...it's like TV Tropes, but LINKED DATA!
Sperm as People
- 138 statements
- 25 feature instances
- 14 referencing feature instances
| Sperm as People | type |
FeatureClass | |
| Sperm as People | label |
Sperm as People | |
| Sperm as People | page |
SpermAsPeople | |
| Sperm as People | comment |
There has been a great many arguments that are probably best left off the wiki about when a person actually becomes a person. Is it when they're born? Is it when they're still in utero but starting to look like a baby? Or is it even when they're still a zygote? Most people agree that a sperm by itself (and an ovum by itself) is not a person. In fiction, on the other hand... This trope is, essentially, when sperm cells are anthropomorphized. Given that humans are ultimately the product of the two gametes which combined to form the zygote, it's quite easy to imagine these cells as fully sentient, human-like beings in the way they get to their target, since with the magic of genetic variation, every cell that has a chance at making someone has its own genetic quirks, comparable to actual humans. Quite often, the sperm will have attributes like facial features or personality similar to either the man they're "living" in or the man's child they will end up conceiving. They will treat conception like a big event, often a race, with the egg as the "prize". On the subject of the egg, it is rarely anthropomorphized in the same way, possibly because ova do not move in the same way sperm do, but on the rare cases it is anthropomorphized, it will be a female, just as the sperm are nearly always portrayed as male (although the sperm might be portrayed as female if carries one of the two X chromosomes required to conceive a girl). Another weird point is that the semen they're supposed to live in is often not visible, possibly so that the living sperm can be seen clearly, not to mention the fact that physical depictions of semen are more often than not considered Not Safe for Work. Conception is usually portrayed as the sperm forcing its way into the egg or just sitting next to the egg, and what happens to the other sperm cells is either they get disappointed, they just disappear, they die, or it's not touched upon. It's actually much more complex in Real Life, with the egg outright developing a sort of armour plating - specifically, its zona pellucida extracellular matrix - to wall itself off from further sperm cells after fertilization, while the cells that didn't make it end up dying; even getting to the egg is a bigger hassle than popularly portrayed, as many cells die along the way due to the high acidity of a woman's... inner sanctum. The possibility of fraternal twins or tripletsnote which can only come about when there is more than one egg cell present isn't often mentioned either, which interestingly enough could be one way of reconciling this biological Plot Hole. Of course, don't expect any of this to be touched upon in most instances of this trope, as real-life complexities don't exactly make for a cohesive one-off segment in a narrative. A variation is when a person tells another person about "when you were a sperm" or mentions "when I was a sperm" or talks about "having been the fastest sperm". Sub-trope of Anthropomorphized Anatomy This trope is often used to either teach kids about "the birds and the bees" or as Vulgar Humour. Compare Anthropomorphic Food, Living Toys, Animate Inanimate Object, Egg Folk and Talking Poo for other anthropomorphic things, and I Call Him "Mr. Happy" for more realistic personification that has to do with male privates. Not Truth in Television of course, but for centuries, it was thought to be. Sperm cells were thought to contain "homunculi", i.e. tiny humans who developed in the woman's body. Examples |
|
| Sperm as People | fetched |
2024-02-13T09:15:30Z | |
| Sperm as People | parsed |
2024-02-13T09:15:30Z | |
| Sperm as People | processingComment |
Dropped link to ArtisticLicenseBiology: Not an Item - CAT | |
| Sperm as People | processingComment |
Dropped link to BigotWithACrush: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Sperm as People | processingComment |
Dropped link to Edutainment: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Sperm as People | processingComment |
Dropped link to MemeticMutation: Not an Item - CAT | |
| Sperm as People | processingComment |
Dropped link to OrphanedPunchline: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Sperm as People | processingComment |
Dropped link to ShoutOut: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Sperm as People | isPartOf |
DBTropes | |
| Sperm as People / int_11344689 | type |
Sperm as People | |
| Sperm as People / int_11344689 | comment |
BOO! It's Sex: In a section where Tara explains that it is possible to get pregnant on one's period, there is an illustration of a sperm in a waiting room. | |
