"Whimsy"

I loved Fallout and thought the tone worked well. It fit well with the style of the game, with the chirpy upbeat soundtrack and 50s vibe juxtaposed with the grinding misery of the post apocalyptic world.

Sums up what I thought about it - went in knowing very little but did love it.

I can't say it what comes to mind when using adjective Whimsy - Tim Burton - studio ghibli films come first but suppose it fits as it certainly had it's own style.

I find it hard to clearly separate out gallows humour, coping mechanism, shock value, quirky/cutsie/endearing, surrealism, and whimsy

all to me have slightly different but overlapping purposes and styles

tim burton, the zoe deshanel tv show & Maxxxine are, to use a phrase from childhood, “the same, only different” 😂

the purposes of the fantastical elements are to move the story along though

the definition of whimsey upthread says it’s ‘tetherless’ so I’m left unsure

surrealism was symbolic and so ‘tethered

dada perhaps is the whimsey equivalent? But then it was a sort of statement in itself?

so not ‘untethered’ as per the definition in the article

all of which to say an expansion of what is meant would be helpful

cos even with the china ornaments - they were in Misery, but as a way to show the character’s obsessive need for control, the merging of reality and fantasy in her head, and as a plot device during the author’s escape from the room

OMG!! My mum had all of these - you’ve taken me right back to my childhood! Dusting the living room was my Saturday chore as a child and moving all the wee fekkers to dust underneath and putting them all back was the bane of my life!

That was my thought too 😂

My parents have a massive collection. Started buying loads of them from car boot sales in the 90s from people that didn't realise their value was increasing rapidly.

I would like an example of the whimsy the OP is referring to though, so I can decide if it is one of my many irritants.

The term’s too ill-defined for the context. It doesn’t really mean anything when applied to a whole medium like film or TV drama.

A whimsical comment IRL might be a playfully irrelevant one. And that can be portrayed in drama. But whimsy as an idea doesn’t cover the variety of ways to make drama.

I wouldn’t call Mary Poppins whimsy, for example. I’d say it was fantastical wish fulfilment - and it’s very clever and subtle. Mary Poppins is a vain character who likes a drink, but is practical and wise. The social and class observations in Mary Poppins are also brilliantly done.

I think it’s just an aesthetic that doesn’t appeal to you.

I loved Fallout and thought the tone worked well. It fit well with the style of the game, with the chirpy upbeat soundtrack and 50s vibe juxtaposed with the grinding misery of the post apocalyptic world.

I dislike gothic stuff, it grates on me like nails on a blackboard. I give it a swerve now. I used to think there was something I was missing but there isn’t. I get it, I just don’t like it.

I don't think I expected Fallout to be a serious drama with no "whimsy" elements ...

There was whimsy in Shakespeare. The porter in Macbeth talking about needing a wee before Duncan's body is found.

Ha ha ha I was trying to think of films with an excess of small china animals

Yes, OP, most of us understand the dictionary definition of ‘whimsy’, but you’ve just linked to an online article that lists some characteristics of whimsical films (and yes, Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s films are whimsical, but he’s been making the same kinds of film for over 30 years — Delicatessen is from 1991! So it’s not new) none of which appear to feature the violence you also mention.

What films or tv programmes are you thinking of?

Those are a mix of film genres though
Wes Anderson horror films set in dreams
Fantasy/Gothic fantasy

Those are films where you go in know what to expect. I think if you go into a Tim Burton film and expect straight up realism then you're in the wrong film

And none of those are like the OP appears to be referring to

And that relates to the violence you mentioned in your OP how? You're still not giving any examples of anything that's annoyed you. Which is annoying i itself

There's certainly plenty of whimsical stuff in Wes Anderson films, and the lighter Tim Burtons. I'd agree with Amelie. Also Midnight In Paris, The Princess Bride and Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind.

Definitely!

I had a bit of a crush on him when I was younger.

Sheldon??

Timeless, magical realism type stuff. All chapter headings and too bright colour contrasts. Examples are Chocolat, most Tim Burton movies and anything by Wes Anderson. Plus those weird Netflix series about nothing really.

And can you give us some examples?

Because frankly that's just word soup

Maybe the Kingsmen films?

OP needs to be clearer

Yeah!

Gotta disagree with your opinion of the Louis Wain film. IMO it was excellent and I wept buckets at the end. Plus, I'm REALLY not a Benedict Cumberbatch fan but I thought he was great in this. Plus, surely, the quaintness and whimsy is necessary given the content of his art and the Victorian attitude towards it?