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Q&A When does something become "torture porn"?

Let me point you to the relevant TV Tropes page: Torture Porn In brief, torture porn is when a work gives a lot of attention to the torture, describes it in great detail, apparently not so much to...

posted 6y ago by Galastel‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-12T21:57:22Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36204
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T08:50:41Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/36204
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T08:50:41Z (almost 5 years ago)
Let me point you to the relevant TV Tropes page: [Torture Porn](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TorturePorn)

In brief, torture porn is when a work gives a lot of attention to the torture, describes it in great detail, apparently not so much to show that torture is wrong, but to simultaneously disgust the audience and give them a visceral thrill.

If it appears that a work is full of torture for the sake of torture, torture for the sake of being chilling and disgusting with nothing deeper than that, it's torture porn.

If you're putting your character through a lot of misery, but it doesn't appear that it's all torture for the sake of torture, you might want to look at a different trope instead: [Trauma Conga Line](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/TraumaCongaLine). That's when bad things keep happening to your character, one after the other, like the world just can't give him a break.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2018-05-17T10:46:16Z (over 6 years ago)
Original score: 8