Dead Unicorn Trope: Difference between revisions
Adding example
No edit summary |
(Adding example) |
||
| (16 intermediate revisions by 6 users not shown) | |||
Line 14:
* [[The Butler Did It]] is the most well known example. It does appear in a couple old mystery novels, but is nowhere near as common as people unfamiliar with such novels seem to think. (You ''will'' find a somewhat sizeable list of examples on our tropes page but almost all of these come from after the twist had already become falsely known as a cliche and are either [[Parodied Trope|parodying it]], [[Playing with a Trope|playing with it]], or using its notoriety to make it a case of [[The Untwist]].) The origin of the phrase was not a literal description but rather a summary of a far more common trope: Having an unimportant background character end up being the culprit. See [http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2470/in-whodunits-its-the-butler-did-it-who-did-it-first here] for more info.
* [[Aliens Steal Cattle]], which is a mashup of the ideas that aliens abduct ''people'' and ''mutilate'' cattle.
* Likewise, [[Anal Probing]] is not actually a preoccupation in [[Real Life]] UFO abduction communities. Whitley Strieber described a recovered memory of it in his first nonfiction UFO book, ''Communion'', whereupon it took on a life of
**
* [[Fairy Tale]]s and their supposed idealism and inevitable happy endings are commonly mocked and "deconstructed," most people being unaware that the real stories were often violent, cynical and depressing. Something of a [[Cyclic Trope]], since the original stories had such a grim tone, before being [[Bowdlerise|bowdlerized]] and [[Disneyfication|Disneyfied]] because [[Children Are Innocent]] (which is in itself an example of this trope), causing the stories
** And on the other end of the spectrum, the belief that ''all'' fairytales were "originally" gory grimdark horror stories before their [[Disneyfication]]. Some were gory by modern standards and there's a ''lot'' of [[Values Dissonance]], but overall it's not as bad as many people make it out to be.
** For some reason, knights in shining armor rescuing [[Damsel in Distress|distressed damsels]] from dragons is commonly associated with fairytales, even though this is something that almost ''never'' happens.
** Also, very few of them (the original ones) began with [[Once Upon a Time]].<ref>Many of the Grimms' tales do, though.</ref>
* Works of fantasy with medieval setting often have objects that were likely never truly used in such settings at all:
**
** Similar to this, the idea of a medieval [[w:Chastity belt|chastity belt]] was likely inspired by some fictional story; there is no proof such devices were made before the 15th century, and even then, no proof that they were the anti-rape or anti-adultery tools they are depicted as.
** The concept of the [[Epic Flail]]. A [[w:flail|flail]] was actually a tool used to thresh grain, although some farmers might have used it as a weapon if they had to. The old "spiked mace on a chain" (like the one [[Big Bad|Sauron]] had in the film version of ''[[The Fellowship of the Ring]]'') may never have been an actual weapon, as historical information about its use is rather scarce - some historians doubt they existed at all, as many such flails found in museums turned out to be forgeries. The way they are depicted in art seems unrealistic; trying to use something like this in a fight would likely be even more dangerous for the user than it would be for his enemy.
** [
* The idea of a [[Cheesy Moon]]. Nobody ever truly believed this except maybe children.
* [[Bond Villain Stupidity]] is a
* Many people believe that [[Indiana Jones]]-type adventurers were ubiquitous in film serials. But if you actually watch those old film serials, you'll find very few characters or situations reminiscent of ''Indiana Jones'', since George Lucas based those films mainly on feature-length adventure films of the '30s and '40s, not serials.
* ''[[MythBusters]]'', of all things, made reference to a '''Dead Unicorn Trope''' when tackling the (busted) myth that steel-toed boots could actually sever toes instead of protecting them. Adam commented about "samurai movies" where the tip of someone's boot would be cut off, except the toes are intact right behind where the tip was severed. This is actually a somewhat common comedy trope, but its appearance in a "samurai movie" is highly dubious at best (what with the characters wearing ''sandals'' and all).
** Mythbusters did this a lot, actually, especially in their later seasons. Since almost all the more well-known myths had been tested over the course of the show's eight seasons, the show began using much more obscure ones to keep things going.
