Genre trope
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In literature, fiction, and narrative broadly, a convention or trope can refer to a situation, character, plot structure, physical object, or other distinctive element that traditionally appears or recurs across works within a particular genre or artistic medium. Thus, for instance, there are tropes common to narratives of science fiction that are distinct from those of fantasy that are distinct from those of horror, etc. Conventions are the very features that are expected of, and that may even define, a given genre, as determined by social custom.[1] The word motif, while possibly a synonym, usually instead refers to such an element that recurs internally within a single story only.
Literary theory
[edit]Often a subset of narrative techniques, genre conventions serve as templates for efficiently communicating information, emotionally engaging the audience, or establishing a context that audiences are already familiar with or are presumed to be familiar with. In the latter case, the creator of the narrative can thus avoid long-winded explanations or heavy-handed exposition. In some cases, however, the use of tropes (especially their overuse) is regarded by audience members or reviewers as cheap narrative shortcuts or trite clichés. Art within a genre is often reviewed positively if it skirts the edges of the genre's conventions (rather than rigidly adhering to the conventions or fully rejecting them), playing with and challenging audience expectations.[2] Literary theory acknowledges that, since there is such a long and complicated history of genres, subverting certain genre tropes, often entails reinforcing others.[2]
Despite genres having the connotation of fixed or firm boundaries, they gradually shift over time, splinter into new sub-genres, give way to newly forming genres, rise and diminish in popularity, etc. Modern-day theorists do not strictly define genres but rather may describe the "family resemblances" of their tropes (per the philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein), shared among the various works that belong under them, in such a way that any "individual text within a genre rarely if ever has all of the characteristic features of the genre". Others criticize this for opening the door to excess ambiguity, instead preferring to view genres and their tropes through the lens of prototype theory, in which some works are more representative of the genre than others, based on their higher number of qualifying tropes.[3] Regardless of the particular analytic framework, genres and their conventions are always a matter of ever-shifting social and historical expectations.[3][1][2]
Tropes technically also exist for non-narrative genres and textual media as well, such as for recipes, manuals, and weather reports.[1] These texts are formatted and stylized in a particular customary way.[1] Media like music videos and songs have their own conventions as well.[4]
Examples within narrative fiction genres
[edit]- Buried treasure: a hidden set of valuable objects whose potential for discovery is the inciting incident (a motivating plot device) for an adventure—in adventure fiction
- Closed circle of suspects: the scenario of a crime scene, often a murder, with a limited number of clear suspects unable to flee the scene, for instance, because they are on an island, a moving train, or some other isolating location—in mystery and crime fiction
- Deal with the Devil: the scenario of a protagonist making a bargain with the Devil or other demon, receiving an immediate desired magical outcome in exchange for his soul upon his death—in fantasy, folklore, mythology, etc.
- Evidence board: a notice board or wall covered with a collage of physical media, such as papers, photographs, and red strings, to represent a character's jumbled thinking or problem-solving—thriller, mystery, and crime fiction
- Interstellar ships, empires, wars, travel, etc.: activities and vehicles that range between multiple planets or star systems—in science fiction
- Jump scare: a moment that delivers the audience an abrupt jolt of fear via surprise—in horror (typical specifically of horror films)
- Kaiju: a gigantic beast that ravishes a city, often carrying sociopolitical symbolism (such as Godzilla or King Kong)—especially in Japanese monster films; it often now refers to that sub-genre of horror
- Meet-cute: a moment when soon-to-be-lovers whimsically encounter each other for the very first time—in romance
- Princess and dragon: the scenario of a beautiful noblewoman who must be rescued from the clutches of a vicious serpentine monster—in high fantasy, folklore, mythology, etc.
- Queen's Latin: the use of British upper-class accents for characters from non-British parts of the world or from fictional places—in historical drama and historical fantasy performed in the English language, such as in Cleopatra (1963), the Lord of the Rings films (2001-2003), or the Game of Thrones television series (2011-2019)
- Red herring: a clue that deliberately misleads the characters or audience—in mystery and crime fiction
- Stock characters, or character archetypes, are a subset of genre tropes in the form of characters; some examples are provided below:
- The Chosen One: a supernaturally or divinely selected hero or savior character—in fantasy (or science fantasy)
- Little green men and grey aliens: extraterrestrial beings depicted as humanoids with oversized bald heads, large eyes, and smooth hairless bodies—in science fiction
- Manic pixie dream girl: an alluringly chaotic or eccentric young woman who serves as the love interest for a bored or shy everyman protagonist (a type of foil character)—in romance
- Supervillain: an evil antagonist with superhuman powers or advanced technological abilities, in superhero fiction
- Spawning: the spontaneous and unexplained generation (or, after death, regeneration) of a playable character in a particular time and place—in video games
- Time-travel tropes, such as time paradoxes and time portals—in science fiction
Particular types
[edit]References
[edit]- 1 2 3 4 Murray, Heather (2009). "Conventions of Reading". The Cambridge Handbook of Literacy. United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press, pp. 200-201.
- 1 2 3 Kinsella, John (2003). "On Genre: a Reader’s Guide to the Writing and Reading of ...". Antipodes, 17(1), p. 58. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41957276
- 1 2 Chandler, Daniel (1997). "An introduction to genre theory". The Media and Communications Studies Site, pp. 1-3.
- ↑ Martinez, Kimberly Danielle (2018). "Think Outside the Music Video: A Fantasy Theme Analysis of Music Videos that Break the Genre Convention". Digital Commons @ ACU, Electronic Theses and Dissertations. Paper 102.
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