Narrative Device Tropes
Merriam-Webster gives a definition of "trope" as a "figure of speech." In storytelling, a trope is just that — a conceptual figure of speech, a storytelling shorthand for a concept that the audience will recognize and understand instantly.
Above all, a trope is a convention. It can be a plot trick, a setup, a narrative structure, a character type, a linguistic idiom... you know it when you see it. Tropes are not inherently disruptive to a story; however, when the trope itself becomes intrusive, distracting the viewer rather than serving as shorthand, it has become a cliché.
- Television Tropes and Idioms
Freaky Friday Flip
The most benign subtrope of Body Snatcher: two or more characters swap bodies (or, equally, swap minds) by some form of magic or Applied Phlebotinum. Typically, a deeper appreciation of the other's life is attained. Named for a novel and movie about a body swap between a mother and her daughter. - Freaky Friday Flip
- As a punishment for hunting the Golden Hind while in Artemis's Sacred Grove, Artemis swaps Iolaus's conciousness with a deer's. Iolaus must then run for his life as Hercules, Jason, and Uncle Flatus hunt the "deer". - (1.40 - Iolaus Goes Stag)
