Meta Commentary on Patterns and Tropes

Giant Flying Rock

(I'm going to be little roundabout, so please just hang on for a little bit.)

Here we are, you and I. We are on a gigantic rock, and we are sentient, and breathing. How crazy! Of course, you're probably quite accustomed to this- I know that I am. But statistically, this is nothing short of so utterly mind-bogglingly crazy that the fact that we aren't so utterly intrigued to the point of dumbfounded shock each and every day... is... normal. It's common. This 'mundane' thing we call life isn't mundane at all. Our ordinary is inherently, unequivocally extraordinary, but the extraordinary for us... is... ordinary. What a dichotomy.

Think about that, will ya?

It really should be mind-blowing, but for me, the insanity simply doesn't register.

Our planet has certain characteristics that led to it being our home- capable of supporting life, and not just capable, but, such that it did come to support life. Water can exist as a liquid, and there's a lot of it. We're in a nice and perfect rotation around the sun. How beautiful is that? So after a couple billion times we're here.

So, here we are, you and I. Of all the things that we could be doing, I have written this paragraph, and you are reading it. Think about that. Of all the endless websites on the internet, the places we could be visiting, we ended up here. That we actually have something called 'internet' on this crazy world where life is almost utterly improbable is.... well. Indescribable.

So thank you for choosing to spend your time here, I promise I won't waste it. I clearly thought it was 'worth it' to write this, and you still think (hopefully) this is 'worth it' to read. One day you and I will not be alive anymore- did you think about that? We won't be.

I don't have a name for it yet but I'll call it the principle of probable occurrence

So why did I write this, and why did I begin as I did?

Because us being here on this website is evidence of the manifestation of a certain principle, which I will now explain.

When a certain environment, or object, or person- when something has characteristics to produce a certain outcome, it is likely to do so. If we reverse this principle, we can conclude that any given result or outcome given from somewhere is evidence of it's characteristics. I'll illustrate:

It would make very little sense for me to go to a desert if my goal was to find fresh water. likewise, I wouldn't get on a sailboat and put myself in the middle of an ocean if my goal was to find a tree. Those environments are not conducive to generating those things. Of course you can find fresh water in a desert, and you can find trees in the middle of an ocean, on, say, an island, it is unlikely.

It is very interesting that you typically find people in places they are likely to be. So for example, if somebody has a lot of tattoos, or piercings, or somebody is an author, or they like a certain book, when somebody says words (people do that sometimes) we can conclude that that person is have internal thoughts, and perceptions that propel them towards that behaviour. How that person handles the opportunity cost of the human language is critical. The words they choose, to the exclusion of others, are their own sentence.

In other words, it doesn't just 'happen' , it happens because of causes. Let me clarify, the obvious is "outcomes have causes", of course, but what I'm really saying is, the outcomes are not just caused, often they are likely to be caused.

For example, tv tropes is a somewhat common website, but it is a website about archetypes; tropes. A website like this was... likely to be created, and to spread. I think this is one of my major claims here.

So even though I know little about you, except that you are reading this, and you know little about me, except that I am writing this- (what I mean to say is, we likely have not had a face to face conversation, we probably do not know the other's name), there are several things you and I can conclude about all of this.

1. There are certain qualities that I possess that were conducive to me deciding it would be best to write this.
2. There are certain qualities anybody reading these words right now would 'have' to have in order to be reading them, which you possess.
3. Here's the kicker. While in some ways, us being here is 'random', in some ways, not only was it possible, but I would go so far as to say it was likely that this scenario would happen.

So first, what are these qualities, that would put us here?

• Speaks English.
• Owns a device- computer, tablet, cell phone, etc. That's a huge commentary.
• Has enough free time. This likely means (in western culture, which you probably live in) you are under the age of 25. (This is a guess)
• Reads a lot. Otherwise you would have given up 3 paragraphs ago.
• Found tv tropes and likes it (which is a combination of other qualities, but is also one by itself.)

Second, how was it likely? I think that's what I'm about to get to now.

