I've never found anything useful on the forums, but I visit the site when I need a laugh or check an example of certain tropes. After I memorized a few though, I started visiting it less.
Tvtropes
- Thread starter LauriJ
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I went onto this guys channel to see more, and found this (different website):Soviet Heavy said:
<youtube=WpIBx5e7sns>
I blame YOU for ruining my perfectly nice evening.
You found one of the tamer ones.lacktheknack said:I went onto this guys channel to see more, and found this (different website):Soviet Heavy said:
<youtube=WpIBx5e7sns>
I blame YOU for ruining my perfectly nice evening.
But I nearly punched out my monitor over this one! ;___;Soviet Heavy said:You found one of the tamer ones.lacktheknack said:I went onto this guys channel to see more, and found this (different website):Soviet Heavy said:
<youtube=WpIBx5e7sns>
I blame YOU for ruining my perfectly nice evening.
It's a great site, but the one problem I have is that they're working off of a very informal definition of what a trope is. If you go by actual narratology studies, a trope would denote the way a story is structured. It's unfortunately the only instance of the term where using it will get you credit in an academic circumstance.
I've seen frosh types in the Bachelor's actually cite it in their essays. Okay, so it's kinda fun if you're lucky enough to study in a university that has a bit of leeway concerning the seriousness of your academic pursuits - but that really varies from teacher to teacher. I've gotten feedback on stuff I corrected that was received by teachers around my age (so the Troper tics were left to fly under the radar) and older professors who develop facial spasms if you bring up the term "Badass Longcoat" in the same sentence as "Hero's Journey".
It's a great site, but I tend to use the same policy I keep for Wikipedia. That is, cite the documents that are being cited by the page as reference. Never cite a trope page or a wiki entry, lest you get your work hacked apart by vindictive pedagogues...
Never directly, at any rate.
Personally, though, I'm a big fan of scrolling through tropes associated to my latest book or game purchase, or to try and see if there's any stylistic siblings to something or other I happen to like.
I've seen frosh types in the Bachelor's actually cite it in their essays. Okay, so it's kinda fun if you're lucky enough to study in a university that has a bit of leeway concerning the seriousness of your academic pursuits - but that really varies from teacher to teacher. I've gotten feedback on stuff I corrected that was received by teachers around my age (so the Troper tics were left to fly under the radar) and older professors who develop facial spasms if you bring up the term "Badass Longcoat" in the same sentence as "Hero's Journey".
It's a great site, but I tend to use the same policy I keep for Wikipedia. That is, cite the documents that are being cited by the page as reference. Never cite a trope page or a wiki entry, lest you get your work hacked apart by vindictive pedagogues...
Never directly, at any rate.
Personally, though, I'm a big fan of scrolling through tropes associated to my latest book or game purchase, or to try and see if there's any stylistic siblings to something or other I happen to like.
I'll sum it up for you:Shanicus said:And like that, I don't wanna watch those videos.lacktheknack said:But I nearly punched out my monitor over this one! ;___;Soviet Heavy said:You found one of the tamer ones.lacktheknack said:I went onto this guys channel to see more, and found this (different website):Soviet Heavy said:
<youtube=WpIBx5e7sns>
I blame YOU for ruining my perfectly nice evening.
My monitor is expensive, man.
ALL WOMEN ARE MANIPULATING FILTHRAGS.
ALL WOMEN ARE OUT TO DRIVE ME INSANE.
ALL I WANT IS A WOMAN WHO WILL DO INANE HOUSEWORK FOR ME, SOMETHING I HAVE MISTAKEN FOR "COMPANIONSHIP."
HEH, LOOK AT THIS WOMAN I TOLD OFF ON MY BLOG FOR WHINGING ABOUT MY GENERALIZATIONS.
WHY DON'T WOMEN DATE ME? I'M A NICE GUY! ;___;
I hope your monitor is still intact.
