Story Memes or Themes You Just Can't Stand

[Anaamika]

Originally Posted by Kobal2

The TV show Supernatural springs to mind. Tulpas and ghosts and genus loci etc... are all real - but naturally a lone angel can destroy a roomful of actual Hindu gods without breaking a sweat (actually, I forget the exact circumstances of that particular scene, but it was very, very when I watched it)

Wow, now I'm doubly glad I stopped watching the show. That would have made me

[G0sp3l]

The plucky "Lois Lane" reporter who stops at nothing to get the story. I loved Kolchak but it's a stupid trope.

"I'm aware of his work" re: Woodward and Bernstein

[suranyi]

Any story that takes place in a dystopian future. I just can't stomach the thought of spending an entire story in such a place; it's too depressing.

[Ranchoth]

A series built around a premise that couldn't possibly get resolved (or significantly advanced) without ending the show—like "we need to get the ship back to Earth"/"escape the island"/"prove our innocence"/"find a cure"/"break the curse." More importantly, shows with such a premise that still devote lots of episodes to it.

The audience knows it's not going to work out; that it's going to be a red herring of hope, or something'll get screwed up at the last minute, or something. But we're still just getting strung along with the characters.

This can be averted in a series with a set story arc, true, but even then it often just replaces "impossible" with "very drawn out, and still filled with dead ends."

[Thudlow Boink]

Originally Posted by Ranchoth

A series built around a premise that couldn't possibly get resolved (or significantly advanced) without ending the show—like "we need to get the ship back to Earth"/"escape the island"/"prove our innocence"/"find a cure"/"break the curse." More importantly, shows with such a premise that still devote lots of episodes to it.

The audience knows it's not going to work out; that it's going to be a red herring of hope, or something'll get screwed up at the last minute, or something. But we're still just getting strung along with the characters.

Are you including the Coyote/Roadrunner cartoons in this?

[Saint Cad]

Originally Posted by Thudlow Boink

Are you including the Coyote/Roadrunner cartoons in this?

Just this one

[Imago]

Originally Posted by Anaamika

Parents whose children are threatened or only perceived to be threatened and they do crazy or insane things in response. I don't know if this hysterical response is truth or is caused to be worse by media. I mean, if your child is in danger, it really isn't helpful to go crazy, not listening to the people that can help you, and hurting everyone around you in the process of trying to save your kid. Half the time the hysteria doesn't even help.

I never watch these and skip these parts.

I was warned by working paramedics before applying to paramedic school that no matter what condition the kid is in, if you're answering a call about a kid, the parent(s) will always be the ones making your job difficult.

Probably because they saw this shit on TV and now they think it's okay.

[florez]

A lovely heart-of-gold streetwalking hooker attracting a single and decent family type guy, who brings her home to babysit or cook, which changes her completely, and makes her suitable to fall in love with and marry. A twist on Cinderella.

Also, the same vivacious and charming hooker finding her way into the heart of a super rich man, who loves her just for her, and not only for the great sex. And we are led to believe that he never gets mad and throws it in her face what she was doing when he found her.

[Lamia]

Originally Posted by Cumberdale

An episode of Zena had this. Zena was trying to prevent a man killing his child because a "god" told him to. In the end you hear a voice say basically, nevermind, then it is implied the one true god stopped it. And this show had other gods everywhere, yet the Christian one was actually real. It has been a while since I saw it, but that episode stood out for that reason.

I think you're misremembering this episode. Xena did eventually get into a stupid, tedious decline of the Olympians/rise of pseudo-Christianity story arc, but IIRC the episode you're thinking of didn't give the god of this monotheistic religion any special status relative to other gods who'd appeared on the show. The people who worshiped this god (they definitely weren't Christians, and I don't think they were explicitly identified as Jews although Xena and Gabrielle did meet Israelites in other episodes) referred to him as the "one true god", but there's no evidence that this god is more powerful than the Olympians and it's not totally clear that he even exists.

[scratch llll]

I can stand any plot no matter how trite except no plot, which would be any reality show. Unless it ends with everyone being beaten to death with a spiked club.

[Patch]

I read a lot of adventure novels. Standard formula is for the lone male character to be forced to work with the single female, and romance develops. At that point I just start skipping pages until the story starts again.

