Cutting the Knot/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: Rather than solve a tricky problem the tricky way, just use good old violence.

  • Straight: The hero is presented with a locked door. He bashes it open.
  • Exaggerated: The hero is presented with a locked door. He detonates C4 or fires an RPG at it.
  • Up To Eleven: The hero is presented with a locked door. He nukes it.
  • Justified: There is really no time to go look for the keys.
  • Inverted: The door is unlocked but sticks on the frame, so it needs a good hard kick to knock open ... until the hero uses his ice powers to shrink it so it opens easily.
  • Subverted: The hero is presented with a locked door. He tries to bash it open - but fails. The door is armored. Hero runs off.
  • Double Subverted: ...to get himself a bulldozer to ram into the door.
  • Parodied:
    • The hero smashes open every doors he encounters - even in the most mundane of situations. Including the door of his own apartment.
    • Alternatively, the door is made of wood. He hits it with a hammer with all his strength... it's fine. He lobs explosives at it. It's fine. He nukes it, it's fine. Maybe he is in Fallout 3 a videogame with poor nondynamic level design.
    • Or he's this guy.
  • Deconstructed:
    • Mooks become aware of hero's attempts to enter. They pull out machine guns and turn door into a Swiss cheese.
    • Bashing the the door sets off the alarm.
    • Later, hero receives a huge bill for all doors he broke.
  • Reconstructed:
  • Zig Zagged:
    • The hero breaks through the door, but encounters a blast-door with electronic keypad operating it. He tinkers with it for a minute - only to turn around and see the window with a ground not too far below. He runs towards it... but stops and opens it rather gently before hopping out. And five minutes later, he's at it again, lowering the drawbridge by destroying a winch.
    • Alternatively: The hero punches a hole through the door to reach the thumb turn on the other side.
  • Averted: The hero is not too strong physically, doesn't have any lockpicks, and thus has to go search for the key.
  • Enforced: "If our hero goes off to search for the key, it will eat up a good 5 minutes which could be used for action! Let's just have him break in the easy way."
  • Lampshaded:
    • "Ah, good old violence. If it doesn't solve your problems, you're not using enough violence."
    • "There Was a Door, you know!'
  • Invoked: "A locked door? Fuck that, I'll just smash it open!"
  • Defied: "Better not to smash that door open - who knows what's on the other side. I'll just use my lockpick."
  • Discussed:
    • "Oh look, a locked door. Wanna go search for the keys?" "Not really, let's just blow it off the hinges! Yeee-haw!"
    • ...Or, "I've got your keys... RIGHT HERE! *cue Stuff Blowing Up*
  • Conversed: "You know how in action shows and movies and comics and video games and what have you they just solve puzzles by violence? It does not work that way."

You could click this link back to Cutting the Knot, but that'd take too long. Just smash your way through instead.

Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Cutting_the_Knot/Playing_With?oldid=854604"