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Emphasize Everything: Difference between revisions
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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.
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'''[[Hypocritical Humor|Remember this:]]''' ''when '''everything''' is emphasized'' '''''nothing''''' ''is''!
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 [[
{{examples}}
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== 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|Linkara]] loves to point out this, as reading speech ballons aloud (sometimes, [[Large Ham|as dramatically as possible]]) is obligatory for his reviews.
* A lot of words you wouldn't expect to be italicized ''are anyway'' in the comic-book version of ''[[Watchmen (comics)|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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* [[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 [[Emphasize Everything]] that it actually detracts from how impressive God's voice seems. Probably not the effect he was going for.
* 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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** 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-Zagging Trope]] with [[Stephen King]]... sometimes he uses way too many italics, sometimes not so much.
** 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 ''[[American Gods]]'' is fond of overusing italics. This is intentional, as narrator Shadow takes special notice of the fact that the New Gods at large talk in cliches and [[Realistic Diction Is Unrealistic|unrealistic speech patterns]].
* [[Matthew Reilly]] has a tendency to italicise too many verbs during the action sequences that take up the bulk of his novels.
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