@mytechtoday/augment-extensions 0.4.0 → 0.7.0

package/augment-extensions/writing-standards/screenplay/rules/trope-management.md

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+# 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?
+