There was this one comment I came across on a discussion about if Isekai is ever going to run out of steam:
The most popular trope coming from a single place is usually indicative of the biggest problem there. Japan with isekais (deaths & escaping reality), Korea with returns (social pressure & regrets), and China with Cultivation (breaking free from/overthrowing the upper control). Those common tropes are what the people wished they had in real life.
I've been reading quite a few manwha's recently as well as manga and this are REALLY common trends. Enjoyable too as on each side we can easily relate to that desire.
So why not apply it to western fiction, what was the main trend there?
In the past, when the leftists weren't involved, I'd say it was more inspirational, from the obvious Superman to the relatable trying to do his best despite personal issues Spiderman, even in a nihilistic world of mega cities, Judge Dredd could be inspirational just because he still stood up for the values of law and justice in this husk of a world.
After the leftists, I think the worst thing is not just the tranny, race and gay pushing, it's that it's no longer inspirational. Rather than inspire to do better, they want everyone dragged down to their level, have everything given to them and not have to struggle because 'they're on the right side'.
Even though it's majority leftist propaganda, if we apply the same rule here 'Most popular trope indicative of biggest problem' then the West's biggest issue is stagnation, no inspiration to push forward or lead the way for others to follow your example. It might be another reason for the great switch to manga and Anime as people would rather adopt another trope than be stuck in essentially the West's limbo trope. At least the Asian tropes offer a way out of the current problem in a fictional setting.
You can see how much people are deprived of inspirational media with the success of films like Top Gun Maverick or John Wick but what do you guys think, this ring true to you?
I'll tell you a trope I got sick of in the 90's. Everyone was angry, but it was all angst aimed to control the story. It never made sense why two best friends would argue and separate for a few comics. War Machine looked like a jerk several times because he couldn't recognize Iron Man letting him go off and be his own hero. It kept happening, but had no real explanation except the writers were aiming at early teens.
It was a lot of anger, but no real answers. Lots of teachers promoted that anger. It's weird now that I think about it. Since I moved a lot, I saw how different schools used that anger for different purposes.
I don't see that in other cultures. I never thought in that way till now.
That was worse than the thope in the late 90s to early 2000s of trying to have everything set in high school as at least we got great shows like Batman beyond, xmen evolution and Smallville.
Unfortunately that trope I think slowly led to the current situation we are in with western media, it's just in the early days they had writers who knew how to make the trope be very inspirational