Tropes that movies, etc. use that you hate.

[valkyrie013]

Watching some movies and tv lately, and some movies and series have used a few tropes that I just despise.
Now this thread is for movies, books, tv series, comics, manga, any media form. So its wide open to any thoughts.

So, my most hated trope:
Surprise Daddy/missing Daddy, can be mom, but mostly Dad is used. ( Certain recent movie used this, and a recent tv series also used it)

This trope, I dispise it in its various incarnations, from ST2 with us discovering Kirk had a kid all along with Carol, to Sisko leaving to the Celestial Temple when his kid was born, to the just Surprise! you have a X Year old kid I didn't tell you about! Or Surprise! you don't get to be in your kids life because of reason X

To me thats just mean to do, having both a father and mother in your life is important, and the usual thing of this trope of a mom not telling the dad, so the dad isn't a part of the kids life. The dad WANTS to be there, and is torn up that he wasn't there. Sure there are times like with Kirk where he knew of the kid, but the mom asked him to but out. Or some reason the parent can't be there. But usually the Dad was in the dark about it.

To me just lazy writing, and just serves to irritate the audience.

Comments on mine? Other tropes you'd like to discuss?

 

[flandry84]

Overused in shows like Law&Order but when a story that has an “awkward”ending like the killer/rapist getting away with their crime,having the hothead father/husband etc gun down the perp on the courthouse steps.

 

[Owain Taggart]

To me thats just mean to do, having both a father and mother in your life is important, and the usual thing of this trope of a mom not telling the dad, so the dad isn't a part of the kids life.

Somewhat similar is the missing sibling that suddenly appears. Watching Bad Blood, the main character Declan, played by Kim Coates, explains in the first season that he doesn't have any siblings. So of course, you know, he has no reason to think otherwise. But in season 2, a lost brother who just got out of prison appears, and another character even says, "I thought you said you didn't have a brother." Worse is the fact that he constantly needs looking after.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Zooming in on things that shouldn't ever be able to be zoomed in on.

You'll see some tech guy take a picture of what is basically a blurred blur, and zoom in on part of it, revealing a license plate in precise and ultra-realistic detail.

If it starts OUT blurry, that's all you're ever gonna get!

 

[auntiehill]

The female character existing solely to be brutally murdered, in order to spur the hero into action.

God's teeth.

 

[suarezguy]

Overused in shows like Law&Order but when a story that has an “awkward”ending like the killer/rapist getting away with their crime,having the hothead father/husband etc gun down the perp on the courthouse steps.

I think that kind of thing is rare enough to be effective.

Maybe mostly in kids' movies but when the characters get separated and then look for each other, miss seeing each other by a few seconds/feet

 

[Owain Taggart]

You'll see some tech guy take a picture of what is basically a blurred blur, and zoom in on part of it, revealing a license plate in precise and ultra-realistic detail.

It's sci-fi, because you need cloud-based AI that can analyze an image and improve it enough to be able to zoom in

Technically, it can be done on a small scale now. There are neural filters in Photoshop that can do a number of things, such as analyzing a black and white image and colorizing it.

 

[auntiehill]

Totally missing the point, I think.

 

[hbquikcomjamesl]

Eye-Scream.

I commented about the gratuitous use of eye-scream in PIC: Stardust City Rag. But then again, I regard the phrase "gratuitous eye-scream" as a both a pleonasm and a tautology.

"If a cadaver's eyes are gouged out, and there is no sentient being to observe it, does it still invoke this trope?" -- Eye Scream Koan

 

[ToddKent]

Somewhat similar is the missing sibling that suddenly appears.

Grey's Anatomy had a long lost sister show up. Then later they killed her off. Then even later they had yet another long lost sister show up.

The one I hate is when characters show up to their childhood home (or make an argument for not selling their childhood home) and point to a part of the wall where they marked their kids' height every year. For a while there it just showed up over and over in various TV shows.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Grey's Anatomy had a long lost sister show up. Then later they killed her off. Then even later they had yet another long lost sister show up.

Sounds like a symptom of running out of ideas from a long-running series. Did they ever explain the second lost sister?

 

[publiusr]

I can’t stand it when characters are blamed for something they didn’t do

 

[ToddKent]

Did they ever explain the second lost sister?

It's been awhile but I think one was a half-sister from the father's side and the other was a half-sister from the mother's side.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Just once I'd like to see a AIRPLANE-style moment where the base commander tells the packed room ''If anybody here isn't up to participating on this mission, you may leave now with nothing held against you''------and then they all do. This chestnut's been roasting since at least THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO

The reason that never happens? Something WILL be held against you. Everybody knows that. That's the reason why we never see anybody opting out of a situation like that. They know that despite what the commander just said, there WILL be consequences. You can't ignore that.

 

[wayoung]

Somewhat similar is the missing sibling that suddenly appears. Watching Bad Blood, the main character Declan, played by Kim Coates, explains in the first season that he doesn't have any siblings. So of course, you know, he has no reason to think otherwise. But in season 2, a lost brother who just got out of prison appears, and another character even says, "I thought you said you didn't have a brother." Worse is the fact that he constantly needs looking after.

A lot of the "Bad Blood"season 2 changes can be chalked up to the first season being based on a non fiction book examining the Rizzuto crime family and the second season being pure fiction. Had to go from dramatized real events to pure fiction, so they just ignored anything that didn't fit from the first season. Dude drives from Montreal to Toronto and back in minutes in one episode.

 

[Aragorn]

I don't like it when a TV show introduces a character who happens to be a close friend of one of the regulars, then turns out to be the villain of the episode and the regular has to make a tough choice. Doesn't land for me when I've seen this turncoat character for a total of four minutes.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Had to go from dramatized real events to pure fiction, so they just ignored anything that didn't fit from the first season.

Sure, and I understand having to create for the second season, but directly contradicting what was said in the first? And that crime family in the second season was horrible in the sense that I couldn't quite believe they could pull off a crime in the first place. The woman in charge wasn't very believable.

 

[wayoung]

Sure, and I understand having to create for the second season, but directly contradicting what was said in the first? And that crime family in the second season was horrible in the sense that I couldn't quite believe they could pull off a crime in the first place. The woman in charge wasn't very believable.

For sure the show went to shit season 2 once they completely left reality. I'm not surprised it didn't get a third season.

Have you read the book? It was pretty good, learned a bunch of stuff from it I didn't know before.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Have you read the book? It was pretty good, learned a bunch of stuff from it I didn't know before.

No, I haven't, but it did make me curious. I wasn't even all that familiar with what had gone on given I'm not from that area. The acting in the first season was amazing all around. Funny thing is about the second season, they'd filmed a lot of it in my area, including the italian club which they also seemed to film in, and in one scene you can even see the base of the superstack.

 

[wayoung]

No, I haven't, but it did make me curious. I wasn't even all that familiar with what had gone on given I'm not from that area. The acting in the first season was amazing all around. Funny thing is about the second season, they'd filmed a lot of it in my area, including the italian club which they also seemed to film in, and in one scene you can even see the base of the superstack.

Ah, I live not far from Montreal. I actually had a friend who changed her name because it was Rizzuto (no relation) to avoid anyone thinking she was a relation during the killings. Or anyone thinking she was a relation in general. It was always the first thing anyone asked when they heard her name.