Not just a family but also indvidual relationships. Gomez and Morticia are goals and watching them genuenly adore each other is a treat , ESPECIALLY in the 1991 and 1993 movies
I liked the contrast between "The Addams Family" & "The Munsters". The Addams family, extended family excepted, is a family that appears normal. They act and dress weird by choice. They believe their behavior is normal. The Munsters act like a normal family but their appearance sets them appart. Somehow they don't notice they look different from everyone else.
As a Mexican who has seen plenty of soap operas, I'm still looking for my missing twin. I haven't found them yet but I'm... pretty sure they're out there.
Holly I'm writting a book in where a young alcoholic ataches to a child he found abandoned in the streets and goes as far as he can to give the child as much love as he can even though he is riddled with internal and external problems, and ultimately dies for him.
The oldest popular stuff is rooted in anime... AT least as far as I've seen. No... I am not talking about Hentai, either... I mean regular anime... specifically (or more often) in "Harem" anime... which is supposedly a colossal male-oriented power-fantasy genre (and usually comical)... but if the MC has a sister, in a harem anime. When "Western" writers started to notice popularity for it grow, and realized there was a market, they just HAD to jump on that cash-cow and start milking. ;o)
I feel like there's a lot of people in general who don't even kno what "be a man" really means they just use it as an excuse to do terrible things or peer pressure people into acting a certain way.... A real man doesn't have to take aside their and explain how to "be a man" a real man leads by example and their kids will take notice of how they talk to people, how they handle difficult situations, and above all how they treat life in general... It's through this that your supposed to discern with your own judgement how to best live your life not by the ideals told to u and beaten into u by some hapless "real MAN" wannabe
Actually the "Jealous Parent" thing is one-hundred percent real. I can personally confirm that it does exist. My own mother had me extremely young and therefore could never go out and do the things a regular teenager could. So, she took her frustration out on myself by hammering at my self-esteem. I won't go into the gritty details, but it does happen and when I read it in stories it's either 100% believable because the author probably has a parent like this or it's not believable because the author has never experienced it.
I agree, it is a real thing unfortunately. When I was a preteen and my stepfather would pay any attention to me, my mother would get extremely upset and cause hell for anyone around. It's not something I would ever want to read about in a fictional story, it would just bring up too many bad memories.
I relate to this heavily. My mom is jealous because my older brother and I are great students, good at quite a few things, and are both conventionally attractive. Because she's jealous of our good traits, though, she ignores our nerodivergence and didn't let us get screened for mental illnesses, so we didn't find out till early adult hood that we're both autistic and ADHD.
At least its better that brothers that fight their sisters because they found out they were dating. The one you mentioned can be done well if they actually have a very good reason to behave like this.
Piggybacking off of the abusive family tropes is the trope of having a character forgive the people who physically and psychologically hurt them, because forgiving is "the right thing to do" and "they're family, so they deserve a chance."
Ah there's this fine line between a 'saint' character and a moron. I love pathologically good characters but they are so rare... since they tend to look like a complete idiots if written poorly. It takes right character traits and proper circumstances to pull off... and even THEN there are things which should not be forgiven.
THIS THIS THIS!!! It’s SO important oh my gosh! Not only is it a horrible and annoying trope, it can also be super damaging to anyone who views the media who is a victim of abuse (especially kids) because it can warp peoples trust and reasoning so much- it’s super messed up!
I think it should be noted that forgiveness of someone who hurt you should be bonded to boundaries and rules to protect yourself. "I forgive" does not mean "I forget and will now allow you to hurt me more." Which is also a trope that is very unhealthy. "I forgive" should mean I will allow myself to heal from what you did but you are never allowed back in my life, except if, by some act of God, you actually change for the better. Boundaries may not always include completely cutting someone out of your life but it certainly can and often should.
the incest one is so true. I saw a book just today at the library about a brother and sister falling for each other?? Why?? I just don't get it. Still better than the dinosaur erotica though
And I thought Japanese Hentai doujins were wierd. I guess horny creatives around the world make really wierd shit when in a state of MAXIMUM OVERHORNY.
