While the title is not misused, I tend to agree that this could use a rename. It is a very common trope (kids team up to force conflicting adults to get along) and has only a dozen or so non index wicks and less than 10 examples. Clearly the name is hindering the trope and a rename is in order.
Also the title is misleading, the parents in The Parent Trap are divorced, not feuding families.
edited 28th Sep '10 3:30:02 PM by Ghilz
This came up before, I remember arguing in favor of a rename because the trope called Parent Trap Plot should describe the plot of the Parent Trap, which it does not currently.
BTW, I'm a chick.Yeah, the current description is actually more Romeo And Juliet Plot - two households, both alike in dignity, from ancient grudge break to new mutiny, yadda yadda, kids bring them together. Now with less dying and romance!
The parent trap is about "My dad and your mom should be together. Oh hey, we're actually twins! Even better!"
edited 28th Sep '10 11:52:21 PM by Yamikuronue
BTW, I'm a chick.Ah no.
The Parent Trap was about a mother and father that are divorced and the kids get them back together.
personally, when i think of the parent trap the first thing that comes to mind is twins. a Luke I Am Your Twin-type plot where the twins switch places... which is already some other trope, right? i don't really get the "getting the parents back together" part right away— that doesn't even come in until much later in the movie.
going with that, i think the title is misleading. i would've never guessed that the trope was about two feuding families instead of just one. either way i think it needs a rename— and make a separate trope for a "get the parents back together" plot.
The only part I left out was the bit about being previously divorced, which was intentional, because I've seen at least one variant where they were never married and I'd still consider it a Parent Trap Plot, slightly modified.
In any event it's certainly not this trope.
edited 29th Sep '10 11:13:43 AM by Yamikuronue
BTW, I'm a chick.Though I still think there is a room for the current trope too, what Yami referred to as Romeo And Juliet light.
^^ Yeah. That's pretty much exactly what I thought. I didn't even remember that the kids from the Parent Trap were twins.
All I remember clearly was that they had a plan to trick their parents into getting together - which in part I remember most because a lot of movies I saw while growing up tried to copy it. Hence, the trope.
edited 29th Sep '10 4:09:26 PM by KnownUnknown
Except as it stands the trope is about two parents of totally unrelated kids deciding they hate each other and the kids can't play anymore, and the kids having to solve the family feud. Which is Romeo and Juliet, not Parent Trap. At the end everyone's friends again - nobody's marrying anyone.
BTW, I'm a chick.Blegh. "[Show] Plot" titles are always inherently confusing and betray a serious lack of creativity. Why would anyone argue to keep it?
Lets Get Mommy And Daddy Together Again would cover this perfectly - at least it would cover the actual plot of The Parent Trap, anyway.
"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"So I found this YKTTW discussion about this: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/discussion.php?id=9dpzbdtwhmdepb2t52c5tdpt
proposed trope. When I read the title of this trope, I figured somebody had found out that we already had the YKTTW as a trope. Much to my surprise, we do not already have that trope, instead we have this trope, which does not really resemble the plot of the parent trap using the parent trap as it's name.
Romeo and Juliet Plot definitely makes better sense, as that is closer to what this trope page actually describes.

Parent Trap Plot
When I read that article title, the first thing that springs to mind is Twin Switch. Is it just me?