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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/48097
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

[Bathos](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/Bathos) is a storytelling technique that consists in the rapid succession of 2 “moments” with conflicting tones. This trope occurs when a serious moment gets followed by a gag. One of the many, many reasons I see the _Marvel Cinematic Universe_ as the embodiment of everything that is wrong with filmmaking (like the _Fast and Furious_ and _Transformers_ films) along with [every villain being bland, one-note empty shells who want to cause death and destruction](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/GenericDoomsdayVillain), vapid, forgettable quips for dialogue and formulaic plot structures is that the talentless screenwriters are obsessed with having dramatic scenes kneecapped by jokes breaking the tension.

In an [infographic created by George Hatzis](https://www.visu.info/marvel-cinematic-universe-joke-count), as of _Thor: Ragnarok_, the MCU’s Phase 3 has an average of 112 jokes per movie. This is an increase from Phase 2 and Phase 1’s average of 100 and 75, respectively. Hatzis also notes that for Phase 3, jokes, on the average, have an interval of a minute and 13 seconds between each other. Phase 2 had one minute and 18 seconds, while Phase 1 had a two-minute average gap.

I mention all of this because I plan on inserting [quiet, poignant moments](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ActionFilmQuietDramaScene) into my trilogy, as a form of levity because the series tone is pretty bleak and grim. I wish to have these scenes placed in the story that doesn't end up disrupting the overall feel and taking my readers out of the story.

**How should I deal with such a dilemma?**

Original score: 7