Values Dissonance/Resonance Cleanup

Creators pages can trope works without their own pages, though. That's what's happening here.

Either way, the entry feels like misuse.

That seems more like What Do You Mean, It's for Kids?

From Scary Movie

• Values Resonance: Yes, really. A recurring joke throughout the series that the wholesome white girl nearly always makes it to the end of the movie unscathed while the black characters are perfectly aware that they're all dead meat. In The New '10s, where Black Lives Matter is a prominent sociopolitical movement and putting the Token Minority first on the chopping block is more likely to make audiences groan, this makes the black characters come across sympathetically.

I'm not sure what this is even trying to say. It seems like a current events shoehorn.

Yeah, making fun of Black Dude Dies First has been done for many decades even before Scary Movie was a thing. There was literally a movie from a year ago (The Blackening) that was making fun of this trope, parodies of it have never gone away.

And I think half the entries on Black Dude Dies First are listed as averted or subverted anyway.

EDIT: Please ignore; I am an idiot.

Edited by DoktorvonEurotrash on May 13th 2024 at 6:01:41 AM

Uuuuuuuuuh... then that IS values resonance, if they make fun of an awful trend and that joke resonates even better years down the lane then it IS Values Ressonance.

I'd say cut it. Scary Movie is hardly the first or only movie of that time period to call out that trope.

Maybe if it was a little older it would feel noteworthy, but the 2000s already had trends like this called out, pretty sure.

It does kinda feel like another example of "racism didn't exist until BLM" thing, though at least this time it's not about police brutality. Still, it's always been called out it also feels a bit weird to me to compare Black Dude Dies First with real life deaths akin to the stuff BLM is talking about (racist policemen and the like aren't the same as a random movie serial killer just making their way through the main cast).

What I can say in its favor is that it does at least touch on the idea of the characters being meta and recognizing the danger they're in, but... I'm not sure.

Worth noting that the Trope Namer for Black Dude Dies First is a quote from Evolution (2001), which lampshades and defies the trope:

The impression I get is that by the early 2000s audiences and writers alike had began to notice and grow tired of this trend.

Canadian Bacon made the same joke in 1995. In fact I'm certain if you look their are older examples. Since it's a really common thing to lampshade.

x7 My bad: I was tired, and I literally misread "resonance" as "dissonance". I cannot believe this.

I still agree with others that it's hardly Values Resonance just because it makes fun of an iffy trope, given how common it is to mock Black Dude Dies First.

From The Simpsons S 5 E 11 Homer The Vigilante. Admits it's a preexisting issue.

• Values Resonance: The residents of Evergreen Terrace form a neighborhood watch group, which under Homer's leadership quickly turns into a Vigilante Militia in all but name. This had already been a problem going back several decades, but it especially struck a chord in the 2010s, where there was increased awareness of "neighborhood watch" groups that for all intents and purposes are actually vigilante gangs dedicated to keeping people the residents deem undesirable out of their neighborhood.

Yeah, the "this had already been an issue" gives away that it isnt a proper example.

Agreed on that one.

9 Chickweed Lane has a bunch of Values Dissonance entries that aren't VD in any shape or form, just "the creator has a controversial message" (and overusing spoiler tags at that). They are:

• Values Dissonance:
  • Juliette's (and Edda's) reaction to finding out she's the love child of a Nazi officer^note Yes, Kiesl considered himself a Austrian officer whose superiors just happened to be Nazis, but how many readers would really make that distinction, much less characters in-universe during the 40s-50s? boils down to "Really? Cool!"
  • Roger is (understandably) disapproving of his mom's "affair" (he practically disowns his sister) and disturbed that his parents' marriage may have been a loveless lie while he's trapped in his own (maybe) loveless marriage, and with 11 kids to boot.
  • Seth suddenly proposing to Fernanda after learning she/her art was a virgin. He might just be doing it to protect her from shame in her (presumably) really Catholic country, (where she doesn't even live anymore) though. Then later on marrying her for real, without apparently breaking up with Mark first or any references to the fact he had considered himself gay for much of his existence in the strip.
  • The implication that Gran wanted Edda to have the baby despite the fact that, love for her children aside, her own unplanned pregnancy caused her to go from a burgeoning career as an opera singer in New York City to a passionless marriage in a small, presumably artistically sterile Midwestern town. A moot point, since it turned out to be a Pregnancy Scare.

Any objection to me scrubbing them all?

Edited by DoktorvonEurotrash on May 15th 2024 at 2:45:03 AM

Yeah, there is no Values Dissonance here at all.

I think the "Homer the Vigilante" thing might still work, but I'm also a zoomer so my exposure to neighborhood watch controversies was the Trayvon Martin shooting. I think there was a legitimately increased stigma against it after that incident, though, and more conversations discussing prejudices and such.

Values Resonance doesn't have to mean the issue was never an issue until now (that wouldn't even make sense), it just has to hold up surprisingly well even as the conversation regarding the subject matter evolves.

Yes, but it's not surprising that an episode from the '90s, post LA riots for example, with a theme of police/neighbourhood watch abusing their power would hold up in the present day. If The Flintstones had done it in the '60s, sure. Had the episode voiced a particularly progressive stance that actually resonates today it might count, but it's not even particularly satirical, it's mostly a lighthearted gagfest with an extended parody of It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World at the end. I support a cut.

The Simpsons S 7 E 7 King Size Homer:

• Values Resonance: In this episode, Homer wants to work at home instead of going to the Nuclear Power Plant day after day (albeit mainly to avoid having to go through Mr. Burns's daily 10-minute calisthenics exercises). Working at home has become more commonplace thanks to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Notably, Lisa and Marge aren't bothered by the idea of Homer working at home, but by the way he’s doing it (by abusing a program intended to help the physically-disabled who legitimately can’t work, and is pushing himself past his already-obese state and endangering his health in the process to qualify for the program).

The thing is, the episode isn't really saying anything about working from home. It's just a thing that happens. If anything working from home comes off in a negative light in the episode because it enables Homer to be more lazy, but I don't think that's intentional.

Yes, people worked at home before the Pandemic. It's always been a thing.

I just watched that episode and it was funny in light of COVID, if only because it's now easier to work from home due to increased computer technology. But if anything that feels like the opposite issue, because the episode depicts a very simple way to work from home (Homer literally just has to answer yes/no questions on a simplistic interface) and isn't really flattering about it. Technology Marches On might better fit.

Hell, to take an example from media, I recall quite a few The Babysitters Club books mentioning that some of the parents worked from home during the day and needed a sitter so they could work in peace. There's at least two authors who mention they work from home and I think it's what ends up happening with Watson after book #81 (I think - my memory may be slightly off on that one). Those books were written in the 80s and 90s. It's definitely not a new thing.

"King-Size Homer" probably hits different after the pandemic, but it's not VD/VR.