| Sperm as People / int_11344689 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sperm as People / int_11344689 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Boo Its Sex (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Sperm as People / int_11344689 | |
| Sperm as People / int_14f9297e | type |
Sperm as People | |
| Sperm as People / int_14f9297e | comment |
One The Far Side comic has some sperm pretending to have different occupations so that the egg will "let them in". Another has a sperm with an outboard motor. | |
| Sperm as People / int_14f9297e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sperm as People / int_14f9297e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Far Side (Comic Strip) | hasFeature |
Sperm as People / int_14f9297e | |
| Sperm as People / int_19f564b3 | type |
Sperm as People | |
| Sperm as People / int_19f564b3 | comment |
Likewise, the spin-off Cells at Work! Lady depicts them as young, Bishōnen adventurers outside of their sperm-pods, which parallels the ovum being represented as a royal princess. | |
| Sperm as People / int_19f564b3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sperm as People / int_19f564b3 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Cells at Work! Lady (Manga) | hasFeature |
Sperm as People / int_19f564b3 | |
| Sperm as People / int_2237705a | type |
Sperm as People | |
| Sperm as People / int_2237705a | comment |
Implied in Osmosis Jones: One scene inside Frank's brain has a likeness of a sperm cell on a pedestal, which is drawn completely realistic unlike the other cells, but is credited as "Our Founder". | |
| Sperm as People / int_2237705a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sperm as People / int_2237705a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Osmosis Jones | hasFeature |
Sperm as People / int_2237705a | |
| Sperm as People / int_261c8d3f | type |
Sperm as People | |
| Sperm as People / int_261c8d3f | comment |
The Simpsons: In "Brother, Can You Spare Two Dimes?", Homer and Smithers' sperm samples are seen with their owner's faces. Smithers' healthy sperm swim in organized swarms. Homer's swim randomly and knock into each other, demonstrating that the nuclear plant has rendered him infertile. In "And Maggie Makes Three", Maggie's conception is depicted with a bunch of clumsy, Homer-headed sperm cells. As this was part of a Whole Episode Flashback recounted from Homer to his children, it leads to a cut to Homer pantomiming a wriggling sperm as the others chew him out for the pointless gross detail. |
|
| Sperm as People / int_261c8d3f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sperm as People / int_261c8d3f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Simpsons | hasFeature |
Sperm as People / int_261c8d3f | |
| Sperm as People / int_4418fe63 | type |
Sperm as People | |
| Sperm as People / int_4418fe63 | comment |
NSFW Comix in the early days has two "left-dwelling" sperm characters and their shenanigans to fertilize an egg. One is portrayed as a Soviet, the other a beatnik. | |
| Sperm as People / int_4418fe63 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sperm as People / int_4418fe63 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| NSFW Comix (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Sperm as People / int_4418fe63 | |
| Sperm as People / int_4fa346b7 | type |
Sperm as People | |
| Sperm as People / int_4fa346b7 | comment |
Played with in The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human, where humans in white outfits are used as symbolism for sperm. They then reach the end of the track and are confused at not finding an egg, get caught in a plastic tarp, and get gunned down to symbolize non-vaginal sex, condoms, and spermicide respectively. | |
| Sperm as People / int_4fa346b7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sperm as People / int_4fa346b7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human | hasFeature |
Sperm as People / int_4fa346b7 | |
| Sperm as People / int_5d354f8 | type |
Sperm as People | |
| Sperm as People / int_5d354f8 | comment |
The Red Dwarf episode "Backwards" is set in a dimension where time and aging works backwards. Lister dreads becoming a sperm. | |
| Sperm as People / int_5d354f8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sperm as People / int_5d354f8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Red Dwarf | hasFeature |
Sperm as People / int_5d354f8 | |
| Sperm as People / int_643cf5a7 | type |
Sperm as People | |
| Sperm as People / int_643cf5a7 | comment |
In Beavis And Butthead Do America, Beavis has a flashback of himself as a nose-picking sperm. | |
| Sperm as People / int_643cf5a7 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sperm as People / int_643cf5a7 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Beavis and Butt-Head Do America | hasFeature |
