Feuding Families/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Basic Trope: Two families that don't get along

  • Played Straight: The Argies do not like the Bargies, and they are constantly fighting
  • Exaggerated: The Argie/Bargie feud escalates into a full-blown war.
  • Justified:
    • One family has done something especially heinous to the other, and not everyone is very forgiving.
    • They are wrestling families, one Face and one Heel, and the feud is all Kayfabe
  • Inverted: The families are allied with each other; however, within the familes are all sorts of Cain and Abel relationships and Black Sheep relatives.
  • Subverted: The Argies don't like the Bargies, and describe the generations-old feud between them, but the Bargies appear to have no idea about any of this.
  • Double Subverted: But then out of the blue the Bargies assassinate Papa Argie.
  • Deconstructed: Star-Crossed Lovers, Cycle of Revenge.
  • Reconstructed: One optimistic paterfamilias tries to end the Cycle of Revenge, but it's a Crapsack World and there's a Succession Crisis going on, so family honour and duty is the only thing providing any stability at all. Seems like it's a choice between Feuding Families or Everything Trying to Kill You.
  • Parodied: Families A & B are fighting over something stupid, such as a sports rivalry or Ship-to-Ship Combat.
  • Lampshaded: "I hate the Bargies so much! I will never forgive them for what they did to us."
  • Averted: There's no particular feud between the two families featured.
  • Enforced: The feud is a metaphor for a larger conflict.
  • Exploited: "Gee, wouldn't this be a great time to steal all the Argies and Bargies cattle?"
  • 'Invoked: A small and inconsequential family started Let's You and Him Fight to bring down its biggest rivals.
  • Defied: The two families make peace with one another, and intermarry to seal the deal.
  • Discussed: Angelo Argie has a beef with Benvolio Bargie, but his father warns him not to do anything that might start a generations-long vendetta between the two clans.
  • Conversed: "So this town is ruled by two huge, ancient dynasties. I bet they're best friends!"
  • Played For Laughs: The Argies and the Bargies have a friendly (or maybe not-so-friendly) rivalry over who has the nicer yard, home, etc. The "war" consists of sabotaging the other family's nice lawn.
  • Played For Drama: The family elders don't get along, but their children do. Cue Star-Crossed Lovers.
    • The feud becomes a facet of a large scale war with the Argies and Bargies choosing opposing sides.

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