All The Tropes

The Ugly Barnacle: Difference between revisions

Page Discussion

The Ugly Barnacle (view source)

Revision as of 01:13, 27 August 2019

4,595 bytes removed ,  4 years ago
Fixing and tweaking
VisualWikitext
m (remove unneccessary quote box template)
(Fixing and tweaking)
 
(11 intermediate revisions by 5 users not shown)
Line 1:
{{work}}
[[File:uglybarnacle6_6743uglybarnacle6 6743.jpg|link=SpongeBob SquarePants (Animation)|frame|The most unforgettable scene from [[The Film of the Book]].]]▼
<!-- %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% -->
<!-- %% -->
<!-- %%NOTE: When adding tropes, please update the count and ratio for Troperiffic. The formula is [(# of tropes on this page)+(# on YMMV page)+(# on character page)/(13, then 15)] -->
<!-- %% -->
<!-- %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%% -->
 
▲[[File:uglybarnacle6_6743.jpg|link=SpongeBob SquarePants (Animation)|frame|The most unforgettable scene from [[The Film of the Book]].]]
 
{{quote|''"Once, there was an ugly barnacle. He was so ugly that {{spoiler|everyone died}}. [[The End]]."''|'''The opening and ending lines'''}}
 
'''"The Ugly Barnacle"''' is a short story [[Show Within a Show|Within the Show]] of ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]''.
"The Ugly Barnacle" is a classic [[Short Story]] inDuring the Pacific literary canonepisode, the authorship of which is generally attributed to one Patrick Star. According to legend, Star improvised "The Ugly Barnacle" in an attempt to cheer up his friend, a Mr. [[SpongeBob SquarePants (Animation)|SpongeBob SquarePants]], who was suffering from a case of the ugly at the time. Unfortunately and predictably, the story didn't help at all.
 
This actually is a tropable work of [[Minimalism]], though maybe not tropable to the extent we've seen here. The tale is a great example of a [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog Story]]; the entire text is quoted above.
Despite the fact that "Barnacle" failed to accomplish its initial goal, it eventually found its way to Bikini Bottom's intellectual community, which hailed the story for its [[True Art Is Angsty|harsh realism]], innovative use of [[Minimalism]], and [[Rounded Character|detailed characterization]]. Slowly but surely, the story spread from Bikini Bottom to the rest of the world.
 
An animated film adaptation of the tale, also titled "The Ugly Barnacle", was produced in 2000. Unusually, the movie is both a [[The Film of the Book|Film Of The Book]] and a [[Biopic]], as it focuses on both the legendary story and the events surrounding its creation. The film managed to avoid many problems commonly faced by page-to-screen adaptations, a fact which many critics attributed to Star's heavy involvement in the film-making process. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2U8yfKM9nY Experience this work of art here.] -- [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Osc04vpIz98&feature=related and now in Spanish!] Another film adaptation is planned for a 2014 release and will be directed by the legendary Patrick Star.
----
=== Tropes provided by "The Ugly Barnacle": ===
 