I did like it previously, but some of the examples are getting a bit well... incorrect. Editing wars and flame wars crop up, examples which are patently not examples are included, and it makes it a lot less fun. I guess that's the danger with wikis with large appeal. The other one is people posting masses of examples which don't apply, as "Subversion" or "Inversions". Hint for them: What Whedon did when Mal shot the agent in the first episode of Firefly was an inversion or subversion of the Mexican Standoff trope. If it doesn't call the trope to mind before tearing it apart, it's not that. Grrrrr.
I like it. I mainly go there to look up media I've previously consumed and see if I missed anything / if other people came to the same conclusions I did, or to read the articles on interesting tropes, like the Lord British Postulate. The Wild Mass Guessing pages are good fun (and interesting stuff to bring up with friends over lunch). I stay away from the forums though.
Any community, given enough time and people will become absolute shit. TVtropes and the Escapist are no exception. You can find some cool stuff on Tvtropes, but the community is full of dumb people and it is run by dumb people.
The Lolicon/Rape controversy just showed how dumb both sides were. One side can't look at it artistically, and the other just wants to get rid of anything controversial.
The Lolicon/Rape controversy just showed how dumb both sides were. One side can't look at it artistically, and the other just wants to get rid of anything controversial.
I used to go there a lot in high school, but I started to get annoyed by people effectively using otherwise neutral tropes as a way to praise stuff that they loved. It did have the nice effect of introducing me to many things that I enjoy, which I'm sure was a major point of it in the first place.
I think it's OK in theory, but in practice leaves a lot to be desired - it's like literary criticism for people who don't understand literature beyond sticking as many labels on stuff as possible, half of which barely apply.
Like, count how many times a main character is described as a "badass _______" just by virtue of kind of fitting that quality or wearing an article of clothing. It's at the point where it's utterly meaningless as a category.
It doesn't help that the "no such thing as notability" apparently translates to "post anything you want as anything else, nobody will care" so pages like "crowning moment of awesome" are littered with references to that time a character displayed basic competance, or even worse - meta-examples which are always just "I really like this show so I'm going to add another entry".
Entertaining to read, but definitely not to be taken seriously.
Like, count how many times a main character is described as a "badass _______" just by virtue of kind of fitting that quality or wearing an article of clothing. It's at the point where it's utterly meaningless as a category.
It doesn't help that the "no such thing as notability" apparently translates to "post anything you want as anything else, nobody will care" so pages like "crowning moment of awesome" are littered with references to that time a character displayed basic competance, or even worse - meta-examples which are always just "I really like this show so I'm going to add another entry".
Entertaining to read, but definitely not to be taken seriously.
Avoid the forums, as already stated, and it's a more addicting website then cracked. If they made an app for it on Android and IOS, productivity would sink to an all time low.
If you use it wisely to look stuff up, it's an absolutely great thing to have.
If you go there to browse, it will suck up your soul, create a time vortex and eat your life, destroying any relationships or jobs you might have.
If you go there to browse, it will suck up your soul, create a time vortex and eat your life, destroying any relationships or jobs you might have.
I absolutely despise it.
And no, this isn't one of those "It takes so much of my time! I hate it!" things.
I truly detest what it is and what it stands for.
TvTropes serves to make storytelling a bland and repetitive place. One could argue it's already like that, but I prefer to figure out tropes on my own and when it suits me, be willfully ignorant of such things.
In addition, the articles I've seen tend to take a very negative view on the repetition. I think innovation is great, I just think cliche is common for a reason; it works and can be quite good.
Every article I have read has taken away mystery from the things I like and decreased my enjoyment of them in some way.
Furthermore, TvTropes is one of the worst creators of pretension I have ever seen.
And no, this isn't one of those "It takes so much of my time! I hate it!" things.
I truly detest what it is and what it stands for.
TvTropes serves to make storytelling a bland and repetitive place. One could argue it's already like that, but I prefer to figure out tropes on my own and when it suits me, be willfully ignorant of such things.
In addition, the articles I've seen tend to take a very negative view on the repetition. I think innovation is great, I just think cliche is common for a reason; it works and can be quite good.
Every article I have read has taken away mystery from the things I like and decreased my enjoyment of them in some way.
Furthermore, TvTropes is one of the worst creators of pretension I have ever seen.