[Nava]

Originally Posted by andrew.

Not sure if I explained that very well but I do get kind of a meh feel in any story where someone's actions and character aren't what make them special, and instead it's an accident of birth the same has blue eyes or brown hair.

I think I know what you mean, let me tell you about Fran: two weeks ago there was a series of simultaneous chess matches here. My flatmate Fran, who was just out of a 12h shift as a security guard, was one of the players; he was also the only person who got to beat the chess master on the other side of the board.

The chess master got people asking questions, but the one who's been having two weeks of local fame is Fran, because people assumed the master would win a lot of his matches; nobody assumed that a tired rent-a-cop would win any. He's amazed by how many people have gone up to him and said "hey, you're the guy who beat the chess master, right?"

Originally Posted by Kobal2

The TV show Supernatural springs to mind. Tulpas and ghosts and genus loci etc... are all real - but naturally a lone angel can destroy a roomful of actual Hindu gods without breaking a sweat (actually, I forget the exact circumstances of that particular scene, but it was very, very when I watched it)

Originally Posted by Anaamika

Wow, now I'm doubly glad I stopped watching the show. That would have made me

The one episode similar to that which I remember is the one where we find out that Loki/Gabriel and Kali used to have a thing going on; there's a bunch of gods from different religions coming together (to a meeting called by Kali), some leave, some get killed-or-whatever* by others of the bunch, and Satan kills-or-whatever Kali.

* I mean, when talking about gods, demons and angels, I'm reasonably sure that "kill" doesn't mean the same thing as when talking about either The Reboot Brothers (as Ash once tells them, "you die more than anybody else I know") or a normal, living being. These people seem to be more into X-Men Death than the regular kind.

[MrDibble]

Originally Posted by Der Trihs

Shows where the tough women ("Vasquez Always Dies") and the sexually active women die first; or worse, exclusively.

Why do you want Michelle Rodriguez to be unemployed?



Personally, I frigging hate the Sickly Saint theme - someone is dying/ill and that makes them completely loveable/wise/irreplaceable. It was tiresome when it was women in garrets with consumption, it's tiresome now when it's cancer/brain tumours/AIDS

[Martini Enfield]

Attractive Trendy Twenty/Thirtysomething women (invariably living in London, New York, LA, or maybe Paris and working in some trendy fashionable and unrealistically paid job like fashion, PR, journalism, or something ill-defined but corporate) Who Can't Get A Guy.

You know why you can't get a guy? Because you're a high-maintenance, whiny, vapid, immature, entitled princess. Knock that shit off and watch your "man-drought" evaporate. Doesn't make for good TV/Movies/Chick Lit, though.

[Gyrate]

I hate every entry in TV Tropes. And the lampshading of every entry in TV Tropes. Mostly I just sit around and stare at the walls.

Seriously though, I hate where time is of the utmost essence and yet the various protagonists fart around resolving personal issues and giving speeches and staring intently into each others' eyes. This usually results in me shouting at the screen "Aren't you people supposed to be DOING something right now?". Man, that last episode of Spooks was just terrible, and don't get me started on Armageddon.

[Wheelz]

A cop or detective show, supposedly set in the real world, where a psychic shows up to help with a case. Everybody is skeptical and dismissive at first, but the psychic actually ends up cracking the case, and in the end we're left with the impression that the psychic was really and truly psychic after all. Usually ends with a lighthearted moment in which the psychic says to the most skeptical detective something like "Oh, and sorry about your date tonight." Then the phone rings and it's his girlfriend cancelling the date. Ha ha!

I don't mind shows with supernatural elements if that's the established universe they inhabit. In fact, I really liked Medium until the last couple of seasons, when it had grown somewhat tedious. But if a show is set in a realistic world, introducing apparently real magic and/or ghosts is lame and lazy.

[Fenris]

Originally Posted by Gyrate

Seriously though, I hate where time is of the utmost essence and yet the various protagonists fart around resolving personal issues and giving speeches and staring intently into each others' eyes. This usually results in me shouting at the screen "Aren't you people supposed to be DOING something right now?". Man, that last episode of Spooks was just terrible, and don't get me started on Armageddon.

While we're at it, there's the LOST trope which is similar.

