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Chandler's Law: Difference between revisions
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|'''[[Raymond Chandler]]'''}}
As codified by pulp novelist [[Raymond Chandler]], [[Chandler's Law]] is a concise but evocative piece of advice for writers who have somehow painted themselves into a corner, plotwise. The addition of a new opponent or complication, usually amidst a burst of violence, can free a protagonist from where he has become mired in the current plot.
Although expressed in a form very specific to the genre in which Chandler was writing, the Law can be easily generalized to handle any type of story.
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== [[Live
* In the American version of ''[[The Office]],'' Michael Scott misuses this trope constantly at his improv class. Any time he is called to act in a scene, he pulls out a gun to increase drama because "you can't top it". Of course, nobody can top it and it ruins every improv exercise the class attempts.
** In fact, improv classes usually state as one of the first rules of scenework that pulling a gun is a "weak choice"—as pointed out above, it keeps everyone else in the scene from contributing anything. Not to say it never happens, of course.
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* [[Jim Henson]] once commented on his pre-Muppet puppet sketches that when he couldn't think of how to close a sketch, he'd either have an explosion or have one character eat the other. It's pretty clear that this carried over to [[The Muppet Show]].
* ''[[Two and A Half Men]]'' has Alan, while writing a movie in a coffee shop, geting writer's block several times and solving it by having a meteor hit the characters.
== [[Music]] ==
* ''[[Trapped in the Closet]]'' by R. Kelly follows this trope so much it goes from [[Once an Episode]] to [[Drinking Game]] pretty quickly.
** Parodied in the ''South Park'' episode of the same name, where R. Kelly is ''constantly'' pulling out his gun, usually for no reason at all.
* Many of [["Weird Al" Yankovic]]'s parody songs are like this. A particularly egregious ([[Refuge in Audacity|but not]] [[So Bad It's Good|actually unpleasant]]) example would be ''Everything You Know Is Wrong''.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
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== [[Web Comics]] ==
* [http://www.wikislessons.com/index.php?date=2005-10-26 This] ''Wiki's Lessons In Life'' comic applies this principle to conversations.
*
** [http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0005.html This page] uses the explosion version.
** [http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/1914.html This page] uses and [[lampshade]]s the trope.
* ''[[Girl Genius]]'' uses the rather natural combination of this trope and [[Moment Killer]] [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20090511 here].
** Earlier on, the trope is discussed with regard to throwing pies instead of sudden violence [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050511 here].
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]▼
[[Category:Rule of Drama]]
[[Category:Laws and Formulas]]
[[Category:Mechanics of Writing]]
▲[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
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