Recently, there has been a widespread discussion of how the media portrays various demographics and characters. There seems to be an epidemic of using tropes in ways that don’t serve a character’s narrative, or that reinforce toxic ideas. So, in the spirit of educating our readers, I want to dig deep into this discussion and talk about how tropes affect both gaming and entertainment avenues like television and film.

To start, let’s break down the definition of a trope. According to Webster’s Dictionary, a trope (in this context) is defined as a common or overused theme or plot device. I would argue that whether a trope is “overused” or not, largely depends on the context in which it is used. For example, no one bats an eye hearing Hozier or another musical artist using the “love is like religion” trope, to express the spiritual nature of their romance.

On the other hand, people will forever roll their eyes at the common horror trope of “I’m running from a killer, let’s go upstairs!” for a variety of reasons. So where do we draw the line of lazy writing and positive tropes? Well, I can’t answer that specifically, but I can detail a few tropes (positive and negative) and explain why they are either necessary or need to make their exit.

Let’s start with the “Lazy Latinos” trope, also known as “Lazy Mexicans.” At first glance, you might wonder if I’ve pulled this out of some political manual, but in fact, this started way before our current immigration debate. Remember Slowpoke Rodriguez from the Speedy Gonzalez cartoons? How about Consuela the maid from Family Guy? There are dozens of examples of media describing Latin people as lazy.

This overlaps with another trope involving people of color being drug abusers. The “lazy, drug addict” is portrayed fairly often, and is frequently a Latin-American, African-American, or another person of color.

Here’s the problem with this, and it’s a problem I will mention multiple times during this discussion. When a stereotype is portrayed in media, two things happen. The first thing is that people who are racist, that have a problem with ethnicity in the first place, feel that their feelings and prejudices are validated by it.

The second thing is that when you see something on TV for long enough, it normalizes the idea. This can be used for good, such as adding diverse casts to showcase the diversity of life. However, it can also be a negative force, asserting negative ideas into the minds of others subliminally. For example, if you live in a home that constantly tells you that you are worthless, odds are you’ll eventually believe it.

By that same token, if you see on screen that the majority of Latin characters are lazy, then you begin to have a warped view of an entire group of people. This allows rhetoric from racist people to sink in further and perpetuates a cycle of hate and bigotry. Yes, there are other factors that intersect with this, but this issue is still valid.

This leads me to my next trope. Bury Your Gays (also known as Dead Lesbian Syndrome) is a trope that comes from the fact that LGBT characters are more likely to die in a series than straight ones. What a lot of people do not realize, is that this trope actually originated as a response to the Hays Code, a set of guidelines mandated for motion pictures and television back in the 1930s.

This broadcasting standard required that all characters considered “Deviant” were required to not be rewarded on screen, only punished narratively, and not made sympathetic. The context of this becomes even more shocking when you consider the “Tragic AIDS Story” trope. The Tragic AIDS Story trope is often overwhelmingly focused on a homosexual character, and pushes the idea that HIV and AIDS are a punishment for homosexuality.

Now, you are probably thinking, “Surely you’re overreacting. This isn’t an actual thing,” but it actually is legit. During the 2015-2016 broadcast seasons, 10 percent of the character deaths were LGBT. This doesn’t sound like much does it? Until you realize that those 10 percent were ALMOST all of the LGBT characters in each of those series.

I used this quote before, but it applies here again for context. During an article for Instinct Magazine, Devin Randall described it as such – “Think of it like two jars of marbles. The straight marble jar is full. As such, when you kill off a character and take away a marble, you still have a large number of marbles. Meanwhile, the LGBTQ jar is less than half full. When you kill off a large chunk of those characters and take a handful of marbles away, you’ve got a pretty empty jar.”

To tie this back to my previous point, you probably wonder why this trope matters, and I can give you a multi-layered reason for that. First, the majority of characters that are killed off in the LGBT spectrum are lesbians, female bisexual characters, or bisexual men. Gay male characters are usually used for comedy purposes and are rarely given quality stories in the first place, which factors into the “Gay Best Friend” or “Pet-Homosexual” trope.

However, in the case of female characters it is often a cautionary tale; “Don’t experiment with your sexuality ladies. Don’t be gay or bisexual, otherwise you’re just asking to die.” This gets worse though, considering the fact that as previously stated, it sends a twisted message of reality. This is even worse when you take into account that LGBT youth are 5 times more likely to commit suicide than their heterosexual peers.

A national study further pushed the envelope by revealing that 40 percent of Trans people either commit or attempt to commit suicide. These portrayals of LGBT people dying “as punishment” stick in the minds of impressionable, at-risk youth and adults. Before long people start to wonder, “Is my purpose to die in my story?” as opposed to saying, “No, there is more to my life than dying for someone else’s growth.”

I could also expand on this idea, by talking about the fact that most LGBT characters portrayed in relationships on screen, tend to be women. This is usually due to the male gaze, or rather the fact that straight men are able to fetishize two women together, which makes them less inclined to protest a lesbian or bisexual woman on screen.

The lines blur even more when you have a situation where the death of an LGBT character is meant as a “heroic suicide.” This is a subset of heroic sacrifice in which a character does something, knowing that they will likely die. The issue with this (and the aforementioned portrayals of LGBT characters) is that people who are already at risk, who may see death as inevitable for them, are put even further at risk.

The risk comes from a phenomenon known as the Werther Effect (or suicide contagion,) where a highly publicized suicide affects both those who may not be at immediate risk of suicide and those at risk. These people begin to experience a warped view that makes suicide a more favorable option. If their favorite character commits suicide, it leads to people realizing how much they loved them, and it begins to seem favorable to people.

