Tropes that movies, etc. use that you hate.

[dupersuper]

Do you remember which episode Waverly "faked" a British accent in? I'd like to see it.

The first episode of season 2, I believe.

 

[captainkirk]

Because I've seen this twice today...

The "5 stages of grief" thing.

It's not real.

It's a reductive take on Kubler-Ross's research that lazy writers latched onto as an easy way to have characters proceed with grief, which the general puplic, seeing it on TV and film so often, accepted as real.

It's not, and Kubler-Ross herself denounced how it was being represented in popular culture, blaming herself in part for perhaps not phrasing her research better when presenting it to the public..

The theory was generated by a small sample size of people in nursing homes, all in palliative care, and all facing thier own deaths, not the deaths of others. The five stages were neither sequential nor universal, but were the five most common she observed people experiencing in that very specific situation. It was never meant to be an overall theory for the general process of dying, and was especially never meant for people who were grieving others who died. The universal application of it has done considerable harm to people, who believe they must go through those stages and get upset when they are "stuck" in one or fail to proceed from one to another.

There is virtually no empirical evidence for these stages and it's generally regarded as harmful pop psychology.

(And yes, one of the reasons this is a pet peeve of mine is because my degree is in psychology and I spent a year working in a palliative care unit, but as an administrator, not any sort of practitioner)

That sounds like how the idea of the "Alpha wolf" is still so common in media even though it was based on a study of wolves in captivity that has since been debunked by its own author.

 

[BK613]

That sounds like how the idea of the "Alpha wolf" is still so common in media even though it was based on a study of wolves in captivity that has since been debunked by its own author.

Or the "We only use ten percent of our brain" myth, long ago debunked by neuroscientists.

 

[J.T.B.]

Offhand, my most hated trope is the bomb disarming scene. I don't know how common it is these days, but it never generated any tension for me since they're obviously not going to kill any main characters by having them randomly cut the wrong wire.

The greatest of all bomb shows, though, Thames TV's Danger UXB, wasn't afraid to blown up anybody in the cast. But of course it was a mini-series.

There's also about a thousand head of cattle that you often just hear and never see. And a town drunk. And a spinster school marm.

Be advised though that if a rash of hand injuries involving gunshots occurs, things are about to change....

Since we seem to share an affinity for a certain movie...

 

[BK613]

^^A guilty pleasure...

 

[J.T.B.]

Person A doesn't want to kill anyone. But they get in a fight or struggle, and Person B falls and their head hits right on a rock, table, fireplace or something else hard, and they die.

 

[Kor]

A completely different trope; I just realized I'm not a big fan of the thing where a character loses their memory and then gets tricked into working for the wrong side, gets tricked into thinking his friends are his enemies, or whatever.

Kor

 

[BK613]

Those naturally-occurring (or sometimes man-made) theme park rides movie characters always seem to find underground.

 

[Aragorn]

Bad guys with guns don't use guns on good guys, allowing good guys to fight back and win.

 

[Kamen Rider Blade]

It's not so much a trope as it is a technical aspect of TV/movies.

I HATE Shakey Cam, the Jason Borne series made me nautious while watching.

Seriously, we have Steadi Cam for a reason, USE IT.

Also, I hate lots of Jump Cuts in fight / action scenes.

Minimize the Jump Cuts, less is better.

Also, don't be afraid to show foot work.

And if your weapon has ammo, be consistent on ammo count, don't just mysteriously shoot 10-rounds out of a 6-round revolver.

Also, ammo going empty at the most perfectly inconvenient of times for "Dramatic Effect".

 

[valkyrie013]

The first Jason Bourne movie wasn't shaky cam.. The rest were and agree, couldn't tell who was doing what.

 

[Kor]

Speaking of shaky cam, I can understand a certain amount of dynamic camera movement in action scenes. But it easily becomes overdone and nauseating.

And I'm not big on the meandering 'handheld camera' thing going on with more stationary scenes like ordinary conversations, such as these for instance:

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I suppose it's meant to add a feel of documentary-type 'realism' or 'immediacy' to this type of scene, but to me it comes off as lazy filmmaking.

Kor

 

[JirinPanthosa]

One thing about certain kinds of procedurals like House and Monk.

The message they don’t seem to acknowledge they’re sending is “It’s okay to be different or eccentric, but only if you happen to be really really good at something.”

 

[FormerLurker]

One thing about certain kinds of procedurals like House and Monk.

The message they don’t seem to acknowledge they’re sending is “It’s okay to be different or eccentric, but only if you happen to be really really good at something.”

I think it's worse than that, actually. The message I get from them is "It's okay to be different or eccentric, but only if you happen to be really good at something at which most other people suck."

 

[Aragorn]

The first Jason Bourne movie wasn't shaky cam.. The rest were and agree, couldn't tell who was doing what.

Jason Bourne had 3D showings in China and it made the audience sick.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

Jason Bourne had 3D showings in China and it made the audience sick.

The Bourne Identity was made by Doug Liman and didn't have shaky cam. Paul Greengrass took over for The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum and Jason Bourne and those DID have shaky cam (to nauseating results )

 

[Starbreaker]

One thing about certain kinds of procedurals like House and Monk.

The message they don’t seem to acknowledge they’re sending is “It’s okay to be different or eccentric, but only if you happen to be really really good at something.”

The Big Bang Theory. Elementary, Rick & Morty, etc. It normalizes being a total asshole if you think you have superior intelligence.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

The Big Bang Theory. Elementary, Rick & Morty, etc. It normalizes being a total asshole if you think you have superior intelligence.

I was more focused on the cases like Monk that imply that the characters wouldn't be expected to show empathy for someone who has a mental illness if he weren't useful, but yes.

 

[TREK_GOD_1]

It does seem like certain genres like horror tend to lean heavily on lapses on common sense to make their entire premise work.

See every Friday the 13th film after the 1980 original. There's no way anyone would be caught and killed by Jason when common sense and survival instincts would have Jason being tricked and/or killed almost every time.

 

[Owain Taggart]

See every Friday the 13th film after the 1980 original. There's no way anyone would be caught and killed by Jason when common sense and survival instincts would have Jason being tricked and/or killed almost every time.

Ahh yep, not to mention that seeing as how many movies there's been in the series, that his victims should have become wise to his tricks by now.

Another trope is the ski vacation trope where it's guaranteed an accident will happen.