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Emphasize Everything: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
[[File:eq05p17orig.png|link=Elf Quest|
This is an admitted [[Sub
You might find it hard to believe, but ''some'' writers actually use ''way too much'' emphasis in their descriptions! Using [[Wanton Cruelty to
▲This is an admitted [[Sub Trope|subtrope]] of the [[Bad Writing Index]], but sometimes it's [[Guilty Pleasures|fun]].
You'll see ''a lot'' of shouting on ''this very wiki'', but since the question of whether or not it's overdone is ''purely'' [[Subjective Trope|subjective]], what can you do? '''''NOTHING!!'''''
▲You might find it hard to believe, but ''some'' writers actually use ''way too much'' emphasis in their descriptions! Using [[Wanton Cruelty to The Common Comma|punctuation]], [[Bold Inflation|formatting]] and ''[[Purple Prose|endless]]'' [[Purple Prose|superlatives]], they ''exhaust'' you by '''endlessly''' '''''insisting THAT EVERYTHING THEY TELL YOU IS TOTALLY EPIC!!'''''
▲You'll see ''a lot'' of shouting on ''this very wiki'', but since the question of whether or not it's overdone is ''purely'' [[Subjective Trope|subjective]], what can you do? '''''NOTHING!!'''''
Overemphasis comes in many forms. The writer may be typing as though they were talking to you, and attempting to convey their excitement by ''yelling!'' They might be using text-only formatting tricks like setting boxes aside, underlining and using different colors. Perhaps they insist use intense words like "[[What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?|incredible]]" and "[[What Do You Mean It's Not Heinous?|despicable]]" when there's not much reason to. In any case, the effect is the same: you're left without a way to gauge how amazing or important things "really" are.
'''[[Hypocritical Humor|Remember this:]]''' [[The Law of Conservation of Excitement|''
Related to [[Bold Inflation]] and overlaps with [[This Is for Emphasis, Bitch]] when "bitch" comes every other sentence. It can also crop up when the character (or writer) is particularly [[Hot
▲Related to [[Bold Inflation]] and overlaps with [[This Is for Emphasis, Bitch]] when "bitch" comes every other sentence. It can also crop up when the character (or writer) is particularly [[Hot Blooded|enthusiastic]], [[Single-Issue Wonk|invested]] or [[Unfortunate Implications|offended.]] This can result in any one of the [[What Do You Mean It's Not an Index?]] tropes. When similar overemphasis is used in acting, the result is an enormous, ebullient '''[[Large Ham]]'''!! See also [[Punctuated for Emphasis|Punctuated! For! Emphasis!]] for constrained emphasis.
{{examples}}
== Anime ==
* [[Dan Green]] said in an interview (perhaps jokingly) that all of his lines in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' were written in ALL CAPS with bold for '''EVEN MORE EMPHASIS'''!
== Comics ==
* Mainstream comic books '''tend''' to do this with bold '''text'''. It's '''actually''' very strange and no one '''seems''' to know why it happens. Possibly, it's intended to highlight the key (i.e., plot relevant) words in the character's speech, and has nothing to do with how the characters are talking. That way, the reader, if he wants to get to the guys in colored tights beating on each other, can skim more easily. That doesn't make it any less weird for someone who isn't used to reading comics.
** [[Atop the Fourth Wall
* A lot of words you wouldn't expect to be italicized ''are anyway'' in the comic-book version of ''[[Watchmen (
** This one thinks that it's because of the fact that people in real life, while they do usually have very distinct speech patterns, quite often ''italicize'' strange words in ''their'' speech.
** Averted with Rorschach who speaks with no italics or bold. His voice IS described by other characters though as being a creepy, gravel-y monotone
* The original dead tree edition of ''[[Elf Quest]]'' #5 suffered a lot from overuse of bold text and double exclamation points!! Fan complaints led to it being toned down in all subsequent editions.
* In [[Mad Magazine]], words are bolded apparently at random. Might be a parody of comic books as a genre.
* Attention '''true believers'''! For '''some''' reason [[Stan Lee]] has not yet been mentioned!! This '''must''' be '''fixed'''!!
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** Likewise with [[Mark Trail]]!
* [[Jack Chick]] tends to have a problem with this, which just adds to how incredibly [[Anvilicious]] his tracts are.
** In one tract, the Voice of God speaks, but the previous pages contained so much
* The [[Donald Duck]] comic books have a tendency to not contain a single speech bubble without at least one exclamation mark. Yes, even whispering ends with "!" Which makes it jarring when the rare dotted sentence shows up.
