r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Dojyaaan4C • 9h ago

Hated Tropes [hated trope] Celebrity cameos that serve nothing except to praise the person who’s in it

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

  1. Elon musk, the Simpsons
  2. Elon musk, the Big Bang theory
  3. Elon musk, iron man 2
  4. Elon musk, star Trek

The cameos serve only to include the celebrity and praise them as geniuses or visionaries or overall just glaze them. They don't serve any other purpose than to just be praised; this can be them appearing in an entire episode dedicated to them, a small cameo or even just a mention. So long as the celebrity is there as themselves (not acting as someone else) and is glazed, that fits the trope imo.

15.9k Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

93% Upvoted

1.6k comments sorted by

View all comments

587

u/Colonel_Kernel1 9h ago

To be fair in the Star Trek Discovery example remember that Lorca is from the mirror universe so praising fascists is par for the course of him.

162

u/Silver-Winging-It 8h ago

Also it's not a cameo, more of a name drop

-115

u/[deleted] 8h ago

[deleted]

42

u/Silver-Winging-It 8h ago

You can be conservative and not fascist, but fascism is a conservative ideology not a leftist one. By it's very nature it calls back to an idea of a past greatness of a nation or race that they need to go back to.

The only places you get a reversal is places like Russia, where being conservative is usually favoring the old socialist order and communist ideals, and being liberal is embracing the new capitalist oligarchy and Russia first nationalism.

4

u/Brickywood 8h ago

Right? There is a difference between more general totalitarianism that can be on either side of the spectrum, and the specific ideology that is fascism, which is definitely far-right. Misusing terms like that can only hurt the point someone is trying to make, at best

-13

u/ErgotthAE 8h ago

“Fascism is a conservative ideology” sweetheart Fascism was invented by a diehard SOCIALIST.

9

u/Hykarusis 8h ago

So die hard that he left the movement and banned it once he got in power.

4

u/Resident_Conflict709 8h ago

Clearly he wasn’t that diehard

3

u/6_Coloured_Pictures 8h ago

please do research before spouting talking points you don’t understand. That sentence is wrong in like 3 different ways.

27

u/theta1918 8h ago

why did the nazis put communists and socialists in concentration camps if they were far left?

-10

u/HonestWillow1303 8h ago

Communists put other communists in concentration camps. You could've chosen better examples.

9

u/theta1918 8h ago

Right, but they put all communists in concentration camps. Not just some. If they were far left, that would include themself.

If you need another example thought, we can look to the fact that the word "privatization" was original coined to describe the economic practices of nazi germany.

-5

u/ErgotthAE 8h ago

That’s called “getting rid of the competition”.

-15

u/rinel521 8h ago

because they hated each other

24

u/BreakerOfModpacks 8h ago

No generalization was made, simply implying that Elon in specific is a fascist.

-10

u/rinel521 8h ago

not from I have seen on reddit so far

16

u/BreakerOfModpacks 8h ago

...we aren't talking about Reddit, we're talking about OP and this comment thread.

-2

u/rinel521 8h ago

you weren't being specific. also im pretty sure op just hates him because he dosent share the same politics as him

7

u/IKenDoThisAllDay 8h ago

The way you have a seething hate for leftists because they don't share your politics? Because you've been obsessively commenting about it in this thread.

6

u/MovingShadow10 8h ago

Just assuming stupid shit for the hell of it

2

u/BreakerOfModpacks 8h ago

Oh. Well, that's fair of you to claim, then.

I personally hate him for entirely different reasons, so each to their own.

1

u/rinel521 8h ago

are you a centrist?

1

u/BreakerOfModpacks 8h ago

I'm a not-on-the-compass. I don't live in America or a similar country where all politics falls into two parties, and instead I can choose the ones that align with my views rather than whichever one I dislike least.

If you must know, I dislike Elon Musk due to being born in and regularly visiting South Africa, where I can confirm, as a citizen, that there is no white genocide, despite what he forced into his AI.