When we run into a pattern over and over and over again, that is a HUGE commentary on the context we are in.

So lets talk about people. We are predictable! These weird, two legged, two armed, walking creatures are predictable. Isn't that interesting? We seem to be more alike than different.

So when we fall into patterns, we begin to ask, why do these patterns occur? How is it that these specific patterns tend to be reoccurring?

Words like epitome, quintessential, embody, and archetype are all words that describe common patterns that tend to present themselves. This is not just a commentary on a pspecific patterns, it is a commentary on the nature of those patterns. The patterns of the patterns, if you will. SO META.

Trope: You wake up, and everything up to this point was a dream.

I personally do not like stereotypes. Not all stereotypes are bad. But personally I believe some stereotypes are terrible. I believe a trope is not necessarily a stereotype. Just because a pattern or behaviour is common doesn't necessarily make it a stereotype. Skydiving is common, but it is not stereotypical. Often being a stereotype comes with the implication of being unoriginal. And that's fine. But one reason a stereotype can be offensive is, I believe, an illustration of the principle I explained above- falling into certain stereotypes is evidence that somebody has certain characteristics that occur often. And if those are negative characteristics, then the stereotype is frowned upon. Let me illustrate.

I'm a personal enthusiast of analytical psychology with a focus on personality type theory. Perhaps you've heard of the "Myers-Briggs" test? (I'm going to save this spiel for another time.) It is one of the most common personality typing methods online. I want to draw attention to the "introversion" and "intuition" traits. Often people will claim that they are "intuitive" and "introverted" often when they actually don't really strongly have those characteristics. I'm not going to explain these, I'm going to hope you've run into these.

Everybody has characteristics of both introversion, internal reflection and processing, and extroversion, external opening, and shaping and observing the external world. In fact, it's surprising and noteworthy that everybody DOES have these characteristics.

But often some people stereotypically try to claim that because they are 'intuitive' and 'introverted' that they are a "special flower". (regardless of if they are, or aren't, though often they aren't.) That's annoying to me, that stereotypical reaction, because it shows that somebody wants to be identify as and seem as somebody having the positive aspects of somebody who 'sees patterns' and 'thinks deeply' while they actually do not have those traits.

What I am trying to paint a picture of is a general idea of people claiming that they have certain characteristics because the idea of having those characteristics is attractive to those people, while they do not actually have those characterisics.

I would say that introversion and extroversion may be seen as tropes because they can be common character traits that are seen over and over again, they are not bad, I would argue they are good. But I think the stereotype is a common trait that is actually negative in certain ways.

Is bad gramar an speling a bad sterotype? Wut do u think?

So personally, I do not like falling into stereotypes, because often, they are evidence that somebody fell into a common pitfall of thought or behaviour that shows a lack of moral, ethical, or character development.

I think I'm being pretty roundabout. I don't feel like I explained this well, or articulated. I'm going to have to come back sometime to really hash out this section. But I've explained enough.

Spit it out already, dude.

Let me get to the point: The fact that human beings can have common archetypical behaviours that appear quite often. We are an anomaly. The fact that those behaviours appear often is the object of my interest. I see tropes as an irregular and good opportunity to explore not just the patterns themselves, but the meaning as to why these patterns even occur in the first place- why they are likely to occur. I am here because I am not so interested personally in the content, so much as the why of the content. Why is this trope appearing? Do we unconsciously pick up tropes in stories as a universal language, and seek to emulate them in how we say things? Are tropes concentrated essences of twists and turns in life that we all experience? Are tropes evidence of deeper principles at play in human behaviour? What are the characteristics of humans that inspire these patterns? That not only make them possible, but likely?- Chosen?

I do not believe we can say they are meaningless if they do occur naturally in real life behaviours.

