City of Weirdos: Difference between revisions

 

A joke-specific subtrope of [[Weirdness Censor]]. Also see [[Apathetic Citizens]], [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight]], [[Someone Elses Problem]], [[Your Costume Needs Work]], and [[For Halloween I Am Going As Myself]].

 

== Comic Books ==

** During the early stages of filming, the filmmakers were concerned that people would see the actors wandering through [[San Francisco]] and interfere with filming. As a test, they sent extras out in Starfleet uniforms to tour the city. Nobody noticed.

*** This is lampshaded in the ''[[Star Trek Voyager|Voyager]]'' episode "Future's End": as Janeway and Tuvok observe the wide variety of clothing styles in 1990s Los Angeles, Tuvok remarks, "We could've worn our Starfleet uniforms. I doubt if anyone would've noticed."

* ''[[Men in Black (Film)|Men in Black]] II'' had a scene where J can't clear a subway car ''he just crashed into through the end window of'' because of this trope. They look up for a moment to see what it was, then go back to what they were doing.

** To be fair they do get moving when a giant worm starts eating the car...

* In ''[[Enchanted]]'', a Disney Princess (complete with singing animal friends, a big poofy ball-gown and an obsession with True Love's Kiss) is transported from her animated world of trolls and wicked stepmothers into the middle of Times Square. The reactions of Manhattanites fall into two categories: they either believe that she is some sort of performance artist or assume she is severely psychotic. This is especially evident in her first Real World interaction (for example, when a little person on the street curtly tells her to move out of the way, she mistakes him for Grumpy from Snow White; later that day she has her crown stolen by a homeless person).

** Another example of this trope is at the end of the film, when {{spoiler|Queen Narsissa}} crashes a charity benefit called the King and Queen's Ball. She {{spoiler|transforms into a dragon in from of hundreds of people and climbs to the top of the Woolworth building, then falls to her death and explodes into sparkles when she hits the ground.}} The people at the benefit comment on how the organizers "really went all-out on the floor-show this year."

* In the 1990 film adaptation of ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (Film)|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'', Raphael runs into a stopped cab and rolls over the hood.

{{quote| '''Passenger:''' "What the heck was that?"<br />

** In the second film, during Tokka and Rahzar's rampage.

{{quote| '''Husband:''' Those animals are knocking down the telephone poles! What if they come over here?<br />

* The Disney comedy ''[[Jungle 2 Jungle]]'' (a remake of the French film ''Un indien dans la ville'') has a Wall Street stockbroker (Tim Allen) learn that his ex-wife and a son he never knew he had have been living in Venezuela with an Amazonian Indian tribe - and when he gets there, he learns that the boy's name is Mimi-Siku (Indian for "cat pee") and that he wears a loincloth, uses a blowgun to hunt, and speaks [[You No Take Candle|broken English]]. Upon arriving back in New York with his son, the stockbroker meets up with his colleague (Martin Short) in the airport - and the colleague at first does not notice the long-haired white boy in a loincloth standing next to his friend. Determined to get the colleague's attention, Mimi-Siku leaps over the railing of the moving walkway (unseen by either his father or the colleague), slips up behind the colleague, and grabs his arm. The colleague finally notices Mimi-Siku, but still doesn't seem to understand: he assumes that the kid is an environmental activist in costume, collecting donations to save the rain forest.

* In ''[[An American Werewolf in London]]'', David tries to get himself locked up so he won't kill more people at moonrise, but is merely told to move along when he starts shouting insults about the royals and Britain's cultural icons in public. This, after his running around the park naked is greeted with a mere sniff of disdain by an older lady.

 

== Web Comics ==

** No, the police just enforce the schedules. They would prefer that the undead hordes didn't invade, if only because it's less paperwork.

* Happens regularly in ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja (Webcomic)|The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]''. The residents of Cumberland, Maryland don't particularly care when the mayor installs a citywide anti-zombie system, and a rampaging Paul Bunyan is treated by the police as ordinary policework, not worthy of exceptional notice.

** This extends in the strangest ways to even places like the British Museum, where its entirely possible for a large group of people walking around in trenchcoats and waistcoats and not even raise an eyebrow... not even from foreign tourists, who'd be more likely to spot the bizarreness of said apparel.

** In a specific case, on the DVD commentary for "Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail" John Cleese mentions that he had to do a post shot near Hampstead Heath. The camera and all of the crew were on one side of the field while him in his full Lancelot costume was all the way on the other side, and he had to wait around for a man to wave a flag to signal him to run towards the camera. And no bystanders paid any attention to the six foot tall man in full medieval armor standing quietly by himself.

* [[Las Vegas]], not only for the Elvis impersonators, but people dressed in costume for birthdays, bachelor parties, etc. don't even faze locals. Even most tourists ignore them.

** The same kind of effect happens with celebrities, at least with those that work in casinos. Once you've seen the star of some angsty teenage ''[[Dawsons Creek]]'' ripoff puking in a trash can, celebrities get kinda "meh."

** Art schools, as well, are their own strange microcosm.

** This troper was captain of his college's fencing team, and for four years, rarely walked around campus without a sword or four on my back. The only response I ever got was from people asking for the class times and professors asking to borrow one because their laser pointers were out of batteries.