#trope deconstruction

[shy-raccoon]

The damsel in distress slowly starts getting more and more unstable from the unaddressed trauma of being frequently kidnapped. One day they completely snap and the villains start being found mysteriously murdered with increasing brutality.

[wolf-tail]

I need ya'll to reccomend me the most generic, most cliche "Chosen One" fantasy media out there. I'm talking full-blown power fantasy. No subversion, no deconstruction.

[sizzlingsandwichperfection-blog]

People are like, "He's not very active on here," but do y'all know how many unsent drafts I have clapping back at the haters who still think Paper Towns is a Manic Pixie Dream Girl novel?

[princesssarisa]

My post about whether or not Lydia should be saved from Wickham in modern Pride and Prejudice retellings has gotten more likes and reblogs than I expected. It's made me think of another possibility of why Austen didn't save her from him.

Presumably, Lydia and Wickham's marriage could have been avoided in only three ways that would have left Lydia's reputation intact. The first is if they had only been planning to elope, but it was prevented, as with Georgiana. The second is if they had been found earlier and separated before Lydia lost her virginity. Or else Lydia could have listened to Darcy and left Wickham, and then Darcy could have used his influence to protect her honor: e.g. by claiming that she was kidnapped, or by arranging a decent marriage for her.

If Austen had wanted to make any of those choices to free Lydia, she could have done it without drastically changing the plot. But if she had, it might have felt a bit too "literary" and unrealistic.

I've just been re-watching some of Dr. Octavia Cox's literary analysis videos on YouTube. They reminded me that Austen always loved to skewer the tropes and clichés of other literature, especially Gothic melodrama, whether in outright parody or in subtler deconstruction.

Dr. Cox's video on the elder Eliza's fate in Sense and Sensibility particularly highlights this trend in Austen. She argues that Eliza's story is a classic, clichéd Gothic melodrama (a beautiful orphan, an abusive uncle, thwarted romance, forced marriage to a cruel man, a "fall" into a life of "sin," and ultimate illness and death, all narrated by Colonel Brandon in heightened, poetic language), and that Austen's point in including it was arguably to highlight that this wouldn't be the fate of her heroines. Marianne comes close to it with Willoughby and with her near-fatal illness, but in the end she's saved. Austen's point was arguably to say "Yes, I know all about this type of melodrama, I know all the clichés, but I'm relegating it to the backstory, because that's not what I want to write."

(I don't know if everyone would interpret the elder Eliza's storyline this way, but it's how Dr. Cox reads it.)

Maybe with Lydia's fate, and with the backstory of how Georgiana was freed from Wickham, Austen was doing something similar.

I'm not enough of an expert on Georgian literature to know if the rescuing of girls from predatory men with their virginity and honor intact was a cliché or not. But it does appear in late 18th century comic opera. For example, Mozart's Don Giovanni: the title character is the ultimate womanizer, but he has no success with any of the women he tries to prey on over the course of the opera. His seductions are stopped by the timely, chance arrivals of his enemies, his victims get away unscathed, and he pays for his crimes with his life in the end. Or The Marriage of Figaro: the Count's designs on Susanna are thwarted, and he's humiliated and forced to beg his wife's forgiveness.

If stories of womanizers being thwarted and punished, and their female victims saved with virtue intact, were as common in the literature of the day as they are in opera from that era, then maybe Austen used Wickham and Lydia to deconstruct them.

We definitely see some skewering of poetic cliche in the fact that despite Mrs. Bennet's fears/hopes, Lydia's honor is saved with a bribe instead of a duel.

Maybe like the Eliza backstory in Sense and Sensibility, the backstory of Georgiana's near-elopement can be read as a more perfect "literary" example of a girl escaping a cad's clutches. The elopement was thwarted partly by pure chance, as Darcy paid a surprise visit just before Wickham and Georgiana meant to run off, and partly because Georgiana was a “good victim,” whose conscience got the better of her and who chose her family and honor over her whirlwind romance.

