# Trope Management Guide

## Overview

Tropes are storytelling conventions and patterns. They're not inherently bad - they're tools. The key is using them consciously and creatively.

---

## Understanding Tropes

### What is a Trope?

A trope is a recognizable pattern in storytelling:
- Character types (mentor, chosen one, femme fatale)
- Plot devices (love triangle, MacGuffin, red herring)
- Settings (small town, big city, dystopia)
- Themes (redemption, coming of age, revenge)

### Trope vs. Cliché

**Trope:** A storytelling tool or convention
- Can be used effectively
- Provides familiar framework
- Audience recognizes and understands

**Cliché:** An overused, predictable trope
- Feels stale and unoriginal
- Audience rolls their eyes
- Lacks fresh execution

---

## Common Screenplay Tropes

### Character Tropes

**The Mentor:**
- Wise older character who guides protagonist
- Often dies or disappears at crucial moment
- Examples: Obi-Wan, Mr. Miyagi, Gandalf

**The Chosen One:**
- Special protagonist destined for greatness
- Often reluctant hero
- Examples: Neo, Harry Potter, Luke Skywalker

**The Femme Fatale:**
- Seductive, dangerous woman
- Often morally ambiguous
- Examples: Catherine Tramell, Phyllis Dietrichson

**The Sidekick:**
- Loyal companion to protagonist
- Provides comic relief or support
- Examples: Robin, Samwise, Ron Weasley

### Plot Tropes

**The MacGuffin:**
- Object everyone wants but isn't important itself
- Drives plot forward
- Examples: Maltese Falcon, briefcase in Pulp Fiction

**The Love Triangle:**
- Protagonist torn between two love interests
- Creates romantic tension
- Examples: Twilight, Hunger Games

**The Mentor's Death:**
- Mentor dies, forcing protagonist to stand alone
- Raises stakes, forces growth
- Examples: Obi-Wan, Mufasa, Uncle Ben

**The Training Montage:**
- Character improves skills through quick sequence
- Shows passage of time
- Examples: Rocky, Karate Kid

### Setting Tropes

**The Small Town:**
- Everyone knows everyone
- Secrets can't stay hidden
- Often idyllic or sinister

**The Big City:**
- Overwhelming, impersonal
- Opportunity and danger
- Character gets lost or found

**The Dystopia:**
- Oppressive future society
- Protagonist rebels
- Commentary on current issues

---

## Trope Usage Strategies

### 1. Play It Straight

Use the trope as expected.

**When to use:**
- Genre expectations require it
- Audience comfort and familiarity
- Foundation for other innovations

**Example:**
```
The mentor teaches the hero, then dies at the midpoint,
forcing the hero to face the final challenge alone.
```

### 2. Subvert It

Set up the trope, then do something unexpected.

**When to use:**
- Surprise the audience
- Add freshness to familiar story
- Comment on the trope itself

**Example:**
```
The mentor appears to die, but actually faked their death
to force the hero to believe in themselves. The "death"
was the final lesson.
```

### 3. Invert It

Flip the trope completely.

**When to use:**
- Create unique story
- Challenge audience expectations
- Explore new territory

**Example:**
```
The "chosen one" is actually the villain. The "ordinary"
sidekick is the real hero.
```

### 4. Deconstruct It

Examine why the trope exists and what it means.

**When to use:**
- Mature, thoughtful story
- Meta-commentary
- Genre deconstruction

**Example:**
```
Show the psychological damage of being "the chosen one" -
the pressure, the isolation, the loss of normal life.
```

### 5. Lampshade It

Acknowledge the trope directly.

**When to use:**
- Comedy or satire
- Self-aware storytelling
- Breaking fourth wall

**Example:**
```
CHARACTER
Let me guess - you're the wise mentor who's
going to teach me everything then die at the
worst possible moment?

MENTOR
(smiles)
Someone's seen too many movies.
```

### 6. Avoid It

Don't use the trope at all.

