Okay, we’ve been surfing the internet while growing our account and have found an insane number of post talking about tropes. You know, enemies to lovers, lovers to enemies, zero to hero, hero to villain, villain to hero, etc. and we just wanted to share some of our insights into what tropes are and how you as a reader or author can navigate this vast subsection of the literary industry.
With that being said, let’s dive in.
The fundamental reason people are obsessed with tropes is because it resonates with them on a very deep level. The trope acts as a manifestation of people’s deepest desires and fantasies that they can never play out in real life, which is why they get so emotionally invested in certain storylines.
First off, what is a trope?
Let’s start with the dictionary definition so people can have a basic understanding. . .
Well, we tried searching and the definition found comes from Dabble which states a trope is “any story element or figure of speech that is familiar to readers due to its recurrence in several different narratives.”
In other words, a trope is a common theme throughout different stories. It’s what makes movies, animes, books, mangas, etc similar to each other and sometimes the same.
We’d bet dollars to donuts that you, as the reader, can look at the title of a story and tell what it’s about without even reading it. You can also watch the first episode of pretty much any show in your wheelhouse and tell the plot without ever having to watch all six seasons of it.
Why is that? Because the shows you watch and the books you read all have the same plot and storyline, just different characters and spins on how each plot plays out.
All superhero movies are the same. . .
Ordinary person meet a bizarre or tragic circumstance that bestows upon them powers which now gives them the responsibility of protecting their neighborhood, community, or the world at large.
That’s it. That’s every superhero movie. Spiderman, Batman, Iron Man, Captain America, Black Panther, doesn’t matter.
We’ll give you three movies. . .
Star Wars, Harry Potter, and Lord of the Rings
What do these movies have in common?
Easy, they all follow the Hero’s Journey.
Now, the hero’s journey is not so much a trope as it is an overall theme that spans the entire concept of storytelling. It’s in all our myths, legends, lore, ancient, modern, and contemporary stories.
It’s the fundament of storytelling and no story can truly exist without a hero’s journey.
Sure, there have been a few writers that have written stories about nothing but those are few and far between. Every story has an element of change that is common amongst all humans which is the reason certain tropes and themes resonate.
It’s also the reason why movie production companies and studios make the same type of movies and shows over and over again, because they know we humans love our certain types of stories with particular tropes.
Anyway, we just wanted to share some insight as to what tropes are as we understand them and why people are ultimately obsessed with them.
Until next time!
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