Trope I am getting seriously fed up with.

[karaokegal]

Single traumatic event (usually death by murder of loved one) leads to INSTANT drug addiction/alcoholism complete with lines like, “trying to drinking himself to death” and “crawled into a bottle and/or syringe.” YES, trauma can lead to self-destructive behavior, but generally NOT full-blown addiction. (Not all by its lonesome, anyway

Comments

[babykid528]

I was actually reading an Avengers Lawyer AU fic the other day where one of the characters was accused of being an addict because he spiraled out of control after a major, life-threatening medical issue and he ended up in rehab, but the author went the complete opposite of the trope you're talking about. She really stressed that he wasn't an addict, he was suffering from a major depressive episode and the drugs were a symptom of the depression. Is it sad that the author's restraint with the angst was refreshing? lol! It could have been ridiculously overstated, but she writes pretty well.

While we're on the topic of tropes we're sick of seeing: WTF is with the Alpha/Beta/Omega trope infiltrating EVERYTHING??? I don't hate the trope, or I didn't before it was everywhere. (I feel like Teen Wolf is to blame, but I look for any excuse to blame things on that fucking show.) That trope it's now officially making it difficult for me to find things to read in my downtime. :-P

[karaokegal]

Kudos to any author who at least tries to deal with or subvert the trope and boos to canon creators who should know better and throw it out there with no sense of irony whatsoever, then compounding with an "instant" recovery involving no detox, no therapy, and no indicaton that the "addiction" ever existed. (Yes, this was inspired by watching the Person of Interest pilot. Really, JJ, REALLY?)

The A/B/O thing is ludicrous to the extent that its infected fandoms where it clearly makes NO SENSE whatsoever (as opposed to whatever plausibility it MIGHT have in some verses) but at think at this point, it's less a trope than a whole AU-verse of its own, no? I mean all A/B/O stories postulate a world where these dynamics are known and exist, right?

[rose_cat]

The A/B/O thing is ludicrous to the extent that its infected fandoms where it clearly makes NO SENSE whatsoever...

Yes. I think that if I liked an Omegaverse fic in, say, Sherlock fandom (WTF?), it would be because of storytelling, characterization, etc. and in spite of the A/B/O setting.

I'm interested in the Omegaverse from a biological standpoint, but have some serious squicks with some of the details.

By the way, I don't know if you saw the exchange I had with somebody over at randompictures. I commented with an allusion to Omegaverse, which is sufficiently obscure over there that somebody asked me what it meant, so I gave them an explanatory link. I think I traumatized a couple of people with that. Oops.

[karaokegal]

I didn't see that. Thread link? It's sort of fun/odd/amusing to realize that being on LJ doesn't mean we all exist in the same spheres of fannishness.

[chocolate_frapp]

I know what you mean, it's tired.

[karaokegal]

As badly as House's addiction was handled, especially when Shore kept back-tracking on whether House was REALLY an addict or not, at least they didn't pull that particular line of BS.

[rose_cat]

Something like Idiot Plot, only the author's the idiot? With a big dollop of Did Not Do the Research.

It's the kind of "instant angst" I used to eat up with a spoon...

And then you came across better-written stuff. Worked for me too.

Well, mostly. Sometimes I'll still eat Healing Cock up with a spoon. (not necessarily like that)

[karaokegal]

Not so much the quality of the writing as a bit of "growing up," and maybe just over-exposure. What used to trigger my "poor baby" reflex is now more likely to provoke, STFU and "get over yourself big guy!"

[rose_cat]

Perhaps you're more cynical, also. I know I am!