**When to use:**
- Trope is too clichéd
- Doesn't fit your story
- Want completely fresh approach

---

## Identifying Clichés

### High-Risk Tropes (Often Clichéd)

**Character:**
- Manic Pixie Dream Girl
- Magical Negro
- Damsel in Distress
- Evil Ex
- Dead Parents

**Plot:**
- "It was all a dream"
- Love at first sight
- Misunderstanding that could be cleared up with one conversation
- Villain monologuing instead of killing hero
- Deus ex machina

**Dialogue:**
- "We're not so different, you and I"
- "You just don't get it, do you?"
- "This is crazy!" "Crazy enough to work!"
- "I'm getting too old for this"

### Warning Signs

- [ ] You've seen it a hundred times
- [ ] Audience can predict what happens next
- [ ] It feels lazy or convenient
- [ ] Characters act out of character to make it work
- [ ] It's the easy solution

---

## Innovation Strategies

### Make It Specific

**Generic:**
```
The mentor is a wise old man with a beard.
```

**Specific:**
```
The mentor is a 19-year-old hacker who's seen more of
the dark web than most people see in a lifetime.
```

### Add Complexity

**Simple:**
```
The hero and villain are enemies.
```

**Complex:**
```
The hero and villain are siblings who love each other
but are on opposite sides of a moral divide.
```

### Combine Tropes

**Single:**
```
The chosen one saves the world.
```

**Combined:**
```
The chosen one is also the villain's child, creating
internal conflict between destiny and family.
```

### Change Context

**Expected:**
```
Training montage in a gym.
```

**Unexpected:**
```
Training montage in a library - hero learns to fight
with words and knowledge, not fists.
```

---

## Using the Trope Inventory Schema

### Track Your Tropes

```yaml
tropes:
  - name: "The Mentor's Death"
    category: "plot"
    usage: "subverted"
    location:
      act: 2
      page: 55
    subversionStrategy:
      method: "Mentor fakes death to teach final lesson"
      justification: "Forces hero to believe in themselves"
      expectedOutcome: "Hero loses guide and must face challenge alone"
      actualOutcome: "Hero learns the guide was always within them"
    clichéRisk: "high"
    freshnessFactor: 7
```

### Analyze Your Usage

- **Total tropes:** How many are you using?
- **Played straight:** Are you relying too much on familiar patterns?
- **Subverted:** Are you adding freshness?
- **High-risk clichés:** Are you using overused tropes?
- **Freshness factor:** Average score across all tropes

### Get Recommendations

Based on your inventory:
- Too many tropes played straight? → Subvert some
- High cliché risk? → Innovate or avoid
- Low freshness factor? → Add specificity and complexity

---

## Best Practices

### DO:

✅ Know the tropes in your genre
✅ Use tropes consciously and intentionally
✅ Add your own twist or innovation
✅ Make tropes serve your story and theme
✅ Track your trope usage
✅ Get feedback on what feels fresh vs. stale

### DON'T:

❌ Use tropes without thinking
❌ Rely on tropes to do the work for you
❌ Ignore high-risk clichés
❌ Subvert just for the sake of subverting
❌ Forget that some tropes are genre expectations
❌ Be afraid of tropes - they're tools

---

## Examples

### Effective Trope Usage

**The Matrix (1999):**
- Chosen One: Played straight (Neo is "The One")
- Mentor's Death: Subverted (Morpheus captured, not killed)
- Training Montage: Innovated (virtual reality training)

**Get Out (2017):**
- Magical Negro: Deconstructed and inverted
- Damsel in Distress: Subverted (girlfriend is villain)
- Small Town Secrets: Played straight with fresh execution

**Knives Out (2019):**
- Murder Mystery: Played straight
- Unreliable Narrator: Subverted (protagonist can't lie)
- Whodunit: Innovated (we know who early, focus on why/how)

---

## Resources

- TV Tropes: https://tvtropes.org
- Trope Inventory Schema: `schemas/trope-inventory.json`
- Save the Cat: Genre tropes and expectations
- Your own viewing: What tropes do you notice?