But similar luck isn't on Lydia's side, nor does she make the right, “virtuous" choices. Darcy doesn't find the lovers until Lydia has already been living with Wickham, and like a typical reckless teenager, she cares nothing for either her reputation or her family compared to her infatuation with him. So Darcy is forced to bribe Wickham to marry her, Wickham goes unpunished except that he loses his hope of marrying rich, and all the characters have to live with the results of the scandal for the rest of their lives.

By having Georgiana's successful escape from Wickham be mere backstory while foregrounding Lydia's lack of escape, maybe once again Austen was saying "I could have freed Lydia this way – I know the tropes other authors might have used to free her – but I'm a more cynically realistic writer than that, so I won't."

I have no idea if this is valid or not, but it's a theory.

[eepejay]

Jenny and her dads. Imagine a world where the Revolution arc began with them retiring to raise her. Based off Wildstorm MA.

[nightswatchdisbandmentera]

Underrated reason why Lyanna as the KotLT just works is because it follows a pattern of deconstruction re the concept of knightly chivalry and honor, from Lyanna herself to her son 15yrs+ later. Lyanna as the KotLT is a gender-swapped version of the ‘knight rescues a helpless maiden from raucous bullies’ trope, but grrm of course puts his spin on it because one Lyanna is not even a knight to begin with and two, she’s a girl. Then knight!Lyanna fights the bullies which is again an adaptation of another trope: the ‘mysterious knight-errant enters the joust and wins then dips’, which is interesting because these types of knights sometimes fall into the black knight trope. And the black knight is, more often than not, not the hero. But the main reason why this is so interesting is Jon. Lyanna “cosplays” a black knight, but her son Jon later becomes an actual black knight. Jon then repeats his mother’s actions by defending Sam in AGoT, which is another subversion of the aforementioned ‘knight rescues a helpless maiden trope’ because the helpless maiden in this case is a helpless…lad…Though Jon and Lyanna acting as agents outside the bounds of knighthood (Lyanna being a northern woman and Jon being a member of the NW) puts them more in line with the traditional black knight (who is usually an anti-hero/villain), the actual essence of their actions puts them closer to the more valiant and honorable white knight according to tradition.

[beneathsilverstars]

it's an interesting dynamic that a lot of kids shows have a human (or human-ish) main character who helps/rules/etc a place full of sentient but non-human creatures. princess peach and the toads, true and the rainbow kingdom, charlie's colorforms city, gabby's dollhouse, etc etc

often this is bc the main character is a self insert for the child viewer, and children love to imagine playing with creatures and critters, plus it's convenient to make the "npcs" something easier to design and animate than a bunch of a humans. but you end up with the one outsider coming in as a savior? and i'm always just like. the rammies

[saucefunk]

hello letterboxd user. before you is a review page for a film. you have 2 minutes to write a review without giving it one star claiming that it will ‘never be’ a film is clearly took inspiration from. if you are able to differentiate that inspiration is not intended to be imitation nor a replacement of its original, you will receive the keys to the shotgun collar around your neck,

[currymanganese]

I think they've subliminally teased

John Cena as Sammy Fak since season one, there are multiple sound bites used for the Ballbreaker arcade machine in The Original Beef that features prominently in Season One, before the restaurant's renovation and Neil Fak's removal of the machine to his home. Listen to the soundbite at the end of this clip which happens directly after Richie browbeats and emasculates Carmy in front of Sydney and the rest of the staff before Fak comes in to service the Ballbreaker machine.....

Doesn't that sound like John Cena's voice in character as Sammy? There's something to be said for the way the Faks operate like NPCs on the periphery of Carmy's life and seem to orbit around him - and now with his fractured relationship with Claire they seem to be circling closer, in and in.

P.S. If you find this interesting, you may want to check out my fan theory post here on the Faks and their dynamic with Claire; including that they may be a dark, satirical visualization of Carmy's desire for Sydney being cock-blocked.

