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All The Tropes:Tropes Are Tools: Difference between revisions
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'''There is nothing new under the sun.''' Including that very statement. And the [[The Bible|book]] from which it comes. Completely ignoring the possibility that one's favorite show just might ''not'' be hewn from the very essence of the universe by Thor himself and placed in the periodic table under '''Or''' for "Originalium" doesn't change the fact that it ''wasn't''. And acknowledging that it isn't should not lessen its appeal, either.
Every story is influenced by what came before it -- and storytellers (e.g., writers, directors, actors) are bound to show that influence, intentionally or not, in the process of telling. Just because something's been used before doesn't mean it's a cliché, and stories often gain something by having [[Shout Out|ties to other works.]] That said, there certainly is such thing as ''too'' derivative, but there's a difference between playing a trope straight and utter [[
[[The Tropeless Tale|It's impossible to write something completely and utterly without tropes, anyway, so stop trying.]]
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'''Just because a trope is realistic doesn't mean it's good.''' There is a reason why we have an entire category devoted to [[Acceptable Breaks From Reality]]. That category only applies to video games, but there are some good non-video game examples as well. For example, [[The Hero]] gets shot in the shoulder and dies. [[The Determinator]] doesn't come into play, no [[My Name Is Inigo Montoya]], nothing. Realistic, maybe, but that is not what we want a hero to do. That's right, one of the most fundamental character archetypes is usually unrealistic. The important thing when writing a story is that it's ''believable'', not that it's ''real''. [[Reality Is Unrealistic]], after all; often people are so used to tropes that it's ''reality'' they find jarring.
'''A good show doesn't need "good" tropes.''' People often search for an ideal recipe for a hit show, as if entertainment was some sort of alchemical process, and are surprised when their stitched-together creation lurches three steps before disappearing into critical oblivion. A well written show won't be any worse if it doesn't have a [[Magnificent Bastard]]. A good show doesn't get worse if the main five characters don't form a [[Five
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