television tropes

Television Tropes: Unraveling the Fabric of Storytelling

Among the post-Armageddon level wastes of televised media, a few patterns started surfacing. These patterns created a more personalized avenue of viewing.
The tropes are repetitive storytelling units. They have become so readily recognizable to audiences. This is due to their continuous application in a wide variety of TV shows and other media.
Tropes are not simple clichés. They are a form of lingua franca common to creators and their viewers. They manage to knit together a rich tapestry of narrative devices for good effect.

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The Power of Tropes

By their nature, tropes are neither positive nor negative. They are important staples in the writer’s armory. Writers use them to evoke emotions. They also establish expectations or even create assumptions. If used correctly, they can:

1.Setting expectations: Tropes allow the writer to condition the viewer in record time to the tone and genre at play.


2.Upsetting the audience’s expectation: Tinkering with tropes can yield some pretty unexpected, hence satisfying, turns.


3.Familiarity: The tropes which feature in newer shows can call forth a sense of comfort and understanding.


4. Grounding for creativity: Even the most creative serials often have a few tropes at their core.

Common Tropes in Television

Love Triangle


Few narrative tropes are more enduring on television than that of the romantic love triangle. Classically, a character is torn between two other potential romantic partners. This setup creates tension and drama. It can often provide threads that sustain storylines well into seasons.

This trope has been used effectively by series such as “Dawson’s Creek” and “The Vampire Diaries.” These series keep viewers invested in the emotional journeys of their characters.

It’s easy to understand why the love triangle functions so effectively. It mines a completely universal place of choice. It also mines desire and conflicted feelings. It offers a familiar structure through which complicated relationships along with personal development can be negotiated.

The Fish Out of Water


It puts the protagonist in over his head. That is, into foreign or uncomfortable territory. This setting allows for comics or even far richer character development to occur. This setting may be used to ensure cultural comparisons, personal adjustment, and tension pertaining to fitting in.

Classic examples are “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.” In this show, the street-smart character of Will Smith learns how to live amongst affluence. Another example is “Northern Exposure.” Here, a New York doctor learns to live amongst the people in a small Alaskan town.

This trope does everything from comedy to drama and offers the best avenue for character development and social commentary.

The Chosen One


Meanwhile, the trope of the “Chosen One” has orbited around a character who is resolutely ordinary. This character chances upon the knowledge that he is special in some particular way, or uniquely gifted for something. This conceit appeals to two universal desires. The first is to be special. The second is a fantasy of hidden potential.

This technique has been used in such trope shows as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “The Matrix.” It really enables a very interesting hero’s journey. Of course, it is always compelling to witness the underdog rise into a position where extraordinary challenges must be met. This often serves as an inspiring metaphor for personal growth and empowerment.

Subverting Expectations

However, tropes comfort in that they provide a familiar framework for storytelling. Nowadays, many series strike it big by disallowing audience expectation of such tropes. The latter keeps them off balance. Assumptions made from prior episodes get rewritten with new angles on the same narrative.

Game of Thrones: Defying Plot Armor


Game of Thrones famously subverted the trope of plot armor. This is the implicit protection of important characters from dying or serious harm. It would consistently kill characters in situations where other narratives would keep them safe. This made anything seem possible. It raised the tension of every character interaction.

The Good Place: Constant Reinvention


The NBC series “The Good Place” managed to outstrip that trick by rebooting its premise over and over. It started as a neatly defined comedy about the afterlife. Over time, it became an overwhelmingly complex exploration of ethics and self-improvement. Every successive season blows up the status quo which would have settled in for the series.

Breaking Bad: The Anti-Hero’s Journey


“Breaking Bad” managed to turn this typical character arc on its head. It converted a highly sympathetic character, the protagonist, into an anti-hero. This gradual degradation put viewers’ loyalty and expectations into tight spots regarding the character’s actions. That is what made the narrative morally complex. It was impossible to pigeonhole into strict categories.

Evolution of Tropes

It’s not just TV that’s evolving, but its tropes as well. More recent moves in popular culture, from streaming platforms to binge-watching, have deeply affected how stories are narrated and consumed.

1. More complex, serialized storytelling: Because of binge-watching, audiences can now see complete seasons at one sitting. Therefore, shows can dive deep into more complicated longitudinal story arcs without any concerns about flagging audience interest.

2. More diversity of character: This growth in wanting to see more diversity. Realism on screen is finally a fact. It precipitates changes in well-worn tropes. There is an entirely new class of tropes representative of experiences thus far unrepresented.

3. Hybridization of genres: In modern contexts, genre crossing is a usual characteristic. Two or more genres combine into hybrid narratives. These narratives defy categorization and fight against tropes of any kind.

4. Meta-awareness: The majority of modern programs are trope-savvy. Many, in fact, address those tropes directly in the narrative. Others subvert them.


How Tropes Affect the Audience’s Experience

Understanding tropes of television will enhance the audience’s viewing experience by allowing them to appreciate the artistry of storytelling. It allows for more in-depth analysis and discussion of media when tropes are recognized across shows and genres. A viewer might expect and even delight both in expectation fulfillment and subversion.

Besides these superficial pleasures, trope knowledge can also enable a more critical mode of viewing. Viewers are increasingly sensitive to lazy writing or clichéd storytelling. On the other hand, they are definitely appreciative when tropes have been worked out in new and interesting ways.

Tropes in the Age of Global Streaming

The global reaches of streaming platforms exposed the audience to other tropes outside their own and from other cultural contexts. Cross-pollination in the storytelling tradition now includes reimagining regional tropes for a global audience. This tradition also incorporates a mix of styles of storytelling from different cultures. There is an enhanced awareness and appreciation of varied traditions of narrative.

It would be followed, for example, by Korean dramas. Western audiences are more accustomed to the tropes of the so-called “Candy”-character. This character is a poor, hardworking, and optimistic female lead. Additionally, there is a “chaebol” heir, a rich corporate heir. This combination enriches the global television landscape even more.

Conclusion: The Power of Tropes That Refuses to Die

Tropes of television decidedly are a great deal more than simple clichés or overused plot devices. They form the building blocks of visual storytelling. They serve as a sort of lingua franca. Creators can convey often complex ideas with facility and ease. The audience will understand those tropes and appreciate what they consume better. Great television is captivating in both the familiar pattern and the innovative twists.

So long as the medium continues to evolve, tropes shift and change along with it. Eventually, new technologies, shifting cultural mores, and world influences shape and mold in what ways the stories are told. The raw power of tropes is the constant at the heart of great television storytelling. They connect, surprise, and cast light upon the human experience.


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