** Since firing their folklorist, the show was more about finding out what is possible than setting the record straight.
* Speaking of [[Samurai]], Japanese armor (outside of one specific style of helmet) was never made of lacquered wood despite many claims to the contrary—it was usually various types of
* At one point in the [[The Tough Guide to Fantasyland]] the author comments on a sort of gender-based [[Wacky Wayside Tribe]] plot/setting, in which while boys do one thing, girls get to bond with dragons. The thing is, that while there are books with female [[Dragon Rider]] characters (i.e. ''[[Pern]]''), there doesn't seem to be any series in which that was an exclusively female activity- it's closer to exclusively male in the Pern books, and the ''[[Pit Dragon Chronicles]]'' likewise features males making that bond, and all of these books were written before the Guide was published.
** Though the Pit Dragons Chronicles aren't particularly well-known, and the "bond" isn't to the same extent as the Pern books.
Line 67 ⟶ 70:
** The ur-example characters arguably still aren't as bad as the stereotype. They both start out as pure [[Nineties Anti-Hero|nineties anti-heroes]], are [[Miles Gloriosus|revealed as classic ineffectual anti-heroes]], and then [[Character Development|grow]] into actual heroes.
** Not to mention numerous other stereotypes about JRPGs that are largely based on exaggerations or mischaracterizations of ''Final Fantasy'' (And mostly ''VII'' and ''VIII'' at that)... ignoring not only the fact that many of these weren't actually true of ''Final Fantasy'', but that it's not actually a particularly typical representative of the genre. To what degree there ''is'' a typical representative of the genre—it's actually very diverse, especially when you take into account all the ones that never came to the US because they were [[Widget Series|"Too weird"]] -- ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' would have to be it, as it has done much less to stray from the initial conventions than most of its offspring.
** One of the most common is saying every RPG is set exclusively in pseudo-medieval Europe (or a [[Fantasy Counterpart Culure]] of Europe). While it's indeed a "default" setting for JRPGs, there were already plenty of exceptions in the NES era, like ''[[Shin Megami Tensei]]'', ''[[MOTHER]]'', the obscure ''Lagrange Point'' or, for a non-NES example, ''[[Phantasy Star]]''. In fact, one of the
** About half of the stereotypical JRPG protagonist characteristics come from Raiden from ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]'', which ''wasn't even an RPG''.
* The modern view of a [
* The scary stories about candy on [[Halloween]] ("scary" [[Adult Fear|in a way]] not appropriate for Halloween, that is) being intentionally poisoned is a myth that arose from [
* The notion that characters in [[The Western]] wear hats that are [[Color Coded for Your Convenience]] is taken from children's shows. As a rule, serious Westerns never followed this convention.
* The line "[[Here There Be Dragons|Here be dragons]]" was not common on early maps: in fact, it's only found on the Lenox Globe (from the 1500s): ''HIC SVNT DRACONES'' is written on the coast of eastern Asia, probably in reference to komodo dragons. Roman and medieval cartographers usually wrote ''HIC SVNT LEONES'' ("Here are lions") on unexplored areas.
Line 79 ⟶ 82:
** These characters did not start out as parodies of a ''movie'' trope, but of an older ''stage'' trope, from the 10-20-30 melodramas. Since [[Forgotten Trope|it's been about a century now since that type of stage melodrama was popular]], the only reason most modern audiences are familiar with the genre and this sort of character at all is because of the countless parodies produced since then.
* [[The Grand List of Console Role Playing Game Cliches]], some of which are worded on way too specific detail (For example, [[Good Morning, Crono|the very first one]]). There are some spot-on ones though (Like [[Doomed Hometown|The next one]]).
* The so-called cliche of Clark Kent changing to Superman in phone booths comes entirely from TWO straight uses in the [[Superman Theatrical Cartoons]] of the 1940s. A use of this trope in the comic books of the same period had Superman note how difficult it is to change costume in a phone booth, meaning this was [[Unbuilt Trope|deconstructed even when it was new]]. Parodies and homages sprung up soon afterward, but in the comics Superman would more often change costume in a deserted storeroom or alleyway, and in the George Reeves television series he NEVER used a phone booth at all. Later uses of the phone booth costume change outside of parody are all done with [[Lampshade Hanging|winks, nods, or other acknowledgements of the 'cliche']]. Brian Cronin sets the record straight in his 'Comic Book Legends Revealed' blog [https://web.archive.org/web/20131017202126/http://goodcomics.comicbookresources.com/2011/07/22/comic-book-legends-revealed-324/ here.]
* [[Syncro-Vox]] was only ever used seriously in a few animated series during [[The Fifties]] and [[The Sixties|Sixties]], notably ''[[Clutch Cargo]]'' and ''Space Angel''. It was immediately [[Discredited Trope|discredited]] as [[Exaggerated Trope|an extreme form of]] [[Limited Animation]], and was used only for comedic effect afterward.
