History Main / GenreSavvy

* GenreSavvy/{{Mythology}}

* GenreSavvy/{{Radio}}

''[[DescribeTopicHere I've seen this movie. The safest thing to do is Describe GenreSavvy Here.]]''

Genre savviness sometimes occurs when AndYouThoughtItWasAGame shows up. This is a JustifiedTrope in situations where the character was initially recruited for their knowledge of the genre. (''Film/GalaxyQuest'', ''TheLastStarfighter'', ''Film/ThreeAmigos!'') It can also be justified through experience -- hopefully, after going through dozens of LetsYouAndHimFight scenarios a superhero will eventually see them coming and start trying to avoid them ahead of time.

* GenreSavvy/{{Folklore}}

* GenreSavvy/WesternAnimation

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''[[DescribeTopicHere I've seen this movie. The best action is to Describe GenreSavvy Here.]]''

They can tell fairly early that the [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter strange old man who's offering free lollipops]] is probably best avoided. And they've seen enough [[{{Horror}} Horror movies]] to know that when there's an AxCrazy murderer on the loose, the ''last'' thing you want to do is either [[NeverSplitTheParty split]] [[AloneWithThePsycho up]], [[DeathBySex boink your significant other]], or [[CuriosityKilledTheCast investigate strange noises]] in the SinisterSubway. They know how to avoid getting a bad rank on the SortingAlgorithmOfMortality.

When a person decides to weaponize this and [[DefiedTrope dodges every trope]] and IdiotBall that comes their way, they are DangerouslyGenreSavvy. When they don't, it's DeathByGenreSavviness. If a character uses his Genre Savviness just to make humorous observations, he's a MetaGuy. When characters are not consciously Genre Savvy but regularly act within the limitations of the genre they're in anyway, they are FunctionalGenreSavvy. Compare with MediumAwareness.

They can tell fairly early that the [[HorribleJudgeOfCharacter strange old man who's offering free lollipops]] is probably best avoided. And they've seen enough [[{{Horror}} Horror movies]] to know that when there's an ax murderer on the loose, the ''last'' thing you want to do is either [[NeverSplitTheParty split]] [[AloneWithThePsycho up]], [[DeathBySex boink your significant other]], or [[CuriosityKilledTheCast investigate strange noises]] in the SinisterSubway. They know how to avoid getting a bad rank on the SortingAlgorithmOfMortality.

[[DescribeTopicHere I've seen this movie. The best action is to Describe GenreSavvy Here.]]

->'''Angela Moore:''' This doesn't make any sense.
->'''Shawn Hunter:''' It does if you've seen as many horror movies as I have. This is classic. The locked door, the scary janitor, the bloody warning and... our soon to be first victim.
->-Everyone looks at Kenny-
->'''Kenny:''' Me? Why me?
->'''Cory Matthews:''' Well Kenny, it's certainly not going to be any of us!
-->-- ''BoyMeetsWorld''

-->--''BoyMeetsWorld''

While Genre Savvy can be used to add spice to a tired old plot and create self-aware, intelligent characters, [[TropesAreNotGood it's not always the right thing to do]] -- a character who is ''too'' Genre Savvy can risk puncturing their story and turning it into a joke, which is a bit of a problem if it's supposed to be taken seriously. Furthermore, it can also ruin drama and suspense; some genres require a certain amount of the RuleOfDrama and GenreBlindness to effectively function, and in these cases the reader is always going to be asked to embrace the AnthropicPrinciple and WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief to some degree in order to accept the premise of the story. Otherwise, if a character knows exactly what type of story what to do to get out of their story in a quick, easy and painless fashion at every turn, they're going to do it, and consequently lead an easy, trouble-free life, and... why are we watching them again?

When a a person decides to weaponize this and [[DefiedTrope dodges every trope]] and IdiotBall that comes their way, they are DangerouslyGenreSavvy. When they don't, it's DeathByGenreSavviness. If a character uses his Genre Savviness just to make humorous observations, he's a MetaGuy. When characters are not consciously Genre Savvy but regularly act within the limitations of the genre they're in anyway, they are FunctionalGenreSavvy. Compare with MediumAwareness.

* GenreSavvy/RealLife

There are two finely-distinguished varieties of genre savvy. The first comes from being familiar with ''fiction.'' A good example of this is the ''Scream'' series, where the genre savvy characters are savvy because they've watched horror movies. The other kind comes from being a character in some sort of serial fiction, and ''having a good memory.'' For example, many modern comic book superhero characters exhibit a lot of savviness, simply because they can remember all the weird things that've happened to them, and thus are not surprised when yet another evil twin shows up.

When a villain instead says "screw that!" and [[DefiedTrope dodges every trope]] and IdiotBall that comes their way, they are DangerouslyGenreSavvy. When they don't, it's DeathByGenreSavviness. If a character uses his Genre Savviness just to make humorous observations, he's a MetaGuy. When characters are not consciously Genre Savvy but regularly act within the limitations of the genre they're in anyway, they are FunctionalGenreSavvy. Compare with MediumAwareness.

When a villain instead says "screw that!" and [[DefiedTrope dodges every trope]] and IdiotBall that comes their way, they are DangerouslyGenreSavvy. When they don't, it's DeathByGenreSavviness. If a character uses his Genre Savviness just to make humorous observations, he's a MetaGuy. When characters are just Genre Savvy enough to accept the premises of the story, they are FunctionalGenreSavvy. Compare with MediumAwareness.