Character A: My GOD--I'm glad to see you! You have all the answers to the mystery I've been trying to unravel. Let me ask you...what the hell is up with such-and-such?
Character B: You must come with me now. Look! Something shiny!
Character A: Oooo! Ok. I'll never ask again.

Just once (and it never happened in all six seasons) I wanted to see a character say "Fuck that. I'm not budging until you answer these three (four, five, whatever) questions with meaningful answers. Once you do, we'll talk on the way and you can explain more."

[Ludovic]

Thought of another one, pertaining to vampires and sometimes other supernatural creatures. When it becomes clear that there really are supernatural creatures in the world and a human picks a traditional* method to try to defeat them, invariably the first method selected fails horribly and the vampire laughs at the naivete of the attacker. "Oh, you thought we hated garlic? You're pretty gullible" [vampire later gets defeated by holy water] or conversely "Oh, you thought we'd be turned by your nonexistent god? What superstitious dreckery" [vampire later turns out to dissolve in light]

There's no reason one traditional method should be naive versus another one. Although I understand why the creatures would say that in that world, it comes off as a cheap ploy to build up suspense by having the first method not work, and slightly insulting those members of the audience who think that one traditional method might work, when it turns out that it was another traditional method.

*I almost put "folkloric" instead, but despite being traditional, some of these methods are quite recent in folkloric terms, being only 80 so years old.

[Swords to Plowshares]

Originally Posted by Ranchoth

A series built around a premise that couldn't possibly get resolved (or significantly advanced) without ending the show—like "we need to get the ship back to Earth"/"escape the island"/"prove our innocence"/"find a cure"/"break the curse." More importantly, shows with such a premise that still devote lots of episodes to it.

The audience knows it's not going to work out; that it's going to be a red herring of hope, or something'll get screwed up at the last minute, or something. But we're still just getting strung along with the characters.

This can be averted in a series with a set story arc, true, but even then it often just replaces "impossible" with "very drawn out, and still filled with dead ends."

Me: Wait, there's four seasons of Prison Break? Didn't they break out of prison in one season?

Them: Yes, but then they break back in to prison. Then they break back out of prison. Then they're on the lam.

Me: They should have just quit while they were ahead.

[Ludovic]

Originally Posted by Swords to Plowshares

Me: Wait, there's four seasons of Prison Break? Didn't they break out of prison in one season?

Them: Yes, but then they break back in to prison. Then they break back out of prison. Then they're on the lam.

Me: They should have just quit while they were ahead.

Wiggum: First we'll break you down. Then we'll build you back up again. Then we'll break you down again. Then we'll break for lunch. Then, if there's time, we'll build you back up again.

[burpo the wonder mutt]

Originally Posted by Ludovic

Thought of another one, pertaining to vampires and sometimes other supernatural creatures. When it becomes clear that there really are supernatural creatures in the world and a human picks a traditional* method to try to defeat them, invariably the first method selected fails horribly and the vampire laughs at the naivete of the attacker. "Oh, you thought we hated garlic? You're pretty gullible" [vampire later gets defeated by holy water] or conversely "Oh, you thought we'd be turned by your nonexistent god? What superstitious dreckery" [vampire later turns out to dissolve in light]...

Slight hijack: National Lampoon Radio Hour bit from 35+ (?) years ago: Hero goes to old castle, narrating the whole time ala oldie radio shows--the door squeaked shut behind me, as, sure enough, you hear the door squeak shut. Vampire enters, babbles macho stuff, H grabs a handful of something and hurls it at V who exclaims, "That's cinnamon! What are you going to do with that? Serve me cappuccino?" H takes out something from his pocket, aims it at V, and *click*. V:flashlight, no, daylight, yes. H whips out the cassette player--told you this was old--hits PLAY, and "Jesus Christ Superstar" begins to echo around the castle. V: for Chrissakes, NOOOOO! anything but that, and expires horribly.

[burpo the wonder mutt]

Sorry, couldn't get this in under the 5 minute edit time limit and didn't want to get Administrators involved:

"...serve me cappuccino?" H: "She said it was garlic!" V: "Who, the old lady who runs the organic herb shop in the willage? She certainly saw you coming! She's a real card, I love her!"

And now, I will not quit my day job. Thank you.

