The cursed tropes

[Duck]

In storytelling, a trope is just that — a conceptual figure of speech, a storytelling shorthand for a concept that the audience will recognize and understand instantly.

Above all, a trope is a convention. It can be a plot trick, a setup, a narrative structure, a character type, a linguistic idiom... you know it when you see it.

Considering most things in storytelling are really repeats and remixes of previous concepts - some people will go so far as say there are only really seven basic plots - certain choices will come up again and again and again. And while I'm sure there are people that love those choices, some of them just feel to me like ruining a perfectly good story.

Whiat tropes make you sigh in disappointment, or maybe even just close the book / window and move on to something else altogether? Do you think it could be done well in theory, or is it an automatic deal breaker for you?

For me, I can't stand the "Stalking is Love" mentality that a lot of romances try to pass off nowadays - I do think it could be done well, if it's in a horror movie - but played straight I just don't like it. Very harmful message.

For a lighter example, in fiction with secret societies like Harry Potter, House of Night or Percy Jackson - and this is probably more of a fanfiction thing than published fiction per se - there's a tendency for them to go like "everybody who's ever mattered was in this secret society". I don't like that because it's usually a genetic thing, so it's basically saying "If you aren't born with talent you'll never amount to anything" in a roundabout way. Which isn't the best thing to say, in my opinion.

 

[Roni]

i was literally just complaining about one recently!

how the villain is strong af initially, but goes down real easily when they decide to partner with the hero to face an even tougher villain. Guardians of the Galaxy 2 anyone?