Like playing with the FourthWall, having one or more Genre Savvy characters is indicative of PostModernism.

Furthermore, characters who are ''too'' GenreSavvy can be just as unrealistic and unbelievable as characters who are too GenreBlind, which can also damage the story. After all, in the real world, people don't often live their lives as if everything they do conforms to a series of overarching narrative conventions, so why would fictional characters? While the IncurableCoughOfDeath may spell doom in fiction, nine out of ten times in the real world it suggests nothing more than a harmless cold, so it's not entirely unreasonable that a fictional character might initially see nothing to worry about either. The more sophisticated frequently contains as many references to how this story differs from the ones they have read, just to keep everyone on their toes.

While Genre Savvy can be used to add spice to a tired old plot and create self-aware, intelligent characters, [[TropesAreNotGood it's not always the right thing to do]] -- a character who is ''too'' Genre Savvy can risk puncturing their story and turning it into a joke, which is a bit of a problem if it's supposed to be taken seriously. Furthermore, it can also ruin drama and suspense; some genres require a certain amount of the AnthropicPrinciple, GenreBlindness and WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief to effectively function, and if a character knows exactly what to do to get out of their story in a quick, easy and painless fashion at every turn, they're going to do it, and consequently lead an easy, trouble-free life, and... why are we watching them again? The more sophisticated frequently contains as many references to how this story differs from the ones they have read, just to keep everyone on their toes.

The exact opposite of GenreBlindness. A Genre Savvy character doesn't necessarily [[MediumAwareness know they're in a story]], but they do know of stories like their own and what worked in them and what didn't. More sophisticated versions will also know they can't tell which genre they are in (and are often in far more realistic or complicated genres that the stories they remember), or which characters they are.

They know every [[ASimplePlan Simple Plan]] is doomed to failure from the start and instead of participating, sit back and wait to get in their "I told you so", or even a "[[CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot We could have avoided this]]." They can spot someone being controlled by PuppeteerParasite from a mile away ([[NotBrainwashed usually]]). They're more likely to listen when they catch someone in a compromising position who sputters "It's NotWhatItLooksLike!".

The exact opposite of GenreBlindness. A Genre Savvy character doesn't necessarily [[MediumAwareness know they're in a story]], but they do know of stories like their own and what worked in them and what didn't. More sophisicated versions will also know they can't tell which genre they are in (and are often in far more realistic or complicated genres that the stories they remember), or which characters they are.

When a villain instead says "screw that!" and [[DefiedTrope dodges every trope]] and IdiotBall that comes their way, they are DangerouslyGenreSavvy. When they don't, it's DeathByGenreSavviness. If a character uses his Genre Savviness just to make humorous observations, he's a MetaGuy. When characters are just Genre Savvy enough to accept the premises of the story, they are FunctionalGenreSavvy. When an entire story is built around the audience being this and the characters subverting or showing it, it's often a CosmicComicStory. Compare with MediumAwareness.

%% Image Removed per Image Pickin' Thread http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1371270758085926700

[[quoteright:334:[[Webcomic/{{Freefall}} http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Freefall_GenreSavvy_914.JPG]]]]
[[caption-width-right:334:At least he grabbed a weapon.]]

The exact opposite of GenreBlindness. A GenreSavvy character doesn't necessarily [[MediumAwareness know they're in a story]], but they do know of stories like their own and what worked in them and what didn't. More sophisicated versions will also know they can't tell which genre they are in (and are often in far more realistic or complicated genres that the stories they remember), or which characters they are.

The GenreSavvy live to [[LampshadeHanging hang lampshades]], give {{Aside Glance}}s, and say, "{{You just had to say it}}, didn't you?" right after use of a TemptingFate [[StockPhrases Stock Phrase]]. Their [[FacePalm exasperation]] with the [[TooDumbToLive sheer stupidity]] [[FinaglesLaw of the entire universe]] usually makes them a DeadpanSnarker. They are likely to be told that ThisIsReality or [[BystanderSyndrome just ignored]], and likely to be the one who [[IAlwaysWantedToSayThat always wanted to say that]]. A useful person to have around if you get TrappedInTVLand.

Like playing with the FourthWall, having one or more GenreSavvy characters is indicative of PostModernism.

While GenreSavvy can be used to add spice to a tired old plot and create self-aware, intelligent characters, [[TropesAreNotGood it's not always the right thing to do]] -- a character who is ''too'' GenreSavvy can risk puncturing their story and turning it into a joke, which is a bit of a problem if it's supposed to be taken seriously. Furthermore, it can also ruin drama and suspense; some genres require a certain amount of the AnthropicPrinciple, GenreBlindness and WillingSuspensionOfDisbelief to effectively function, and if a character knows exactly what to do to get out of their story in a quick, easy and painless fashion at every turn, they're going to do it, and consequently lead an easy, trouble-free life, and... why are we watching them again? The more sophisticated frequently contains as many references to how this story differs from the ones they have read, just to keep everyone on their toes.

When a villain instead says "screw that!" and [[DefiedTrope dodges every trope]] and IdiotBall that comes their way, they are DangerouslyGenreSavvy. When they don't, it's DeathByGenreSavviness. If a character uses his GenreSavvy just to make humorous observations, he's a MetaGuy. When characters are just GenreSavvy enough to accept the premises of the story, they are FunctionalGenreSavvy. When an entire story is built around the audience being this and the characters subverting or showing it, it's often a CosmicComicStory. Compare with MediumAwareness.