[Blackzilla]

It frustrates me when the protagonist's "shitty/awful job" is a great job that hundreds of other people would be glad to have, is likely to be a path to a GREAT career, and the things that make it shitty/awful are just dues-paying that anyone should expect to do on the way up.

The most egregious recent example of this that I've seen is Reality Bites, where Winona's "shitty" job right out of college is working on a morning TV show as some sort of production assistant. Especially viewed via a 2012 economy and recent grad job outlook, she's literally already ahead of 99% of her peer group and it's just galling.

On a similar theme, I hate when awesome/magical/deus ex machine bailout jobs occur as plot points in stories where the main theme of the story is someone struggling to make it in the world. A recent one that had me gritting my teeth was the movie She's having a baby, about the struggles of being a young married couple, wherein Kevin Bacon's character suddenly gets an amazing executive job in advertising via bullshitting his way through an interview that someone with his lack of qualifications wouldn't even get picked for in the first place, because the people interviewing him are so impressed as his blatant lying that they install him in the job. The fuck!? Considering the movie isn't meant to be a farce and is focused on young middle class struggle, it's a betrayal of the audience to wave the socioeconomic aspect away with a magical solution like that when the reality is that anyone else in their position would struggle through shitty jobs for the rest of their lives with little hope of improving.

[Boyo Jim]

Originally Posted by suranyi

Plots involving superheroes, vampires, or zombies. Which eliminates about 80% of all movies and TV shows nowadays, I think.

This. Throw in werewolves and you're up to nearly 100% of all programming.

[Sleeps With Butterflies]

Originally Posted by Annie-Xmas

Fat slob married to gorgeous hottie. The basis of about a million sitcoms.

This is a big one for me. Utter ridiculousness

[Sam A. Robrin]

Originally Posted by Blackzilla

... I hate when awesome/magical/deus ex machine bailout jobs occur as plot points in stories where the main theme of the story is someone struggling to make it in the world...

That, unfortunately, is Hollywood's approach to depicting poverty or just ordinary living. I recall especially avoiding any movie that ever won a prize at Sundance, as those were always phony depictions of poverty made by rich liberals for rich liberals, not a one of whom had the slightest first-hand experience with poverty, and just see it as a venue to justify playing politics.

[BlinkingDuck]

Once...just ONCE I would like to see the atomic weapon work against the aliens!

[Gyrate]

Originally Posted by BlinkingDuck

Once...just ONCE I would like to see the atomic weapon work against the aliens!

Not to spoil anything, but if you watch

SPOILER:

a certain recent summer blockbuster featuring superheroes

you may get your wish.

[Slow Moving Vehicle]

My only bete noire is bad writing. If a writer can take any of these plots and spin them into something intelligent or beautiful, I'm satisfied. As TvTropes says, tropes are not bad. A poster upthread blamed Jane Austen for writing rom-com chick-lit. Nicholas Sparks writes that, too. What makes Emma a classic and Nights in Rodanthe schlock is that Austen was a master of English prose, and Sparks...is not.

[Push You Down]

Originally Posted by GovernmentMan

Stop using the word meme. Especially in this way. "Story meme"? Are you serious?

Quietly applaud you sir.

[olivesmarch4th]

Meme means whatever The People say it means. This word has long transcended its original meaning.

My least favorite theme is the trend in romantic comedies to have a man deceive a woman, and then unwittingly fall in love. And then when the truth comes out he looks like a jackass and there is a brief interlude with the woman involving soft music, staring sadly into space and copious amounts of ice cream; and the man walking alone on a beach skipping rocks into the ocean, at which point the protagonist decides, ''Damn it, who cares if I lied?" And thinks of a big romantic gesture to apologize for being such a lying scumbag. And based on the Big Romantic Gesture the protagonista decides, "Damn it! Who cares if he lied?" And happily ever after.

[gatorslap]

Person A has something important to tell Person B. A tries many times, but keeps getting interrupted or misinterpreted. Person B finally finds out through some other means. Most egregiously, s/he will exclaim out loud in Person A's presence, with A responding "that's what I've been trying to tell you!" Can't stand it.

[olivesmarch4th]

Originally Posted by gatorslap

Person A has something important to tell Person B. A tries many times, but keeps getting interrupted or misinterpreted. Person B finally finds out through some other means. Most egregiously, s/he will exclaim out loud in Person A's presence, with A responding "that's what I've been trying to tell you!" Can't stand it.

