Cleaning up the Glasses Threads

The glasses threads are a mess. A lot of them dance around the idea that geeky/smart people wear glasses, and yet we lack that trope. Instead what we have are a lot of tropes with very confusing names.

• Nerd Glasses: Round opaque glasses worn in anime to indicate a character is a nerd.
• Geeky Glasses: A plot where a character finds out the need glasses but doesn't want to get them because they think that they will make them look like a geek.
• Meganekko: Cute girls wear glasses.
• Megane: Guys with glasses.
• Stoic Spectacles: Aloof characters wear glasses.
• Brainy Specs: Characters who don't need glasses wear them to look smarter.
• The Glasses Gotta Go: Makeover plot where a girl because beautiful by ditching the glasses.

edited 22nd Jul '11 8:28:33 AM by shimaspawn

Also The Glasses Gotta Go

edited 22nd Jul '11 7:48:30 AM by SakurazakiSetsuna

Added.

Well, I can think of a good rename for Geeky Glasses right now: Glasses Are Too Geeky. Not perfect, but makes it more clear that this is about a plot, not a personal appearance trope.

Geeky Glasses Plot would be an improvement even.

As I've said before, Nerd Glasses should be Exactly What It Says on the Tin - the missing trope about nerds wearing glasses. The trope currently under that name should be transplanted to something else - a few names were suggested in its TRS thread.

Wouldn't that be too restrictive? It's not always an actual plot (or subplot) per se; it could be an expressed belief in the negative image associated with glasses, which may be discarded in the course of Character Development.

I support Geeky Glasses Plot, I'd prefer that anything where the only noun is "glasses" be restricted to actual glasses, not plots or something else.

As written it's a stock plot. A character needs glasses. Character does not want to wear said glasses because they'll make them look geeky. Character either learns a lesson about vanity and gets used to them.

All of that is the trope. It's a stock plot.

edited 22nd Jul '11 11:39:55 PM by shimaspawn

I think we should expand Nerd Glasses (and possibly rename) to include thick, magnifying glasses since they're effectively the same thing, just with a different coat of paint.

Eh, I wouldn't mind the one specific type of glasses being it's own trope. It would just need a trope transplant. Nerd Glasses is the supertrope and covers a lot of styles. Anime is odd in that it really only uses the one and it uses it consistently.

How about:

• Nerd Glasses: Ugly, thick glasses worn by characters who are portrayed to be awkward nerds. Typically means that the characters are supposed to be unattractive often with poor hygiene and social skills.
  • Anime Nerd Glasses: Subtrope for the round style specific to anime.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: Just what it says. If a character is intelligent, they'll wear glasses. Can overlap with Nerd Glasses, but not always.

Names are just suggestions at this point.

The round glasses might be something a bit different the Nerd Glasses trope (as it is right now) it is specifically Opaque glasses = Super Nerd or "Nerd at that moment". Not opaque is more invoking cuteness of Meganekko and Cute Scientist.

Opaque is a sister trope of Scary Shiny Glasses I am not sure if it is specific to the round style although said round style is pretty prominent in anime. EDIT: the picture on Otaku is opaque and not the stereotypical round style.

I am not opposing rename to Nerd Glasses as the name means more than the trope name covers even if the term itself is only used in anime to describe said people.

edited 23rd Jul '11 1:16:48 PM by Raso

I agree that the round opaque glasses are their own cultural specific thing. There are very different visual short hands used in Western culture. They just need a different name than Nerd Glasses.

I don't think the opaque glasses are that different, but if you want them on different pages, okay.

It's thin frames instead of thick. Round lenses instead of boxed. Opaque lenses instead of ones that magnify the eye to make them huge. Same outcome, but if we try to describe them both on one page the description will sound like it's arguing with itself and that's never a good thing.

What I'm currently thinking on how it ought to be:

• Nerd Glasses: Ugly, thick glasses worn by characters who are portrayed to be awkward nerds. Typically means that the characters are supposed to be unattractive with poor social skills.
  • Anime Nerd Glasses: Round opaque glasses worn in anime to indicate a character is a nerd.
  • Geeky Glasses: A plot where a character finds out they need glasses but doesn't want to get them because they think that they will make them look like a geek. Rename to something like Unwanted Geeky Glasses, Glasses Are Too Geeky, or even I Dont Want Glasses Should use a TRS thread to do the actual renaming.
• Brainy Specs: Glasses signal that a character is The Smart Guy (The less negative sister trope to Nerd Glasses)
  • Glasses Make You Smarter: Characters who don't need glasses wear them to look smarter.
• The Glasses Gotta Go: Girl with glasses becomes prettier by removing her glasses. (Limit to in universe plot).
• Meganekko: Glasses make girls look cute. Rename to Cute Glasses Girl. (Opposite of The Glasses Gotta Go).
• Megane: Anime Fanspeak page = guys with glasses. Cut all examples, and make example free like other fanspeak pages.
• Stoic Spectacles: Aloof characters wear glasses.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: Glasses conceal the eyes and are threatening.

Don't we have some more glasses tropes?

edited 24th Jul '11 6:57:25 PM by Sackett

Glasses Make You Look Smarter might be clearer. It's not about putting on glasses and suddenly your IQ actually goes up.

There's a whole index of Glasses Tropes. Not all of them matter for this discussion, but we probably should go through it and make sure.

edited 24th Jul '11 8:05:50 AM by shimaspawn

@Sackett: That looks good to me.

I am not for renaming Meganekko it's plenty healthy, a ton of wicks and inbounds and that redirect Cute Glasses Girl doesnt have a single wick on the entire site... (its got more inbounds an wicks than The Mario) Now I might see dividing it up because they handled differently. As well as Meganekko is one of the few ways to keep Only Six Faces looking different.

It is treated the same in Western media that uses it though. Meganekko tends to be used straight in media aimed at geeks.

The Glasses Gotta Go is used in media aimed at more mainstream culture.

That's because Cute Glasses Girl was just created as a redirect.

And they aren't handled differently. Just it's more common in anime then it is in other media.

edited 24th Jul '11 4:23:07 PM by Sackett

I think Ugly Glasses would be better than Nerd Glasses.

Yes, the redirect that had only been in existence an hour when you posted has no wiks. This is not a huge surprise. It says nothing about it's ability to get them and it's a far clearer for a general media trope.

If we change Meganekko to Cute Glasses Girl, are we still cute-boys-with-glasses as gender inverted examples?

I think Cute Glasses Boy can be a redirect. It is the rarer version of the trope.