Sperm as People / int_643cf5a7 | |
| Sperm as People / int_648ba744 | type |
Sperm as People | |
| Sperm as People / int_648ba744 | comment |
Inverted in Middlesex, in which Cal imagines himself and his brother as tiny homunculi inside their eggs, waiting to be fertilized. | |
| Sperm as People / int_648ba744 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sperm as People / int_648ba744 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Middlesex | hasFeature |
Sperm as People / int_648ba744 | |
| Sperm as People / int_654c5aa8 | type |
Sperm as People | |
| Sperm as People / int_654c5aa8 | comment |
The opening/fertilization sequence of Look Who's Talking has all the sperm talking excitedly as they race each other to be the first to the egg. | |
| Sperm as People / int_654c5aa8 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sperm as People / int_654c5aa8 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Look Who's Talking | hasFeature |
Sperm as People / int_654c5aa8 | |
| Sperm as People / int_6d8d3c9 | type |
Sperm as People | |
| Sperm as People / int_6d8d3c9 | comment |
Cells at Work! CODE BLACK, being a series in which all bodily cells are anthropomorphized, obviously utilizes this trope upon discussing the nature of sperm cells. Here, they're depicted as people wearing sperm-shaped mechanisms around their torsos, complete with flagella. Likewise, the spin-off Cells at Work! Lady depicts them as young, Bishōnen adventurers outside of their sperm-pods, which parallels the ovum being represented as a royal princess. |
|
| Sperm as People / int_6d8d3c9 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sperm as People / int_6d8d3c9 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Cells at Work! CODE BLACK (Manga) | hasFeature |
Sperm as People / int_6d8d3c9 | |
| Sperm as People / int_99922571 | type |
Sperm as People | |
| Sperm as People / int_99922571 | comment |
The Sparks song "Tryouts for the Human Race." | |
| Sperm as People / int_99922571 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sperm as People / int_99922571 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Sparks (Music) | hasFeature |
Sperm as People / int_99922571 | |
| Sperm as People / int_9d884a07 | type |
Sperm as People | |
| Sperm as People / int_9d884a07 | comment |
In Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude, dialogue trees are represented as sperm cells with faces controlled by the player. | |
| Sperm as People / int_9d884a07 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sperm as People / int_9d884a07 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Sperm as People / int_9d884a07 | |
| Sperm as People / int_aa7c302e | type |
Sperm as People | |
| Sperm as People / int_aa7c302e | comment |
Son of the Mask has a scene cut from the American version. After Tim has sex with Tonya while wearing the Mask, it cuts to three green Mask-like sperm swimming towards an egg and using cartoon tricks to outlast the others until one successfully fertilizes Tonya. This scene was cut in the American version to make it more PG. | |
| Sperm as People / int_aa7c302e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sperm as People / int_aa7c302e | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Son of the Mask | hasFeature |
Sperm as People / int_aa7c302e | |
| Sperm as People / int_b616e08a | type |
Sperm as People | |
| Sperm as People / int_b616e08a | comment |
The Koit song "Egg and Sperm" is about some sperm trying to reach the egg. | |
| Sperm as People / int_b616e08a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sperm as People / int_b616e08a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Koit (Music) | hasFeature |
Sperm as People / int_b616e08a | |
| Sperm as People / int_bd953a4 | type |
Sperm as People | |
| Sperm as People / int_bd953a4 | comment |
In Getting Straight, the students watch a sex ed video that shows animated sperm swimming around an egg. One student yells, "Back, back, you fools! We've been tricked! It's only a wet dream!" | |
| Sperm as People / int_bd953a4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sperm as People / int_bd953a4 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Getting Straight | hasFeature |
Sperm as People / int_bd953a4 | |
| Sperm as People / int_cc49cf71 | type |
Sperm as People | |
| Sperm as People / int_cc49cf71 | comment |
In ''Once upon a time... Life, sperm cells at first look like some kind of swimming machine◊, but it's later revealed that they are merely wearing a visor on their face which they lose upon entering the egg◊. | |
| Sperm as People / int_cc49cf71 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sperm as People / int_cc49cf71 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Il était une fois... | hasFeature |
Sperm as People / int_cc49cf71 | |
| Sperm as People / int_e3a1067 | type |
Sperm as People | |
