| The trope | An instance | A good fit |
| The “nosy neighbor” is a well-known, and some would argue, timeworn trope in entertainment. Some say it’s time to jettison the archetype altogether. Others argue they represent real-life people and should stay — but “be ‘relatable’ and ‘3D’ while serving their purpose.” Lamentably, it’s women most often portraying this character type. | Arguably, Gladys Kravitz from Bewitched, is the most famous “nosy neighbor.” One present-day meme describes her as “The Original Doorbell Camera.” She was a grotesquely stereotyped shrewish gossip — always on the lookout for delicious secrets and rumors by peering suspiciously around her living-room window curtains at least once an episode. | Crime fiction is a genre in which nosy neighbors thrive — busybodies, gossips, sleuths. They’re the busybody who, over their morning coffee, witnesses a murder while spying on the house next door, and the town gossip who realizes there’s something not right about the family down the block and relentlessly snoops. |
Sources:
- Craig, E. S. (2009, November 23). Nosy Neighbors and other stock characters. Elizabeth Spann Craig.
- Tropedia, C. T. (n.d.). Nosy neighbor. Tropedia.
- The nosy neighbor in crime fiction: busybodies, gossips, and internet sleuths. (2022, February 1). CrimeReads.
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