When I started watching the video, I thought "at least she doesn't have to deal with the dumpster fire that is stepsiblings romance anime"... But then it turns out there're romance novels about *actual* incest??!!
@@taylor_green_9 It was especially present in Harem Anime, usually played for comedy, sometimes for actual drama. Oreimo is the most famous case if i remember.
Mo Kay I think she mentioned not actually minding this trope. In some stories the parents would be in the way and the hardship of it makes the character more sympathetic and relatable
All though I think unhealthy families are kind of cathartic in some way. I grew up in an abusive household, and tbh with you I have no idea how a healthy family dynamic works. I write broken families, not all from my own experiences, though.
The 'jealous mom's actually IS a thing with narcissistic moms. They degrade their daughter's appearance-call her ugly, etc- and crush her self esteem. Effectively projecting all their own shortcomings onto their daughter. Pretty messed up.
The "mother envy" trope is literally my grandmother and my mother. Grandma was very jealous of my mom, who was the pretty, popular girl who had a very warm, though normal, relationship with grandpa. Grandma was jealous of both details, and was very cold to mom. The trope exactly.
Just because Jenna has a cool Mom or whatever, doesn't mean the trope doesn't exist. It is a very real life "trope," and some people out there have to deal with that for a mother.
@@leanykakicsi6152 Like a story about a guy who's a ridiculously good cook, is good with kids, dresses fashionably, etc? That'd definitely make some people think real hard about certain tropes and cliches they might not have thought about before.
The father in my story isn’t an alcoholic but he’s such an asshole. He hates his son because he’s a hemophiliac and so in his eyes he’s weak. The prince grows up to despise his father. His first act as King is to take over a city that his father was never able to subdue. Basically he does this to spite his father and in his head he’s doing something his father never could. Plus, one time the King was gifted a beautiful horse but he couldn’t tame it. The prince stayed up all night until the next day chasing the horse until it finally let him come close to it. Then he climbs onto the horse and rides it around and his best friend (who stayed up with him all night) starts whooping and shouting. But he’s so exhausted he slumps against the horses neck and falls off and is in a terrible state for a week. Anyways yeah, I’m writing a shitty relationship between the prince and his father but his best friend, the main character of the story, has a beautiful relationship with his mother because they only ever had each other. So yeh.
When I was 14, I found out I had an older brother and three nephews I didn't know about. I remember wondering at the time when exactly soap opera writers had taken over my life.
As weird as it sounds, I've seen the "jealous mom" thing play out. My best friend's mom was suuuuuper jealous of her and resented her for "ruining her body" during pregnancy. So she constantly attacked my friend for how she looked because she was jealous of how thin she was/how young she was. It was horrible and it really took a toll on her mental health. (She's okay now. Once she got away from her mother her mental health vastly improved.)
"It's the murderous king...who squirted you into existence." That legit made me laugh so hard, I had to pause the video before I choked on my dinner. Classic, Jenna. 🤣🤣🤣
Don't forget the step parents and step siblings are evil trope or the wonderful parents died and now their kid is being raised by abusive relatives trope. Also, there's the parent (usually the dad), pays too much attention to their job instead of spending time with their kids trope. I know these things happen in real life, but they're too common in fiction.
Some person: tell me about your book Writer: Well the main character is a mechanic who is working on her masters degree in statistics but then- Some person: woah woah woah. I thought you were writing a realistic book, not fantasy :)
Fantasy, but not because of gender roles. I can see a mechanic going towards engineer/physicist/management, but upgrading a career towards stats is pretty odd.
My girlfriend is better at changing tires than I am. Take that, trope #2. A counter example for #3 that I enjoy from YA series the Brotherband Chronicles has the father figure being a recovering alcoholic and uses his familial ties to help get past some major depression. That was one thing I liked about those books. While I enjoyed the City of Bones books, trope #10 made it much more painful than it needed to be.
