Human-Focused Adaptation: Difference between revisions

** Played with in ''[[The Muppets (film)|The Muppets]]'' where [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CloKbXtD28 the trailer] makes it look like a human-focused romantic comedy, only for Kermit the Frog to show up and reveal the real nature of the film. It still technically qualifies for this trope, though; most of the screentime is given to [[Jason Segel]], [[Amy Adams]] and new character Walter (who is a [[Muppet]] but not in-universe<ref>In the movie's universe, "Muppet" only refers to members of Kermit's troupe</ref> {{spoiler|until the final act of the movie}}), although the humans' subplot takes a backseat to the main plot for most of the movie. That said, a concerted effort was made to give the Muppets enough screen time and have them qualify as main characters.

** Referenced when Jason Segel hosted ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'', and The Muppets were upset that they weren't asked to host.

** In ''[[Muppet Treasure Island]]'', the main focus is on Jim Hawkins and Long John Silver, played by [[Tim Curry]]. Originally [[What Could Have Been|the "Jim Hawkins" part was going to be played by Rizo and Gonzo]] (being named Jim and Hawkins as two characters), before it was decided to make it into a [[Coming of Age Story]] with an actual human kid as Jim. And in ''Muppets Wizard of Oz'' Ashanti's amount of focus makes The Muppets themselves feel like an afterthought. In this case both are based on stories where the main characters were humans, and the trope is just a side-effect of staying faithful to the story. The more original Muppet outings, however, tend to avert the trope by including major human characters but keeping the focus on Kermit and the gang.

 

* While the 2007 ''[[Transformers (film)|Transformers]]'' film and its sequel are often mocked for this due to its high visibility, the [[Transformers|franchise in general]] has a long history of it. The first half of ''[[Transformers Armada]]'' was almost more about the humans than about the robots, and ''[[Transformers Super God Masterforce]]'' takes it [[Up to Eleven]], gradually morphing into a [[Henshin Hero]] series as the actual Autobots are displaced by an increasing number of humans in [[Powered Armor]]. In the case of the live-action movies, if they didn't have humans as part of the plot and focused more on the Transformers, there would really be no reason to make a live-action adaptation, as opposed to just going all CG. Plus there's the fact that the CGI for every frame with a Cybertronian in it took about twenty-four hours to render and [[Never Live It Down|Devastator melted a computer]], so it would be pretty much impossible to be more robocentric without setting parts of Hollywood on fire. It got slightly better in ''[[Transformers: Dark of the Moon]]'', where (apart from Sam's role in the first act) the Transformers are treated as actual characters rather than plot devices to help Sam get the girl and satisfy his sex drive. Although unhealthy amounts of time are still given to human characters, the main plot definitely focuses on the Transformers and their history (most of the human screentime consists of subplots).

** This trope was lampshaded in the first panel of [http://www.vgcats.com/comics/?strip_id=239 this] ''[[VG Cats]]'' comic.

** The show was similarly human focused since the Autobots were learning Earth culture through their human friends and exploration. Also, very few plots were because the Autobots stumbled upon a Decepticon plot, and Teletraan-1 intercepted human communications for possible Decepticon involvement.

* By default, every ''[[Digimon]]'' adaptation with the sole exception of ''[[Digimon X Evolution]]'' - though the existence of human Tamers for the [[Mons]] was part of the original fluff for the virtual pets, said fluff didn't mention any specific human characters, and the majority of adaptations - most prominently the various anime - tend to focus much more on the interactions and struggles of the humans, relegating their Digimon partners to more of a support role. This is also averted by ''[[Digimon Xros Wars]]'' where Digimons actually managed to end up being more developed than some of the human cast.