Genre Blindness

A condition afflicting many fictional characters, seen when one demonstrates by their behavior that they have never in their life ever seen the kind of story they're in, and thus have none of the reactions a typical audience member would have in the same situation. Worse, they are unable to learn from any experiences related to their genre.

Genre Blindness is what keeps the cast of Three's Company leaping to outrageous conclusions even after the hundredth stupid misunderstanding, instead of sitting down and talking things out. It makes young girls go for walks alone in the woods after midnight without a flashlight or a weapon when there's an axe murderer or a vampire around. It makes the supergenius supervillains in James Bond movies stuff the hero into an elaborate melodramatic Death Trap from which he inevitably escapes instead of just shooting him. It's why a Professional Wrestling referee always holds faces to the strictest letter of the rules, even as the heels break every rule in the book behind his back. It is one of the engines that drive the classic 1960s-70s sitcom.

Although genre blindness can be a legitimate flaw, it should be noted that it can be difficult for writers to create characters who are not genre blind without hanging a lampshade on it by saying something like "This is just like in the movies!", especially in genres which require suspense that can easily be undone by such comedic relief (such as horrors, thrillers, etc). Furthermore, some stories in some genres really couldn't function at all if the characters displayed an innate and complete understanding of what genre they were in and exactly how they should act at all times within a story in said genre if they want to avoid trouble — which in most cases would also rob the story of tension and drama, since if the character knows exactly what to do to avoid trouble and conflict in their particular story, they'll do it, and consequently have an easy, trouble-free life, and... why are we watching again? Finally, not all of a genre's classic tropes are in fact Truth in Television, but as far as the characters are concerned, This Is Reality, so their "blindness" may be the same as common sense. For example, in real life, a single cough does not herald a fatal disease, so It's Probably Nothing is probably rational despite being Genre Blind.

Ultimately, while it can be a problem if used too egregiously, sometimes you just have to shrug your shoulders and chalk it up to Willing Suspension of Disbelief.

Related:

One of the more common forms of Genre Blindness is ignorance of Hanlon's Razor.

Reality Is Unrealistic is what happens when real people come down with this.

Contrast with Genre Savvy,

Wrong Genre Savvy, for when the character has mistaken what type of story they're in.


Examples

Evey Horror film Character.


In One Piece, the crew arrives to a town that welcomes pirates. Luffy, Sanji and Usopp falls easily for this, while Zoro and Nami were much more Genre Savvy and faked being drunk to find out what was the town up to.

Also, when Luffy wakes up, he finds out that Zoro attacked the entire town (who were all actually bounty hunters wanting to kill them). Instead of wondering why his friend would do that, Luffy automatically believed the injured townsfolk and assumed Zoro ruthlessly attacked the "nice people" who gave them food.

Every Fairy Tale hero. Ever. The most common mistakes they make is eating the Forbidden Fruit and pissing off the fairies.


If there are any.
Explained in Kim Possible by the Villain Traditions that most of the bad guys follow. These traditions include the villains "making their lame pun and leaving" the heroes in a Death Trap. Senor Senior Senior sticks closely to this, even telling Kim how to escape. Shego, on the other hand: "I prefer the direct approach, but you know Drakken..."

While still Genre Savvy, Sokka from Avatar The Last Airbender has had one or two moments of Genre Blindness. Most notable was in "The Boiling Rock", where he tries to talk to Suki while still wearing his guard disguise. Later, he does the same thing when he tries to talk to his father.

In Scooby-Doo, the heroes not only had Genre Blindness, they seemed to have inter-episode amnesia. How many times can you really think say "Let's split up to explore the haunted castle" and think it's a good plan?

This actually is lampshaded in one episode of Whats New Scooby Doo. Long story short, Fred realizes that they always split up the group the same way and decides to split it up a different way with Fred and Shaggy teaming up. Hilarity Ensues.
Then again, whenever the gang is Genre Savvy and assumes the monster is fake, it turns out to be real (like the zombies in the first movie). Perhaps they're so Genre Savvy that they know that Genre Savviness makes the monsters actually become real, so they feign Genre Blindness.
Fred must be particularly genre savvy in What's New, Scooby Doo? In another episode, half way through, Fred suggests that, instead of trying to figure out who's under the mask, they simply set up a trap, capture them, and deal with it later... One way or another, it didn't work out just right.


Teen Titans: If Robin wasn't so good at improvising (and so well-trained), he would've been dead a long time ago. The boy simply has no concept that things may not be what they appear to be. He gave a frickin' communicator to a villainess who was masquerading as one of his own team, which was how the season's Big Bad and his Evil Minions almost defeated the Titans. There may be nothing wrong with giving a communicator to someone you think is a friend of yours and who you think might be in trouble soon... but there is after you just spent the whole episode fighting a shapeshifting villainess.