JustEatGilligan definition

But from how I understand the Just Eat Gilligan description:

• For the sake of keeping the plot going, characters don't remove the chronic trouble-maker even if they easily could. (implying it's a designated character)

But,

• Laconic.Just Eat Gilligan: A very simple action would solve all the story's problems, but they don't do it because there'd be no plot.

• PlayingWith.Just Eat Gilligan: The plot is solved after a simple action.

• Examples: Basically speculation how characters could have solved the main conflict faster.

It's a bit rhethorical, but which is correct?

Ideal examples of Just Eat Gilligan is that a character is The Millstone or The Load such that their incompetence frequently sabotages what would be positive changes to the characters and setting. The idea is getting rid of this character would solve most of their problems and it should focus on a character otherwise it overlaps too much with Stating the Simple Solution.

A proper laconic would be more "Including this character in the plot tends to end badly, thus it would be smarter to not include them at all."

Playing With could be:

• Subverted: The characters actions seem a problem at first but proved beneficial long term.
• Inverted: A group gets rid of the Only Sane Man because they call out everyone else's incompetence.
• Zigzagged: The character ruins a big opportunity but also opens the door to something else, which the others bungle completely on their own.

Anthropic Principle would be a broader idea, which would cover things like questions over the hole in the boat.

Edited by EmeraldSource on Mar 11th 2024 at 12:14:16 PM

2022 Trope Talk thread about this trope that includes my discovery that it was originally about actions and the description was rewritten to be about characters over time.

The forum search was useless, but if there's already an existing topic, the question can be redirected there.

I think using Google with "site:tvtropes.org inurl:posts.php" is more useful than using the on-site forum search at the moment.

The last post on that thread is themayorofsimpleton indicating that they might perform a usage check before sending it to TRS, but I don't think they ever did and they eventually stopped contributing after the Unfortunate Events of this past September, so maybe someone here could do that.

(As long as this thread exists, I'd prefer to keep talking here rather than necro'ing a thread that's two years old, though I understand not everyone would agree.)