TVTropes Now available in the app store!
Open

Follow TV Tropes

Ask The Tropers

Go To

Have a question about how the TVTropes wiki works? No one knows this community better than the people in it, so ask away! Ask the Tropers is the page you come to when you have a question burning in your brain and the support pages didn't help. It's not for everything, though. For a list of all the resources for your questions, click here. You can also go to this Directory thread for ongoing cleanup projects.

Ask the Tropers:

Trope Related Question:

Make Private (For security bugs or stuff only for moderators)

wrm5 Since: Mar, 2014
2015-08-26 01:33:11

I'd go ahead and change it.

Irene (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
2015-08-26 01:35:26

There's absolutely no reason we should note the actor unless they're specifically relevant, which should be in Trivia at most. We're troping the character and their actions in the particular work, after all.

Shadow?
SeptimusHeap MOD (Edited uphill both ways)
2015-08-26 02:12:29

Nope. Character names, please.

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
bwburke94 (Y2: Electric Boogaloo)
2015-08-26 03:30:35

In a nutshell: don't reference the actor in the example unless the actor is relevant to the example in a way their character is not. So unless the trope is something like Actor Allusion, it's a no-go.

2025: the year it all ends?
StFan Since: Jan, 2001
2015-08-26 04:47:47

When I started troping on the wiki years ago, that was one of the things that annoyed me the most, so much I made an entry on How Not to Write an Example about it.

That was especially bad with some iconic actors like Arnold Schwarzenegger; from many of the examples you'd think the guy is a mass-murderer.

Larkmarn Since: Nov, 2010
2015-08-26 06:54:18

Yeah, I've done it myself especially in films where a famous actor's character's name is sorta forgettable, but I at least always say "Arnold's character..." rather than say he does it himself.

Found a Youtube Channel with political stances you want to share? Hop on over to this page and add them.
GnomeTitan Since: Aug, 2013
2015-08-26 07:14:30

I think it can be justified to mention the actor's name if the work or the part are not well known, but the character's name should still be mentioned:

"In this Schwartzenegger movie, Arnold's character, Bob, does this", or "Bob (played by Arnold Schwartzenegger) does this".

Fighteer MOD (Time Abyss)
2015-08-26 07:24:02

That assumes standards of notability, and reads like an advertisement. "Look, Brad Pitt was in this film!"

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
GnomeTitan Since: Aug, 2013
2015-08-26 08:48:39

That's true, but the reason I don't mind it is that it helps identify the work. If you just see the name of the movie and the character's name, you may not be able to identify it, but if you also see Brad Pitt's name, you go "Oh, it's that movie where Brad Pitt plays an orthodontist".

SolipSchism Since: Jun, 2014
2015-08-26 12:12:02

If a reader needs to know the cast listing for a movie, they should go to Wikipedia, or better, IMDB. We're here to document tropes in stories, that's it. Short of trivia, there is literally no reason you would ever need to know anything about the actors in a work in order to trope it. We're not here to help you "identify" works. presumably, if you're reading the page, you've already identified it, which is how you found the page.

Fighteer MOD (Time Abyss)
2015-08-26 12:33:45

Or you can pop over to You Know That Show. You can also go to the article on Brad Pitt and check its related links.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
GnomeTitan Since: Aug, 2013
2015-08-26 13:06:23

I get it, and I see why it's not a good thing. I was just arguing that there is at least some justification for the practice (in which, for the record, I don't indulge myself).

^^Solip Schism: it's no problem if I'm reading the work page, because it should describe the movie, mention actors, anyway. I agree that there's absolutely no need to mention actor names in the trope list on a work page. I was referring to the case where you're seeing a work mentioned on a trope page. (This is just to explain what I meant - I'm not trying to argue anything anymore.)

^Fighteer: Or I could just click on the link to the work page (which is, of course, what I usually do).

Edited by GnomeTitan
rodneyAnonymous Since: Aug, 2010
2015-08-26 13:09:29

"Bob jumped over the lazy dog" > "Bob, played by Arnold Schwarzenegger, jumped over the lazy dog" >> "Arnold Schwarzenegger's character, Bob, jumped over the lazy dog" > "Arnold Schwarzenegger jumped over the lazy dog"

Becky: Who are you? The Mysterious Stranger: An angel. Huck: What's your name? The Mysterious Stranger: Satan.
Top