* [[Archie]] comics end every! Single! Sentence! With an exclamation point! No matter what! Even when they whisper!
** Brazilian comic [[Monica's Gang]] too.
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== Film ==
* Pretty much everything listed under [[World of Ham]] probably overlaps with this trope to at least some extent. Particularly ''[[
* One can grow weary of ''[[The Lord of the Rings (
** This seems to be a habit of [[Peter Jackson]]'s. Was the strobe effect really necessary in [[King Kong]]?
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* There are a ''lot'' of ''italics'' in the novelization of ''[[Star Wars]] Episode III: Revenge of the Sith''. Possibly ''justified'', since the book's main character, Anakin ''Skywalker'', is a ''notorious'' drama queen.
** From the same author, ''[[New Jedi Order|Traitor]]'' and ''[[Shatterpoint]]'' are equally italics-heavy, although only in some sections. Since one book's protagonist is undergoing a drug-and-torture fueled religious experience, and the other is in a [[Whole-Plot Reference]] to [[Heart of Darkness]], it is perhaps understandable.
* [[Zig
** He does use lots of italics, but most of them are to indicate a character's thoughts, not to emphasize words.
* [[Terry Pratchett]] very occasionally veers into this territory. He'll make an ironic observation which isn't that mind-blowing, ''but he'll write it in italics to make it seem like it is.''
* Media in ''[[
* [[Matthew Reilly]] has a tendency to italicise too many verbs during the action sequences that take up the bulk of his novels.
* [[Lord Peter Wimsey]]'s assistant Miss Climpson likes to emphasize everything with italics in her letters. Since they usually only take up a few pages, it's more of a character quirk than an annoyance.
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== Live Action TV ==
* In an episode of ''[[Seinfeld]]'', Elaine, working as an editor, goes overboard on the exclamation points. This overlaps with [[Wanton Cruelty to
* Almost everything on the History Channel. Ominous music, tragic tales of the man who was [[They Called Me Mad|never listened to]], and of course, the ever-present deep-voiced narrator.
* What about certain presenters - Jeremy Clarkson, for instance, '''really''' ''likes'' '''to put''' ''emphasis'' on '''''almost''''' ''every'' word. Oddly enough, Andrew Marr shares this habit.
* As noted by many at the time, David Harewood's performance as Tuck in ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]'' was-marred-by-his-odd-''insistence'' of speaking-very-''quickly'' during all-of-his-''lines'' and putting-an-''emphasis'' on the-very-last-''word'' of each-''sentence''. Needless-to-''say'', it-got-very-''annoying''.
* The Daleks of ''[[
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== Music ==
* This can be said about [[
* This is staple trope of several forms of Punk and Metal in which screaming or growling is the dominating vocal technique. At extreme cases the growling sounds like whispering and the distorted guitars sound like TV static.
== Webcomics ==
* Aaron William's works (''[[Nodwick]]'', ''[[
* Many sparks in ''[[Girl Genius]]'' talk like this.
** Princess Xerxsephnia von Blitzengaard talks expressively, too. Possibly because Seffie knows that [[Mad Scientist]]s rule the world (badly) and adapts accordingly. She ''trained'' to perform [[Evil Laugh|creepy maniacal laughter]] ("Hee hee! Isn't it ''good?!'' ...but I'm still working on the ''harmonics''.") - so this habit may be another tool: she isn't [[Chewing the Scenery]], but won't seem too bland either.
* The dialogue in ''[[Dominic Deegan]]'' is filled with '''bolded words'''. Sometimes it's there to [[Viewers are Morons|make sure that readers don't miss the puns]], but most of the time it's downright random.
* In over ten years of ''[[Gene Catlow]]'', there are maybe two sentences that don't end in either an exclamation point, a question mark, or an ellipsis. This can make the frequent [[Wall of Text|exposition]] frustrating to read, especially on an [[Archive Binge]].
== Video Games ==
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==
* As mentioned, many descriptions on the
**
** Any sufficiently enthusiastic fandom will sprinkle exclamation points and italics here or there, especially when the work in question involves '''a lot of yelling.''' The italics seem to come out for particularly [[Gorn|brutal]] or [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|extreme]] actions, though things that might be intense in [[Azumanga Daioh
* Often crops up in [[Fan Fiction]] of course, but what aspect of bad writing doesn't?
** One can find [[Emphasis Spam]] in all its forms, including bold, italic, coloured text, different fonts, repeated letters (including letters that represent sounds that are hard if not impossible to extend) and multiple exclamation marks.
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[[Category:Text Tropes]]
[[Category:Bad Writing Index]]
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