So You Want To/Avoid Unfortunate Implications: Difference between revisions

{{tropeHow-To Guide}}

Whether you're creating something that may or may not touch on known issues, or you're wanting to avoid creating new tropes with their own [[Unfortunate Implications]], you may find it useful to have a simple guide to handling potentially loaded tropes and situations with care.

* ''''' Do not assume the [[Viewers Areare Morons]], do not use [[Small Reference Pools]], and refuse to play to the [[Lowest Common Denominator]]'''''. This is as close to a "golden rule" of avoiding [[Unfortunate Implications]] as one can get. Specifically, assume that your viewers will be of a diverse nature, smart enough to understand implications, and expecting well-rounded, interesting characters and plotlines in many cases. Even if they are [[Just Here for Godzilla]] or [[Fan Service]], your objective is to assume that even Godzilla battling [[Everybody Remembers the Stripper|an armada of strippers]] will not make the viewers morons who ignore everything else along the way.

** As for the [[Lowest Common Denominator]], there is a reason it is a virtual [[Trojan Horse]] of tropes with unfortunate implications. That's because in many societies, the [[Lowest Common Denominator]] ''is'' playing to bigotry, specifically racism and sexism, and opens the door for the worst mistake one can make in creating bad implications--notimplications—not thinking.

* If you're looking into a potentially problematic or controversial issue, do your research. Read up on it, look for accounts of those with experience, maybe even talk to people involved in those areas. The more understanding and perspective you have on the issue, the more effectively you'll be able to write about it. However, please keep in mind that no one is obligated to share their experiences and some may find such questions uncomfortable or offensive, especially if the one doing the asking is an outsider. Finally, it might be worth letting someone with experience in these areas--andareas—and whose opinion you trust and respect--haverespect—have a look over your work to offer their comment; they might be able to pick up on potentially problematic areas that you have missed.

* Write characters, not caricatures. '''Never write stereotypes.''' You can have an Asian character who is smart or a black character who is athletic, but people are more than just one character trait.

* Go to the [[Rape Tropes]] index. See all of the incredibly misguided at best and horrifically awful ways existing media has depicted rape or dubiously consensual sex. If after this you still wish to include one or more of these in your work, ask yourself why?

** Is it for simple cheap fetish thrills? If it is, be honest with yourself that that's what it is, do your ''damnedest'' to make it clear that the story is a fantasy or screwed-up kink that ''should never happen'' in reality, and make use of trigger warnings. Or, better yet, go look at the ways to make it into [[Safe, Sane, and Consensual]] BDSM as opposed to actual rape.

** Is it for a wangsty backstory or to make the viewers feel sad for/sorry for someone? Reconsider it. Look up [[Tear Jerker]] and think of ways OTHER than rape, because [[Rape Is the New Dead Parents]]. [[Rape Asas Backstory]] is overdone, and especially for throwaway angst, there's many other worthy ways it can happen than rape.

** Is it for [[Black Comedy]]? Then make it as absurd and obviously unrealistic as possible. You are [[Crossing the Line Twice]], so at least try to make it so obviously absurdly stupid, over the top, and [[Fan Disservice]] that, while it's a joke, it's a joke at the idea of rape itself and/or at the expense of rapists. And use your trigger warnings.

** Is it really intended for [[Rape Asas Drama]], with all attendant respect it deserves as a traumatic experience? Then [[Shown Their Work|DO THE RESEARCH.]] Go to RAINN, go to sites for victims, read and listen to interviews with victims, and be prepared to be depressed, angry, and sickened. Are you? That's good - you are at least aware of how bad rape actually is. Then, and only then, prepare yourself to write all of your understanding and emotions into your fully developed character, and prepare to devote considerable time in the work to this.

* For the straight [[Yaoi FangirlsFan]]s and [[Yuri FanboysFan]]s, keep in mind that real gay and bisexual people exist, and some of them ''are'' also fans of yaoi and yuri as well. This doesn't mean that all of your stories have to have aesops about LGBTQI rights or be entirely 100 percent realistic - in fact, going off on an [[Author Filibuster]] about this or driving your characters out of character to do it is one of the worst mistakes you can make, because it makes you look like a [[White Knight]] as well as showing off privilege. It does mean that having your characters be unexamined stereotypes of LGBTQI people will be noticed and taken badly, and it does mean you should understand at least a little beyond what you learn from porn or [[Slash Fic]] or manga or whatever.

* Be '''extremely''' judicious when applying the [[Rule of Funny]]. If you find yourself using this as a [["Just Joking" Justification|justification]] when called out for [[Did Not Do the Research|not doing your research,]] you've probably already invoked [[Unfortunate Implications]]. This is another good reason to have people related to the issues you raise vet your work.

* Do not apply [[Always ChaoticExclusively Evil]] to a race, ethnicity, nationality, age (young or old), religion, gender, sexuality, sexual orientation, species (whether you are writing [[Speculative Fiction]] or not), or groups of sentient beings in general. It can be less problematically applied to an institution or corporation or movement or whatever, but even with that, be careful to specify that every being in, say, a nation, does not belong to that group. Most Germans in World War II weren't Nazis, for example. It's also good characterization not to make every single member of an organization [[Card -Carrying Villain|flat-out evil]] or [[Complete Monster|monstrous]], as that rarely is the case in real life.

* Be ''very'' careful in regard to children or young teenagers (or childlike looking characters) and how you choose to depict them. The [[Token Mini MoeLoli]], the [[Really 700 Years Old]] childlike, and the underage-looking [[Uke]] may be nigh-omnipresent characters especially in [[Anime]], [[Manga]], and [[Visual Novels]], but often these characters are created solely to pander to a [[Lolicon|specific]] [[Shotacon|demographic]], one you may not want your work associated with (or one you may not want associating with your work or yourself). If there is no valid plot reason for their existence beyond a [[Hand Wave]] created just so they can be there, at least consider the idea of making the character an older teenager or an adult instead, ''especially'' if the character is portrayed as sexually available.