen again. Ichabod is a Man of Reason who rejects the intolerance of the Church and honors the gentle Katrina for her compassion.
  10. Sliver: Naomi and Carly bear a strong resemblance to Zeke's mother, offering a pretty creepy explanation for his attraction to them.
  11. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines: After Kate destroys an Aerial HK drone with an assault rifle, a visibly attracted John stares at her in awed silence.
    Kate: What?
    John: Nothing. [Beat] You remind me of my mother.
  12. The Addams Family
    • In Values, Gomez pulls out a magazine from Fester's bed, opens to one of the centerfolds, and the two fondly say "Mom!".
    • The relationship between the amnesiac Fester and his "mother" in the first movie has shades of this. In the script, it was a lot less subtle.
  13. The Damned (1969): Martin's creepily close relationship with Sophie. And it's only the first of his (many, many) issues. (also ZCE)
  14. The Killing Kind: Thelma and Terry seem to share more than standard mother-son love.
  15. The Machinist: Very subtle example, but it's hinted that Trevor had a somewhat complicated relationship with his mother.
  16. The Naked Gun: Played for laughs as Frank's internal monologue describes Jane as an alluring goddess when he meets her, only to end with noting that she reminds him of his mother. Then when the captain sees Frank's face he tells him to wipe that look off his face as it looks like he just saw his mother.
  17. The Phantom of the Opera (2004): Gerard Butler was deliberately cast to resemble Ramin Karimloo, who played Christine's father, and later, played Raoul and the Phantom on West End as well.
  18. The Woman Chaser: Hudson's glowing description of his mother's fading charms, and the intentionally cringy scene, with purple narration, where he dances with her ("I chased. I persued. Made impossible leaps and came down as lightly as a wafted cigarette paper") all while his stepfather watches places him firmly in oedipal territory.
  19. Everland: Hook mentions several times how beautiful the Professor is despite the fact she's old enough to be his mother and even offers her the chance to join him in ruling the world. He does lampshade it in his inner monologue that he's got issues with his own mother that are causing this to manifest itself.
  20. Job: A Comedy of Justice: Patricia claims that there are a lot of "motherhumpers" that wind up in Hell, many of her johns requesting to take on the form of their mothers (or at least some of their characteristics to act out whatever incestuous urges they were unable to act upon in life.
  21. Lives of the Saints: Downplayed, but in many instances where Vittorio is alone with his mother, he describes her quite erotically...
  22. Nightmare Alley: Lilith states that Stan is suffering from this, and it's even implied that she may not be far from the truth. When he was a child he witnessed his mother having sex with another man who wasn't his father, an event he often flashes back to, and it's stated that his mother used to spray perfume on her pillow. When he first meets Lilith, he gets a whiff of her perfume and instantly feels shame but is also immediately sexually attracted to her. This is the first of many subtextual inferences that Lilith, a woman that Stan becomes sexually infatuated with, reminds him in some ways of his mother who abandoned him as a child.
  23. On Stranger Tides: Leo Friend. While attempting to rape Beth Hurwood (albeit falingly so) Leo Friend, with newfound powers and an apparent lack of mastery over them, accidentally and briefly turns Beth into his mother which while saying "mommy, oh mommy" repeatedly and in an increasingly pathetic tone. This, in turn, causes Beth to vomit, which is exactly the reaction his mother had when he made sexual advances on her.
  24. Phantom: Erik's relationship with his mother is pretty twisted; then he goes and falls madly, passionately and irrevocably in love with Christine - who happens, by pure coincidence, to resemble Madeline exactly. Huh.
  25. Red Dwarf: Rimmer's second wife in his Better Than Life fantasy is a de-aged version of his own mother. He's horribly Squicked out by it once he works it out.

    Shout Out mentions of Oedipus (1) 
  1. Analyze This
    Dr Sobel: Oedipus is a Greek story about a man who kills his father and marries his mother.
    Vitti: Fucking Greeks.

    Administrivia/Zero Context Example (16) 
Although note that any example that includes only 2 names defacto is doing it wrong, because the trope is a 3-chapter dynamic.

