#send him on a camping trip with 'lads' and he's acting deliberately blokey in an attempt to fit in

[cheeseanonioncrisps]

Obviously the structure of an episodic series often requires characters to go from 'complete strangers' to 'close friends/family' in an unusually short amount of time. I get it.

Writers need a 'new guy' in the group to ask questions about the setting that the audience can't, but still (especially in comedy shows) want the fun dynamics that come from all the main cast knowing each other super well. It's one of those functional tropes like L-Shaped Blankets where you're required to suspend your sense of disbelief.

Having said that, I love when writers choose to take this trope and retroactively justify it by later on revealing that the Seemingly Normal Everyman Character is actually as unhinged as the rest of the group— it's just that their weirdness manifests specifically as an ability to form found family dynamics with literally any group they join, almost immediately after joining.

Like, you assumed that they just fit in so well because your group has a special vibe, but then you accidentally left them in the supermarket for like five minutes and by the time you realised and went back they were already Blood Brothers with the cashier.

Characters who are like friendly dogs in that you can put them essentially anywhere, with anyone, and they will just be like “welp! Guess this is my New Family now” and just go along with it.

#comedy #writing #tropes #been rewatching #derry girls #and noticing how james immediately takes on the percieved social norms #and tries to become part of #every group he's in #with admittedly varying success #put him in a room with a priest for five minutes #and he wants to be a priest #send him on a camping trip with 'lads' and he's acting deliberately blokey in an attempt to fit in #leave him for like half an hour with a group of travellers #and he's already fully part of the team #no wonder he became a derry girl so quick #also shout out to an even BETTER #but lesser known example of this trope #in the podcast #midnight burger #where the seemingly normal character who joined the crew #and fit in suspiciously quickly #gets lost in an alternate dimension alien wilderness for several weeks #and by the time the others find her she's literally just formed a new found family with the local wolves #and all the other characters are like ''what??'' #and then *thinking back over the past few weeks* #''nevermind that makes sense''