Puttin’ on the Tropes

Romance authors get a lot of grief over the use of recognizable plot devices – tropes. You know the kind of thing – the fake engagement, the secret baby, the ugly duckling. Billionaires! Sheikhs! Cowboys! Billionaire cowboy sheikhs!

The first definition for trope in both the online Merriam-Webster and Oxford American English dictionaries is (essentially) the figurative or metaphorical use of a word or expression.

The second definition in Oxford is a significant or recurrent theme; a motif.

In Merriam-Webster? A common or overused theme or device : cliché

Dude. Way harsh.

What the critics – and Merriam-Webster apparently – fail to acknowledge is that dedicated readers of romance novels not only accept tropes, they actively seek out their favorites. Tropes are like a secret handshake between the author and the reader; a sly wink that says we understand one another.

Not only that, but tropes are a way of conveying a cultural context. A trope carries its own definition, a whole frame of reference that can be built into a story and comment on it at the same time that it utilizes it and (we hope) extends it.

Let’s take a non-literary trope: Fred Astaire and the Irving Berlin song he performed in Blue Skies. Rhythmically complex, the syncopated Puttin’ on the Ritz (with lyrics revised by Berlin for the movie) became a metaphor for Astaire himself.

He mastered Berlin’s complicated rhythms and overlaid them with the effortless skill of his tapping. No matter how many “Astaires” back him in that last chorus line, there’s really only one Fred. The epitome of smooth sophistication. The pinnacle of dance mastery.

We can take the dance out of the “Puttin’ on the Ritz” equation, but the subtext is still there. Take this attempt by P.G. Wodehouse’s Bertie Wooster (as portrayed by Hugh Laurie):

Bertie, born into money and society, is never quite able to master its intricacies. He can never achieve the level of sophistication that Fred managed with such ease – he doesn’t understand the complexity (abstracted out as the syncopation of the song) at a basic level and needs Jeeves to translate for him.

In Mel Brooks’s Young Frankenstein, when Frederick Frankenstein needs a way to prove the humanity of his misunderstood Creature, he picks this song and dance.

We know how high Frederick is aiming – that’s the point. If the Creature can deliver that number, the ultimate in civilization, Frederick will have proved the worth of his work. But nobody can touch Astaire, and the mastery is beyond the poor Creature’s reach, just as it was beyond Bertie’s.

Sometimes, though, the attempt to reach that pinnacle is the whole point. Season ten of So You Think You Can Dance, the reality show that pits young dancers against their own skill and the audience’s sentiment in the attempt to become – not the best, but the favorite – dancer, casts “Puttin’ on the Ritz” with a hip-hop dance vernacular to kick off the competition.
Is any of these a better use of the Berlin song than the others? It’s a matter of opinion. Subjective, based on the viewer’s preferences – just as whether a romance reader prefers billionaires to cowboys, or ugly ducklings to fake engagements.

Each of these uses what we know about the number – the weight of its tradition – to tell the story. Each story is different, even if the trope is the same. We can enjoy each for its own sake, while sharing in that wink, that handshake.

We understand one other.

It makes the journey all the sweeter.

10 Comments

  1. Roxanne Snopek
    Roxanne Snopek on December 3, 2013 at 10:01 am

    What a great post, EJ! A perfect metaphor for tropes. Thanks for sharing this and especially for finding the great clips for us to watch.

    Reply
  2. E.J.
    E.J. on December 3, 2013 at 6:04 pm

    Hey, Roxanne.
    Thanks so much for stopping by! Once again, you’ve caught me out in my dance obsession. (DS A and B have a lot to answer for!)

    Have you seen the wonderful Jeeves and Wooster series? No matter how popular House was, Hugh Laurie will always be Bertie Wooster to me.

    Reply
  3. Melinda B. Pierce
    Melinda B. Pierce on December 4, 2013 at 8:35 am

    Great explanation 🙂 I have my fav tropes, and ones I hide from because I know no matter how well it is written, it’s just a turn off.

    thanks for sharing!

    ~Melinda

    Reply
    • E.J.
      E.J. on December 4, 2013 at 5:34 pm

      Hi, Melinda.
      Yes, tropes have lifecycles too, and can go out of fashion in a major way. Think of all the ravished heroines from romances in the seventies and eighties, who subsequently fell in love with the ravisher. Ewww!

      Thanks for stopping by!

      –E

      Reply
  4. MK Schiller
    MK Schiller on December 4, 2013 at 4:19 pm

    This is great! I really enjoyed the similarities. Honestly, it’s very difficult to do something radically different. The reason these are popular is because they’re great story ideas! It maybe the same concept but I love it when a writer puts a spin on it.

    Reply
    • E.J.
      E.J. on December 4, 2013 at 5:36 pm

      Exactly, MK! We love those cozy, familiar story bits even while we yearn for the new and exciting — “I really liked that story. I wish I could find more like it — only different.”

      Thanks for stopping by!

      –E

      Reply
  5. Elizabeth W. Gibson
    Elizabeth W. Gibson on December 4, 2013 at 7:15 pm

    Love this post. Makes me want to dance. heh!

    Funny, I just read today, Restoring the Troll Trope on some other site. Didn’t have Fred, so it wasn’t as enjoyable as Puttin’ on the Tropes.

    Basically, it was saying fantasy readers expect certain tropes to be in a fantasy story. Although agents and editors are tired of seeing the same old tropes. So today’s fantasy writer has to struggle with what is acceptable, what needs to hit the can, and which can be redesigned to fit in today’s fantasy genre. Another words take the old trope and fit it with new clothes. Right!

    Reply
    • E.J.
      E.J. on December 4, 2013 at 8:34 pm

      Gosh, Elizabeth, maybe the trolls need a few hip-hop lessons. It could work…

      Reply
  6. Charmaine Gordon
    Charmaine Gordon on December 8, 2013 at 11:00 am

    What a treat!!!!!!!!!! Thanks bunches. You hit the spot for this writer of romance/suspense and now mature Romance with sexy seniors Puttin’ on the Ritz.

    Reply
    • E.J.
      E.J. on December 8, 2013 at 11:24 am

      The magic of the secret trope handshake — it can span generations! Thanks, Charmaine!

      Reply

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