TV Tropes
Encyclopedia
TV Tropes is a wiki
which collects and expands on various conventions and devices (tropes
) found within creative works. Since its establishment in 2004, the site has gone from covering only television
and film
tropes to also covering those in a number of other media such as literature, comics, video-games, and even things such as advertisements and toys. It is known for approaching topics in a casual tone — cyberpunk
author Bruce Sterling
once described its style as a "wry fanfic
analysis."
s, novel
s, plays
, video games, anime
, manga
, comics
, fan fiction
, and other subjects, including Internet works such as Wikipedia
, referred to as "The Other Wiki". TV Tropes does not have notability
standards for its content, as it declares on the Main Page.
The site includes entries on various series and tropes. An article on a work includes a brief summary of the work in question along with a list of associated tropes. In addition to the tropes, most articles about a work also have a "Your Mileage May Vary" page with items that are deemed to be subjective. These items are not storytelling tropes, but audience reactions which have been defined and titled.
Trope pages are the inverse: after describing the trope itself, it lists the trope's appearance in various works of media. Trope pages are generally created through a standardized launching system, known as "You Know, That Thing Where...", in which other site members, who are referred to as "tropers", have the option of providing examples or suggesting refinements.
Considerable redesign of some aspects of content organization occurred in 2008, such as the introduction of namespace
s, while 2009 saw the arrival of other languages, of which German
is the most developed. In 2011, TV Tropes branched out into video production, and launched Echo Chamber, a web series about a TV Tropes vlog
ger explaining and demonstrating tropes.
Use of TV Tropes teaches the user to analyze and dissect works of media. An unanticipated side effect is causing readers to become jaded and cynical about consuming media, "[replacing] surprise almost entirely with recognition". This is referred to on the site as "TVTropes Will Ruin Your Life", referring to the inability to consume media without identifying each trope as it occurs.
Wiki
A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...
which collects and expands on various conventions and devices (tropes
Trope (literature)
A literary trope is the usage of figurative language in literature, or a figure of speech in which words are used in a sense different from their literal meaning...
) found within creative works. Since its establishment in 2004, the site has gone from covering only television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
tropes to also covering those in a number of other media such as literature, comics, video-games, and even things such as advertisements and toys. It is known for approaching topics in a casual tone — cyberpunk
Cyberpunk
Cyberpunk is a postmodern and science fiction genre noted for its focus on "high tech and low life." The name is a portmanteau of cybernetics and punk, and was originally coined by Bruce Bethke as the title of his short story "Cyberpunk," published in 1983...
author Bruce Sterling
Bruce Sterling
Michael Bruce Sterling is an American science fiction author, best known for his novels and his work on the Mirrorshades anthology, which helped define the cyberpunk genre.-Writings:...
once described its style as a "wry fanfic
Fan fiction
Fan fiction is a broadly-defined term for fan labor regarding stories about characters or settings written by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creator...
analysis."
Content
TV Tropes found its beginning with an initial focus on the television show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and has since increased its scope to include thousands of other series, filmFilm
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s, novel
Novel
A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century....
s, plays
Play (theatre)
A play is a form of literature written by a playwright, usually consisting of scripted dialogue between characters, intended for theatrical performance rather than just reading. There are rare dramatists, notably George Bernard Shaw, who have had little preference whether their plays were performed...
, video games, anime
Anime
is the Japanese abbreviated pronunciation of "animation". The definition sometimes changes depending on the context. In English-speaking countries, the term most commonly refers to Japanese animated cartoons....
, manga
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
, comics
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
, fan fiction
Fan fiction
Fan fiction is a broadly-defined term for fan labor regarding stories about characters or settings written by fans of the original work, rather than by the original creator...
, and other subjects, including Internet works such as Wikipedia
Wikipedia
Wikipedia is a free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project supported by the non-profit Wikimedia Foundation. Its 20 million articles have been written collaboratively by volunteers around the world. Almost all of its articles can be edited by anyone with access to the site,...
, referred to as "The Other Wiki". TV Tropes does not have notability
Notability
Notability is the property of being worthy of notice, having fame, or being considered to be of a high degree of interest, significance, or distinction...
standards for its content, as it declares on the Main Page.
The site includes entries on various series and tropes. An article on a work includes a brief summary of the work in question along with a list of associated tropes. In addition to the tropes, most articles about a work also have a "Your Mileage May Vary" page with items that are deemed to be subjective. These items are not storytelling tropes, but audience reactions which have been defined and titled.
Trope pages are the inverse: after describing the trope itself, it lists the trope's appearance in various works of media. Trope pages are generally created through a standardized launching system, known as "You Know, That Thing Where...", in which other site members, who are referred to as "tropers", have the option of providing examples or suggesting refinements.
Considerable redesign of some aspects of content organization occurred in 2008, such as the introduction of namespace
Namespace
In general, a namespace is a container that provides context for the identifiers it holds, and allows the disambiguation of homonym identifiers residing in different namespaces....
s, while 2009 saw the arrival of other languages, of which German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
is the most developed. In 2011, TV Tropes branched out into video production, and launched Echo Chamber, a web series about a TV Tropes vlog
Vlog
Video blogging, sometimes shortened to vlogging or vidding or vidblogging is a form of blogging for which the medium is video, and is a form of Web television. Entries often combine embedded video or a video link with supporting text, images, and other metadata. Entries can be recorded in one take...
ger explaining and demonstrating tropes.
Use of TV Tropes teaches the user to analyze and dissect works of media. An unanticipated side effect is causing readers to become jaded and cynical about consuming media, "[replacing] surprise almost entirely with recognition". This is referred to on the site as "TVTropes Will Ruin Your Life", referring to the inability to consume media without identifying each trope as it occurs.