Rename: Strangled By The Red String

Crowner: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/PageAction/StrangledByTheRedString

Trope is about when a Token Romance gets played for the Emotional Torque of a proper Romance Arc.

Much less of a Subjective Trope than advertised; the "Strangled" in the title does it a disservice. It's non-indicative of what the trope is about- it reads as "Romance, but done poorly". Name change could help move it towards the right end of the "Normal Trope"———"So Bad It's Horrible" scale and reduce use of trope as a platform for people to Complain About Shows They Don't Like.

edited 21st Sep '10 10:44:38 AM by TripleElation

Well the Red Thread of Fate is an old tale about how you are tied to someone represented by an invisible red string (or the Will Of The Writer)... Strangled by it seems to be a correct term when it is Unwanted or doing Harm to the show.

edited 17th Sep '10 6:26:34 AM by Raso

^ Which is not what the trope is about, or ideally, what any trope should be about.

The trope is about a couple who go from romantically uninvolved to passionately in love with no in-between. "Strangled" may be a harsh term, but the connotation is there and as far as I know the name's working.

I rather like the term that BSG fans used to refer to the relationship between Apollo and Dualla - 'The Love That All Of A Sudden'.

i don't think it needs a rename— the idea of the Red String of Fate seems fairly well-known as a synonym for "True, Destined Love," and in that context, "strangling," while extreme, seems pretty clear— true love goes wrong somehow. i think the definition could use some trimming (honestly, that first paragraph is just confusing as hell, even without taking into account the potholes), but the meaning is there:

"So suddenly the main character, who just a few minutes ago was single, is thrown into a state of immense amorous passion with no forewarning. The Red String Of Fate has wrapped itself around The Hero and brought him together with this girl suddenly, blisfully and decisively together out of nowhere."

i think it is subjective, though. ideally, everybody would agree when a couple has been Strangled by the Red String, but since most people have their Shipping Goggles on... people will invariably use it for Complaining About Shows You Dont Like. however, since it's marked subjective, that's more than enough for me.

More than 300 wicks and 2000 inbound links tells me that the trope has gotten a pretty good spread throughout the wiki. Unless there is a large amount of misuse in the examples, I don't see why this one should be changed. It already has some clear-sounding redirects for use in that regard.

Against rename. It is the definition that needs some pruning.

Snared By The Red String would be more accurate, though it lacks in impact compared to the current title. I don't know if there are enough examples of misuse to justify a rename though.

Currently conducting a quick look at the wicks for misuse. One moment please.

Um, what would be a misuse?

Square Peg Round Trope, basically.

Unfortunately, I have to get going soon, and I won't be back until late, so here were the pages I was looking at (in case anyone else wants to take a look):

• Fan-Speak (I can already tell this is N/A, as an index)
• For Your Eyes Only
• Growing Up Sucks
• Heterosexual Life-Partners
• Relationship Sue
• Relationship Writing Fumble
• Skater Boy Syndrome
• Spider Riders
• Super Robot Wars K
• Fetish Fuel: X-Men

edited 17th Sep '10 3:21:29 PM by G-Mon

^^ Crash course for finding misuse.

1. On the page in question, click the "Related to..." button in the upper right corner, this will bring you to a screen similar to this.
2. At the top of this page is the number of inbound links and wicks in the wiki. The larger these numbers are, the more important it is to check for misuse.
3. Every page listed on this page contains a link to the page in question. Click the links, search for where the trope is mentioned (might require checking the source). Check if the trope is being misused
   • Strangled by the Red String: Alice and Bob barely talked to each other throughout the series, but in the last episode they were hurriedly rushed into being lovers. — This is an example of a correct wick.
   • Strangled by the Red String: In one episode, Charles gets strangled by a red string! — This is an example of misuse. There are other forms of misuse as well, but for a title like this, examples which fit the literal title, but not the trope, are the most telling that something is wrong with the name.
4. If the page has a very large number of wicks (upwards of 100 generally), it's acceptable to take a good percentage (at least 10%, depending on how many wicks there are) and judge based on those.

You realize you're telling that to DQZ, right?

One of the oldest tropers on the site? Most active person in the rename forum? Used to be Lord TNK?

>.< Teach me not to look at the person's name...with a question like that I just assumed it was a newbie.

edited 17th Sep '10 3:45:32 PM by Twilightdusk

I think he was asking "In this case, what would constitute "misuse"?"

But in point number 3, you did answer the question of what would specifically count for misuse on this trope.

I'd also count [Officical Pair I don't like] as a bad example.

It may need a cleanup, but I don't see why a name change is warranted.

People get emotionally invested when it comes to Shipping, so any trope dealing with it is eventually going to have entries written by someone wearing Shipping Goggles. Changing the name isn't going to stop them from doing so.

^ True, but there's making peace with that possibility and then there's asking for it. The potential problem with the title is that it may invoke the latter.

I get that this is an old trope, ingrained etc., and I'm not looking to rock the boat. I'm just bothered by the possibility of Trope Decay to "Official Couple I don't like". Let's see how the wicks turn out.

Note that the current description is a rewrite; Two days ago it started with "What happens when a Token Romance is done especially poorly?" and got better from there, complete with a very disparaging tone. Almost too tempting to slap it onto plot developments You Don't Like.

Edit: Take a look at the "Live action TV" example section on the trope page. Go ahead.

edited 18th Sep '10 4:49:39 AM by TripleElation

The reason this is a subjective trope is because what people constitute as a badly written or sudden romance changes from person to person. I'd wager, say, Squall and Rinoa of FFVIII are a pretty good one - reactions range to "WTF?!" to "TWOO WUUUUUV!".

Is this even actually about "done badly"? It looks to me more like "Done rapidly".

Yea, I think this has the potential to be done well, it's the out of left field aspect that makes the trope, that these characters who never showed interest in each other, maybe barely even met, are suddenly in love as strongly as the Official Couple.

Text from before very recent rewrite:

"What happens when the Red String of Fate and Token Romance are done especially poorly? Essentially, you get Strangled by the Red String. Where the main character, who was once single, is implausibly thrown into a relationship that's forced down the audience's throat. Love at First Sight taken to a fictional extreme. These two people are always somehow making out or getting it on, even if they knew each other for only a few minutes before they started getting busy. Even worse is when they have been in the same group for a long time and have mostly ignored each other. A clear violation of the "Show, Don't Tell" rule.

And they just simply have to announce their love to the whole world. Oh, and suddenly all of the other characters are telling us how these two belong to each other.

But don't expect them to be able to share any interests, or even be able to have a conversation about anything but their schmoopy love. The audience is supposed to be happy for them, but usually they'll be more disgusted than anything. Much like the Shallow Love Interest, ask yourself: what would these two do or talk about together if it wasn't about how much they're in love with each other? If you honestly can't answer the question, then it's pretty likely to be this trope."

This was too about "done badly". This sort of attitude is where the original title came from.

Yeah when I read "strangled" it seems more harmful like as in the string is wrapped around the show and is killing it than just a rushed relationship (which might not necessarily be a bad thing).

Cant think of an adj to describe a string quickly getting shorter pushing the couple together though.