I’m at Cape Cod this week, at a condo that doesn’t have internet, so it’s going to be a quick and dirty Trope Tuesday post this week (no, not like that) because I’d rather be on the beach than at the Dennisport Public Library. Speaking of beaches …
One of the commonest beach tropes, at least for most anime and TV shows, is to take the cast of characters and put them on the beach for an episode. This rarely has anything to do with the actual plot of the show, and is usually just an excuse to parade the characters in swimsuits and/or give the audience a little fanservice.
Actually, that’s not entirely fair. There’s a bunch of ocean related recreational activities that the characters may participate in, such as beach volleyball (or other games), surfing, making sand castles, burying each other in sand, and getting a suntan (or an embarrassingly painful sunburn). There may even be a single-episode romantic subplot that results in a beach kiss.
Basically, the beach episode is a chance for the audience to take a breather from the main story arc and hang out with their favorite characters at the beach. Because really, who doesn’t like to go to the beach every now and then? And if you can tag along with a bunch of fictional characters who have come to feel like friends, so much the better.
I’ve got to admit, most of the books and series that I’m a fan of don’t really have a beach episode. The only one that comes to mind is the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya, and that one’s a bit unusual because the beach episode(s) turn into a murder mystery that actually ties in pretty well with the main plot. Also, the episode is based off of one of the original Japanese novels, so it’s a lot closer to canon than what you’ll see in most anime adaptations from manga (or so I’ve heard).
The beach episode doesn’t pop up in science fiction or fantasy a whole lot, probably because of the secondary world aspect. I’m sure there are beaches on Middle Earth, but if I see a bunch of hobbits playing beach volleyball in bikinis, I’m sorry but I’m going to have to throw up. Most fantastical worlds don’t have room for modern-style vacations, because so much of the setting is so far removed from the world we live in. The last thing you want to do is throw your reader out of the story, so for most sci-fi and fantasy, a trip to the beach is probably a bad idea.
Of course, there are exceptions, depending on the story and the appropriateness for such an excursion in the fictional universe. If you guys have any favorite examples, please let me know.
Needless to say, since most of my stories take place on alien worlds in the far-distant future, you won’t usually find this trope in my own stories. However, there is a beach chapter in Desert Stars, where Mira spends some time out in nature, walking along the ocean and taking in the gulls and the waves. She doesn’t wear a swimsuit, though. In Stars of Blood and Glory, there’s a planet that’s nothing but ocean, with giant floating cities populated by people who are half Japanese, half Polynesian. Not any beaches, though–at least, not natural ones.
