Question about certain trope.

[RepresentingWrath]

I'm not sure it can be called a trope, yet for the lack of a better term let's call it a trope.

Interstate 60, nice movie, there is this scene in the movie. MC gives a promiscuous woman a ride, and talks with her. She looks for the perfect partner by having sex with various men. So, with a little bit of clever lies to assist him, without having sex with her he becomes special, and convinces the woman that he is the special one as he leaves her behind.

In other words, the trope is, "Character refuses to do something and because of that becomes special." The question is, how often do you see this trope, and do you like it when it's DONE WELL? If you write it depends on execution, I will simply ignore your reply. I know that by writing this you will try to troll me, but whatever.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

The best I've seen is at the end of "Big Trouble in Little China" - Jack Burton does all this stuff to help Grace, and then, at the end, when she clearly (finally) is interested in him... just gets back in his rig and drives to the next town ("Aren't you going to kiss her?" "Nope").

I think I've only seen it done two or three times. Worst was in "Ariel: A Book of the Change" where the MC is and remains "special" by avoiding the advances of several women

Spoiler

until the very end when he winds up ... well... no longer special and thus loses Ariel (the Unicorn).

 

[Lloyd]

It's called being a stone cold incel and you wouldn't get it.

 

[APieceOfRock]

It's pretty common, even in folk tales. It teaches temperance and all that stuff. It's also an easy way to show readers that your protagonist is morally superior for refusing some temptation that would ensnare most.
Because of that, putting it randomly in your story won't do any good. It's best that this trope be used to highlight the moral or conflict of your story. For example, a formerly promiscuous man starts a family. He meets a hot prostitute or whatever and she offers him sex for free. If he refuses, it show his dedication to his family and his character growth.

 

[LilRora]

I don't remember any examples right now, but I've seen this a few times. I think this trope should be separated into two cases - the first one is when one person wants someone to do something, the second scenario is when that person wants to do something to or with another person. The distinction is of course a bit slippery in many cases.

Your example is the latter, and I never liked that kind of thing, and absolutely not in regards to romance and relationships. It feels off to me, like it's trying to paint inaction or refusal as a good thing by themselves. There are specific cases when I could like it (primarily when it's properly explained rather than a direct denial), but I've yet to read one, or at least I don't remember if I did.

The former differs in that there's no relation to the person who's asking to do something. The reason why this matters is that their personal desires are pushed to the side - the focus is on the other person and their values and morals. And example of this would be when a person asks another to kill and butcher an animal, but they refuse. Their denial is not important then - it's the values and reasoning that matters.

I guess what this boils down to is that I don't want the denial in itself to make them special, especially not when it's something directly related to the person asking them.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Ah - the classic example is probably Persephone in Greek mythology - Hades kidnapped her to be his wife and she was ordered to not eat or drink anything while she was there or she would never escape. She held off for a while but finally broke down and ate six out of twelve pomegranate seeds, meaning she has to spend half the year with Hades and the other half with her mother. When she is with Hades, her mother, the goddess of nature, sends storms and cold and snow to the world out of grief, and when she is with her mother, the weather is generally nice. Had she held out seasons would not exist (and she and Hades would never have developed the odd but loving relationship they eventually had).

This is a common theme in fairy stories - don't eat the food, or don't sleep in the ring of mushrooms, or what not - and the character can gain power from their refusal.
It is also an aspect of most forms of Buddhism (all but Tantric to varying degrees) so is more likely to be present in Asian literature than in Western, as a source of power rather than as a plot complication.

 

[Nolff]

It's called being a stone cold incel and you wouldn't get it.

Course I don't, what even is that?

 

[NotaNuffian]

Bruv I am in the wrong place and being the wrong person to talk, because most MCs I am going through are psychopaths as they would smile charmingly at the person who slighted them, even if a little bit, in front of general public and commit familial torture and genocide once out of sight.

To me, it never really makes any sense, especially in a black and grey moral stories.

