Cool, adding. Then I guess if the Heroes Prefer Fire draft launches I'll add it on here too.
We are all destined to make our own choices.
Would The Bechdel Test go on here? (maybe in a different section than the tropes?) It's a useful notes page, not a trope, but it is a something in aggregate.
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I'd say yes. Because the entire point of the test (as stated by Bechdel herself) is to comment on how common it is for works to fail the test. Not to use it as an absolute measurement of whether or not a single work is sexist or feminist.
So... this page is basically just stereotypes. From what I understand from the description, the concept is that "tropes in aggregate" are things that are only tropes because they appear in a lot of things. But... isn't that what makes a trope in the first place? Something that has less than three examples isn't a trope, right? So what makes something a trope at all is that it's a pattern that appears in multiple works. I don't see why stereotype tropes are different in that respect.
The only thing I can think of that makes these tropes different is that other tropes have some sort of cause-and-effect implication between their different elements, but that's not necessarily true. (And it's not necessarily untrue about these - presumably the reason someone would write a stereotypical character is that they believe the stereotype holds true in real life...)
Edited by lavendermintrose I made this Idolized Julius Kingsley icon back when Akito first came out, and now that the crossover is actually happening, I don't care. Hide / Show Replies
The main issue is the X + Y = Trope problem. For example, sometimes a trope is cut because it was basically X + Y = Trope, but there was no "greater implication" offered for why it existed beyond that. So it was deemed Not A Trope.
Tropes like Scary Black Man and other stereotypes (I'm assuming) are immune because we KNOW that they're tropes and we know why they exist. (Early media was very racist, and modern media is racist when they think they can get away with it.) So, to summarize, this page essentially tries to circumvent "Not A Trope" by saying that the pattern/stereotype IS the trope.
Edited by NubianSatyress
Wouldn't most stereotypes go on this list, by definition*? How about adding index-level pages like National Stereotypes and Race Tropes?
* In the sense that "the guy who owns the store is Asian" or "the black kid is a geek" are not by themselves really tropes.
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A discussion over at TLP got me wondering: is Heroes Prefer Swords a TIA? It kind of seems like it should be, since the whole point of HPS (as I understand it) is the pattern of The Hero wielding a sword across genres and media.
Edited by LeoMR We are all destined to make our own choices. Hide / Show Replies