Tropes and Memes

Tropes

A trope is a recurring element which is repeated over time and forms a common convention.

For example, there are typical vampire tropes:
- They sleep in coffins

- They decay in sunlight

- They have pale skin

- They can be killed with 'stake' through the heart

- They have the ability to shapeshift into bats and wolves

- They are allergic to garlic and crucifixes

More recently, these tropes have evolved as vampires have been introduced back into the film industry. For example,

- They no longer burn in the sun, they sparkle

- They have super strength and super speed

- They feed off animals to get rid of their thirst for human blood, sometimes not feeding at all; this differs from the 'original' vampire, who's health started to deteriate after periods of time without feeding.

- They live in the normal world with normal people

- They're not only seen as monsters but people who blend into society

This can be related tohip-hop music because it has ideological tropes of being a genre promoting the power and freedom of speech and also the daily struggle of the working class. It was supremely focused on being able to speak one's mind withought being labelled or judged. However in more recent times it has become a genre heavily related to violence and weapons, promotion of ill-behaviour to the youth and also a scene heavily dependent on the promotion of female sex appeal.

Memes

A meme is an idea or belief that occurs simultaneously to more than one person without any explanation. For example, Pixar released the film 'Finding Nemo' and several weeks later Dreamworks released the film 'Shark Tale', which was very similar, yet with no evidence of copying. In the hip-hop industry, Public Enemy and NWA both made their brake around similar stages of their career, both promoting similar messages. Although they're both recognised as highly influential groups of the hip-hop culture, many have made queries to their similarities and whether or not they are copies of eachother. However as far as memes go, it is clear that they are not copies of eachother, but a duo of ideas that happened simultaneously.