{{tropelist}}
* [[Affectionate Parody]]: Of "[[The Ugly Duckling (Literature)|The Ugly Duckling]]".
* [[All Just a Dream]]: Sort of. In the end, {{spoiler|it turns out to to be a story Patrick was telling in ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants (Animation)|SpongeBob SquarePants]]''.}}
* [[The Aloner]]: {{spoiler|If the barnacle didn't die in the end, he probably became one of these}}.
* [[And Man Grew Proud]]: One interpretation of the barnacle, of how it became ugly enough to {{spoiler|kill everyone}} and of how, and why, we still tell its harrowing tale.
* [[Anti Hero]]: [[Wild Mass Guessing|Possibly.]]
* [[Anyone Can Die]]: And {{spoiler|everyone does}}.
* [[Apocalypse How]]: Between Class 0 or 6, the latter depending on whether you interpret {{spoiler|everyone dying as including things like plant life and bacteria.}}
* [[Apocalypse Wow]]: See above.
* [[Artifact of Doom]]: Another interpretation of the barnacle.
* [[The Bad Guy Wins]]: The ending ''could'' be this, assuming the barnacle is evil.
* [[Bad Powers Bad People]]: Possibly.
* [[Person of Mass Destruction|Barnacle of Mass Destruction]]
* [[Beautiful Void]]
Line 37 ⟶ 27:
* [[Bittersweet Ending]]: Another interpretation of the ending. {{spoiler|Everyone died but at least they don't live in a world with an ugly barnacle.}}
* [[Black Comedy]]: To some, the story is a hilarious nihilistic take on children's stories. [[Your Mileage May Vary]].
* [[Book Ends]]: The first three and last three lines are identical.
* [[Brown Note]]
* [[Character Title]]: The titular Ugly Barnacle.
* [[Chekhov's Gun]]: Early in the story, Patrick mentions that the barnacle is ugly. The barnacle's ugliness {{spoiler|kills everyone}} later on.
* [[Cosmic Horror Story]]: If mere BARNACLES are enough to [[Kill 'Em All]], imagine [[Nightmare Fuel|what other things in the ocean are able to do..]] [[{{spoiler:|Not a lot, since {{spoiler|they're all dead.}}
* [[Crapsack World]] and/or [[Crap Saccharine World]]: In the Barnacleverse, ''the existence of a single unattractive crustacean'' is enough to {{spoiler|trigger the Apocalypse.}} Despite this, Patrick narrates the tale like a bedtime story, and originally told it as an attempt to ''cheer up'' [[SpongeBob SquarePants (Animation)|Spongebob]].
* [[Cruel Twist Ending]]: Without giving too much away, the ending is pretty merciless.
* [[Curb Stomp Battle]]: Nobody had any chance of stopping the Barnacle from {{spoiler|killing everyone.}}
** Technically unspecified.
* [[Doorstopper]]: Possibly one of the harshest aversions of this trope ''in the history of fiction.''
Line 54 ⟶ 41:
* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: Some people think that the barnacle is this.
* [[The End]]: The words that conclude the story.
* [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin]]: It's a story about a (maybe ''the'') barnacle that is ugly.▼
* [[Enemy to All Living Things]]: The barnacle. So very, very much.
* [[Everyone Calls Him Barkeep]]: The barnacle.
▲* [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin]]: It's a story about a (maybe ''the'') barnacle that is ugly.
* [[Gambit Roulette]]: Assuming that the barnacle's actions were deliberate, there was really no way to guarantee that it would be potent enough to {{spoiler|kill everyone.}}
* [[Gonk]]: [[Deconstructed Trope|Deconstructed.]]
* [[Fanfic Fuel]]: See the [[Fanfic]] Recs tab at the top of the page.
* [[Fractured Fairy Tale]]
* [[Framing Device]]: {{spoiler|The rest of the episode of ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants (Animation)|SpongeBob SquarePants]]''}}.
* [[Furry Confusion]]: The barnacle in the story is presumably anthropomorphic, yet ordinary barnacles exist in the universe this story is set in.
** This was never explicitly stated in the story, however, so it is currently unknown whether the barnacle is anthropomorphic or, indeed, if he is in fact [[Wild Mass Guessing|the only remaining barnacle in the story's universe.]]
* [[Genre Shift]]: The viewer was promised an uplifting tale of someone overcoming their appearance issues. They get it...for one sentence.
* [[The Grotesque]]: The barnacle.
* [[Happily Ever After]]: [[Subverted Trope|Subverted.]]
* [[Helium Speech]]: Averted, this never comes into play.
* [[Infant Immortality]]: Averted. {{spoiler|'''Everyone''' dies.}}
* [[Informed Deformity]]: We're told that the protagonist is ugly, and we're told of the ramifications of his ugliness, but it is never made clear exactly what features he has that make him so ugly.
** [[Fridge Brilliance]]: It's possible that if we were told, {{spoiler|we would die}}
* {{spoiler|[[Kill 'Em All]]}}: The ugly barnacle was so ugly that {{spoiler|everyone died}}.▼
* [[Invincible Hero]]: It's difficult to do anything with a "hero" who can {{spoiler|and did}} go up against ''anyone'' and {{spoiler|kill them}}.
* [[Invincible Villain]]: If the barnacle was in fact a [[Villain Protagonist]], then any hero would not be able to stand against it, for {{spoiler|he would just kill them along with everybody else}}.
▲* {{spoiler|[[Kill Em All]]}}: The ugly barnacle was so ugly that {{spoiler|everyone died}}.
* [[The Juggernaut]]: Nobody was capable of stopping the barnacle, {{spoiler|thus, everyone died}}.
* [[The Law of Conservation of Detail]]: Patrick doesn't include many non-essential details about the cast.
* [[Machinima]]: In Super Scribblenauts, one can type in 'Nuclear Ugly Barnacle', which creates an ugly barnacle, and then {{spoiler|everybody dies.}}
* [[Mike Nelson, Destroyer of Worlds]]: There's never any evidence that the barnacle ''intends'' to {{spoiler|kill everyone}}.
* [[A Million Is a Statistic]]: {{spoiler|''Everyone'' dies.}}
