Wow. In my last post, I mentioned "Wiki-holes" and their many cousins on the internet. Basically, it is the phenomenon of getting sucked into a site so deeply that you look at the clock and it is hours later. One thing leads to another and the day (or night) is gone.
My last post got me enmeshed in yet another hole, a TV Tropes-hole. The site is dedicated to the conventions and contrivances in story-telling, mostly in TV but in other genres as well. And I'm telling you, one link leads to another. Basically, the site is for people who are too smart for the source material.
The job of a work of fiction is to engage your "willing suspension of disbelief." But if the writing or acting is bad, you get sucked out of that story zone. TV Tropes points out all the ways that can happen, and more. The terminology and the various sources sited land squarely in my pop culture sweet spot. Maybe yours too. Here's just an example of the types of entries you'll find at TV Tropes. . .
[Excerpt]
Tropes are devices and conventions that a writer can reasonably rely on as being present in the audience members' minds and expectations. On the whole, tropes are not clichés. The word clichéd means "stereotyped and trite". In other words, dull and uninteresting. We are not looking for dull and uninteresting entries. We are here to recognize tropes and play with them, not to make fun of them. . .
Go on, you'll have fun (and lose several hours) at: TV Tropes
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