  1. Blue Velvet: Frank seems to have a very weird one.
  2. Confessions: Shuya toward his mother. He takes this so seriously that it’s not even funny.
  3. Eve's Bayou: Cisely toward her father Louis. Maybe.
  4. Hitchcock: Oedipus Complex: Noted by many male characters brought into the Psycho production.
  5. Sleepwalkers: Charles, greatly for his mother.
  6. The Magnificent Ambersons: Isabel and George ALL. DAY. LONG.
  7. Until the End of the World: It's easy to interpret Trevor McPhee/Sam Farber as having a bad case of this.
  8. Yeelen: The entire catalyst for the plot.
  9. Ariel (Plath): The poem "Daddy" is from the perspective of a woman with an Electra Complex.
  10. Dangerous Spirits: Konstantin's conflict with his son had a significant impact on him and greatly colors his interactions with Alexei.
  11. Fate of the Jedi: Several fans see shades of this in Ben, regarding his relationship with Vestara.
  12. Garden of Shadows: Malcolm to his mother Corinne.
  13. Infinite Jest: Orin's relationship with his mother is... not good.
  14. Lady Susan: Gender Flipped with Frederica's and Lady Susan's rivalry over Reginald de Courcy.
  15. Our Dumb Century: "Eisenhower Warns of Military-Industrial-Oedipal Complex"
  16. Rant: This does not even begin to describe Green Taylor Simm's problems.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Jan 26th 2023 at 3:55:58 AM

GastonRabbit MOD Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#26: Jan 8th 2023 at 8:32:47 AM

Hooked a crowner. Let me know if I overlooked anything.

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Amonimus the Retromancer from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle
the Retromancer
#27: Jan 8th 2023 at 8:35:25 AM

"a trope transplant Trope Transplant" may be a typo.

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#28: Jan 8th 2023 at 8:46:15 AM

Fixed that.

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Eievie Since: Feb, 2014
#29: Jan 8th 2023 at 9:14:54 AM

For the transplant option, should we start drafting what the possible new-name-old-definition trope might look like? What such a thing might be like seems like relevant information in deciding whether it's something substantive, something we should actually do, or if we should scrap the idea.

Edited by Eievie on Jan 8th 2023 at 11:26:08 AM

Eievie Since: Feb, 2014
#30: Jan 8th 2023 at 11:30:28 AM

When it says "a trope based on the actual psychological term", what would that mean exactly? Characters who are Diagnosed by the Audience as having an Oedipus complex? Stories that canonically describe a character as having an Oedipus complex? If the text calls in an Oedipus complex, but in a pop-culture or Hollywood Psych way that doesn't actually line up with Freud's idea, would that be in or out?

Edited by Eievie on Jan 8th 2023 at 11:35:27 AM

Amonimus the Retromancer from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle
the Retromancer
#31: Jan 8th 2023 at 11:37:42 AM

A child developing sexual attachement to one parent and rivalry to another, to my understand. We can flesh it out when it comes to it. I see no point in putting restrictions on invoked examples.

What is "the pop-culture way" beside what the current page is?

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
Eievie Since: Feb, 2014
#32: Jan 8th 2023 at 12:21:31 PM

Any incest subtext with a parent is the most common usage I saw when doing the wick check. No rivalry with the other parent (or at least none that's mentioned).

Edited by Eievie on Jan 8th 2023 at 12:25:24 PM

Amonimus the Retromancer from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle
the Retromancer
#33: Jan 8th 2023 at 12:22:48 PM

[up] those examples can be moved to Incest Subtext if they won't fit to either new tropes.

Edited by Amonimus on Jan 8th 2023 at 11:23:47 PM

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
randomtroper89 from The Fire Nation Since: Nov, 2010
GastonRabbit Sounds good on paper (he/him) from Robinson, Illinois, USA (General of TV Troops) Relationship Status: I'm just a poor boy, nobody loves me
Sounds good on paper (he/him)
#35: Jan 8th 2023 at 1:46:46 PM

Regarding what the name Oedipus Complex would be used for after a Trope Transplant without the page being definition-only or a Useful Note, Amonimus summed it up with this paragraph:

A child developing sexual attachement to one parent and rivalry to another, to my understand. We can flesh it out when it comes to it. I see no point in putting restrictions on invoked examples.

It wouldn't need to be explicitly stated, whether in the work or via Diagnosis of God, and Diagnosed by the Audience wouldn't be a factor because it's more about a character's traits matching that of an Oedipus complex than it being explicitly stated (though it could be). It would also be objective because these would have to be traits that are objectively observable in the work.