Just because the enemies are rapist Pro+ does not mean that MC being a rapist only and he's a saint. Sure the MC does not touch kids, but he touches all the other things. And also conveniently ALL of the women MC slept with shall be submissive virgins who never had a good man EVER even if they might be way pass the legal age limit, ie 5000 yo virgin erofu.

What I am trying to say is, no I have never seen the trope of MC showing abstinence and being praised as a saint.

 

[KoyukiMegumi]

Yeti from the snowy mountains, this trope is found in more stories than anything else mainly because it's the spark that allows interest to form, that comes with the desire to have something that you can have, too.

I see it a lot in romance stories.

It's kind of like the trope opposites attract rather than repel each other. Refusing something that a person is used to getting with no effort usually makes you intriguing to the other party. Well, at least that's how I see it. I love it when it's done well, but it can also fall into the chosen trope if not carefully executed, which I guess can have its own appeal, too.

 

[greyblob]

very common. shows that character is ultra chad unaffected by inner desires and primitive instincts and shallow temptations

 

[Tempokai]

I hated it when the Novel's Extra did it in last 50 chapters. I guess overall I'm neutral about it, as it's done to death in those korean shoujo webnovels that the trope goes over my head. FL refuses, ML takes interest, and I drop it few chapters later because it's not my cup of tea or whatever else cringe reason lol

 

[Succubiome]

I mean, sometimes characters are uninterested in specific other characters, have something else to do, figure the relationship wouldn't work out, are straight up asexual and/or aromantic, etc, etc.

There's kinda a lot of potential reasons not to hook up with everyone who's interested in you just because you wanted to help them, are allies, or whatever

 

[RepresentingWrath]

I mean, sometimes characters are uninterested in specific other characters, have something else to do, figure the relationship wouldn't work out, are straight up asexual and/or aromantic, etc, etc.

There's kinda a lot of potential reasons not to hook up with everyone who's interested in you just because you wanted to help them, are allies, or whatever

The trope isn't exclusive to romance though? Character refuses to do something. Something =\= going out with someone or having sex. It can be, refuses a good job, refuses monetary reward, and so on. And by refusing something they become special. If done well do you like it? And how often do you see it?

 

[TheEldritchGod]

It's called being a stone cold incel and you wouldn't get it.

Sigma mind set?
No.
SIGMA GRIND SET!

 

[Deleted member 84247]

I like it when MC refuses money or job from a terrible company. I'd have to wonder if the refusal makes them special. Isn't it just that they're special all along? The refusal shows their specialness, but that just meant they were principled. I like it, and it can show character growth.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

I like it when MC refuses money or job from a terrible company. I'd have to wonder if the refusal makes them special. Isn't it just that they're special all along? The refusal shows their specialness, but that just meant they were principled. I like it, and it can show character growth.

The trope is, as I understand it, that the refusal makes them special in the eyes of the other party. Maybe they were special all along, but the refusal is what makes the other party think that way.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

It's a modern interpretation of the classic chivalry trope of loving for loves sake and love from afar, never to be fulfilled. It's a classic romance trope created by, of course, the French.

Edit: Sorry, I have misinformed you. It was in fact, a creation of Islamic philosophy that was stolen by the French.

 

[Corty]

Isn't that just reverse psychology?

 

[ThrillingHuman]

I feel like the amount of times I've seen "he/she is different. Everybody is after my fame/fortune/else but this person is after me" is a lot. I seem to often find it in romance stories.
Do I like it? If it's done well I can at least tolerate it. I guess quite a few adventure novels have this wacky variation of the trope with stuff like "character A didn't choose to do B unlike everyone else [which gives A an advantage]" which is not exactly this trope but a different one I'd call "not taking shortcuts pays off" like how, for example, in a xianxia a cultivator reached Foundation realm without snorting sugar pills which makes their potential greater which have become a staple and not following it in a story feels wrong. But that is not because I don't like it when a main character is not special but because I don't like seeing characters take shortcuts.

 

[georgelee5786]

I fairly like it, especially in stories involving a protagonist with a great destiny thrust upon him.