Mother Nature, Father Science/Playing With

Basic Trope: Men are better at science, logic and reason than women but are arrogant, inconsiderate, selfish, uncreative and hardhearted. Women are more spiritual, compassionate, empathetic and intuitive than men, as well as more in tune with nature, but they're overemotional and lack rationality, pragmatism, decisiveness and self-discipline.

• Straight: Archibald, a brilliant philosopher and scientist, is cold, condescending, and prone to Measuring the Marigolds. He meets Flora, a gentle and kind horticulturist, who doesn't understand much about science and finds it hard to make decisions because she's often overwhelmed by her emotions.
• Exaggerated: Archibald won a Nobel Prize for his groundbreaking scientific achievements, but he made his discoveries by performing horrific experiments on human test subjects, and he's perfectly fine with that fact, dismissing human suffering as "trivial" and "irrelevant" collateral damage. Flora is a kind and selfless charity worker who runs a no-kill animal shelter, but as she's cowardly, terrible at handling the budget, only wants to save cute animals, and bursts into tears any time she has to make a decision, her efforts to do good in the world don't really accomplish much.
• Justified: Archie was raised by strict parents who encouraged him to excel in school but were dismissive of his emotional needs. Flora grew up in a family that was very close and loving, but rather anti-intellectual.
• Inverted: Archibald is a gentle and kind gardener who just can't deal with his emotions. Flora is a cold and heartless bitch of a physicist who can figure out just about anything in her field of expertise.
• Subverted: Archibald is a Jerk with a Heart of Gold who went into science because he deeply appreciates the beauty of nature and wanted to understand it better, and he really does want to use science to make a better world for everyone. Flora, on the other hand, is a cynical Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who pretends to be overwhelmed by her emotions only because it helps her get what she wants.
• Double Subverted: It turns out Archie's more of a Jerk with a Heart of Jerk -- he tells himself he's going to make the world a better place, but what he really cares about is the glory. Flora really does care deeply about others and only became cynical because her high ideals are so often disappointed.
• Deconstructed: We're shown how Archie, growing up, was taught to ruthlessly repress his emotions and value only hard logic because that's what a Real Man does, gradually becoming cunning, cold, and heartless. Flora, meanwhile, was told that she shouldn't bother studying science or math because girls aren't good at that stuff, and learned that since no one respected her thoughts, the only way to get people to listen to her was to become hysterical. As a result, both of them end up as bitter, miserable and thoroughly unlikeable adults.
• Reconstructed: Archie is brilliant, but sometimes loses sight of emotional issues in his zeal for logic. Flora is empathetic and kind, but often finds it hard to take action or think things through calmly because she's so easily overwhelmed by her emotions. Together, though, they balance out each other's flaws and become a great team.
• Zig Zagged: Archie has random bouts of consideration, selflessness, and appreciation of beauty, while Flora occasionally manages to calm down and solve a problem with truly brilliant reasoning.
• Averted: Archie and Flora are people with no special inclination towards science and neither is especially over-emotional.
  • Alternatively, they are both good at science and work in the same discipline, in addition to being good and compassionate people. The story also explores the idea of the supposed "conflict" between nature and science, and concludes that the conflict is an imaginary one, since science is, in fact, the study of nature.
• Enforced: ???
• Lampshaded: "Well, of course Archie is brilliant but a selfish asshole, and of course Flora is a sweet girl but impossible to reason with when she gets hysterical. He's a man and she's a woman, after all."
• Invoked: ???
• Defied: Childhood friends Archie and Flora make a pact that they don't care if boys are supposed to be better at science and girls are supposed to be better at emotional stuff -- Archie's going to become a kindergarten teacher, and Flora will be a great inventor.
• Discussed: "Don't you find it strange that it's still considered socially unacceptable for a woman to act rationally and for a man to care about other people?"
• Conversed: ???
• Played For Laughs: Archibald is a Comedic Sociopath Mad Scientist. Flora is The Ditz, a Love Freak, and prone to comically extreme overreactions to minor incidents.
• Played For Drama: See Deconstructed above.

---

Back to Mother Nature, Father Science