Tropes Vs. Stereotypes Vs. Clichés
If you are confused about the differences between tropes, stereotypes and clichés, you are NOT alone. So few people get it right online – including actual writers and critics! – that it’s no wonder everybody’s brains are melted.
Without further ado then, I am going to break it all down here. Ready? Let’s go …
What Is A Trope?
A trope is simply a recurrent idea we see a lot in stories. Nothing more, nothing less.
A trope may be positive, negative or neutral. A lot of tropes in storytelling start first in society before making their way into novels, movies or TV.
As an example, female characters are frequently care-givers in stories. This is because yes, lots of women in real life are care-givers. These may be traditional roles like mother and grandmother; or care-giving roles such as doctor, nurse, community care or looking after aged parents. (There are of course lots of other roles too, this is not an exhaustive list).
It should be noted this trope is not automatically inauthentic or offensive by itself. A lot of real-ife women are not only care-givers, they LOVE that part of their lives … myself included!!
But it gets offensive or reductive when female characters are ALWAYS care-givers.
This is because in stories, female characters will be mothers and wives or girlfriends, simply orbiting the men in their lives. This may happen even when they are protagonists! YAWN.
Tropes are fine if you think about what you’re writing. Be authentic, but don’t go straight to the ‘same-old, same-old’ either. Check out listings like Tropedia and TVTropes to learn more about what has gone before.
What Is A Stereotype?
Recurrent ideas often lead to simplification. These become stereotypes when we ONLY know the trope. As feminist writer Chimanda Ngozi Adichie says, stereotypes are not a problem because they’re untrue (though many are) … they’re a problem because they are not the FULL STORY.
Using the same example then, female characters become stereotypes when we think about their ‘female-ness’ above EVERYTHING else. By reducing them to their body parts, or their ‘typical’ roles as care-givers, or making them orbit men, we are doing our female readers and audience members a disservice by making our female characters two-dimensional.
Of course, stereotypes can still serve a function in storytelling just like tropes. Writers can use stereotypes …
- For comedic effect
- To make a point about an issue, such as sexism, racism or classism (again, not an exhaustive list)
- As the contrast between stereotypes & archetypes (archetypes are not to be confused with stereotypes, more in a sec)
- For shortcuts such as peripheral characters who are really plot devices
Lots of non-writers confuse stereotypes and archetypes. Whilst stereotypes are simplifications, archetypes are essentially prototypes. Archetypes like Hero or Villain are FOUNDATIONS we build on top of.
MORE: 5 Times It’s Okay To Write Stereotypes (Really!)
What Is A Cliché?
So if tropes are recurrent ideas and stereotypes are simplifications, clichés happen …
- When we read/see those recurrent ideas too many times
- And stereotypes too many times as well AND
- Target readers and audiences en masse decide they don’t want them any more AS WELL
So basically, clichés happen when people are sick of seeing recurrent ideas or simplifications about something. This might be because it feels stale or boring, right through to reductive or offensive.
It really is that simple, but writers get themselves tied up in knots over this a lot. So let’s break it down regarding female characters again:
- Fearless Female Archers is a neutral trope that’s flown somewhat under the radar in the last two decades. For some reason, female characters who are great with a bow and arrow are something readers AND audiences love.
- Kickass Hotties aka ‘Girls with guns’ is both a trope and stereotype, especially when it comes to blockbuster movies. Whilst some people may feel it’s a cliché as well, the fact is this trope-crossed-stereotype does well with audiences year on year.
- Crying WAGs (wives & girlfriends) were a short-lived cliché as a response to the previous sidelining of female characters in male-centric movies. Instead of creating three-dimensional female characters, they were shoe-horned into movies where the male characters got to do all the cool stuff … while the WAGs spent all their time crying on the phone. Ugh!
Last Points
So give this article a bookmark … That means next time you’re confused about tropes vs. stereotypes vs. clichés, you can come back to this page! You got this.
