Tropes and Cliches

Realism

Have you ever come across a situation where the choice they make actually have consequences no one addresses? Like you drop a bomb into a volcano and cause and erruption to stop the big bad from launching a rocket that has a homing decive where they can track whoever they want and end their life. Like "YAY! You saved the world" but you caused a volcano to erupt. Why are we not addressing the fallout of it: Destruction of wildlife, displacing possible inhabitants of the area, property damage,etc.....Let's talk realism.

The idea is extremely simple: Art should replicate real life as closely as possible, and within real life, those things are the common, routine, and ordinary rather than the unusual and outstanding. A slice of life ( another trope for another time) if you will. Now there is a right way to do realism and a wrong way. The scenario I describe is a little of both. The expectation of realism from fiction is actually relatively recent and culturally bound. In literary terms, realism is the distinguishing feature of the novel, specifically psychological realism, where the characters act, or are supposed to act, like real people instead of just acting in certain ways to serve the needs of the plot. So, like look at Disney movies, specifically Frozen, if your child has magical powers you'd think Elsa's parents would try to find someone to help her control it and not essentially give her anxiety. ( Yes, I've seen the sequel...still doesn't change this).Also, realism is not synonymous with cynicism, but the two are often confused in ways which cause tropes such as edginess, explicitness and goriness to be associated with a work becoming "more realistic". Also, also, there is a line you can toe before you go too far, as it's still fiction.
Now we can have our hero weigh the pros and cons of doing what they did. On one hand, they have to stop this rocket with this program due to the very idea of this being used by the highest bidder. On the other, there are people at the bottom of this volcano. Our hero is now living with the guilt of their destruction and possibly retired.

How do you right realism in fiction? Well, it's easier than how I will explain, but much simpler to put into action. For example, let's look at Marvel and DC alike. There are people running around dishing out justice left and right, but not under their own government. They are traveling the world and causing problems. Take Black Panther, there was a short discussion about opening Wakanda to the world, but what happens if the world brings in their problems? They have the technology to cure cancer, but because many of the world leaders were seen as selfish or incompetent, they kept it to themselves.Think about it in today's society. There are countries with universal healthcare and in others you have to pay out the ass and sacrifice you left arm and third born just to pay for a surgery that could save your life.

Let's look at characters and how they interact with the world , specifically Avatar The Last Airbender and the Legend of Korra. Katara's words to Zuko is a reasonable reaction because the guy tried to capture Aang in the first season, went along with his sister essentially killing Aang in the second season, and then admitting he sent Combustion man to kill them in the third and final season. Her threats are reasonable. Even the Gaang's hesitation is realistic. On one hand, Aang needed a teacher and the only other canidate is MIA. On the other, they have very little reason to trust him.

Moving on to Legend of Korra, I find it realistic Korra struggled with airbending and that she's completely different than Aang...let me explain. In the Avatar cycle, each avatar is different. A lot of it has to do with their upbringing and their personality. For example, Aang was born into the most spiritual bending group,and was raised with the philosphy that all life is sacred, something that is reflected in many real world religions( so I told you religion was complicated) but struggled with physical part of being the Avatar, bending. Waterbending was simple because the style is about redirecting ( the basics anyway). Meanwhile he burned Katara trying to firebend( implanting that fire= destruction) and struggled with earthbending because it was about direct. Going back to Korra, it's realistic she struggles with airbending because she's direct and extremely hardheaded. She only becomes spiritual when she's at her lowest( I'll touch on this a bit more in another chapter) and only then she was able to become a better avatar.

So to summarize realism =/= cynical. The idea of there being consequences is universal. Basic cause and effect. How the world reacts to your character's action is something that you need to keep in mind. A 12 year old kid freaking out and jumping ship when he finds out that he's a Chosen One is realistic because literally everything he knows is about to change. People being weary of people with superpowers is realistic because there is nothing stopping them from using their powers on them, but at the same time you don't know if they'll actually do that. Your kid rebelling after being smothered and being a child of helicopter parents is realistic. A person asking you not to make their disability a big deal is realistic, especially if they found a way to interact with their world. I'm not asking for everything to be realistic, but a touch of realism can go a long way.