@thoughtfulchaos773 @whenmemorydies @vacationship @greekyogurttragedy @vacationship @imliterallyjustablackgirl @bioloyg @thehouseofevangelista @laryssamedeirss @brokenwinebox @ambeauty @angelica4equity @tvfantic87 @caiusmarciuscoriolanus @post-woke

[stuck-in-jelly]

Obsessed with how Claudia and Soren view magic.

Claudia views magic as something amazing and special, even dark magic despite having to ‘harvest’ from living creatures in order to use it. Because in the end how could something that helps her friends and family be bad? How could something that saved an entire kingdom from starvation be evil?

Soren meanwhile doesn’t care about dark magic vs primal magic. In his eyes Dark magic can be used for immense good just as much as Primal magic can be used for horrific evils. At the end of the day all magic has ever done is divide people and cause years of suffering.

But they are both such hypocrites (affectionate).

Claudia views dark magic as a gift, something to take pride in having. But when she is finally broken down she reflects back she feels disgusted at herself for viewing living creatures as parts. Then when pushed into a dangerous situation she cried out “Don’t make me! Don’t make me do dark magic!”

Soren believes the world would be better without magic at all. Yet he turned to it, he looked his father in his eyes and said “You have your other way! Dark magic.” Not caring that Viren explained the original spell was a primal spell and the new spell would require a terrible sacrifice.

[lucy-ghoul]

still baffled that one popular anti-dany argument pre s8 was that since she was wearing black she leaning toward the Dark Side™...... as if in the same series another unambigously heroic protagonist didn't enlist into the night's guard where everyone must wear black, and the series' author wasn't explicitly against this kind of stereotypical tropes lmao

[wolf-tail]

I'd rather see a billion more cliche cookie-cutter stories than so much as one more gritty mean-spirited "deconstruction".

[pocketgalaxies]

Since you’ve now watched the wedding do you have any thoughts on Derrig especially with how important he is to Orym? I remember the first time I watched it I found him boring compared to Lieve’tel who came before him and he didn’t do much, like you said nobody really did for a while there, cause it was mostly role play since it was a wedding and he was just out of place in that aspect too as Keyleth’s bodyguard who they were just meeting for the first time; and even after all this time and knowing he is incredibly important to a main character in C3, I still can’t shake this initial impression.

hello sorry for answering this late i wanted to catch up on c3

it got kinda long. didn't realize i could have so many thoughts about this dude!

i actually really enjoyed derrig! i think liam established him very quickly as someone who is fatherly, practical, and friendly. no-nonsense when shit hit the fan but also i just Know that he loves dad jokes and he makes his kids cringe so bad with how much he brags about them. he went home after the wedding and played scanlan shorthalt records nonstop until everyone in the house went crazy. he has also lost hours and hours and hours of sleep over what might happen to his family if he ever dies in the line of duty, and he knows that he might, and he knows that he Would if keyleth needed him to.

i think in general he's just such a Dad and that makes him very endearing to me. he is significantly older than all of vm and was very patient fielding all of their super nosy unprofessional questions about what he "intends to do" with keyleth. he watched her grow up and he knew vax (probably a bit better than he let on) and i think he has seen how that loss affected her, and i think he understands that the worry he's felt for her over the last several months could only be a fraction of how vm feels. so he entertains their questions, and he stays by her side when she's panicking about her speech, and he tells vex he's sorry, and he's just there, in case he's needed. not just by keyleth but by any of vm. which speaks volumes imo!

SORRY you asked about orym not keyleth. i think it's all about how derrig's interactions with vm reflect what his family must be like. derrig is a bit of a jokester and he's a bit of a boomer (affectionate) but he is diligent and dedicated and very skilled. in my mind orym was always this constantly Serious person while will had more of that silliness in him and pulled orym out of his shell a bit. i think will took after derrig as a jokester but orym took after him as a Soldier. and it's very easy to imagine how orym fit in to this family – an only child, quiet and severe, who loves his single mother deeply, being welcomed into this bustling loud family with the pranksters and the annual vacations and the spontaneous competitions with dad that are judged by mom. they love him like one of their own. they love him because he is one of their own

and i think losing derrig and will was zephrah losing two brilliant sparks of life, and what was left was a family mourning joy and memories and unconditional love. and i think that explains quite a lot about orym, actually.

