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Adept MOD (Holding A Herring)
2015-09-01 01:33:06

I'd say the former. Uncanny Family Resemblance seem to be for people outside the immediate family/distant relatives.

And "the picture speaks for itself" is not a context.

Edited by Adept
Elfkaiser Since: May, 2013
2015-09-01 02:25:10

Uncanny Family Resemblance apparently has a lot of examples involving siblings who look alike, some of which don't mention parents.

  • In Fairy Tail, Hoteye, the man with the polygonal face, mentions he had a missing younger brother, who is later revealed to be the even more polygonal Wally from a previous arc.
  • Haru and Yuuzan have this in My Little Monster. It's easy to identify them as brothers, but it's also easy to tell them apart.
  • In Eyeshield 21, it's revealed that Gaou has a little brother and little sister. Gaou's sister looks like a normal elementary-school girl, but Gaou's brother looks just like a miniature version of him, right down to the muscles and the mane of Anime Hair.
  • In most of Tyler Perry's movies, Perry dresses in drag to play Madea, Madea's brother (not in drag but with a lot of makeup and a wig) and another character (no makeup), who is usually related to Madea.
  • In the 1950s St. Trinian's movies, Alastair Sim played both the school's headmistress, Miss Fritton, and her disreputable brother. Rupert Everett did the same in the 2007 reboot.
  • In the movie adaptation of Fred Vargas' novel Wash This Blood Clean From My Hands, both Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg and his younger brother Raphaël are played by Jean-Hugues Anglade, which is especially noticeable in the scenes where they talk together as they have the same voice. This is perfectly intentional, as Retancourt makes use of the resemblance between the two in order to help Jean-Baptiste escape from the Canadian cops.
  • In Blake's 7 Tarrant is revealed to have a brother who looked exactly like him for no apparently reason and is killed off in the episode he is introduced in without even meeting Tarrant despite having been separated for years.
  • In the Dad's Army episode "My Brother And I", Captain Mainwaring's degenerate drunken brother Barry, also played by Arthur Lowe, makes an appearance.
  • The Koenig brothers in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., all of whom are played by Patton Oswalt. A Running Gag is that each brother refers to another as "the shorter one."
  • In Peanuts Linus and his little brother Rerun look almost exactly the same. The only way they can be told apart is height, hair (Rerun's is a bit flatter) or outfit (Linus wears red and black stripes while Rerun wears overalls).
  • In Book-It Repertory Theatre's play of Sense and Sensibility, (non-twin) brothers Edward and Robert Ferrars were played by the same actor.

Strong Family Resemblance seems to be involve parent and children who look alike.

Edited by Elfkaiser
Derkhan Since: Nov, 2012
2015-09-01 07:13:04

Sounds like Uncanny Family Resemblance, simply because the trope description (which is a better indicator than examples, as examples can be shoehorned) for Strong Family Resemblance says it's a child/parent thing.

Elfkaiser Since: May, 2013
2015-09-01 11:13:13

Having a bit of a discussion about this with troper LSBK who pretty much started this question of mine and who I'm unfortunately having a bit of an edit war with related to the matter at hand based on contributions. I have my opinion that the more appropriate trope would be Uncanny Family Resemblance however some more outside input on at least this matter could help mitigate things as they seem to be getting heated.

rodneyAnonymous Since: Aug, 2010
2015-09-01 12:15:27

Disinterested third opinion: "The picture speaks for itself" is not context, it is exactly Word Cruft that disguises the example as being not obviously empty. See Zero-Context Example for more examples of that.

Becky: Who are you? The Mysterious Stranger: An angel. Huck: What's your name? The Mysterious Stranger: Satan.
Wyldchyld (Old as dirt)
2015-09-01 17:44:32

I've always used them as follows:

Strong Family Resemblance is a Parent/Child trope.

Uncanny Family Resemblance is for any other blood relationships that do not have their own specific tropes. So, siblings would be here, but parent/child examples would be the above trope instead. Cousins would be here, but a grandson resembling a grandparent would instead go under Identical Grandson.

I don't know if identical twins would be Uncanny Family Resemblance, however: there will probably be a more relevant twin trope to use instead.

However, I could be wrong. Don't edit war though. Use the Discussion Page.

Edited by Wyldchyld If my post doesn't mention a giant flying sperm whale with oversized teeth and lionfish fins for flippers, it just isn't worth reading.
Adept MOD (Holding A Herring)
2015-09-01 17:50:48

Huh. I thought Strong Family Resemblance is for immediate family, while Uncanny Family Resemblance is for relationship outside this — so uncles, cousins, second cousins, etc.

shimaspawn MOD Since: May, 2010
2015-09-01 18:51:49

Please take this to Trope Talk. It's getting a bit in depth for Ask The Tropers.

Reality is that, which when you stop believing in it, doesn't go away. -Philip K. Dick
Elfkaiser Since: May, 2013
2015-09-02 10:32:52

Moved discussion to here per request.

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