Seinfeldian Conversation/Playing With
Basic Trope: Characters share an idle, pointless conversation.
- Played Straight: Alice and Bob talk about socks.
- Exaggerated: The conversation becomes Serious Business, eventually becoming a Cavemen Versus Astronauts Debate.
- Alice and Bob are having a Seinfeldian Casual Danger Dialog during a huge shootout.
- Downplayed: The conversation ends after two sentences since it's so boring and pointless.
- Justified: Alice and Bob have nothing else to talk about, but wish to break the silence.
- Alice and Bob are rather bored with their normal duties, or just want to pass the time.
- Inverted: Alice and Bob have a serious conversation.
- Subverted: Alice and Bob start a pointless conversation but it quickly becomes important.
- Alice and Bob are actually using code words and double-meanings to have a rather pointed conversation.
- Double Subverted: Alice and Bob then start to Talk About the Weather.
- Alice and Bob, as it turns out, are being literal, or are using double meanings and idioms to have a Seinfeldian conversation.
- Deconstructed: Alice and Bob have nothing to discuss, which can be awkward.
- Alice and Bob are pegged as being unproductive and blase.
- Reconstructed: Alice and Bob find stuff to discuss, and find that they have stuff in common.
- They realize Alice and Bob are calm and in control at all times, and instead peg them for as being cool and collected instead.
- Parodied: Someone writes an entire PhD dissertation on the merits of different kinds of socks.
- Zig Zagged: Sometimes Alice and Bob have serious conversations, other times silly ones, and every kind in between, or conversations that cross all of these lines regularly.
- Lampshaded: "Why are we talking about this?"
- Averted: Alice and Bob don't discuss stupid things.
- Alice and Bob don't speak to one another.
- Enforced: "We need these characters to be sympathetic, so we need to introduce a few humanizing elements here."
- Invoked: Alice is standing alone in a slow elevator with Bob.
- This is a characterization device for Alice and Bob's general outlook or their relationship.
- Defied: Bob ignores Alice when she starts going on about socks.
- Alice tells Bob to shut the hell up about the pointless conversations about the varieties of motorcycle fenders.
- Exploited: Alice walks up to Charlie and starts a petty conversation, where she casually says something important or gets him to without being obvious.
- Discussed: "This is usually the part where we listen in, but they're usually talking about how a pair of socks look like they're making love or something."
- Conversed: "Usually, they talk about nothing at this part to fill in extra film time."
- Played For Laughs: Almost always is.
- Played For Drama: Alice and Bob are trying to avoid a serious issue, like the death of Charlie.
- Back to Seinfeldian Conversation