.just like Ned Flanders on
the simpsons
every thing is
its gone
wet
The act of taking a
single (often minor) action or trait of a character within a
work and exaggerating it more and more over
time until it completely consumes the character. Most always, the trait/action becomes completely outlandish and it becomes their defining characteristic. Sitcoms and Sitcom characters are particularly susceptible to this, as are peripheral characters in shows with
long runs.
The trope is named for one of the examples in The Simpsons, Ned Flanders, who was originally just a considerate neighbor and attentive
father, with his devout nature simply being that he willingly attended and paid attention in
church, all to make him a contrast to Homer, before becoming obsessively religious to the point of stupidity.
Note that the
key to this trope is in how the process is a gradual thing, the character starts relatively normal then gains a few quirks, the quirks become more prominent and then gradually become the character. If it is simply about how the character is different early on before the writers know what to do with them, that is Characterization Marches On. Flanderization doesn'
t have to be a bad thing - sometimes it can be used to expand on a background character's personality when they are brought to the foreground, or make an otherwise bland character stand out more.
