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View Full Version : Are "Genies" and their equivilants always so... PREDANTIC?


MJN SEIFER
10-23-2010, 11:28 PM
I dunno if this is the right place to ask, but has anyone noticed that whenever there is a scene in a film/book/show, or whatever where there is someone or something that can grant wishes (I'll say a Genie because there the most known) there's often (not alway) a level of pedantry to the wishes?

It's like, someone finds a genie, wishes for something, genie grants it, and guy gets it. It goes alright for a while, but then the wish causes something to happen that the guy didn't expect, so he tells the genie, and the genie is all like; "That's because you didn't carefully explain what you wanted." - this often happens, I've even got a whole CYOA book based on this... Another trope?

What is it? Rather than simply say "I wish for such, and such" it's more "I wish for this, but I don't want this to happen if I get this". It's just predantic if ask me...

NOTE: A *non* genie example of this would be "The Monkey's Paw".
Cuchulainn
10-24-2010, 12:47 AM
Pedantic, it's pedantic. As in, what I've just done here.
kotora
10-24-2010, 01:10 AM
because it wouldn't be interesting if things went down the way they were supposed to in fiction, would it?
Vermachtnis
10-24-2010, 04:48 AM
"Speaking of wishes, you know what I never understood? Genies! They tell you to wish for anything you want, and then they add some terrible twist. Like you wish to jump high so he turns you into a frog. What? Why? Who gains from this? The genie? Where's the benefit?" ~ Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz
AntagonistGB
10-24-2010, 06:54 AM
"Speaking of wishes, you know what I never understood? Genies! They tell you to wish for anything you want, and then they add some terrible twist. Like you wish to jump high so he turns you into a frog. What? Why? Who gains from this? The genie? Where's the benefit?" ~ Dr. Heinz Doofenshmirtz

Was there some sort of flashback relating to this, or was it purely conjecture based on the conversation at hand?
Vermachtnis
10-24-2010, 04:32 PM
He was in a submarine at the bottom of a lake eating hotwings and talking to a platypus. There was a chance he was high.
AntagonistGB
10-24-2010, 05:56 PM
Man I love that show.
Jessweeee♪
10-24-2010, 07:18 PM
They're pissed because they're stuck in a tiny lamp and they only get to come out when they have slavework to do.
Raistlin
10-24-2010, 08:31 PM
Wish genies are total dicks. (http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/08/this-comic-was-inspired-by-experience-i.html)
Depression Moon
10-24-2010, 08:52 PM
The genie from I dream of Jeannie is okay.
Mirage
10-25-2010, 09:59 PM
If they weren't pedantic, even simple wishes would potentially be way overpowered.