Too Much Information/Playing With
Basic Trope: A character hears something that end up Squicking the hell out of them. Generally related to sex or bodily functions of humans or animals, and/or to Nausea Fuel.
- Played Straight: Report Siht suddenly begins talking about how his constipation is getting in the way of his sex life.
- Exaggerated: Siht does the above at a formal dinner where no one has been discussing bodily functions, then pokes the anorexic model next to him and asks her if she has some spare laxatives.
- Inverted: Siht discusses the weather and fluffy bunnies in his doctor's office or in a similar situation where sharing something that might otherwise be Too Much Information is a good idea.
- Justified:
- A discussion in private with a close lover or friend.
- An advertisement for a product allegedly offering a solution to the Too Much Information problem.
- A discussion with one's doctor.
- A class, a legal investigation or trial, a discussion of patient care, or another situation where the excessive information absolutely needs to be shared between all parties.
- A post to a community that is about discussing health issues or sexual issues or Nausea Fuel subjects.
- Instructional material relating to a specific subject that might be considered Too Much Information.
- Subverted: "My god, you would not believe the problems my wife and I are having in the bedroom. We got one of those flatpack beds, you know? Nightmare to put together."
- Double Subverted: "...So we were in the middle of the Articulated Penguin and the thing collapsed, trapping my testicle..."
- Deconstructed: Siht doesn't particularly shock or disgust anyone with his revelation, and everyone in earshot just treats it as if he was talking about the weather rather than an intimate personal problem, either because they are used to it or because the writer wishes to make a point about how people attribute far too much power to words or aren't prudes in the setting.
- Reconstructed: Everyone is doing this because they are shocked beyond any sort of rational or even irrational response. Report Siht's statement has earned the Too Much Information equivalent of a Flat What: it is so overwhelmingly inappropriate and embarrassing that no one can even think of a response except pretending it didn't happen or silence.
- Lampshaded:
- Any use of "TMI," "Too Much Information," or "Overshare" as commenting on something being TMI is lampshading the instance of it.
- "Did we really need to know that?"
- Parodied:
- Someone shares some entirely banal, inoffensive bit of information and is treated as if they had just shared Too Much Information.
- Someone shares Too Much Information and the consequences are Disproportionate Retribution or the Butterfly Effect.
- Averted:
- Someone who has Too Much Information does not share it.
- Someone gets told to shut up before they can share the TMI and actually listens.
- TMI doesn't exist as a concept in the universe.
- Enforced: If Will Not Tell a Lie extends to "must say everything that one thinks" or "must give graphic detail when asked a question."
- Invoked: "I'm going to tell you something that you might think is Too Much Information."
- Defied:
- Someone refuses to reveal Too Much Information even under torture or on pain of death.
- In a situation where Too Much Information would be expected (or even justified AND enforced) someone manages to speak about the topic without sharing TMI.
- Menstrual product commercials in the US, where due to FCC regulations and prudery, product tests and products are shown, if shown at all, with blue-color fluid instead of blood or even red-color fluid.
- Discussed: "Maybe we should have someone in this story say something gross during the formal dinner scene." "No thanks, we're not going for Toilet Humor here."
- Conversed: "Did you see Hamptons Movie yet?" "No, because all it's known for is that guy standing up and screaming about how constipated he is. Too Much Information, Dude, Not Funny."
- Played For Laughs: Too Much Information as a Toilet Humor joke.
- Played For Drama:
- Too Much Information in a place where it is justified and enforced, usually, because those things (healthcare, legal cases) tend to be Serious Business In-Universe and especially in Real Life.
- Too Much Information that reveals something that is Nightmare Fuel such as abuse, combat injuries, incest, rape, or torture rather than simply being about someone's bowels or bladder or periods or whatever.
Now that was way Too Much Information!