Brian Le Wolfhunt The city of bones to me was enjoyable until the incest happened When you first read it you're like "okay she didn't knew, but now she knows so this can be dropped right" And then you discover how wrong you were, so wrong, oh god
Point 3. You know what I need? Alcoholic MOMS. My mom is alcoholic and while it’s not like abuse bad, it does put strain on relationships AND I NEVER SEE IT DONE. I feel lonely sometimes, please someone write an alcoholic mom for me. Please
I was planning on writing alcoholic mom trope. But basically every story people have told me of having alcoholic parents of either gender irl have always been abuse stories so I don't think anything I write would make you feel any less lonely, since I am just basing that character on the things I hear. Hopefully others can find stories that reflect your situation tho.
Sandra sat down in the living room, her legs tucked into herself. She looked over her shoulder, into to hallway illuminated by nothing but the flickering overhead light. She sighed to herself, shaking her head. Her mother never really paid much attention to the state of the house. For that reason Sandra had to force herself to be responsible, to fill in where her mother would fail. She couldn't afford to falter, because if she did, she wouldn't be able to afford the house. Work was something that seemed to fall into her hands young, beginning with more trivial things like delivering the newspapers, growing into other activities and once she was old enough, officialized work. And while Sandra was resentful of the woman, she could never bring herself to hate her. She resented the rut she was trapped in, the poverty she brought upon them. Above all she despised what her mother was doing to her body, she despised all the nights the woman spent passed out on the kitchen floor and the methods she used to even attain money. Being the breadwinner for her home, Sandra was caught between her own desires, her dream to become a model, and her duty to not only her mother, but her younger brother as well. Having been stretched out by life, she had a grand heart, but little means to accomplish anything that it desires. A part of her dispensed with her dreams, while the other part of her, one that lived when she shut her eyes at night, whispered otherwise. During the day she kept that dream locked in her heart, smoothed her hair and wore a smile as she faced the world that turned her mother into a slave of her own body. This was a brief little ficlet thingy I wrote. It's not that great, but here, Merry Christmas. You're absolutely right, it's not done at all. And I know some people that have mothers like this, but it gets no attention at all. It's always the father, which is unfair.
#7 isn't entirely fake, though I can see why it might seem so. My mother has always been the "intolerant of girl-children" type. Not because of any youth and beauty nonsense, but because in her world, other women, even small ones you gave birth to, are competition for male attention/validation. I don't think it's all that common, but it's certainly fucked up, to be sure.
I don't know about mainstream romances but incest has been popular in erotica and porn longer than youtube exists. Probably since the invention of fantasies that are unsuitable for minors. And frankly, from all of the taboo "fun in erotic fiction, but let's not do this in real life" kinks, incest is one of the more harmless ones (I've been in too many debates about what is fiction on the whole allowed to do and what not and why do single individuals think their moral real-life standards should be the guideline. Before, my opinion was "I don't care about incest in fiction but it's absolutely the worst and disgusting in real life." After: "You know what? From all the not okay things people do in fiction, I'd rather have a couple of siblings I'm friends with confessing they are in love than that they're rapists, murderers, killer clowns, serial cheaters, animal abusers, abusers in general, keep animals in fridges to watch them die, cannibals... Yikes-factor aside, from all the many wrongs people do in real life, it's one of those few I wouldn't end a friendship over.") I agree, though, that it doesn't belong in mainstream romance, like any other taboo or kink. Especially not since mainstream romance is still treated as an instruction manual covered in frills and purple prose for the ideal real-life romance.
Personally I see it as a betrayal of confidence which makes nothing safe like other types of domestic violence and abuse but worse because it’s intimate. Normalising it in writing etc is in my opinion beyond the pale. It breaks people.
I fully acknowledge that there are people out there with really shitty parents and so I'm glad that there are novels that exist for them to relate to, but I personally have really awesome parents and for once it would be so nice to read about parents who are just great! It is possible to have problems and conflict in your life without awful parents. Also Jenna I just want to tell you that i've been binging all your videos and they have really inspired me to get back into writing, so thank you SO much. You have no idea how much you have helped!!