| Sperm as People / int_e3a1067 | comment |
An episode of Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt has a parody of the D Day landings with sperm as the soldiers of a man jacking off with Kleenex, which kills the sperm on contact. Their ghosts act as the Monster of the Week, who destroy stocks of tissue as revenge. The ending revisits the regular sperm, where their attempts to fertilize are again thwarted, this time by a condom. | |
| Sperm as People / int_e3a1067 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sperm as People / int_e3a1067 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Panty & Stocking with Garterbelt | hasFeature |
Sperm as People / int_e3a1067 | |
| Sperm as People / int_ea4f62db | type |
Sperm as People | |
| Sperm as People / int_ea4f62db | comment |
Family Guy presents a variation of this trope, depicting sperm as Space Fighters piloted by miniature pilots that look like the children they would conceive, who fight to reach the ovum. Stewie mentions he reached it because of the determination he developed at "testicular boot camp". | |
| Sperm as People / int_ea4f62db | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sperm as People / int_ea4f62db | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Family Guy | hasFeature |
Sperm as People / int_ea4f62db | |
| Sperm as People / int_ef076a36 | type |
Sperm as People | |
| Sperm as People / int_ef076a36 | comment |
The Star Trek: Voyager episode "Someone to Watch Over Me" has the Doctor try to teach Seven of Nine how to date. Seven, due to being raised by a hive mind of emotionless cyborgs known as the Borg, doesn't see the point of romance and thinks it's all about procreation. When the Doctor goes through the mating habits of various alien species, he starts explaining how procreation works, describing the ovum as a "fortress" and the sperm as "little warriors". Seven of Nine interrupts, saying that she already knows how that works. | |
| Sperm as People / int_ef076a36 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sperm as People / int_ef076a36 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Star Trek: Voyager | hasFeature |
Sperm as People / int_ef076a36 | |
| Sperm as People / int_ef337a8b | type |
Sperm as People | |
| Sperm as People / int_ef337a8b | comment |
DarkMatter2525: A minor character is Holy-Ghost Money-Shot, the magical sperm of Yahweh, who wears a wizard's hat and apparently impregnated the Virgin Mary. "Lord of the Nuva Rings" is a Shout-Out to The Lord of the Rings, in which all the characters are sperm looking for the uterus but then find a uvula instead. |
|
| Sperm as People / int_ef337a8b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sperm as People / int_ef337a8b | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| DarkMatter2525 (Web Animation) | hasFeature |
Sperm as People / int_ef337a8b | |
| Sperm as People / int_fa026a25 | type |
Sperm as People | |
| Sperm as People / int_fa026a25 | comment |
Bride of Frankenstein has homunculi (tiny people thought to come from sperm in the past) living in a jar. | |
| Sperm as People / int_fa026a25 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sperm as People / int_fa026a25 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Bride of Frankenstein | hasFeature |
Sperm as People / int_fa026a25 | |
| Sperm as People / int_ff72979a | type |
Sperm as People | |
| Sperm as People / int_ff72979a | comment |
In The Great Fight, one character tells a joke about three guys bragging about their excellent memories. The first guy says he remembers having his diaper changed. The second says he remembers being born. The third says he remembers going to a party with his father, and coming home with his mother. | |
| Sperm as People / int_ff72979a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sperm as People / int_ff72979a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Great Fight | hasFeature |
Sperm as People / int_ff72979a | |
| Sperm as People / int_ffc21ff1 | type |
Sperm as People | |
| Sperm as People / int_ffc21ff1 | comment |
In the Weebl & Bob music video "Babies", sperms with Weebl's face are briefly seen swimming towards an egg cell. | |
| Sperm as People / int_ffc21ff1 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Sperm as People / int_ffc21ff1 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Weebl & Bob (Web Animation) | hasFeature |
Sperm as People / int_ffc21ff1 |
The following is a list of statements referring to the current page from other pages.
Copyright of DBTropes.org wrapper 2009-2013 DFKI Knowledge Management. Imprint. - Thanks to Bakken&Baeck for hosting. Contact.
Copyright of data TVTropes.org contributors under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.
Copyright of data TVTropes.org contributors under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported License.