History Main / GenreBlindness

* The Limper in Glen Cook's ''BlackCompany'' fits this trope. Even after the Company [[spoiler:killed him twice, live through what seem at the end to be hundreds of attempts to kill them off, and sent the real BigBad back into his hole in the ground, Limper still thinks he has a chance to kill them by following after them after they leave.]] Needless to say, [[spoiler:he failed miserably, and he wasn't even up against the company at the time, just the people who decided not to go with them.]]

* The characters in ''Series/StargateSG1'' and ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' are ''usually'' pretty GenreSavvy. But:

* Peter in ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' takes this to a ridiculous extreme. The standard Fringe formula: person or people die bizarre, horrific death. Title sequence. Team shows up, Walter presents insane-sounding hypothesis on what happened. Peter insists that this is impossible, despite the fact that he works for Fringe Division and Walter has nearly always been correct. Remainder of episode proves that Walter is, in fact, correct. Eventually, Peter is just {{lampshading}} how weird whatever is instead of doubting it. He stopped entirely by the end of the series.

* ''ComicBook/OneHundredBullets'': Let's say that you're confronting a CorruptCorporateExecutive who's ruined your life by putting kiddie porn on your computer. You put a gun, given to you by a mysterious benefactor, to her head [[JustBetweenYouAndMe and explain why you're about to kill her]], and she offers to give you and your kids enough money to start over on the condition that you give her the gun so she can use it to find out who your benefactor is. Do you accept this offer? If you say no, you are a smarter man than Lee Dolan.

Genre Blindness is what keeps the cast of ''Series/ThreesCompany'' leaping to outrageous conclusions even after the hundredth stupid misunderstanding, instead of sitting down and talking things out. It makes young girls go for walks alone in the woods after midnight without a flashlight or a weapon when there's an axe murderer or a vampire around. It makes the supergenius {{supervillain}}s in JamesBond movies stuff the hero into an elaborate melodramatic DeathTrap from which he inevitably escapes instead of [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim just shooting him]]. It's why a ProfessionalWrestling referee always holds {{face}}s to the strictest letter of the rules, even as the {{heel}}s break every rule in the book behind his back. It is one of the engines that drive the classic 1960s-70s sitcom.

** This one has actually been subverted a few times. Wrestling/DeanMalenko did it at WCW Slamboree 99 in the three-way match for the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-t.html WCW World Tag Team Titles]] where Wrestling/{{Raven}} and Perry Saturn d. the Champs Kidman & [[Wrestling/ReyMysterioJr Rey Misterio Jr.]] and Wrestling/ChrisBenoit & Dean Malenko. Wrestling/DiamondDallasPage, Wrestling/ChavoGuerreroJr and Shelton Benjamin have done it too.

** This one has actually been subverted a few times. Wrestling/DeanMalenko did it at WCW Slamboree 99 in the three-way match for the [[http://www.wrestling-titles.com/wcw/wcw-t.html WCW World Tag Team Titles]] where Wrestling/{{Raven}} and Perry Saturn d. the Champs Kidman & [[Wrestling/ReyMysterioJr Rey Misterio Jr.]] and Wrestling/ChrisBenoit & Dean Malenko. Wrestling/DiamondDallasPage, Chavo Guerrero Jr. and Shelton Benjamin have done it too.

-->"First, your return to shore was not part of our negotiations nor our agreement so I must do nothing. And secondly, you must be a pirate for the pirate's code to apply and you're not. And thirdly, the code is more what you'd call 'guidelines' than actual rules. Welcome aboard the Black Pearl, Miss Turner."

* The original ''Film/NightOfTheLivingDead'' is notable for its exceptions and examples. It was the first film to feature zombies as mindless flesheating corpses, yet at least one character seems to be pretty GenreSavvy already. Most [[OurZombiesAreDifferent zombie rules]] are based on this film.

** Why would any [[RedShirt Security Officer]] ever agree to join the senior officers on an expedition on the surface of an unknown planet?

* Spoofed during the Jerry Seinfeld-Tim Allen match on the ''WesternAnimation/CelebrityDeathmatch'' episode "Seinfeld's Last Stand." Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Michael Richards do a [[FaceHeelTurn Heel Turn]] on Jerry for ending the show and announcers Nick Diamond and Johnny Gomez say, "We wrestling announcers are usually so perceptive."

* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheBoondocks'' plays with this. Riley becomes a chocolate bar mogul while managing to be both Genre Blind and GenreSavvy. He achieves his success by emulating all of the methods used in a number of crime movies, primarily ''{{Scarface}}''. After Huey lampshades that none of the crimelords in the movies ever survived, Riley tells Huey that he doesn't want to hear any more downsides. Riley proceeds to fall straight into all the same tropes from the films, ending up in a shootout in the penthouse from ''Scarface'',[[spoiler: though he does survive by taking enough of Huey's GenreSavvy advice to wear a bulletproof vest]].

