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Contractual Genre Blindness: Difference between revisions
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{{examples}}
==
* ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'': Jessie and James expressed this in the early seasons, alongside some [[Lampshade Hanging]]:
{{quote|'''James''': Why didn't we try this before?
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* Florsheim from ''[[Tentai Senshi Sunred]]''. They call out the hero and try to fight him one-by-one and try to [[Take Over the World]] because they're an Evil Organization, and that's what Evil Organizations do. This despite the fact that they never have any success with either; not that they even try with the latter because everybody knows you have to defeat the hero ''before'' you can [[Take Over the World]].
==
* ''[[Empowered]]'', by Adam Warren: The bad guys do this as a survival mechanism. Smack around the hero and leave him (her) tied up and escape with the diamonds? Good show, whatever. We'll get you next time! Shoot the hero? Every other hero will be after you.
* When Doc Seismic from ''[[Invincible]]'' captures many of the world's superheroes but doesn't attempt to kill any of them, Atom Eve wonders why not; Invincible suggests that he's "old school".
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* Dr. Evil from ''[[Austin Powers]]''. He criticizes his son for being practical, saying he's just not nearly as evil because he's [[Genre Savvy]].
* ''[[Who Framed Roger Rabbit?]]'': Toons, as cartoon characters, tend to act very poorly when it comes to being [[Genre Savvy]] and acknowledge it, because for them it's very hard if not outright impossible to jump away from the "role" they've been created for. (Roger tells Eddie that he wouldn't ever be capable to murder because "My whole purpose in life is to make people laugh!"). Double-subverted with {{spoiler|Judge Doom,}} who is able to repress his basic toon urges to maintain his human disguise, but can't fight his villain "role" and places the heroes in an overly-dramatic and slow-moving [[Death Trap]] which [[Hoist by His Own Petard|eventually causes his own demise.]]
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* The Devil in Tenacious D has this almost literally. He is pissed when the main characters challenge him to a rock-off, since the "demon code" prevents him from declining. He has never lost before, but he is still reluctant to accept.
==
* ''[[Discworld]]''
** In ''[[
** The dragon who became the King of Ankh-Morpork killed, burned, and demanded a virgin to devour, simply because that's what dragons are expected to do. [[Ape Shall Never Kill Ape|The fact that humans do it to each other]] [[What Is Evil?|and call it 'morality']] was apparently [[Even Evil Has Standards|beyond even its standards]].
** Evil Harry Dread in ''[[
* ''[[Soon I Will Be Invincible]]'' by Austin Grossman: villain Dr. Impossible does many things because that's what villains are supposed to do, but with a lot of realistic consequences {{spoiler|Dr. Impossible dons his supervillain costume to impress the C-list villains at a local hangout, gets beat up and thrown out, and has to change out of his costume in nearby bushes before getting on the local Greyhound bus to go home.}}.
:In other instances, he manages to stop himself just before pulling a classic supervillain move. In one scene, he's being laughed at by some prison guards, which gets him so annoyed he begins to retort by saying "You won't be laughing when I..." Then he stops, and chides himself for always giving away his master plan.
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* In the book ''Heroics for Beginners'', the evil overlord mentions trying to foreclose the mortgage on an orphanage and chase down puppies to kick because that's how one becomes an evil overlord.
==
* In what may be [[Truth in Television]], the actors in the George Reeves ''[[The Adventures of Superman]]'' show actually said that they never noticed Clark and Superman looked the same because they wanted to keep their jobs.
* Pearl in ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' attempts at first to get accredited by, and then follow the rules of, the Board of Mad Scientists. She is perpetually annoyed at following the mad scientist rules when she knows there are easier ways to do things, but it's "illegal to rule the world if you're not board certified" so she just goes with it.
* Classic ''[[Doctor Who]]''{{'}}s the Master fell into this a lot. New Who manages to make him Contractually Genre Blind and [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]] ''at the same time''.
==
* In ''[[Exalted]]'', arguably most raksha would fit into this, although it would be quite possible for them to be wrong about what genre they're in. Also, the Infernal Exalted have Acts of Villainy that they can use to lose limit. These include telling their opponents their evil plan, leaving them in a deathtrap, and [[Scarpia Ultimatum|forcing people into marriage]].