* Zombies eating brains. It was not a part of ''[[Night of the Living Dead]]'' or any of the films that followed on it, until ''[[Return of the Living Dead]]''—which was released in '''1985''', nearly two decades after ''Night'', and was a much more comedic and less serious take on the zombie movie genre than its predecessors or most of its followers. Furthermore, it's almost impossible to find a movie where the zombies actually say "Braaaiiiins."
Line 95 ⟶ 98:
* [[Blackmail Is Such an Ugly Word]]: If you look through the example list, you'll find most of the examples are followed by either "appropriate, but ugly" or "I much prefer [insert random word like "cheeseburger"]".
* ''[[Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality]]'' devotes an entire chapter to debunking the idea that you can only Transfigure whole objects as wholes, i.e. "you couldn't Transfigure ''half'' a match into a needle, you had to Transfigure the whole thing." Using his knowledge that there are no "solid" objects since everything is made of atoms, Harry manages to prove that partial Transfiguration is not impossible, to the amazement of Dumbledore and McGonagall. The thing is, this rule never existed in the actual ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'' books and partial Transfigurations happened all the time (mostly being failed full transfigurations). And in the same chapter, Harry briefly tries and fails to debunk the idea that you can't conjure objects out of thin air, something which also happens all the time in the actual series. And yes, it's [[Justified Trope|justified]] in-universe by the fact that it's an [[Alternate Universe Fic]], but out-of-universe it's still subverting a trope which didn't exist in the first place.
* Most online parodies of ''[[Double Dragon]]'' depict [[Giant Mook|Abobo]] talking in [[Hulk Speak]], despite the fact that the only time he ever did talk that way was in ''[[Battletoads
* [[Myspeld Rokband]], to an extent. While there were a few straight uses, it was (and still is) definitely parodied a lot more often then it was used straight.
* Treasure Maps. The ones with the "X marks the spot" design that lead to [[Pirate Booty]]. There is no record of anyone ever finding this sort of map, much less finding anything valuable by following one. Pirates did indeed hide their stolen loot, often to make sure the authorities wouldn't catch them with evidence - [[w:William Kidd|William Kidd]] was especially notorious for this. Most were smart enough to commit the location to memory, something that makes a lot more sense than drawing a map.
▲* [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_armour Ring mail] is a type of armor used in [[Tabletop Games]] like ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'', and video games based on such. Supposedly, this armor is made by a sewing a series of metallic rings onto a leather foundation. However, the only evidence of historical use is some artworks, and no actual examples of this sort of armor set has survived to the present day. Even the Splat book ''Arms and Equipment Guide'', published by TSR for the 2nd Edition of the game, admits that it is debatable such armor ever existed.
* If [[Those Wacky Nazis]] are the bad guys, then the one wearing a [[Badass Longcoat]] and [[Commissar Cap]] is clearly one of the [[Gestapo]], although this is in fact a fiction created by Hollywood. The actual Gestapo were a subversive "secret police", and thus never dressed in a way that would be easy to identify.
* [[w:Holy Grail|The Holy Grail]]. Nothing in [[The Bible]] itself ever mentions anything remarkable about the cup Jesus used at the Last Supper, nor is there anything about it being used to catch his blood at the Crucifixion. The idea of a Holy Grail was a modern literary invention introduced in [[Arthurian Legend]], over a thousand years after Jesus is presumed to have died.
* The idea of monastic orders that require members to take a [[Heroic Vow|vow of silence]], something that appears a lot in fiction. It is not uncommon for individual monks and nuns to take such a vow, often believing silence prevents any distraction that might prevent introspection or understanding of their faith, but as far as is known, none are ever required to do so.
* A [[Matriarchy]]. Certainly, [https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Matriarchy the idea has been theorized] for a very long time and used comparatively in many political and philosophical debates, but most historians agree that there has never been any actual known society or civilization that was unambiguously matriarchal.
* The question of [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_many_angels_can_dance_on_the_head_of_a_pin%3F#:~:text=%22How%20many%20angels%20can%20dance,hold%20no%20intellectual%20consequence%2C%20while "How Many Angels Can Dance on the Head of a Pin?"] This is not any sort question posed in a philosophical debate, it is a metaphor used to mock scholars who wasted time debating pointless issues, like whether angels had genders. More than likely, nobody ever actually debated this specific question, which has no true answer.
{{reflist}}
{{Trope Life Cycle}}
| |||