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I'm not sure the word obvious is as ambiguous as all that. The trope is about a plot element that is being ignored by the writers for effect. No writer for the show was unaware that the last person to rely on for sensible behavior was Gilligan. They were also very aware Gilligan was the go-to Reset Button for any episode. The writer's expect that you know this stuff, too. It is obvious. That's the gag.
It is a bit of "Here's where we depart from reality. Please engage Suspension of Disbelief."
As an aside, I think you will notice that as soon as it is known by any character in the JJ story that it has to do with the voice, measures are taken. Without exception. Ditto for when it is known that the [[strike]]midi-chlorians[[/strike]] viruses are a factor.
Edited by eyebones For every complex problem there is an answer that is clear, simple, and wrong. — H.L. Mencken"The trope is about a plot element that is being ignored by the writers for effect."
Assuming you're right, that's not how the trope is being used. Look through the examples. It's being used as a catch-all "Why didn't they do this?"
And that's assuming you are right, because I don't see that specification anywhere in the description.

Shouldn't Just Eat Gilligan be Audience Reaction? The trope is for when characters don't do something "obvious" to conclude, or at least challenge, a major problem within the work.
The problem is, "obvious" is not something people agree on. The trope itself states that the proposed solution doesn't even need to be something that works, but just something that would be worth doing at least once to see how things panned out.
I brought this up recently in discussion about Series.Jessica Jones (regarding a villain with Compelling Voice), as many arguments have surfaced on the internet as to why the protagonists don't take a number of methods to avoid being able to hear/understand the person's voice, as it's demonstrated that not being able to hear or understand him is a major weakness.
It was argued by another troper that any methods used to try to fight someone without hearing them could possibly be countered by the villain. My argument is that this isn't relevant to the trope; again, the trope doesn't state that the methods are flawless. Just that they might be useful. Indeed, when someone finally DOES try using headphones and loud music to cover their ears, it works. The problem is that this isn't tried until literally the LAST battle, and it's only tried by one person.
Edited by KingZeal