4:11 I read a romance novel once where the leading lady was the CEO of a company. Her husband and her in-laws thought that her focusing on her career was the end of the world. So what did the love of her life and his parents do? Did he discuss his concerns with the woman he claims to love and want to spend his life with? Of course not, that would be the sane and respectful this to do. Instead by his parents advice, he decides to meddle with their protection to ensure there’d be a bun in the oven. Thus thwarting her career goals for at least 9 months. When she found out what he did she then realized she was at fault for not putting his wants and needs first, despite the fact he had never brought it up before. I was fairly disturbed after reading that book.
Solora Goldsun I’m really sorry but I read this book years ago and I can’t remember the title for the life of me. I guess my mind wanted to be rid of that toxic bullshit.
I have four sisters. Trust me, our lives growing up was not all cute-and-sexy, "ooh, slumber party/make-up/spin-the-bottle!" grossness. It was screaming and vitriol, ripping hair out of each others scalps, and sitting on each other so we couldn't get the remote -- specifically me because I'm the youngest and wanted to watch cartoons. I am _convinced_ that anyone who legitimately ships siblings together is either an only child or has wanted to fuck their own sibling/siblings themselves.
Sadly jealous mothers is a thing that happens. My mother gets jealous of my successes - she can't congratulate me, but turns the conversation back to her own past triumphs. She's not jealous of my looks though - LOL
She was used to being THE hot young thing in the room and didn't like losing that title when her daughter hit puberty. Like the stepmother in Snow White.
@@Alias_Anybody The daughter spent a lot of time at our house and stopped bringing boys home. It did mess the daughter up, though. She only liked boys that she could steal from their girlfriends.
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE LAST ONE!!!! Incest is becoming way too popular in fiction. I don't know what other word to use for it, other than 'epidemic'.
@@dustinmccollum7196 Because under no circumstances should anyone see anybody they're related to as a sexual partner. Wtf it's not like there's a shortage of people on the planet. Go find someone you're not related to
@@Dragonmastur that's not a valid reason. Why shouldn't they find someone there related to Attractive? Is it morally wrong? Your not giving a valid reason. Your just saying under no circumstances should this happen. Also what does the amount of people have to do about it. You cant make some love someone else. Your using the same excuse people used to stop gay & Interracial couples. It doesnt fit your world view so it icky and wrong.
@@dustinmccollum7196 Besides the fact that it is gross, with fewer new genes, and the same ones being recycled around, you greatly increase the chances of there being something wrong with the resulting child if you have one. Interracial and gay couples do not result in that. Plus interracial couple and gay couples don't necessarily fuck their own family
I’ve seen mothers who were jealous of their own daughters before. Specifically if the moms boyfriend takes interest in the child. I think that may have even happened to a cousin of mine to some extent.
@@JennaMoreci. Is it bad if I want to have a "prologue" focusing on the previous generations of the family to establish what being apart of this family means? Cause I'm worried about the length of it
Also in the worst family tropes, the father or brother figure who thinks they have a say on the female protagonist's friends or love interest(s). Duh, nobody asked you, Brian. On the flip sife, my favourite family tropes: - the estranged siblings making peace after going through hardship together - children trying hard to live up to their parents impossibly high status (for instance they're a sports prodigy or a powerful wizard, while the protagonist is just a regular kid with no special talent) - characters super protective of their parents, or parental figure, who go through hell and back to take them to safety /cure their disease /take them out of poverty (you get the gist) - families where noone is actually related, because they all chose to be together Gets me everytime.
Number 11: The ‘Parents-are-Dead-and-the-main-character-lives-with-their-abusive-uncle-aunt-and-cousin-who-keep-them-locked-underneath-a-cupboard-for-Eleven-Years-and-are-just-generally-terrible-to-them-all-because-the-main-character-is-a-Wizard’ trope. Oh wait, that’s just Harry from Harry Potter 👀
It’s always great to have informative insight on Bad Family Tropes in fictional stories. I’m currently planning out my novel, so this is greatly appreciated in giving me some insight on how to avoid these mistakes.
Thank you for the content warnings, Jenna. It doesn't roast me to hear about them (I worked in a firm that dealt with child abuse cases), but there is so much of that out there that I know it can wound people in a terribly personal manner. Another great post!