I think lack of information is very informative. A culture itself will never tell you if it is good or bad, or what it is lacking. In fact, you will never know those things until you go elsewhere. A youtube video will (almost) never tell you not to watch their youtube video. Sometimes, the youtube comments will tell you. (Whether I recommend the youtube comments or not is a different story). Usually, metaphorically, comments are disabled and inaccessible. In fact, most people who want you to watch their content will rarely if ever mention the fact that it is an option at all for you to participate in their content. A football fan will never encourage you to NOT to watch football, especially if you are in a football stadium. Lately, I've noticed that content creators will actually try to confuse you as to the purpose of the content, so as you spend your time trying to figure out what it's about, they begin to reel you in and continue without a proper introduction or explanation. Life is kind of like that. I just did that, in this section, essentially. But I told you I was going to do it.

When the camera is pointed somewhere, somebody wanted to put the camera there; there, of all places. That is a commentary. It is scary, because once you let that scene capture your attention, we can often forget that it is being pointed in the first place.

Everything happens for a reason.

Too often, people will attempt to justify things as a narrative. This happens far too often. Narratives are scary, because we like things to logically be leading somewhere, so when we are given a reason for a logical progression and reasoning for certain events to have taken place, we often believe it. Do you agree with the last sentence? For the reasons I stated, or for other reasons? I invite you to determine whether you agree or disagree, and decide as to why, before continuing.

Advertisers try to sell a story. A cigarette commercial would not sell the narrative of getting lung cancer and not having the money to pay hospital bills. That's not always the true narrative. But I think it's safe to say they'd never sell that narrative. How many advertisements create false narratives rather than actually selling a product? Unless the product is a sofa, chances are it's not going to be sitting around, it's going to be eaten, or used up, or enjoyed, and so it probably DOES have a story to it- and if you notice, almost every advertisement is selling a story, not a product. BUT, its important to be careful of the narrative.

I recall somebody saying "it's all just poetry", or in other words, we can't draw conclusions, that many of the reasons, and causes, and stories, and all the meanings are sort of just art, and poetry, something you look at and go, "oh yeah that's nice", and move on. "Oh yeah, that's nice", we say together, as we move to the next paragraph.

I think it's tough because I want to tell you as a a reader, that I'm going somewhere. But maybe my ultimate conclusion is that, its really not. I have no final conclusion. My goal was to discuss patterns and tropes, and I wanted to do that for the reasons I've stated, but I can't claim that this is a finalizing discussion. I honestly wish it was. I really do. But it's not.

Not everything is a simple narrative. Things are complicated and there often are no final answers, and that's not ok, and it never will be, and there's no inherent resolution in that, and it's perpetually uncomfortable. And I wish it wasn't but I think it should be.

There are patterns and commentaries and stories where you cry, but we are all born and we all die, and those seem to be the only two constants, because life is not straightforward, it doesn't always make sense, and it's not always just, and I believe in writing stories with tropes we are in a sense hoping that it really would. We like narratives. We like stories, it seems, especially when they don't make sense. Isn't that poetic.

My point is, you've assumed I have a point. And I do. But many things don't and they are painted as if they do, when they don't or its meaningless, or that because they do, they are immediately valid and believable, which they may or may not be.

I think one thing is conclusive- That which is done is done. So be careful how you use your time and attention. In life, there are many second chances. But be careful about things you cannot undo. So if you're going to do something that can't be undone, make sure you do it right the first time.

Your life is your own story, it really is. I think this is a little off topic, but I want to include this;

What shall I write? Asks the author. The answer is, what do you want to write? You decide your goal. You make the vision. I think we, as writers of our lives, do not realize that we have the pen, and we are writing. Perhaps we think to ourselves, "but I do not know what I want to write." Nobody is going to tell you what to write. And that's another story. But if you fail to realize that you are writing the story, you will wake up one day realizing that your book does not have your name as the author's name.

I hate that it's poetic, but the analogy is too close to ignore, at least, for me. I'm afraid that one day I'll wake up and realize that I haven't realized what I've had all along. How you use your time is the substance of your life. It will never not be that.

If you find yourself scrolling through a social media feed, or news feed, and don't really find anything that causes you to stop doing that, its quite likely that whatever you're looking for, you're never going to find, or you would have already stopped scrolling. You'll never see in big flashing letters, STOP READING THIS TEXT. I mean seriously, who would write that? I personally wish you would continue reading -this-, as in this page, because these are ideas that I feel are valuable to share. But it was your choice to read it from the start, and you're still continuing. You could have stopped at any time. Your answer to this question (It's not going to tell you it's a question, even though its written as a statement) depends on what you do right.... Now.