* In a fairly meta example, anyone who plays roleplaying games for any length of time will develop this, and also become [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]], because of the [[Fourth Wall]]. To elaborate, while anyone who's played for any length of time will pick up on the cliches and tropes that the [[Game Master]] uses due to dozens of exposures, the character being played will not, so the player must act as if [[Genre Blindness|genre blind]], or risk [[Breaking the Fourth Wall]] which most [[Game Master|GMs]] frown upon. If you forgo the contractual genre blindness and go with [[No Fourth Wall]], this leads to powergaming, [[Munchkin]]s, a [[Killer Game Master]] and, when it all comes crashing down, [[Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies]].
==
* Luka of [[Daily Life with Monster Girl|Monster Girl Quest]] is a heroic example. He's a [[Knight in Sour Armor]] who acts like an [[Idiot Hero]] because it's the heroic thing to do.
== [[Web Comics]] ==▼
▲== Web Comics ==
▲* ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]''
** Xykon, though he's actually [[Obfuscating Stupidity|not so stupid]]. He is, however, very lazy.
** Nale. He truly is [[Genre Savvy|Elan's]] [[Evil Twin|equal and opposite]]. However he gets bit in the rear by the fact that he thinks he's [[Magnificent Bastard]] material, which [[Smug Snake|just isn't the case]].
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* [http://basicinstructions.net/basic-instructions/2006/7/27/how-to-negotiate-with-the-un.html This] [[Basic Instructions]] comic advises [[Super Villain|supervillains]] to explain their plan to assassins sent to kill them.
== [[Web Original]] ==▼
* ''[[The Spoony Experiment
▲== Web Original ==
▲* [[The Spoony Experiment|Spoony's]] review of the ''Dragonstrike'' video board game pointed out how painfully obvious it is that the king's jester is the [[Big Bad]] and suggests just stabbing him then and there. Of course, the characters in the video miss this and just go off on the adventure anyway
** The reviewers of the site are well aware of this trope. In the [[Channel Awesome]] Three Year Special [[Suburban Knights]], all the characters have to get dressed up into fantasy costumes and start [[Becoming the Mask]]. [[Obscurus Lupa]] is Snow White, so she knows that she's contractually obligated to be horrible in battle.
* In ''[[Melee's End]]'', Zelda gets kidnapped. She then simply waits to be rescued, even though she's a perfectly competent fighter, and the dungeon she's in has no doors or guards. When Mewtwo wonders why she hasn't tried to escape, she says that that's not how [[Damsel in Distress|getting kidnapped]] works.
* Lindsay and Jenny in [[Human Centipede the Musical]] tend to dismiss any suspicions that would hinder the plot.
== [[Western Animation]] ==▼
▲== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Kim Possible]]'': Señor Senior Sr. is a particularly [[Genre Savvy]] old man who took up supervillainy as a hobby and has since adhered to Contractual Genre Blindness. In fact, it's a tradition followed both by the villains and the heroes. So much so that the characters get upset when one villain refuses to follow the rules. He considers it to be good form.
* ''[[The Venture Brothers]]''
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* Jack Spicer of ''[[Xiaolin Showdown]]''.
* Dr. Doofenshmirtz of ''[[Phineas and Ferb]]''. In "No More Bunny Business" we see that he actually writes a script for his latest encounter with Perry the Platypus (presumably Perry goes [[Off the Rails]], though.) When Perry is reassigned to other villains, he finds the new villain and helpfully tells him where he's doing it wrong and commends Perry for his methods.
* ''[[Gargoyles
* In his second appearance, the ''[[Justice League]]'' version of Gorilla Grodd brings up the concept of [[propaganda]]. According to him, just killing Earth's greatest heroes won't make humanity bow down to him—he needs to kill them publicly in an utterly humiliating fashion to prevent further resistance. This means that he gives up two opportunities to [[Why Don't Ya Just Shoot Him|kill some or most of them easily]] in favor of a traditionally villainous scheme, and while he plans for ''most'' of the potential pitfalls, the premise of the show necessitates that he accidentally miss one.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Abridged Series Tropes]]
[[Category:Contrived Stupidity Tropes]]
[[Category:Stupidity Tropes]]
[[Category:Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?]]
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