First love your channel! And these lists! My least favorite trope when it comes to fiction is forced family conflict. In my story, Micheals dad doesn't want him to go and be a wizard even kicking out his familiar, BUT (even though this hasn't been revealed yet). His mother and grandmother were murdered because they practiced magic by a cult. This cult is going to be the main antagonist of the story. Giving both a mini conflict and my protagonist a history with the antagonist.
In many cop shows I watch, there is always one case in which two people fall in love, their parents don't approve of the relationship (for no reason), they secretly date, and one of them is murdered by the parent. The cops and the surviving significant other find out the reason why the parents don't approve is because the two love birds are somehow related. It's disgusting, but an interesting twist on the "Forbidden Love" trope.
Elsie I've seen it done in NCIS, House, and The Mentalist. In House, no one died, but a couple came into the hospital with the same rare genetic disease. They were married for about a year, but when they found out they were half-siblings, the girl broke it off. The guy still wanted to stay together.
Working as an editor, I can honestly say I’m shocked at how many manuscripts contain sexual assault on women. Often it happens in the story but then never connects to anything in the story. It is very triggering for me as a victim of abuse, and I’ve never worked for a publisher who’d consider a manuscript with sexual assault that is described and not a backstory elements that they’re overcoming in contemporary dramas or literary fiction.
#7 I met that mother when I was a wedding photographer. She was soooo jealous of her daughter the bride and desperate to be the center of attention. LOL
People ship for all kinds of reasons, not necessarily always because they condone such relationships irl but because they want to see dark themes explored.
@Sydney Hendricks my point was that you don't always know why someone ships a thing. Or why they're into the fiction they're into it. Most people know incest is wrong, the people you're describing are probably just overzealous teens that will likely outgrow that mentality. I'm sure there are exceptions to the rule, but they're still not the rule. Also about the serial killer comparison, ever seen the show Dexter & it's fandom?
@Sydney Hendricks Meh. Anecdotal examples from the internet I find to be unreliable & I own I'm just using my own experience as one too. Anyway, I didn't want this to turn into like an actual argument, so you have a lovely day. Bye, bye.
@Sydney HendricksI am just saying in general. I'm sure there are people that genuinely ship incest and think it is cute, and at the same time there are people that just read it for the dark or taboo factor. Knowing serial killers are bad means nothing. The same happens to books about murder and serial killings. Some people enjoy reading and writing about the darker parts of humanity, and some people have a fetish for murderers (hybristophilia) and read/write serial killer books not to be dark, but to be romanticized or eroticized. Everything is completely dependent on the narrative, the author's purpose for said narrative, and the reader's own interpretation. It is highly unwise to assume every story or reader of said story will be like the people or stories you have encountered.
One I don't like is when the characters use verbal exposition to say someone is their sibling or parent. Like "omg brother! I haven't seen you in a while" no one who has siblings refers to their sibling as "bro, sis, brother, sister, etc"
I have literally never called my brother his name to his face and instead call him brother though my friends have told me that most people don't do this and it probably has something to do with only talking to him 3 times a year since I was 2 and having been born 14 years apart.
Speaking of a too popular story idea: I was doing quite a lot of research for a romance where about half the characters are Blackfeet (a tribe in Montana). _Quite a lot of research._ I didn't want to create a sequel to the first book, but thought at some point I might write another book with Blackfeet characters-to recycle my research. Rather than a contemporary, perhaps a historical next time. Historically speaking, white men married to Indian women was pretty common. So I thought I'd turn that around to create something unique: White man living with the Blackfeet has a best bud. His posh sister from back east comes out for a visit and becomes intrigued by her brother's tall, dark, and handsome friend. Cue the violin music... Reading both modern and historic western romances I ran across a similar story: White girl (blond of course) raised by Indians since she was a child, has to fight to hang on to her "noble savage" lover so she can have the HEA that's so important to the genre. And then I saw another, and another, and another. Turns out white woman paired with an Indian man is a super popular western romance trope. But white man and Indian woman? None. Indian on Indian romance? Never seen it. Perhaps I go book shopping in the wrong places. But it makes sense. It's white women who buy these things. They want to dream about a lover who is completely different than their pasty husband dozing in the EZ chair instead of doing the after dinner dishes or helping with the kids. Where has the magic gone? It must be in a man who is different, exotic, and with dark smoldering eyes. Or skin that sparkles in the sun. Sparkly skin was popular for awhile. So that's my new idea: Mid-19th-century woman who's a crusty no-nonsense trader with the Blackfeet, has a best friend. They gossip and have a good ol' girl time, skinning buffalo and whatnot. Woman's posh brother from back east comes out for a visit and is intrigued by his sister's strong, graceful, "savage" friend. The friend can save the brother from certain death-perhaps a supernatural danger, like wolverine woman. Cue the violins... Don't know about white women, but Blackfeet women will buy it. PS: Love you, Jenna.