* [[Mind Screw]]: After the ending, we're left with a great big pile of unanswered questions. Just how did the Barnacle's ugliness {{spoiler|kill everyone}}? Did the Barnacle himself {{spoiler|die}}? Literally nothing is ever explained.
* [[Mood Whiplash]]: At first, it sounds like a charming fairy tale. ''At first.''
* [[Never Say "Die"]]: '''Heavily''' averted. In fact, it's used at least once every fifteen words.
* [[Nigh Invulnerability]]: Considering that you can't even go near the barnacle without {{spoiler|dying}}...
* [[Minimalism]]
* [[Nobody Poops]]: Either played straight or averted, depending on whether you count {{spoiler|the emptying of bowels after death}}.
* [[No Dialogue Episode]]: At no point in the story does a character speak.
* [[No Hugging, No Kissing]]: The story features no romance at all, and instead focuses on the tragedy of {{spoiler|everyone dying}}.
* [[Nominal Importance]]: The story's protagonist, the ugly barnacle, is the only character to get a name.
* [[No Name Given]]: The main character is simply known as "the barnacle" or "the ugly barnacle".
* [[Notso Diffrent]]: The barnacle is never state to be exceptionally ugly, merely that it is 'so ugly that {{spoiler|everyone died}}'. It's entirely possible that it was of normal appearance, and just happened to be in exactly the correct spot on the spectrum of attractiveness that {{spoiler|everyone died}}.
* [[Obliviously Evil]]: How some people view the barnacle.
* [[Offstage Villainy]]: Assuming that the barnacle is evil.
* [[OhOne-Scene CrapWonder]]: Presumably the thoughts of {{spoiler|everyone}}In beforethe {{spoiler|theySpongeBob episode diedthe story was told in.}}.
* [[Omnicidal Maniac]]: {{spoiler|One interpretation of the barnacle itself.}}
* [[One Scene Wonder]]: {{spoiler|1=In the SpongeBob episode the story was told in.}}
* [[Once Upon a Time]]: Averted. The closest the story comes to using the phrase is "Once there was an ugly barnacle."
* [[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3lo90ElO9Q This] particularly eloquent adaption of the tale.
* [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog]]
* [[Short Story]]: [[Exaggerated Trope|Taken to its logical extreme]].
* [[Shrouded in Myth]]: The only source we know of concerning the barnacle is {{spoiler|[[The Ditz|one Patrick]] [[Unreliable Narrator|Star]].}}
* [[Spiritual Successor]]: To the saga of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CCzsEgUcWfU Kevin the Hamster].
* [[Sword of Damocles]]: The threat of the barnacle is enough to stop anyone from doing anything. ''Ever.''
* {{spoiler|[[The Hero Dies]]: Assuming he was a hero. Patrick did say that ''everyone died'', so shouldn't that include the barnacle itself?}}
** It's not specified '''who''' the hero is, but assuming one existed, we can safely assume he/she {{spoiler|died}}.
* [[Trailers Always Lie]]: It was set up in a way to make it seem as if it is an uplifting tale about someone overcoming the stigma of being ugly. {{spoiler|Instead, we get a [[Kill Them All]] [[Downer Ending]].}}
* [[Troperiffic]]: The story is only 13 words long (15 if you count [[The End]]), but it has 93 tropes, plus another 25 under [[The Ugly Barnacle (Literature)/YMMV|YMMV]] and [[The Ugly Barnacle (Literature)/Characters|25 character tropes]], averaging out to 10.84 (or 9.4) tropes ''[[Up to Eleven|per word]]''.
* [[True Beauty Is Onon the Inside]]: [[Subverted Trope|Apparently, not so much.]]
* [[Twist Ending]]: Be honest: {{spoiler|Were you expecting the barnacle to kill everyone?}}
* [[Ultimate Lifeform]]: Arguably, the barnacle, as it was able to {{spoiler|kill everyone}}.
* [[Undead Author]]: If {{spoiler|everyone died}}, then how did Patrick survive to tell the story? And how did SpongeBob survive to hear it?
* [[Unreliable Narrator]]: The story was initially told by {{spoiler|''[[The Ditz|Patrick]] [[SpongeBob SquarePants (Animation)|Star]]''}}. Of ''course'' he would get some details wrong. And it didn't even help the person he was telling it to!
* [[Wham! Line]]: One near the very end that completely changes the direction the story was heading.▼
* [[Villain Protagonist]]: Possibly.
{{quote| {{spoiler|He was so ugly that everyone died.}}}}▼
* [[Walking Wasteland]]: ''Technically'' averted. Barnacles can't walk.
* [[What Do You Mean ItsIt's Not Didactic?]]: Invoked, Exaggerated and of course {{spoiler|[[Played for Laughs]]}} ▼
▲* [[Wham Line]]: One near the very end that completely changes the direction the story was heading.
* [[What Measure Is a Non -Cute?]]: Surprisingly averted. Not only is the barnacle portrayed sympathetically, but the story even implies that it's possible for barnacles to be cute.▼
▲{{quote| {{spoiler|He was so ugly that everyone died.}}}}
* [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds]]: The Barnacle, [[Your Mileage May Vary|arguably]].▼
▲* [[What Do You Mean Its Not Didactic]]: Invoked, Exaggerated and of course {{spoiler|[[Played for Laughs]]}}
 
▲* [[What Measure Is a Non Cute]]: Surprisingly averted. Not only is the barnacle portrayed sympathetically, but the story even implies that it's possible for barnacles to be cute.
▲* [[Woobie Destroyer of Worlds]]: The Barnacle, [[Your Mileage May Vary|arguably]].
* [[You Cannot Grasp the True Form]]: {{spoiler|Well, you can't do it and ''survive...''}}
----
{{quote| [[The End]].}}
 
{{quote| "That didn't help at all!"}}
 
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Memetic MutationWorks]]
[[Category:Comic Literature]]
[[Category:Just for Fun]]
[[Category:The Ugly Barnacle]]
[[Category:Literature]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ugly Barnacle, The}}
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Special:MobileDiff/435818...1718672"