Edited by GastonRabbit on Jan 8th 2023 at 3:47:00 AM

Patiently awaiting the release of Paper Luigi and the Marvelous Compass.
Eievie Since: Feb, 2014
#36: Jan 8th 2023 at 2:28:33 PM

Since Diagnosed by the Audience was recently moved from trope to YMMV, I thought the general preference lately was trying to move away from this type of armchair diagnosing. But if several of you think it's fine, I guess it's fine?

WarJay77 Big Catch, Sparkle Edition from The Void (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
#37: Jan 8th 2023 at 2:37:25 PM

Well, there's not much that it takes to "match the Oedipus Complex", really. Not so much armchair diagnosis so much as just saying "this character did the thing the complex supposedly makes people do".

Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
MasterN Berserk Button: misusing Berserk Button from Florida- I mean Unova Since: Aug, 2016 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
#38: Jan 8th 2023 at 2:44:53 PM

And if a character really loves his mom and one dirty-minded (and weird) viewer saw something that wasn’t there and added this as an example?

One of these days, all of you will accept me as your supreme overlord.
WarJay77 Big Catch, Sparkle Edition from The Void (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
#39: Jan 8th 2023 at 2:45:39 PM

It would get removed. There obviously needs to be some actual evidence beyond "Mama's boy".

Note that despite saying this I don't actually really care if we keep the trope around as an actual trope: I just don't think it's the same as armchair diagnosis.

Edited by WarJay77 on Jan 8th 2023 at 5:46:36 AM

Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Eievie Since: Feb, 2014
#40: Jan 8th 2023 at 3:49:03 PM

For a moment I was thinking that definition is too loose, that it'll invite misuse. But then I remembered that the old, totally unrelated definition didn't ward off misuse either. So yeah, this sounds good. [tup]

And if a character really loves his mom and one dirty-minded (and weird) viewer saw something that wasn’t there and added this as an example?

To me the bigger issue is the lack of any mention of the father here.

How incestuous does it need to be? I'm reading what other websites say about Oedipus Complex, to try to get some sense of what the "common" definition is. One thing I'm coming across is versions that downplay the incestuous aspect. Like, the son wants all his mother's attention and affection — attention and affection she's splitting between her child and her lover, making the child jealous. But the son doesn't want actual sex with her. But it is a possessive fixation, and so it functions like a love triangle, with even without literally being a sexual rivalry.

This idea makes sense to me; it makes the Oedipus Complex a much more reasonable concept. Something else I was surprised to learn about it is that the Oedipus Complex is supposed to be applied to roughly 3-to-6-year-olds (it persisting into adulthood is arrested development). The idea that 3-to-6-year-olds are driven by unconscious sexual motivations seems like Most Writers Are Adults. The idea that 3-to-6-year-olds are actually driven by a fervent, animalistic, but non-sexual neediness for their moms — a neediness that adults struggle to understand and might associate with the most animalistic desire of adulthood — makes a lot more sense.

But I also wonder if this isn't actually what Freud's idea was, but rather later writers trying to clean up, justify, or make his ideas seem more relatable — when actually his OG idea was just plain weird.

Edited by Eievie on Jan 8th 2023 at 4:06:21 AM

Noaqiyeum Trans Siberian Anarchestra (it/they) from the gentle and welcoming dark (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
Trans Siberian Anarchestra (it/they)
#41: Jan 9th 2023 at 2:56:29 PM

Diagnosed by the Audience wouldn't be a factor because it's more about a character's traits matching that of an Oedipus complex than it being explicitly stated (though it could be).

"This character's traits match the diagnostic criteria of [psychiatric condition]" is, in fact, basically what Diagnosed by the Audience is. The only difference is that the idea of an Oedipus complex has been repudiated by modern psychology. (Not, I may point out, that the audience's idea of an Oedipus complex is less pop-psych than modern diagnoses... as evidenced by all the misuse on the page.)

The Revolution Will Not Be Tropeable
Amonimus the Retromancer from <<|Wiki Talk|>> (Sergeant) Relationship Status: In another castle
the Retromancer
#42: Jan 9th 2023 at 3:00:38 PM

I don't think actual psychology is needed if this is about visible actions. (Though since another question could be if examples should state if a character has signs of the complex or only what the charcater does.)

e: missed the option that says Useful Notes

Edited by Amonimus on Jan 9th 2023 at 2:03:39 PM

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup
WarJay77 Big Catch, Sparkle Edition from The Void (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
#43: Jan 9th 2023 at 3:02:04 PM

Right, that's the thing. It's just saying "here's what an Oedipus Complex is, the character checks off the boxes", not "this character might have Autism because sometimes they struggle with emotion".

Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
Eievie Since: Feb, 2014
#44: Jan 9th 2023 at 6:30:52 PM

It's just saying "here's what an Oedipus Complex is, the character checks off the boxes", not "this character might have Autism because sometimes they struggle with emotion".

The difference you're suggesting is... hitting some vs all of the traits? I'm not seeing a distinction.

That said, an English teacher of mine once said, "We take defunct psychology and make it literature." So maybe there's something to that — that today, the Oedipus Complex isn't psych anymore and is instead a literary motif?

WarJay77 Big Catch, Sparkle Edition from The Void (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
#45: Jan 9th 2023 at 6:37:35 PM

No, the difference I'm suggesting is that if we have a defined Oedipus Complex trope, then all that'll take for a character to fit it is for them to follow the rules as defined by the trope.

The issue with Ambiguous Disorder was that it was literally just people analyzing characters and deciding they must have a disorder because they're slightly weird sometimes.

It's "fitting a trope definition" vs "overanalysis and speculation".

In other words, such a trope wouldn't necessarily be us saying "this character has a psychological complex and here's proof", it's "this is what an Oedipus Complex looks like as defined by media, and here are characters who fit this definition".

Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
amathieu13 Since: Aug, 2013
#46: Jan 9th 2023 at 7:19:04 PM

[up]Right the difference is that Ambiguous Disorder is a broad trope without specifics by design, since it's basically covering anytime a character is seemingly written (or interpreted to be written) as having any one of the myriad of mental and personality disorders. The ambiguity embedded in the trope leading to anything ranging from "This is the clinical definition of X disorder and the character meets all of it" to "This character had a one time Freak Out that is being extrapolated into possibly having X disorder" being considered valid reactions.

Oedipus Complex on the other hand is, in theory, very specific. The behavior is clearly outlined. Whether everyone agrees on that reading of a character isn't important if the character can be reasonably classified under the trope's specifics.

Edited by amathieu13 on Jan 9th 2023 at 10:19:55 AM

MasterN Berserk Button: misusing Berserk Button from Florida- I mean Unova Since: Aug, 2016 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
#47: Jan 9th 2023 at 8:08:20 PM

But what exactly are those specifics? What is the checklist a character needs to hit to fit this trope according to our definition?

One of these days, all of you will accept me as your supreme overlord.
WarJay77 Big Catch, Sparkle Edition from The Void (Troper Knight) Relationship Status: Armed with the Power of Love
Big Catch, Sparkle Edition
#48: Jan 9th 2023 at 8:12:23 PM

Well, depends on if we decide to keep this as a trope and set boundaries for it. Right now, it's just a hypothetical. I'm not advocating necessarily to keep it, I just wanted to prove that it was doable.

Current Project: Incorruptible Pure Pureness
amathieu13 Since: Aug, 2013
#49: Jan 9th 2023 at 9:21:42 PM

[up][up] According to Encyclopedia Brittanica: "a desire for sexual involvement with the parent of the opposite sex and a concomitant sense of rivalry with the parent of the same sex."

If we use that definition, any character who shows an explicit sexual attraction to their opposite sex parent and has a rivalrous relationship with the other parent because of the former would fall under the trope.

Orbiting Since: Nov, 2014 Relationship Status: Giving love a bad name
#50: Jan 9th 2023 at 9:31:01 PM

I thought the main difference between Ambiguous Disorder and Oedipus Complex is that Ambiguous Disorder is about diagnosing characters with real-life mental illnesses, while Oedipus Complex doesn't actually exist in real life. Incest exists, but there's no actual psychological complex where kids want to supplant one parent and get with the other.

Trope Repair Shop: Oedipus Complex
12th Jan '23 3:50:01 AM

Crown Description:

Consensus was to do a Trope Transplant by moving the current definition to another name, and reuse the Oedipus Complex name for a page based on the actual psychological term; move the page that will use the name Oedipus Complex (but not the page the current definition will be moved to) to Useful Notes (not mutually exclusive with disambiguating, which would result in the list of other pages being listed after the definition); and expand the current definition to gender-neutral version of a child trying to supplunt a parent's role in the family. What should the trope's new name be?

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