This is not a question of knowing the difference between fantasy or reality at all. This isn’t even a matter of “Well, if they were at risk they shouldn’t watch this.” because sometimes there is no warning. Additionally, if they weren’t at immediate risk, to begin with, perhaps repeated viewing of such scenes reinforces the idea in their subconscious, only for it to be a conscious idea later.

There are plenty of other toxic tropes (especially in regards to race or sexual orientation) such as the Depraved Bisexual (or Promiscuous Bisexual) trope, or the “all Germans are Nazis” trope. However, let’s take a step back and look at some more positive ones, such as my personal favorite, the Family of Choice trope.

They say that blood is thicker than water, but for a lot of people, families are problematic and frustrating. Not everyone has the ideal family of 7^th Heaven, or a sitcom, where at the end of the day they all love each other. Sometimes families fight, are abusive, or just don’t understand you and ultimately are bad for you. Family of Choice is often used as a response to this, where a character flees his family (or is estranged from them) and finds a home elsewhere.

The great thing about this trope is that it is heavily relatable for a lot of people. Sure, most of the time the “family” dynamic rallies together to fight evil or something, but above all, they love and care for one another. Anyone who has friends you’ve met on the internet or close friends that feel like siblings can identify with finding “family” outside of blood.

This trope is also linked (in a lot of ways) with the Friends to Lovers trope, which in most cases is a trope that involves long-time friends realizing their feelings have become more romantic. I personally find this trope to be quite pleasant because in a lot of cases healthy relationships come from friendships. This isn’t always true, but this trope, in particular, reinforces the idea that it’s a good idea to know a person before you attempt to date them, instead of dating the first person that comes along.

I would also be remiss in my crafting of this article if I didn’t include a trope that is just for fun. The Bed-Sharing trope is a great device that is most frequently found in romance novels or romantic comedies. Say, for example, a pair finds themselves seeking shelter for the night, only to discover that the hotel only has rooms with a single bed.

This opens things up for a lot of fun shenanigans, and can even sometimes lead to emotional scenes where feelings are shared and romantic confessions are made. Sometimes it is more used for comedic purposes or awkward conflict-driven scenes. In any case, this is a trope that can just be plain fun, or it can be used to drive home an emotional moment between characters.

At this point, you are probably thinking (for a few different reasons,) “Can’t the positive tropes be used in harmful ways? Aren’t the negative tropes sometimes necessary?” and my answer comes with a few caveats. Yes, positive tropes can be used in ways that undermine the growth of characters or in ways that undercut narrative tension.

By the same token, sometimes a negative trope is necessary to reach a certain conclusion. For example, if you have a cast of people of color, and the Lazy Latinos or PoC Use Drugs tropes are used, it may be used as a vehicle to showcase that this is not the norm as many people assume. On the other hand, Star Trek Discovery subverted the Bury Your Gays trope, by resurrecting the character later in order to tell a larger story.

Sometimes it isn’t what tropes writers use, but how they use them that matters. I have spoken often about the concept of narrative cohesion and the audience contract; both are important when it comes to the usage of tropes. If a trope is complementary to the arc of a character or is used in a way to push back against negative stereotypes in the pursuit of a more fulfilling, satisfying story, then it can be very effective.

However, if tropes are used because the writer can’t figure out a more satisfying or original idea and are carried forward on the wings of shock value, things often feel forced and lackluster. It is important to understand your audience and adjust the story you tell accordingly. In fact, I would compare this idea to my own creative writing and even (to an extent) my journalistic work.

Sometimes I may sit on an article (or a page of a story) for days, agonizing over making sure that my audience resonates with (and understands) the ideas that I am attempting to put forward. It saddens me greatly to see writers, creators, and showrunners who are so wound up in getting their ending or their story on paper, that they forget the initial goal of the story they are telling.

All tropes can be used or subverted in positive and negative ways, and the current trend of dark, gritty stories and shock-value can be attributed to something quoted from Ursula K LeGuin, creator of the Earthsea series.

“The trouble is that we have a bad habit, encouraged by pedants and sophisticates, of considering happiness as something rather stupid. Only pain is intellectual, only evil interesting. This is the treason of the artist: a refusal to admit the banality of evil and the terrible boredom of pain. If you can’t lick ’em, join ’em. If it hurts, repeat it. But to praise despair is to condemn delight, to embrace violence is to lose hold of everything else.”

I have said this before, but there are those who consume media that do so out of a desire to connect to things. These viewers, in particular, are tired of investing emotional capital in series which only seek to reward their loyalty with torment and despair. People resonate with their characters, and they wish to see a coherent, sensible arc, not a tale that sends one message, only to throw an unnecessary curveball at the last minute.

We are in dark times, where people seek catharsis. They seek shelter from the storms of politics, death, disaster, bigotry, and hatred. It is up to creative people to weave tales that distract from the darkness of our lives. It is up to creators to be the mouthpieces for groups of people that are tired of being erased, oppressed, or denied validity. Yes, sometimes darkness and pain are realistic, but sometimes the novel, subversive ideas, are ones that end in peace and joy.

This is not just a situation that matters in visual mediums like movies and television. These things are just as important in interactive mediums like gaming, and things such as music and novels. People want intriguing stories, with twists that make sense, not twists thrown in for the sake of shocking the viewer or confusing them. Complex narratives are all well and good, but sometimes people resonate with things that are comforting, familiar, and easily understood.

So to summarize this even further, tropes can be used in positive and negative ways, and writers are not just responsible for telling a good story. Writers are responsible for telling a satisfying tale, which makes sense, and does not reinforce the negative things society tells us about ourselves. Historical fiction may be forced to lean into historical accuracy but on the whole, media is about an escape, not a reinforced view of reality.

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