May sometimes be related to Lost in Imitation. When Flanderization occurs as the result of adaptation from one medium to another (manga to anime, for example), it's Character Exaggeration and frequently a sign of Adaptation Decay. It can even be beneficial on a cast-wide scale: A comedy that has a cast full of zany, outsized personas will probably be funnier than one full of nondescript straight men. Given a choice between getting a laugh or moving the story forward, the former will almost always take priority.įlanderization doesn't have to be a bad thing - sometimes it can be used to expand on a background character's personality when they are brought to the foreground, or make an otherwise bland character stand out more.
In general, comedies, especially sitcoms, fall into the trap of Flanderization because Character Development is far less important than Rule of Funny. If it is simply about how the character is different early on before the writers know what to do with them, that is Characterization Marches On.
Note that the key to this trope is in how the process is a gradual thing: the character starts relatively normal with a few quirks, the quirks become more prominent, then the quirks gradually become the character. As seasons progressed, however, he became increasingly obsessively religious to the point where he eventually embodied almost every negative stereotype of the God-fearing, bible-thumping American Christian evangelist. The trope is named for The Simpsons character Ned Flanders, who was originally depicted as a friendly, generous Christian neighbor and a model father, husband and citizen, making him a contrast to Homer Simpson. Sitcoms and sitcom characters are particularly susceptible to this, as are peripheral characters in shows with long runs. Most always, the trait/action becomes completely outlandish and it becomes their defining characteristic, turning them into a caricature of their former selves. The act of taking a single (often minor) action or trait of a character within a work and exaggerating it more and more over time until it completely consumes the character.
Professor Lawrence Pierce, The Simpsons, "The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular"
0 kommentar(er)