[yinyuedijun]

anyway I'm over it

[cw slavery, implied abuse, omegaverse]

[canonaspecswag]

Canon Aspec Swag Showdown: Data Soong vs Murderbot

Data Soong from Star Trek: The Next Generation (1987). Data is an android and has no sexual attraction or desire. You can read about him as ace representation here and here

vs

Murderbot from The Murderbot Diaries by Martha Wells. Murderbot is a bot-human construct, made from cloned human genetic material and robotic parts. It has human emotions but is sex and romance repulsed.

"Martha Wells: When I was working on the first novella, it didn't seem logical that a SecUnit would be given any kind of reproductive system or any human parts that weren't directly useful for its security function. And the way Murderbot feels about humans, it didn't seem logical for its personality that it would identify with any one gender, or be interested in choosing a human gender for itself, and it sure wouldn't be interested in human sexual relations. So in a way I guess it was a coincidence, since I didn't plan it from the start, it was just part of the process of developing the character as I was writing. And thank you!"

[imbecominggayer]

How To Write A Deconstruction!

And a subversion. And aversions as well since I am here to get clicks baby!

Hi, Small-Time Tumblr User™ here to tell you how to write different types of twists and turns in your tropes. Remember, just because it's new doesn't mean it's interesting or compelling. Tropes are exceedingly important so don't get all arrogant and pretentious here

Formatting wise, i'm going to go from aversion to subversion and then to deconstruction!

Aversion

Aversions are exceedingly simple so that's what we are starting with first!

The definition of aversion is when a writer makes the conscious decision to not include an expectation of the genre within a story.

A subversion is where the writer literally "subverts our expectations," while an aversion is where the writer completely avoids them from the get-go .

Aversions are rarely ever mentioned because there are thousands of tropes within a genre that just avoiding one is rarely unique. For example, romance without enemies to lovers is an aversion but not a notable one.

It also doesn't count when the expectation for a trope isn't there. A sci-fi story lacking in magic isn't an aversion because magic isn't expected in a sci-fi story!

Aversions tends to be only mentioned when the trope is so ubiquitous in a genre that's lack is a huge surprise. For example, a sci-fi work in space where there is genuinely no noise in space.

This section, as you can guess, was less about writing advice and more about dismissing buzzwords you hear

Subversion

A subversion is where the expectation for a trope is set up within the actual story but is avoided.

Subversions are a common tool in comedic scenarios since comedy is all about the playing with expectations! You can't have a joke if everything that happens was expected to happen.

For example, a "violent" horror movie where nobody dies is a subversion because all the attacking sets up the belief that one of these characters are gonna die BUT they don't!

Deconstruction

Deconstruction is the entire foundation of a story involving a close analysis of a concept to reveal the inherent instability and contradictorary subjectivity of itself.

A common and "easy" way to deconstruction is to ask how the trope would fare in the real world and the consequences associated with the trope. Think about the politics of weird fantasy cultures! Actually try to understand how being the depressed girl hiding her despression with pluckiness isn't just an interesting reveal but an actually serious thing

Despite the belief that deconstructions are inherently cynical, darker, edgier, and sadder overall, there is no reason they have to be. Stories can also be explored with an idealistic worldview with neither the cynical or the idealistic perspective being incorrect or worse than the other.

The most important part of a deconstruction is the reconstruction. The ability to take apart a story is meaningless if you are unable to offer realistic advice for improvement. This improvement could be applying more nuance to character development, diversifying in terms of perspective and who gets to tell their story, or by giving more gravity to a character's traits.