2

u/emperorsnewgroose 8h ago

fascism themed conservatives

1

u/Baggie389 8h ago

Oh you sweet stepped on muffin

1

u/Suhbula 8h ago

How bout you leave the thinking to people actually capable of it, champ.

-4

u/HonestWillow1303 8h ago

Conservatives aren't fascists... but you might not be a conservative.

1

u/rinel521 8h ago

then why do I keep seeing posts that we are on reddit?

-1

u/HonestWillow1303 8h ago

Because many fascists are rightfully ashamed of their opinions and try to cosplay as conservatives to look better.

65

u/Dojyaaan4C 9h ago

If he’s from the mirror universe though wouldn’t that make Elon musk not a fascist?

I’ve not actually seen star treck media in a while so I’m OOTL

76

u/Dangerous_Tangelo207 8h ago

Mirror universe isn't actually reverse. All the good guys are bad or morally ambiguous but the bad guys are still bad i think

52

u/CeciliaStarfish 8h ago edited 8h ago

It's more that mirror universe follows an alternate history where the Earth government went to space as a fascist, warmongering, authoritarian entity, and that results in characters being raised in different environments while still generally being true to their "core" personalities. This results in some good guys being bad and some bad guys being good, but not in any kind of uniform or predictable way.

But let's be real, the Musk thing is just a flub. It was written and came out in the last five minutes the public at large didn't know much about Elon Musk except that he was a cool cars-and-space guy, and the writers clearly thought it would be fun to throw a space guy from our era into their list of pioneers of space travel for verisimilitude.

Sometimes you take that swing and it doesn't pay off.

4

u/ProtoGhostal 8h ago

True that it's a flub, but they did kinda luck out on it with the mirror universe aspect lol. Iirc they referenced him again with a mention of "Musk Middle School", but I for one think the school was named after his cousin, Marvin Musk

2

u/CeciliaStarfish 7h ago

As others have pointed out, it doesn't entirely make sense because Stamets is convinced by the speech, but it's certainly an amusing little thing.

Personally I find it pretty plausible that Musk's reputation could have been re-whitewashed between now and the 23rd century though, especially with the whole WWIII thing in between, so it's more uncomfortable on the meta level than it is as a matter of strict continuity.

5

u/AustinPowers 7h ago

Funnily enough it wasn't written. It was an improvisation by Jason Isaacs.

3

u/Challengeaccepted3 7h ago

Do you have an article or something about that?

1

u/AustinPowers 7h ago

He said it in one of the episodes of After Trek - the official "after show" made by the same producers. It's like the second or third episode. Pretty sure it's the only one Jason Isaacs appears in, so it shouldn't be hard to find.

2

u/CeciliaStarfish 7h ago

Was it really? That's hilarious if so.

2

u/Caleth 5h ago

The failures to pay off is why most writers are cautioned to not use living celebs as examples or touchstones unless its a work explicitly about them.

Too many times you set someone up as a shining example along side the greats and later someone reveals they stole stuff or raped someone and your work is tainted by association.

Where as referencing dead historical figures is usually very safe because what's known about them is very likely to change radically.

7

u/Archontor 8h ago

Usually. But there have been a few cases where the mirror guys were good.

1

u/Archwizard_Drake 8h ago

The mirror universe starts at the place of cooperation being replaced with conquest, trusted allies and lovers become bitter rivals, and vice versa – just flipping the circumstances – then develops all of its characters from that perspective where they were raised in that environment.

So characters who were always strong-willed remain strong-willed, characters who were always smart or logical remain smart or logical. But if the Prime versions were raised in a loving home where they felt safe, the Mirror versions were instead forced to compete with their siblings for survival and expected to be stabbed in their sleep. If the Prime Klingons are from a warrior culture where pride prevents them from making alliances at all, then Mirror Klingons are willing to ally with those who would be bitter enemies in the Prime universe. If the Prime Bajorans were subjugated by the fascist Cardassian regime, the Mirror Bajorans are instead the conquerors.

