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silveradeptChallenge #14 asks us to talk about our favorite trope(s). Here's the challenge text to help us get started:
Because it would be so much easier for everything if there were one or two things that I could say "why yes, those things will absolutely make an enjoyable time, regardless of anything else, please include them." Or even "by no means include these things, for they will be terrible and make the work completely unenjoyable." Alas, the curse of my multifannishness extends to being multitropey as well.
I'm not entirely sure why this is, to be honest. I find knowledge and stories fascinating in their whole, and I can appreciate the use of storytelling devices involved, and it's probably a good thing that I ended up in an information profession, because being able to recommend and find and otherwise articulate what's good about any given work or to help someone find the things the line or want (and providing useful human⇔machine translation services) is an essential component of the work I'm doing. So reading widely and understanding different tropes is important. Once would think that having done so would have let me figure out which things are entirely my jam and which are not.
I can say that I like fractured fairy tales and stories where genre tropes and conventions are stood in their head and otherwise used in such a way that someone with Genre Savvy ends up having Wrong Genre Savvy instead. And I also like stories where the protagonist having Genre Savvy means upending the entire political system as it has been constructed to make things better for everyone. And stories where all the tropes proceed as they would normally and a satisfying narrative is told about it. I might have a small predilection toward the works that play with the tropes, but that's usually for genres where I have read enough works that proceed mostly straightforwardly that I have a handle on how the tropes are being used. (And, perhaps, because trope-shaker holds have a higher likelihood of competent women, meaning more than one in the entire story.)
I enjoy the coffeeshop as much as the Ωverse as ideas and settings. I know that both hurt and comfort are useful, and that romances always have at least a Happy For Now, even if it's not yet the Happily Ever After. Humanity's fate can be decided equally as well between putting four elements in their correct places and then having them channel through a chosen one to provide the fifth element needed as it can needing to not come in last place for a megagalactic version of the Eurovision Song Contest. I don't particularly like gore (the concept), but there are me movies where the blood sprays and such cross over into comedy, rather than trying to be shocking horror, and those are usually just fine. Same for jump scares in general, because I feel like they're there mostly so the director can say "Startled you! You're scared now, aren't you?" and my startle reflex tends to start at "smash it" and level out into "the next time I see them, I'm going to make sure they don't do it again" or, if they enjoyed startling me, "I'm going to make their life hell until they apologize and leave me alone," or "I refuse to be around this person except in the most necessary of circumstances." I'm sure that's not a normal reaction to such a thing, but I also don't think snipe hunts are funny at all.
I could say that embarrassment is a squick for me, but it's the specific embarrassment of being a Gifted Child that does it, when people make fun of you for being something less than perfect. I have seen more than enough awkward romance comedies or other situations where someone is trying to do something, or goes comically (or tragically) wrong, and they end up embarrassed, and that's fine for me. (It had better be, otherwise a lot of Miraculous Ladybug would be unwatchable.) Enough of it and I will start lowering my opinion of the showrunners for going back to this particular problem when there are so many others to be explored, but it's not a hard no.
I guess there's really only one thing that I've found is consistent about my likes and dislikes across all the media that I've encountered. I want media that consistently plays by its own worldbuilding rules, and that provides explanations when those rules are violated. Magic A is Magic A, even when you take into account the infinite creative possibilities that a mind can come up with while still adhering to those rules. I might disagree entirely that those rules are good ones, or I might think of better ways to engage with those rules, but I will treat as canon rules that stay consistent. Works that break their own rules without an explanation present (or at least the strong insistence that an explanation is forthcoming) well toss me from the narrative extremely quickly.
So, yeah. That's not exactly an exciting thing to gush about. Keep your world consistent and I will likely enjoy your work. Woo. (On the other hand, there are a lot of works that don't manage to get over this bar and don't explicitly disclaim their continuity like Doctor Who does.)
One of my favorite things about fandom is the way we revel in the tropes -- we take those tidbits from favorite canons and twist them, turn them, fix the way the tropes were done wrong and come up with brand-new tropes so we can do them right.This is another one of those "it must be nice to be singularly focused" questions for me.
In your own space, share your love for a trope, cliché, kink, motif, or theme. (Or a few!) What makes it particularly appealing for you? What do you like in fanworks featuring that trope?
If you’d rather answer a quick question here than do an in-depth analysis (or both? And thanks to [Bad username or unknown identity: summerstorm"] for this idea): If you’re consuming a work featuring your favorite thing, what’s the moment (The Moment) that really hooks you? When that bulletproof kink hits you right in the heart (or elsewhere)?
