Dead Trope Cleanup Thread (Dead Horse, Discredited, Unicorn, etc.)

I am going to bring up Wax On, Wax Off one more time. I don't think there is as big of a difference between Mixed Martial Arts and Eastern Martial Arts as the entry suggests. Also the trope is not exclusively about martial arts, any training counts if it involves seemingly unrelated chores.

I agree; I'm really not very familiar with martial arts works, but I suspect that if Wax On, Wax Off is waning (heh) in popularity, it's because its straight use in The Karate Kid was followed by a massive number of parodies, to the point where the parodies outnumbered the straight examples, same as with a lot of Dead Horse Tropes.

But again, I don't watch, say, martial arts films, and maybe it still has a lot of straight examples there.

Edited by DoktorvonEurotrash on Mar 5th 2024 at 4:58:52 AM

Discredited Trope:

• Toilet Humour: Largely considered juvenile and cringeworthy these days, even though it was one of the most popular forms of comedy in the 1990s to 2000s. Nowadays, most shows tend to rely on character-based jokes and Black Comedy if the show is dark enough, with most modern examples being met with scorn.

Last I checked, both kids and adults find Toilet Humour funny.

Beer Baron added an entry in Dead Unicorn Trope that had been previously cut with permission of this thread. What should be done in these kinds of cases?

Inviting them here noting there was a discussion on it already.

TroperWall / WikiMagic Cleanup

Another couple of questionable examples from Discredited Trope:

• Open Heart Dentistry: Most doctors these days (with a few exceptions) are quite specialized and almost never do anything outside of their specialties.
• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Using this trope nowadays usually results in criticism due to it being overused, cheap, and implying that life is suffering and being a good person will get you killed.

The first seems like a reference to Real Life instead of use of the trope, and the second reads more like complaining about the trope — as far as I am aware, it's still quite common for idealistic characters to end up biting it in a Crapsack World.

"The only thing which is certain, is that something will happen".

Agree with the first. The second is likely meaning that it's never played as melodramatically as it was in the 19th century, the character is expected to have some depth and the death not overplayed. In that sense it's a trope that is still around, but never played quite straight.

Stories don't tell us monsters exist; we knew that already. They show us that monsters can be trademarked and milked for years.

Alright, how about:

• Too Good for This Sinful Earth: While this trope still crops up from time to time, it tends to be portrayed much less melodramatically than in the past, with the death itself being less emphasised and the unfortunate character typically being more nuanced than "bastion of moral purity". This has drawn criticism for being overused, cheap, and implying that life is suffering and being a good person will get you killed.

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I'm also not sure about

• Vulgar Humor: Originally a staple of more adult-oriented shows and Animated Shock Comedy, jokes like these are now generally considered childish. Nowadays, adult-oriented shows rely more on Black Comedy and Crosses the Line Twice, with Vulgar Humor taking a major backseat.

I woudn't say crude comedy is discredited, exactly? Is it maybe referring to the relative downfall of Animated Shock Comedy instead?

Edited by Azorius24 on Mar 20th 2024 at 9:32:30 AM

"The only thing which is certain, is that something will happen".

The Vulgar Humor thing seems like a Cyclical Trope more than anything. It may or may not be out of fashion now, but I've no doubt it's going to be popular again in a few years.

Should I cut it then, or is it reasonable to leave it in there on that basis?

"The only thing which is certain, is that something will happen".

In my opinion it could probably go. Let's see what other people say.

Given the popularity of the Hellaverse alone, there is still a gigantic audience for Vulgar Humor. no idea what this entry is talking about.

It's not about the gold; it's about the glory.

I'll delete it then. Cas van de Pol seems to be doing rather well out of it too.

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Three more:

• Divorce Assets Conflict: Still occasionally happens, but with most couples (especially those where large amounts of wealth are involved on one or both sides) having legally binding prenuptial agreements, far less likely to happen in Real Life post The '90s, and therefore much less realistic without some explanation as to why there was no prenup.

Where, exactly, is the evidence that most couples, other than very rich ones, sign prenups nowadays? I don't think divorce lawyers have all gone out of business.

• Big "NO!": Considered a source of Narm and camp instead of drama nowadays, but the right actor and the right context can sometimes still make this work. The same applies to any Big Word Shout.

Given how often I see this occur, I would question its inclusion. It should probably stay on Undead Horse Trope, up there with Evil Laugh.

• Trapped by Gambling Debts: Discredited in spy stories, but still used elsewhere.

Seems extremely specific, not sure where the author got it from.

Edited by Azorius24 on Mar 20th 2024 at 11:13:02 AM

"The only thing which is certain, is that something will happen".