Story Lab - TV Tropes

I read up on the different tropes in tv and other genres. I really did find a lot of familiar set-ups. A trope is a recurring theme, motif, or plot device. Some of my favorites are:
1. Real Event, Fictional Cause
2. Discount Lesbians
3. Screw Your Ultimatum! 
I also really liked some of the tropes that fans proposed be added to the data base, like "when a non-human character fails to impersonate humanity because they don't understand human culture." Like Starfire from Teen Titans (the original, not whatever the reboot is), or the Minions, from Despicable Me. I also liked the Fan-Preferred Couple trope, because immediately I could think of several examples where fans preferred one pairing over what was the official/endgame pairing. Like That 70's Show, where Jackie and Hyde obviously should have ended up together; or the more militant Sherlock fandom, which had some members actually sent death threats to Amanda Abbington for playing Mary Watson, because they really wanted Sherlock and John to be together.

But a lot of the tropes I sort of recognized instantly. I love a good "Real Event, Fictional Cause" story. I don't really know what separates that from a mythological origin story other than the seriousness with which the story is taken. I mean, if you wanted, you could consider the moon origin stories from the Anthology as "Real Event, Fictional Cause" stories. Except they are deeply ingrained in culture, rather than sitting on the surface of it like TV characters do. For example, the Doctor from Doctor Who supposedly inspired some of Shakespeare's writing, was responsible of the brief disappearance of Agatha Christie, and invented Yorkshire Pudding (which I have personally never had but it looks pretty simple, I don't know what would be gained by taking credit for it.)

"Yorkshire Pudding"
Sam Greenhalgh via Flickr

I also think the threat on "Discount Lesbians" was pretty accurate and kind of funny. It makes a good point about "othering" homosexual relationships by making sure that one or more of the participants has a very obvious difference in appearance from the audience. Take Doctor Who as an example (again). He has a long-time friend named Vastra, who is a Silurian (a lizard-person from the dawn of time). She's living in Victorian England and is married to a human named Jenny, who pretends to be her maid to avoid that era's homophobia. Jenny is obviously super gay, because not only is she married to a woman but she's married to a lizard woman with a six-foot long retractable tongue ( 😉). 

The third trope that I recognized and instantly cracked up was the "Screw Your Ultimatum!" page. I loved that the site broke it down into the 2 possible responses that the protagonist always seems to choose from. The first is to say something to the effect of one of the following: "Shut up," "Get It Over With," or "F*ck You." The site suggests 'bonus points' for a counter ultimatum. The second option is that the protagonist actually chooses one of the options without having to think about it, and/or chooses a third option that isn't mentioned. My favorite example of "Get It Over With" from the first option is from Supernatural, (spoilers ahead) when in Season 5, Sam has started the apocalypse and gets killed by some (understandably) angry hunters. Even though they're wearing masks, Dean--Sam's big brother--figures out who they are. To keep Dean from hunting them down in revenge, they decide to kill him too. But the Winchester brothers are known for never staying dead, so Dean says my favorite line in the whole series: "Go ahead, Roy, do it. But I'm gonna warn you. When I come back, I'm gonna be pissed." 

Honestly, iconic.