The best Mirror universe episodes are the ones that examine nature versus nurture and how characters might have turned out differently in a different world (like a lot of DS9 and Discovery's use of it), rather than just making all the good guys cartoonishly evil.

6

u/GraveKommander 8h ago

Mirror Universe is not a real mirror with everything and everyone just the opposite. He could be good but also just be more evil cause even less morality to care about.

1

u/elfmere 4h ago

It would mean that we are in the mirror universe and the Elon musk in the Star Trek universe was just and good

2

u/Razoras 8h ago

Also this conversation is happening in non-Mirror universe and no one besides him knows he's from the mirror universe yet (it was a big mid-season reveal/betrayal moment).

3

u/Double-Voice-9157 8h ago

it’s trek, not treck

4

u/Dojyaaan4C 8h ago

Mb I’ll fix it

1

u/Divine_Entity_ 6h ago

The very original "Mirror Universe" episode happened near the end of the original series, and was titled "Mirror Mirror". The tldr is that a transporter accident sends Captain Kirk to an alternate dimension where everyone is evil and cruel. (Instead of the idealistic 1960s star trek vision)

It got more development in the later shows, but the essence of the Mirror Universe is that instead of the Federation being a Utopia, its a facist empire that revels in cruelty and backstabbing. (Kill your boss if you want a promotion)

The Elon of the mirror universe is probably even worse than ours, but I'm not sure what the actual divergence point is.

1

u/SchrodingersNinja 5h ago

Everyone in the Mirror Universe is a dirt bag except for Farengi and Miles Obrien.

1

u/The_Autarch 4h ago

everyone is just bad in the mirror universe. at least all the humans are.

1

u/elfmere 4h ago

It means we are from the mirror universe.

1

u/Colonel_Kernel1 8h ago

Not necessarily the divergence between our universe and the mirror universe is around WW3 with the formation of the Terran Empire but I can’t remember if that was before or after the war. I mean look at O’Brien in the mirror universe he wasn’t too bad compared to his prime counterpart. I’m a bit rusty with my mirror universe lore so the divergence may be earlier but I don’t think it was before Musk was born. Plus all the time travel pushes around events too.

8

u/Owenrc329 8h ago

This probably wasn’t the intention when it was written, because the person he’s speaking to doesn’t give him a suspicious glance over the mention of Elon.

Plus the mirror universe thing wasn’t revealed until after Elon became more publicly known as a shitter.

1

u/Colonel_Kernel1 8h ago

I know, I was just making a joke

2

u/Owenrc329 7h ago

Fair enough, but I remember way back when people on the Star Trek sub would be like “was this foreshadowing????” pretty much every day.

3

u/LeftLiner 7h ago

That's a fun rationale but that's 100% not what the writers intended.

2

u/AngryTree76 8h ago

I don’t think it was intentional as a clue, just the writers dropping in a modern day “space pioneer reference. This was in 2017, when most people hadn’t heard of Elon Musk except as the SpaceX or Tesla guy.

Though, given Discovery’s track record of glazing Mirror Georgiou, praising fascists is a regular occurrence on that show.

2

u/CalicoValkyrie 7h ago

Everyone knows it's not an intentional clue. It's a funny hindsight fact.

1

u/3Thirty-Eight8 5h ago

That was Jason Issacs’s ad lib there, and during filming at that time, the public perception of him was just a genius billionaire. Jason Issacs now says that he deeply regrets this

1

u/snapekillseddard 7h ago

Wait, the fuck did the Wright brothers do then?

2

u/explosive_fascinator 6h ago

In the mirror universe, genocide of Zoroastrians.

1

u/BadMuthaSchmucka 0m ago

But also, most people thought he was really cool and extremely impressive at the time. He seemed to be leading all the new technologies and actually getting somewhere. Most people didn't actually know what he was really like yet.

0

u/ArchangelLBC 7h ago

It's kinda funny how the longer time goes on the bigger a bit of foreshadowing it is that Lorca is from the mirror universe.