Tropes and Cliches

Nepotism

So tell me if this sounds familiar: You're at work, and there is a position opened up for higher position at [insert place here]. You're the best candidate for the job, worked there for 12 years, have a Master's...and then your boss's child/sibling's child comes in and is hired for it, despite having very little qualifications...Let's talk Nepotism.

Now according to the dictionary, nepotism is a practice among those with power or influence of favouring relatives or friends, especially by giving them jobs. Within the last year or so, we've seen many people talk about nepotism in the celebrity world and among the rich, upper class. With some outright denying nepotism got them where they are now, but connections and hard work ( but said connections being through their parents but I digress). And it essentially created this debate around it in entertainment, sports, politics, and academics. We had presidents that were father and son at least twice ( to my knowledge), and I think the Roosevelts were either cousins or uncle and nephew. Trump hired his own daughter and son in law as advisors.

As a trope, Nepotism is more so an element for comedy but also serious plot lines. They are normally side details in the overarching plot, but can also be the main focus of the plot. And the type of media will also effect how exactly it shows up. So let's look at some examples of this trope, shall we. Obvious spoiler warning.

First up we have Mortal Kombat X and 11, Cassie Cage is the daughter of Johnny Cage and Sonya Blade. And when we're first introduced to the Kombat Kids( who are essentially a trope of their own), it's sort of implied that Kung Jin feels as if there's some nepotism going on when Cassie was made squad leader because Sonya is their boss, and Johnny was the one who made the team. Come to find out that wasn't the case. Come MK11, Cassie once again is about to be promoted and she had to ( and they actually said this in game) kick her mom's ass. Again, not necessarily a main plot point, but it's in there.

In Sing 2, it's the entire plot...sort of. The producer for the Buster's show wanted his daughter in the starring role, and ( don't get me wrong, she's an amazing singer) come to find out she was a horrible actress. Buster suggested switching to a simpler role, and she didn't take it well. The show was almost killed, but it was subverted in the end.

So how does one write Nepotism? Well, that depends entirely on the context of the situation. Main character is the child of a ruler that unexpectedly died? Well of course Nepotism is going to kick in, especially if they're the named heir of the kingdom. OR, Main Character is a new solider that was recently transferred and is now under the son of their CO. The kid, for the most part, keeps to themselves but have a target on their back because of parental unit's rank.
In a show where it's family of doctor's and the main character gets a residency at a prestige hospital, a lot of the residents can question how exactly they got their position. Did mom call in a favor or was it their own merit?

Now there are some cases where Nepotism kicks off the plot. Main character lives in kingdom where the King's Guard captain's nephew is being an absolute menace .Literally just goes about doing more harm than good, going around saying "I'm the nephew of the Captain of the Guard.He'll straighten this out for me". The plot kicks off when said nephew pisses off the wrong magically being and now we have to deal with the consequences.

Personally, I like Nepotism to be its own side plot. It's not something that is world changing unless it can't be avoided. Royal families pick family members as heirs if the eldest child isn't suitable for one reason or another. Again, a character's merit being questioned is a great plot device when contained, making it the entire plot is weird and I think I covered that in the Identity Crisis chapter. I'd also try to avoid real world examples, given the fact that being a nepobaby isn't a good thing.