I must agree with @Tiruin on this matter, even if I am but a mere spectator.
It seems that the dichotomy we call the fourth wall makes it easier to apply such simplistic heuristics to such matters.
With the prevalence and renewed interest in the standard patterns we call tropes, etiquette may decay in certain circumstances as is apparent now.
However, herein the problem lies, a character trope is, in a way a label or a heuristic, yet as characters possess both life within their text and inanimateness outside of it, the boundaries between a literary device and a stereotype become quite hard to differentiate. Many character tropes are thrown around and applied to their respective contexts, nevertheless, they see little use in the real world as real people tend to possess greater depth and facets than characters, to apply such patterns are demeaning.
The question arises: "If a trope is applied to a character before they are even used, does it limit them?" ostensibly, the answer is no. Use of a trope to describe a character does no such harm thus how can context relative to creation matter?
But, the question's implicit meaning may be worded as thus: "Are there degrees of conformity to a trope?" The answer is quite obviously yes. Ergo revealing the problem at hand. When one thinks of a trope, the quintessential examples and representations come to mind that is the sequence with a high or full degree of conformity. Hence by applying such heuristics, the mental representation of the character becomes limited to the sum of their tropes with lesser emphasis on their degree of conformity or, arguably more importantly, their transgressions. Pre-emptive application reduces them to little more than a piece of clockwork, or an automaton. A predefined entity lacking the essential life that gives them an apparent soul.
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Topic: The First Magic Girls OOC (Read 69864 times)