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(Import from TV Tropes TVT:Main.WatsonianVersusDoylist 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Main.WatsonianVersusDoylist, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
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{{quote|''There are ''no'' inconsistencies in the [[Discworld]] books; occasionally, however, [[No Except Yes|there are alternate pasts]].''|'''[[Terry Pratchett]]''' on alt.fan.pratchett, wearing his Watsonian hat.}}
{{quote|''Maybe [the Patrician in ''[[
'''Watsonian''' or '''in-universe''' commentary takes the reality of a work as given, and thus restricts itself to making statements that are sensible within that reality. Watsonian explanations are things like "Character X was lying", "He had plastic surgery over the summer", and "The main character fell off a cliff". A more precise technical term for this is ''[[intradiegetic]]''. Tropes which take a generally Watsonian perspective include:
* [[
* [[Retcon]]
* Some forms of [[Death of the Author]]
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* [[Wild Mass Guessing]]
'''Doylist''' or '''out-of-universe''' commentary considers the work as a created object, and prefers explanations based on the real-world motivations or circumstances of the creators. Doylist explanations are things like "The author had a Better Idea", "The actor died, so they had to hire a new one", and "The author got sick of writing those books, so he killed off the main character". A technical term for this is ''[[extradiegetic]]''. Doylist tropes include:
* [[Author Existence Failure]]
* [[Depending
* [[Forgot About His Powers]]
* [[Idiot Ball]] and all its subtropes
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The [[Literary Agent Hypothesis]] is a way of smuggling explanations that would otherwise be Doylist into a Watsonian paradigm, by introducing a fictional author.
As the page quotes suggest, most people aren't "pure" Watsonians or Doylists; they switch between modes as the occasion warrants. The terms reference ''[[Sherlock Holmes]]
A modern example might be the proliferation of [[Rubber Forehead Aliens]] in ''[[Star Trek]]''. It is revealed in a ''Next Generation'' episode that an ancient humanoid race "seeded" the galaxy with their genes, thereby causing humanoid intelligent life to evolve independently throughout the Milky Way. This is a very Watsonian explanation. The Doylist explanation of the [[Rubber Forehead Aliens]] is simply that they are cheap to produce, require relatively little imagination, allow for the audiences to sympathize with alien characters, etc.
Sometimes a Doylist explanation is interjected purposely into a narrative; for example, in ''[[Monty Python and
{{examples}}
In German-speaking fandom of Disney's Duck comics, the two ways of analyzing the stories are called ''Donaldismus literaricus'' (which treats the work of Carl Barks and others as works of art and literature) and ''Donaldismus archaeologicus'' (which treats them as factual reports from the Earth-like planet called ''Stella Anatium'' - the Star of the Ducks). In the D.O.N.A.L.D. (''Deutsche Organisation Nichtkommerzieller Anhänger des lauteren Donaldismus'' = German Organization of Non-Commercial Adherents of True Donaldism) the latter tends to dominate. [[Donald Duck]] comics are [[Serious Business]], definitely.▼
== [[Comic Books]] ==
▲* In German-speaking fandom of Disney's Duck comics, the two ways of analyzing the stories are called ''Donaldismus literaricus'' (which treats the work of Carl Barks and others as works of art and literature) and ''Donaldismus archaeologicus'' (which treats them as factual reports from the Earth-like planet called ''Stella Anatium''
== [[Fan Works]] ==
* ''[[My Apartment Manager is not an Isekai Character]]'': One character was magically twinned the in-universe day after she arrived. The Watsonian explanation is that she was alone, surrounded by people she was accustomed to thinking of as enemies, and desperate for somebody to talk with who understands her; the Doylist explanation is that two writers wanted to write the same character.
** Similarly, [http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums/showthread.php?tid=14519 one short-short story] was written to give a Watsonian explanation for why [[Haruhi Suzumiya]] doesn't appear in the setting (despite being admirably suited to it), when the Doylist explanation is simply none of the authors wanted to write anything with her and her supporting characters.
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