Seinfeld Is Unfunny/Literature: Difference between revisions

* [[Dashiell Hammett]] and [[Raymond Chandler]]. Their hard-boiled detective fiction certainly qualifies.

** The same goes for the inventors of "classic" detective fiction, [[Arthur Conan Doyle]] and [[Agatha Christie]] in particular. Many of the stories and novels by both are stuffed with clichés and twists that a modern-day reader has seen a bit too often - but they invented them.

** [[Terry Pratchett]] was amused to be told he was 'following in the grand tradition of [[J. K. Rowling]]', given that he's been writing and published for two decades longer.

* [[Dr. Seuss]]. When he started producing books for children featuring nonsensical word usage and surreal art, he was considered both genius and highly controversial, which tends to go right over the heads of modern readers.

* ''[[Lost Souls]]''. While [[Poppy Z. Brite]]'s novel probably didn't originate of a lot of vampire clichés -- bisexual, seductive vampires, New Orleans, Goths, [[Ho Yay]] -- these tropes were a lot fresher when she and [[Anne Rice]] wrote their books.

** Rice's ''[[Vampire Chronicles]]'' suffer from this even harder, if only because she was more prolific than Brite and she's much more well-known in the mainstream. Lestat in particular is the poster child for this. The "sexy Eurotrash rebel-without-a-cause in literal leather pants" character is so cliche in modern vampire fiction that people groan when they see it. Somewhat hilariously, it was a major criticism of the ''[[Queen of the Damned]]'' movie.

** Tolkien might be an aversion to this trope. While there is no question he was influential in many regards to fantasy, very little of how he described various parts of his fantasy world actually survive in what is now considered generic fantasy. This also isn't factoring in that Tolkien was very inconsistent with a lot of his own lore. Depending on what you were reading, orcs and goblins ranged from being different words for the same exact creature, different tribes of the same creature that are identical, different tribes of the same creature except the goblin tribe was slightly shorter on average, two related species, or completely different and unrelated creatures.

*** But this still leaves us with, well, defining the stock races as mostly used today (elves existed prior in many different forms in different mythologies, from little wingy tinkerbells to something you'd call a dwarf in modern fantasy, while now everyone thinks "pointy ears"; orcs were new, at least the name; elf-dwarf relations; dwarfs as always bearded miners) as well as other more general formulae. Actually, quite a bit survived, especially in the common aspects of most fantasy.

* ''[[Neuromancer]]'' by William Gibson was hailed as a radical departure that overturned science fiction with its noir mood, gritty realism, and dystopian outlook. Now [[Cyberpunk]] looks old-fashioned and passe to some, and [[Shiny-Looking Spaceships]] are back in vogue as unironic extensions of modern consumer products.

* ''[[The Neverending Story (novel)|The Neverending Story]]''. Similar to ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia]]'', it can seem an awful lot like a rather standard read, albeit a [[Doorstopper|long one]] for children. A child finds a mysterious book that appears to be a gateway to another world. He appears to have found himself written into the story of this mysterious new world, and finds himself embarking on all sorts of adventures in a realm of fantasy powered by human imagination, becoming part of it all along the way, then finally departing home at the end after almost losing himself to his own fantasy and defeating the [[Big Bad]]. Even if the entire story wasn't replicated ''too'' too much (''[[Final Fantasy Tactics Advance]]'' comes close, however), a lot of the book's themes seem a bit...well, cliché. The plot itself doesn't seem to be anything new either.

* [[Sherlock Holmes]]. Some argue that he qualifies as a "stock character", arguing that even though he was the ''origin'' of various clichés, to a modern reader they are just clichés.

** There was a Holmes story in which Holmes is sure that he got the right guy, but the guy has an alibi. What could possibly be going on? Can you figure it out? Turns out {{spoiler|the guy had an identical twin}}. Bet you never saw that one coming, did you?

** Holmes is a fleshed-out version of [[Edgar Allan Poe]]'s Auguste Dupin. Dupin can extrapolate from tiny clues, scoffs at the clueless police and has a narrator friend who worships him. There's actually a [[Lampshade Hanging]] on this in the very first Holmes story.

* The ''[[Snow Crash]]'' physical manifestation of the internet can come off as either a brilliant, eerie prediction of the future or a "I know this already" unsurprising setting depending on whether you read it before or after ''[[Second Life]]'' proved ''everything.''

* [[Stephen King]]'s books have fallen into this due to so many modern horror writers copying his style. When he first published ''[['Salem's Lot]]'' and ''[[Carrie]]'', the idea of bringing horror out of gothic castles and into average New England towns revitalized the genre.

** A lot of Heinlein's works have ended up as this simply due to the sheer amount of influence he had on science fiction at the time. ''[[Starship Troopers]]'' and ''[[The Puppet Masters]]'' are two especially good examples.

* ''[[Uncle Tom's Cabin]]'': The characters seem incredibly stereotyped to modern eyes because the popularity of the book -- and the minstrel shows inspired by or at least [[In Name Only|named for]] it -- ''established'' those very stereotypes.

* The ''[[Shannara]]'' franchise, particularly ''[[The Sword of Shannara]]''. People today tend to look at it and see a blatant rip-off of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. At the time, people wouldn't have, due to Brooks' other innovations, including Elves that were human and fallible, a [[Mentor]] who was a whopping example of [[Good Is Not Nice]], the aversion of [[Exclusively Evil]], and of course, the twist ending ({{spoiler|The Sword convinces [[The Big Bad]] of his [[Dead All Along]] status}}), and the [[After the End]] setting. Nowadays all those things are so common that modern readers tend only to notice the flaws and the similarities to ''Lord of the Rings'', instead of the differences.

** Tolkien's Elves were fallible, plenty of his characters (including mentor types like Gandalf and especially Thorin) exhibit [[Good Is Not Nice]], he subverted and deconstructed [[Exclusively Evil]], and LOTR has two twist endings. There might be bits buried in the Shannara books not ripped off from Tolkien, but those aren't among them. The [[After the End]] setting cropped up years later due to [[Canon Welding]] rather than any particular piece of creative insight.

* Science fiction in general. Technologies that used to be completely fantastic tend to become [[Truth in Television]] decades later. See also [[Technology Marches On]].

* ''[[The Great God Pan]] (1894)'' was a prototype [[Cosmic Horror Story]], notable for "the cumulative suspense and ultimate horror with which every paragraph abounds". It was cited as a major influence by [[H.P. Lovecraft]], and (more recently) [[Stephen King]]. But part of the suspense is killed for the modern reader, who knows what to expect from the genre.

** A [[YouTube]] comment on the [[Animated Adaptation]] of ''[[The Velveteen Rabbit]]'' asked why on earth they would ''burn'' the boy's toys and beddings after he had Scarlet Fever. At the time, scarlet fever being transmitted by personal effects was considered scientific fact. [[Science Marches On]].

** Most of the reason Dysentery is known nowadays is because of ''[[Oregon Trail]]''.