Basic Trope: Words with positive connotation are thrown around without giving any thought to their meaning.
- Straight: In a Rousing Speech, Bob tells his supporters that what separates them from their enemies is that they believe in freedom and justice.
- Exaggerated: Alice fights for the protection of all while Bob fights in the name of freedom. Although this could realistically lead to a scenario where some liberty is sacrificed for security or vice versa, no such scenario occurs and their ideologies never come into conflict.
- Downplayed: When Bob's homeland is invaded, he unites an army under the banner of fighting for freedom. While he never defines that freedom, most readers infer that it means kicking out the invaders.
- Justified: The purpose of Bob's rousing speech was to raise morale amongst his loyal soldiers before a battle, not to sway people to his cause with reason. Someone else can outline the new government after the battle has been won.
- Inverted: When asked why Emperor Evulz must be overthrown, Bob hands Alice his extensively written manifesto about the ideal government for Troperia.
- Subverted: When someone asks Bob what he means by "freedom", he promptly responds that the dictatorship of the kingdom should be replaced with a democracy...
- Double Subverted:
- ...When asked what kind of democracy, Bob doesn't have a good answer.
- Bob clearly doesn't know what "democracy" actually means.
- Parodied: One of the Red Shirts (or perhaps Clay) continually interrupts Bob's Rousing Speech and asks him to elaborate further on his ideals. Each time, Bob attempts to do so with a lot of awkward pauses and aside glances to double check with David if his points are correct. Everyone around Bob does a collective Face Palm at his piss poor attempts of profoundness.
- Zig-Zagged: Bob claims to be a champion fighting in the name of freedom, but in practice he feels more like he opposes whatever Emperor Evulz is doing at the time. When finally confronted about his commitment to the ideal freedom, Bob says that entails overthrowing Emperor Evulz and putting the legitimate king back on the throne. Carol points out that while restoring The Good King would probably be the best for the kingdom and its inhabitants, fighting to replace a monarch with a second monarch doesn't really exemplify freedom.
- Averted: If any of the characters fight for a philosophical cause, their words and actions back up those ideals.
- Enforced: "We need the audience to think Bob is in the right without his ideals alienating anyone. Have him say words like 'freedom' and 'justice' a lot."
- Lampshaded:
- "There he goes talking about freedom again. Freedom this and freedom that. Sometimes I don't think he actually knows what that word needs."
- "Um, does anyone say they're fighting for unfreedom?"
- Invoked: Bob deliberately chooses vague notion of freedom because it will earn him the most supporters.
- Exploited: Emperor Evulz claims to unite the kingdom under his rule in the name of justice. Few people oppose him because they don't want to be seen as an enemy of justice.
- Defied: Emperor Evulz tries to shake Bob's morale by remarking how his commitment to freedom is nothing but hollow words. Bob gives an eloquent retort explaining his picture of freedom once Emperor Evulz is out of the picture.
- Discussed: "So, what type of freedom are we fighting for, exactly? Democracy? Anarchy? Monarchy with a less stringent dress code?"
- Conversed: "I'm not too convinced by Bob's 'freedom' speeches in this movie, considering his society allowed slavery and didn't let women have the vote even before Emperor Evulz invaded."
- Deconstructed: Afraid of being seen as spouting empty words, Bob commits himself so soundly to the concept of freedom that it causes him to do some very nasty things such as attacking benevolent government services that aid common folk.
- Repeated instances of this trope result in people completely forgetting what the words actually mean anymore, to the point that, when pressed on their definitions, they just say "Freedom/justice is good" instead of actually elaborating. This makes them look brainwashed and dullwitted.
- Reconstructed: Bob worries that his words and cause are hollow, but rather than compensate by following his goals to a fault, he listens to his allies and tries to blend their varying viewpoints to find the sanest and best way to promote the cause of freedom.
- Implied: Two Mauve Shirts talk about Bob's speech. They agree that it "sounded good but can't have meant much."
- Played for Laughs: Bob insists he fights for freedom and justice, but he gives laughably incorrect definitions of these terms when pressed.
- Played for Drama: Bob insists he fights for freedom and justice, but his allies have mutually conflicting views of what those terms mean. Not surprisingly, they start fighting each other more than Evulz' army before long.
Return to the Concepts Are Cheap main page in the name of freedom.