** Duckula's appearances and demeanor on ''DangerMouse'' was more 50-50. Half of him is a traditional vampire (he even threatens DM with "I'll have your blood!" in one episode), while the other half is a showbiz-crazy egomaniac.

-->'''Jonathan Coachman''': "I've decided to give Umaga a very well-deserved night off."

** Explained by the implication that on a ship that is exploring strange new worlds and boldly going where no one has gone before, encountering anomalies would be a frequent occurrence. However, most anomalies wouldn't be significant enough to warrant more than a passing mention in the Captain's Log. The Captain would pay attention to an anomaly only when it threatens the ship, otherwise it would be dealt by one of the senior officers.

* The title character in Patrick Senecal's ''{{Aliss}}'' completely misses the fact that she's inhabiting an [[WholePlotReference updated]] ''Literature/AliceInWonderland''. When she actually speaks a line from ''Alice'' [[spoiler: during the trial]], she hasn't the slightest clue where it came from. By contrast, the Red Queen is fully GenreSavvy.

* In ElmoreLeonard's ''Pronto'' Tommy "The Zip" Bucks is a Italian-born mafioso who constantly fails to realize that US Marshal Raylan Givens is a CowboyCop who does not always play by the rules. Tommy is a ruthless killer who prides himself on his ability to walk up to a person in a crowded restaurant, shoot him dead and then walk away. Yet, until the very end, he cannot imagine that a US policeman would choose to just shoot him dead rather then arrest him and have him face trial. In contrast Nicky, Tommy's ButtMonkey sidekick for most of the book, quickly realizes that Raylan is extremely deadly and should not be antagonized or threatened.

** While most of the cast members are GenreSavvy, there are a few exceptions, particularly among the Azurites. In particular, Lord Shojo actually sits and strokes a [[RightHandCat white cat]] but no one sees him as the cunning Chessmaster that he is until Haley figures it out. It helps that he pretends the cat in question is talking to him.

** Elan displays ''intentional'' Genre Blindness, in assuming that Nale [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat must have been killed]] in Azure City's collapse. This promptly leads to an aneurysm on Nale's part, when he tries to puzzle through Elan's 'logic'. This overlaps with ContractualGenreBlindness because Elan [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass might]] honestly have ''believed'' that Nale was dead...

** While most of the cast members are GenreSavvy, there are a few exceptions, particularly among the Azurites. In particular, Lord Shojo actually sits and strokes a [[RightHandCat white cat]] but no one sees him as the cunning Chessmaster that he is until Haley figures it out.

* Peter in ''Series/{{Fringe}}'' takes this to a ridiculous extreme. The standard Fringe formula: person or people die bizarre, horrific death. Title sequence. Team shows up, Walter presents insane-sounding hypothesis on what happened. Peter insists that this is impossible, despite the fact that he works for Fringe Division and Walter has nearly always been correct. Remainder of episode proves that Walter is, in fact, correct. Peter somehow keeps this up for [[FlatEarthAtheist multiple seasons]].

* [[MarbleHornets Jay.]] Fucking Jay. Jay, who thinks it's a good idea to go back into the building where he got attacked in the middle of the night where he's going to get attacked again. Jay, who seems surprised when he's attacked. Jay, who, when the person he had an appointment scheduled with doesn't show up, decides to go for a walk in the nearby creepy woods.

** One episode had Clark go through a WonderfulLife experience. It takes him over a quarter of the episode to realize what happened. Despite seeing all the alterations to reality, he kept going all "What's wrong with you guys? Don't you remember me?"

** In ''Prey'', a lone girl walks at night in the streets of Metropolis. And decides to walk down a dark alley. Her death before the opening sequence is so predictable you don't need spoiler tags.

** Leads to a CMOF when Morgan points out an instance from Chuck

* In the ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' episode "Countrycide", when the team split up to investigate the creepy village, they were assaulted by cannibals one-by-one.

* The characters in ''Series/{{Stargate SG-1}}'' and ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' are ''usually'' pretty GenreSavvy. But:
** In Season 4 of ''Atlantis'', Samantha Carter has two instances of genre blindness combined with ArbitrarySkepticism:
*** The first where she is skeptical about [[spoiler:Teyla's visions]]

* None of the characters in the ''{{Twilight}}'' universe appear to have ''ever'' heard of vampires beyond referencing a few pop culture vampire tropes or mythology.

* In ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo'', the heroes not only had Genre Blindness, they seemed to have inter-episode amnesia. How many times can you really think say "[[LetsSplitUpGang Let's split up]] to explore the haunted castle" and think it's a good plan?
** This actually ''is'' [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded in one episode]] of ''WesternAnimation/WhatsNewScoobyDoo''. Long story short, Fred realizes that they ''always'' split up the group the same way and decides to split it up a different way with [[CrowningMomentOfFunny Fred and Shaggy teaming up]]. HilarityEnsues.