Contractual Genre Blindness: Difference between revisions

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Apparently, there ''is'' such a thing as being too [[Genre Savvy]]. [[Dangerously Genre Savvy|Genre Savvy villains]] are evil, and they know it. For every complicated villain with [[Freudian Excuse|abandonment issues]] that has a chance to redeem themselves, there are ten [[Card-Carrying Villain|Card Carrying Villains]] out there who are just in it because they [[For the Evulz|love being villains.]]

 

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

 

 

* Dr. Evil from ''[[Austin Powers]]''. He criticizes his son for being practical, saying he's just not nearly as evil because he's [[Genre Savvy]].

* ''[[Megamind]]'': Megamind appears to accept that defeat is inevitable in his conflict with superhero Metro Man and operate accordingly. {{spoiler|To the extent that he begins winding up his latest plan under the assumption that it's failed without actually checking to see that it ''has'' failed; when it turns out it's ''succeeded'', he's as astonished as everyone else.}}

** Even after {{spoiler|Metro Man is defeated, this type of thinking persists. Megamind realises that to be evil, he ''needs'' to have a hero to fight. He needs to base his actions on what's the "most evil". And eventually, when he begins to fall in love, Minion points out that he's not allowed to get the girl.}}

 

* ''[[Discworld]]''

** The dragon who became the King of Ankh-Morpork killed, burned, and demanded a virgin to devour, simply because that's what dragons are expected to do. [[Ape Shall Never Kill Ape|The fact that humans do it to each other]] [[What Is Evil?|and call it 'morality']] was apparently [[Even Evil Has Standards|beyond even its standards]].

::Contractual Genre Blindness is a clever survival technique. In the case of the Old Count, he knows that [[Good Old Ways|deliberately obeying old stereotypes]] is much better than subverting them and earning the total enmity of the local villagers, risking them putting him in a coffin full of garlic and posting a guard every year. Evil Harry Dread's continued "I'll be back" survival also works because he abides by the same rules as the heroes. If they killed Harry once and for all, they would be depriving themselves of a future job. As such, Harry is considered a close friend, even though he is still a "bad guy".

::In Harry and Cohen's case, in typical Pratchett fashion, the [[Dangerously Genre Savvy|Dangerouly Genre Savviness]] of both sides, resulting in their mutual Contractual Genre Blindness curved right back around to being [[Dangerously Genre Savvy]] ''about'' Contractual Genre Blindness. When Harry seems genuinely surprised that they were expecting him to betray Cohen's Silver Horde exactly at the culmination of their grand plan, they explain that they expected nothing less from someone like Harry and congratulate him on being one of the best [[Evil Overlord]]s they had ever encountered. Harry [[Manly Tears|tears up]] not only from the respect he receives from them, but also the idea that they may be parting ways forever. One last note: in much the same way that Cohen and the Horde are the "Last Heroes", Harry is the Last Dread Lord - he always stuck to his end of the code, but ''the other side didn't''. "The first thing they do these days, they block up your secret escape tunnels."

:To elaborate on how idiotic the breakout plan was: one step of it involved moving a boulder into Jim's cell (don't ask). The two boys aren't strong enough to move it in themselves, so Jim helps them. That's right, Jim ''walks out of the cell and goes back in voluntarily''. And then lets himself be locked back in again. Poor Jim. Jim is legally already free; Tom Sawyer just refused to tell him until he had 'broken him out' first.

* ''[[Bridge of Birds]]'': The Duke of Ch'in does this out of fear: tough as he acts, he's still [[The Man Behind the Curtain|confused and frightened]], so he mimics the villains in fairy tales rather than think on his own.

 

== Live Action TV ==

* In what may be [[Truth in Television]], the actors in the George Reeves ''[[The Adventures of Superman]]'' show actually said that they never noticed Clark and Superman looked the same because they wanted to keep their jobs.

* Pearl in ''[[Mystery Science Theater 3000]]'' attempts at first to get accredited by, and then follow the rules of, the Board of Mad Scientists. She is perpetually annoyed at following the mad scientist rules when she knows there are easier ways to do things, but it's "illegal to rule the world if you're not board certified" so she just goes with it.

 

== Tabletop Games ==