I suspect the reason we don’t see romance novels where the woman is native and the man is white is because even though that was a common practice in history, it likely wasn’t very romantic and was highly exploitive. Most of those real relationships were based on white people using their power to exploit natives. White men chose native woman because they had no power and had do whatever the man wants. It’s a male wish fulfillment fantasy to have a woman who is both dependent on him for protection from society and who also meets his sexual and physical needs without complaint. Hence why this trope only happens in fictional stories aimed at a male demographic, but not in romance movies or novels aimed at women.
If #10 bothers you that much (it bothers me, too), I hope you don’t watch anime. As for #3, “just add alcohol” (or drugs) seems to be a common way to make a story “mature”. It drives me nuts. Yes, alcoholics exist, and yes, they frequently ruin their families’ and their own lives. But there are so many other serious situations adults go through. Is that really all these writers can think of?
Queen Monarch but there are just as many without them lol take it from someone who watches lots of anime but still avoids incest so there are quite a bit that isn’t insest
I'm so glad someone mentioned the abusive father trope. At first, it made you feel bad for the characters, but then it started to be surprising to see a GOOD father in a book/tv show/movie.
Alcoholic abusive dad bothers me for a lot of reasons. Notably because Abusive Dad as a trope seems to be a default for so many writers. It's like they think their characters can't be really motivated to leave home without at least one shitty parent.
Same lol. Art imitates life, in my case. I live in a shit state (gotta love louisiana) so literally nobody has a "perfect" or normal family. It's either: -Absent parent. -Druggie parent/alcoholic -Abusive parent -Neglectful parent -Dead parent -Parent is just an asshole -Divorced parents. -Some combination of prior. So basically everybody here has parental issues in some way or another. I never really had much good examples of healthy parentage or people without parent issues go off of, honestly.
@@crappyaccount This, basically. I'm from a great country, born into a lovely neighbourhood, went to a good school and a prestigious university, yet despite all that, I have never once in my life met a single person of my generation without a missing parent. So I don't think it's a problem with what kind of place you grow up in; it seems to really just be a generation thing imo. Our parents were kind of the first generation to not have a big social taboo on divorce anymore + women being able to survive on their own and having their own careers made them independent, so divorcing if the relationship became unbearable was an option. And I mean, good for them? And it's not like being raised by a single mom or dad automatically is a problem; most of us had great childhoods (except for those where the one remaining parent was abusive). But it means I LITERALLY have no fucking clue how a "normal" family with both a mom and a dad even functions, because I've never seen it outside of fiction.
The fact that people write a lot about dysfunctional families with an alcoholic father at the center can tell quite a lot about how big this problem actually is in the society D:
When I first started writing my book my MC had terrible parents, I started again years later and they were much nicer. She had enough terrible crap to deal with, the least I could do for her was give her loving parents. (Her mother-in-law, on the other hand, IS awful.)
I actually had a friend whose mom kept stealing her bfs... It was gross and she couldn't go a day without her mom putting her down and screwing her over
Sometimes cliched family tropes are fun to play against by turning them on their heads or just by bringing them to their logical conclusions (usually ending in disaster).
I've known a couple people who are jealous of their kids. However it tends to be because the kid is getting more attention and the parent can't stand not being the focus.
