Talk:Hollywood Atheist

HB: This shouldn't have been on the Headscratchers page -- it should have been here, or in the forums. I've moved it here so that there can be proper discussion of your points and suggestions. -- @Looney Toons

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Needs a revamp

• I have some issues with this trope as it exists, and am of the belief it should be revamped/merged/purged. First issue is the name... it kind of reeks of persecution complex, as if Hollywood had an agenda against atheists, which is pretty laughable. The second is that as it's used on the wiki (and to some extent in its writeup), it's a label placed on "any atheist the troper feels is a poor representation of atheism". Basically if an atheist isn't presented as 100% factually correct as well as smarter and more moral than any religious characters, as well as arriving at their atheism both naturally and through sheer logical deduction via their stunning intellect, gets labeled a Hollywood Atheist. In all honesty the best thing to do would just be to merge the trope with Straw Character and only label atheist characters that are clearly and specifically crafted as attacks on atheism as such.

> it kind of reeks of persecution complex

> on "any atheist the troper feels is a poor representation of atheism". Basically if an atheist isn't presented as 100% factually correct as well as smarter and more moral than any religious characters, as well as arriving at their atheism both naturally and through sheer logical deduction via their stunning intellect, gets labeled a Hollywood Atheist.

That's an issue, yes. All such pages are doomed to have apologetics growth around them, just more or less often.

> as if Hollywood had an agenda against atheists, which is pretty laughable.

By now it's obvious that it's against everyone who doesn't waver with the line of party quickly enough - when they are coherent enough to have an agenda at all.

> the best thing to do would just be to merge the trope with Straw Character

It would be a good first step to mark this page and similar ones as subtropes of "Straw Character". Then use this as a guideline for cleaning up, and let's see what's left.