Because it would be so much easier for everything if there were one or two things that I could say "why yes, those things will absolutely make an enjoyable time, regardless of anything else, please include them." Or even "by no means include these things, for they will be terrible and make the work completely unenjoyable." Alas, the curse of my multifannishness extends to being multitropey as well.
I'm not entirely sure why this is, to be honest. I find knowledge and stories fascinating in their whole, and I can appreciate the use of storytelling devices involved, and it's probably a good thing that I ended up in an information profession, because being able to recommend and find and otherwise articulate what's good about any given work or to help someone find the things the line or want (and providing useful human⇔machine translation services) is an essential component of the work I'm doing. So reading widely and understanding different tropes is important. Once would think that having done so would have let me figure out which things are entirely my jam and which are not.
I can say that I like fractured fairy tales and stories where genre tropes and conventions are stood in their head and otherwise used in such a way that someone with Genre Savvy ends up having Wrong Genre Savvy instead. And I also like stories where the protagonist having Genre Savvy means upending the entire political system as it has been constructed to make things better for everyone. And stories where all the tropes proceed as they would normally and a satisfying narrative is told about it. I might have a small predilection toward the works that play with the tropes, but that's usually for genres where I have read enough works that proceed mostly straightforwardly that I have a handle on how the tropes are being used. (And, perhaps, because trope-shaker holds have a higher likelihood of competent women, meaning more than one in the entire story.)
I enjoy the coffeeshop as much as the Ωverse as ideas and settings. I know that both hurt and comfort are useful, and that romances always have at least a Happy For Now, even if it's not yet the Happily Ever After. Humanity's fate can be decided equally as well between putting four elements in their correct places and then having them channel through a chosen one to provide the fifth element needed as it can needing to not come in last place for a megagalactic version of the Eurovision Song Contest. I don't particularly like gore (the concept), but there are me movies where the blood sprays and such cross over into comedy, rather than trying to be shocking horror, and those are usually just fine. Same for jump scares in general, because I feel like they're there mostly so the director can say "Startled you! You're scared now, aren't you?" and my startle reflex tends to start at "smash it" and level out into "the next time I see them, I'm going to make sure they don't do it again" or, if they enjoyed startling me, "I'm going to make their life hell until they apologize and leave me alone," or "I refuse to be around this person except in the most necessary of circumstances." I'm sure that's not a normal reaction to such a thing, but I also don't think snipe hunts are funny at all.
I could say that embarrassment is a squick for me, but it's the specific embarrassment of being a Gifted Child that does it, when people make fun of you for being something less than perfect. I have seen more than enough awkward romance comedies or other situations where someone is trying to do something, or goes comically (or tragically) wrong, and they end up embarrassed, and that's fine for me. (It had better be, otherwise a lot of Miraculous Ladybug would be unwatchable.) Enough of it and I will start lowering my opinion of the showrunners for going back to this particular problem when there are so many others to be explored, but it's not a hard no.
I guess there's really only one thing that I've found is consistent about my likes and dislikes across all the media that I've encountered. I want media that consistently plays by its own worldbuilding rules, and that provides explanations when those rules are violated. Magic A is Magic A, even when you take into account the infinite creative possibilities that a mind can come up with while still adhering to those rules. I might disagree entirely that those rules are good ones, or I might think of better ways to engage with those rules, but I will treat as canon rules that stay consistent. Works that break their own rules without an explanation present (or at least the strong insistence that an explanation is forthcoming) well toss me from the narrative extremely quickly.
So, yeah. That's not exactly an exciting thing to gush about. Keep your world consistent and I will likely enjoy your work. Woo. (On the other hand, there are a lot of works that don't manage to get over this bar and don't explicitly disclaim their continuity like Doctor Who does.)
no subject
Date: 2020-01-27 11:54 pm (UTC)For me, this has been a useful challenge to consider those elements that are consistent across the things I've gotten fannish about -- it's kind of a weird variety, and I'm starting to identify what trips my trigger, if you will. :D
no subject
Date: 2020-01-28 12:16 am (UTC)I think my continued engagement with Pern is helping me build the world that I wish it was, instead of the one it is, and that's definitely a fannish thing. But I don't recommend the canon to anyone without wanting them equipped with what they will expect. So is that being a fan or not?
no subject
Date: 2020-01-28 12:35 am (UTC)I think it IS being a fan, especially in terms of watching out for your fellow fans and making sure they get the best experience possible. :D