So, stories will never tell you why they are written that way. Or when they should be written another way. They probably won't. And what they aren't saying is often just as important, if not more, than what they are saying.

I feel like this is very important to me, but hard to articulate why. Parents won't tell their children about all the fights that they've had. People won't tell you about the mistakes they made, in fact it seems they'd rather intentionally cover that up. But it's not a secret people make mistakes. The fact that you DON'T hear about that is a huge commentary on people. That we like to justify our behaviour, or pretend that we are less imperfect than we are.

In a way what I mean by this is, nobody can authoritatively tell you, "you're living your life wrong, and you need to do it this way." I think THE narrative that's undeniable is that life poses one big question, which is , "what do you want to do with your time?" and every human being is currently answering that question with how they live. And while there are mistakes to be made, relatively speaking, I mean, this is subjective but relatively speaking if you're not killing people and being a big meanie face, there really are no wrong answers.

And that's awesome because it's super cool that I can be writing this and you can be reading this. That 'this' even exists at all.

Tropes are nice because often, they aren't just thematic patterns, like, objects, they are common processes and narratives. I think that's worth noting.

You're not really explaining well and your article is poorly written...

You might be thinking, "so why the heck did you put this on TV Tropes?"

I think identifying thematic patterns in stories and real life lampshades critical characteristics in people themselves. Repetition is a good teacher. Repetition is a good teacher. Repetition legitimizes. Repetition is important commentary. Where occurrences are a likely outcome, as I explained earlier, we begin to be able to put our finger on critical characteristics of human behaviour. That's what I believe can be done on this resource. THAT is why I think it's worth spending my time here, I think it's actually possible to do that here. Something I don't think can be done anywhere else.

I can't say I can actually do that yet, or have all the answers. Quite the contrary, I feel I'm here to learn that. But I feel like if this process is going to happen anywhere, it would be here. I think there are others who have been doing this, wittingly or unwittingly, and I'd like to learn from them.

That's all I have to say for now. I'll be periodically updating this, but I think this is a great explanation for why I'm here, and why I'm writing this. I know it was long. I hope it was worth your time. If it wasn't, please pm me an angry comment so I actually know. Most people never hear negative feedback, or neutral feedback, for that matter, because who would actually comment if they are apathetic to the content, or actually not there? You can't comment on something you're not present to see. That's some pretty important commentary, if you ask me.

This is your invitation to act. Please respond, if you so choose. This is a terrible why to finish an article, I should really be echoing the introduction for narrative effect.

—End of Section—

''Last update: October 4, 2019.

Opinions on Tropes

Contributions

• October 2019
  • 2 - Added Giant Footprint Reveal as a subtrope in That's No Moon and edited for clarity.

"Why Are You Here?

Identity

Favorites

• Double Entendre
• Exploiting the Fourth Wall
• Fourth Wall
• False Dichotomy
• From Beyond the Fourth Wall
• How Did We Miss This One (Technically not a trope)
• Lampshade Hanging
• Omnipresent Tropes
• Parental Bonus
• Playing with a Trope
• Reading Ahead in the Script
• Taught by Experience
• Theory of Narrative Causality
• Tropes Are Tools
• Serial Escalation

Tropes Hated

• All Just a Dream

Tropes

• He would like to believe that Only Sane Man applies to him, but it's more of a Crazy Sane thing.

Interests

They have interests in:

• Typography
  • A.T. is currently developing a typeface, and has previously turned their own handwriting into a typeface. Neato!
• Music and Composition
  • A.T. Does piano improvisation and instrumental music production. They are terrible at reading sheet music.
• Writing
• Graphic Design
• Philosophy in general, but not necessarily common philosophy
• Jungian Typology and Analytical Psychology
  • It's cooler than you think.
• Linguistics.

Misc