No True Scotsman/Playing With

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Basic Trope: Someone is excluded from a subculture he/she is part of, because he/she isn't "hardcore" enough.
  • Played Straight: Ravenna is excluded from the Goth table because she prefers sleek stiletto boots over clunky combat boots.
  • Exaggerated: Ravenna is excluded from the Goth table because she had the audacity to hang out with another girl who is clearly not (and does not claim to be) Goth..
  • Justified: It becomes apparent upon actually getting to know Ravenna that she really is a poseur, trying too hard to seem Darker and Edgier than she actually is.
  • Inverted: Ravenna is excluded from the Goth table because she is more goth than all the other goths at school put together.
    • Alternatively, Ravenna is warmly welcomed and accepted at the Goth table (well, as warmly as they can) even though she couldn't be less Goth if she tried.
  • Subverted: Ravenna sits at the table with her clique like usual...
  • Double Subverted: But there is an invisible wall around her and them, and it's clear that she's been alienated from them somehow. They also talk about her when she goes to the bathroom to fix her lipstick when she's done eating.
  • Deconstructed: The problem is with the group; they're so insecure that they feel they have to all behave the same.
  • Reconstructed: The group learns that there are multiple ways to express oneself and be part of the Goth subculture, and they accept Ravenna. Even if she does happen to prefer stiletto boots over combat boots. Even if she did happen to wear a pink bow that didn't have a skull in the middle. And even if she does choose to have non-goth friends.
  • Parodied: Ravenna is excluded from the Goth table for wearing black.
  • Exploited: the Alpha Bitch of the Goth table sizes up Ravenna, looking for any reason to exclude her.
  • Lampshaded: "You can't sit with us!"
  • Averted: Ravenna is warmly welcomed and accepted at the Goth table.
  • Enforced: Elitism and insecurity (see "deconstructed")
  • Invoked: See "exploited"
  • Defied: See "reconstructed"
  • Discussed: Ravena can be a Goth. But how can Ravena's friend be a Goth when he is a male born between Hadrian's Wall and the North Atlantic.
  • Conversed:
  • Played For Laughs: See "parodied"
  • Played For Drama: The effect that being alienated has on Ravenna.

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