Tropes that movies, etc. use that you hate.

[Moviefan2k4]

Just thought of one that really grates on my nerves. The "know-it-all/kid is the smartest person in the room'" trope.

In Heartland, there was this character that had become really annoying in the way she was written. First was in the way she was written in, in the first place (Character's parents aren't currently home, so she gets to stay the summer at the farm.) Then the writers had given her facts and figures to randomly quote, even if they're topics she has no experience in. This had been done so often that it started becoming a character trait of randomly deploying facts and figures. And always when there are more experienced adults in the room. The one thing that made me roll my eyes was when one of the characters was pregnant and about to have their baby, and the know-it-all who's probably in her early teens with no experience is suddenly the expert in pregnancy trumping characters 3 times her age who are in the room with her. I couldn't wait for her character to be written out of the show, and it was a relief when she had. What an awfully written character.

I despise this trope with every fiber of my being. That's why I love both The Mask of Zorro and the 1999 version of The Mummy, but the sequels to both aggravate me like crazy. Each of those installments give the once "brave and bold" heroes a child that's so smart, their parents become total idiots by comparison. It's truly pathetic, which is why I will never buy those sequels on Blu-Ray or 4K.

 

[Owain Taggart]

I mean, it's one thing to have a smart kid, and it's another to have them be written well and in a meaningful way. The latter is more of a rarity.

Just to use Young Sheldon as an example, that worked because his whole family and those around him loved him and supported him and the character himself was really entertaining to watch as he grew into the person in BBT. And he's a well-rounded character. And it wouldn't have worked nearly as well if the character sapped the energy in the room by upstaging everyone, although amusingly the writers poked fun at that trope several times throughout the course of the show, with some family members complaining he was getting all the attention. And that in turn helped make it so endearing.

But to have a kid that supposedly smart spouting facts in nearly everything they come across and have it become one of their main traits to the point that they're considered an expert, that would raise flags, and it would also be incredibly annoying.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Planets exploding for little to no reason.

Why? How?

I honestly don't think that can happen, ever

 

[MarcKle1964]

My wife actually noticed the food thing on her first time watching TNG, DS9, VOY, and ENT. I have to give her credit... I've seen every episode of those shows many, many times, but I never noticed that until she pointed it out. (It's one of the reasons why I love rewatching shows with her that she decides to check out... she thinks of things that never occured to me.)

Great example: "SECOND SIGHT", DS9. Sisko and Dax are on the second level of Quark's and Dax asks for something on Sisko's plate that he wasn't going to have but she wants because "it's delicious and I need the calories to keep up with Seyetik." She puts it on her plate, they talk for a minute or so... then she heads out, without touching what she just took from his plate.

She notices that no one ever bothers to finish their meals, or they get interrupted mid-meal. I was telling her the real world reasons (doing multiple takes of eating not being something many would want to do, etc.), and for STAR TREK, leaving the food is not necessarily wasteful because it's replicated and it would go back in there after they get back to it, anyway. But we also noticed this in other scifi shows, like BABYLON 5, where replicated food is not a thing.

Bottom line: now that she pointed it out, I see it every time in every show or movie I watch, too.

It might also be that the food stayed on the set on the plate for hours while the next take was set up to preserve scene continuity and placement and the actors were told to leave it there. Otherwise you get actors with food poisoning.

That's my half-assed guess why...

 

[Farscape One]

It might also be that the food stayed on the set on the plate for hours while the next take was set up to preserve scene continuity and placement and the actors were told to leave it there. Otherwise you get actors with food poisoning.

That's my half-assed guess why...

That seems logical. I like it.

 

[Captain Marsh]

I mean, it's one thing to have a smart kid, and it's another to have them be written well and in a meaningful way. The latter is more of a rarity.

Just to use Young Sheldon as an example, that worked because his whole family and those around him loved him and supported him and the character himself was really entertaining to watch as he grew into the person in BBT. And he's a well-rounded character. And it wouldn't have worked nearly as well if the character sapped the energy in the room by upstaging everyone, although amusingly the writers poked fun at that trope several times throughout the course of the show, with some family members complaining he was getting all the attention. And that in turn helped make it so endearing.

But to have a kid that supposedly smart spouting facts in nearly everything they come across and have it become one of their main traits to the point that they're considered an expert, that would raise flags, and it would also be incredibly annoying.

Not only that but many members (myself included) in many of the autism/neurodivergence groups on Facebook I'm in came to the conclusion that Sheldon has Asperger's and is gifted (giftedness is considered a form of neurodivergence). Hell, I have Asperger's, and I frequently annoy people b/c I tend to behave like Sheldon. But then again, I am blind to social cues and have very poor theory of mind.

Chuck Lorre and Bill Prady (who later admitted that he himself is on the autism spectrum) have said repeatedly that Sheldon isn't autistic. All the characters were based on people they used to work with. But this does make you wonder about the people they used to work with.

Jim Parsons however has said that in his opinion, Sheldon "couldn't display more facets" of Asperger's syndrome.

Mayim Bialik, who herself is a neuroscientist, has said in an interview on StarTalk that all of the characters are somewhere on the neuropsychiatric spectrum.

 

[username_goes_here]

Guess I shouldn't be surprised a Trek board hates the Wesley archetype.