As an addition to the Abusive Father, don't forget his redemption arc! The one that places the burden of change on the people he abused and morally challenges how unforgiving they are (but its okay, because once his kids forgive him, his wife follows suit immedeatly despite years of domestic torture). Man, how insightful and challenging! We love character growth. (And no, the abusive mother cannot have this arc. Ever. That would be insane and glorify abuse. Are you kidding?)
There's a meme for this where every one (including a poorly disguised Hera, heros, Demi's, the husbands of wives Zeus was with, a few pissed off women he slept with, and several monsters and minor gods) storm Olympus. Its very funny when you find it
I wrote a book when I was 14 and all the characters were 12-15. They were generals and royalty and participated in battle where there was a lot of blood and death. There were no parents to be seen. Actually no adults to be seen at all in the book.
Who did the fighting then? However, noble children often came into military service at quite a young age, for example 10 or 13. So, it was possible to be a cadet on a ship as a teenager. Now, if a training ship was to be drawn into a fight...
Johanna Geisel All the teenagers did the fighting. My main character was a 14 year old girl who beheaded people in the middle of battle. Like I said, no adults were to be seen
We found a type of forbidden romance that Jenna can't stand! :D (But yeah, it is rather disturbing - especially the ones involving not just close relatives but also a blatant power differential, e.g. father/daughter)
You're wearing my favorite hairstyle while filming my favorite type of video which automatically makes your video awesome to me. Have a great day Jenna!
Missing parent is too common but I have found half of stories where the trope is written well. Ugh, I too, hate trope 2! Gender should not have anything to do with knowing finances or how to fix a car tire. Whoever invented trope #10 should be locked up in a zoo! For me the family tropes I really hate are: 1) The brother and sister who hate each other. It is very obnoxious and painful to watch (I'm looking at you Lizzie and Matt McGuire!) 2) The sister who complains about babysitting her brother all the time. 3) The family who carelessly abandons their least favorite family member (e.g. the family from Home Alone). 4) The kid who gets away with being mean to their brother/sister because their parents are unaware and/or don't care. 5) The mother who complains about her husband spending more time at the office instead of at home. Hey lady, your hubby is trying to support you and your kids! Would you rather live on the streets?
%100 agree with "the brother and sister who hate each other". I see it EVERYWHERE and it is annoying. And the brother and sister are usually very stereotypical too (shallow sister and bratty brother). Is sibling rivalry common in real life? Sometimes people look at me weird when I tell them my brother and I were practically best friends growing up.
I've known too many people with abusive parents to agree with you there. I'd say at least 1 in 10 of my friends had one or two abusive parents, including drunk ones. I know my mom was one. Also, go on Reddit; ~women~ girls poking holes in condoms to trap guys (and vice versa) in relationships is horrifyingly a thing, including fix-it babies. Oh and long lost twins is usually because if adoption. There's two I can think of immediately of several in the last decade or two in the news who, including two pairs who were couples that found out, much to their chagrin. Don't get me started on internet examples of incest. Sadly these things are all too common IRL. That's why I steer away from family BS in stories. Fuck all that shit.
The secret family member thing has actually happened to my cousins in real life. So apparently before my uncle got with my aunt he got another lady pregnant and left and then he had my two cousins. Then one of the cousins we were close with was shot in a gun accident. And years later we found out about the other sister. Kinda sad but it does occasionally happen which is kinda weird
I’ve been feeling down about my WIP recently, mostly from lack of energy now that I’m getting ready for graduation and I’ve still got tons of homework and uni things to complete. But watching this and “10 best family tropes” has reminded me of everything I’ve done right with my characters and story. I’ve worked hard to make healthy, relatable, and interesting characters/ relationships. Thank you so much Jenna for these reminders and helpful tips ❤️
I really appreciate how you don't bash the tropes itself but instead focus on what it MEANS to the reader. And the execution of it. It reminds the writer to always keep in mind how their choices might be interpreted, like romanticizing abuse or something and to not just throw things in there to keep it interesting but to always evaluate whether it complements the theme or message of the writer. Thank you for your hilarious insights Jenna!