Part of why this is dumb is the assumption that if Person A had only succeeded in telling the truth, Person B would have been totally cool with it. ''Oh, you're really a journalist pretending to be a sea captain all this time? Well, since you told me about it, I'm totally not pissed at all!"

[Gangster Octopus]

Using dreams to move the plot forward.

[Anaamika]

Originally Posted by Gangster Octopus

Using dreams to move the plot forward.

Ugh this. I hate dreams, unless they are a) super-brief and b) either 100% clear or 100% vague. That is, a ten-second clip of a vague dream doesn't bother me; it's all in the intrepretation. Same way a 10-second clip of a dream "X was killing me!" doesn't bother me, either.

Beyond that, stfu about your stupid dreams.

[Gangster Octopus]

Originally Posted by gatorslap

Person A has something important to tell Person B. A tries many times, but keeps getting interrupted or misinterpreted. Person B finally finds out through some other means. Most egregiously, s/he will exclaim out loud in Person A's presence, with A responding "that's what I've been trying to tell you!" Can't stand it.

There is the sub-meme to this.

Person A; I have something to tell you.
Person B: It's ok, I already know.
Person A: You do, and you're not mad?
Person B: I completely understand, you did what you had to do.
Person A; I mean, yeah, I did. But it doesn't bother you?
Person B: Heh, no, in fact I've done the same thing many times.
Person A: Really?
Person B: Oh yeah, I just did it last week.

And so on, when they aren't talking about the same thing but neither one is smart enough to realize it.

[Skald the Rhymer]

Originally Posted by Cumberdale

An episode of Zena had this. Zena was trying to prevent a man killing his child because a "god" told him to. In the end you hear a voice say basically, nevermind, then it is implied the one true god stopped it. And this show had other gods everywhere, yet the Christian one was actually real. It has been a while since I saw it, but that episode stood out for that reason.

How on Earth do you misspell the name of the series?

Anyway, in the context of the series, the Olympians, Dahak, and other deities Xena met were no less divine than the god of the Israelites or pseudo-Abraham's god. And Xena didn't worship any of them, except for perhaps the Fates. There was no suggestion that the god of the Israelites was supreme over the others; he was just one of the few gods Xena had ever met who wasn't a complete jackass.

[LAV25]

The Mad Colonel. Usually a colonel, sometimes a one-star general. Like some of the other complaints, it's worked in the past, but then just been done to death. Apocalypse Now? OK. Dr. Strangelove? Sure. A Few Good Men? Yeah, ok I guess. Donald Sutherland in Dreamcatcher (and probably a few others?) No. The Rock? No no no and no.

Police stations/government offices that look like MOMA. 24 and CSI, I'm looking at you guys. I've worked in both public safety and other places (not quite CTU) and I know what those workspaces look like. Offices. Kind of dirty offices sometimes, because when a room is occupied literally 24/7/365 (and yes, I do mean literally), it can be hard for the janitors to get a thorough job done.

One (non-super)hero vs 10 or more in a fistfight/improvised weapons brawl. Jackie Chan being the exception, because he is the Fourth Stooge (or fifth, I forget how many Stooges there really were), but come on, I don't care how mad your martial arts skillz are, eventually even kindergarteners could pig-pile you into immobility.

[Roadfood]

Originally Posted by LAV25

One (non-super)hero vs 10 or more in a fistfight/improvised weapons brawl. Jackie Chan being the exception, because he is the Fourth Stooge (or fifth, I forget how many Stooges there really were), but come on, I don't care how mad your martial arts skillz are, eventually even kindergarteners could pig-pile you into immobility.

Even two-on-one is never shown realistically. Bad guy #1 attacks the hero while bad guy #2 stands ready, arms outstretched. After the hero tosses or knocks out bad guy #1, then bad guy #2 attacks and is similarly dispatched. If bad buy #1 was just tossed, he gets up, and waits for bad guy #2 to be dispatched before going in for his next attack.

I took karate years ago. We did some two-on-one drills. Even when the one is a black belt, it isn't hard for the two to work it so that one of them gets around behind the one, where any good attack can do serious harm. Even when the one manages to avoid that, it requires so much constant, fast almost-running to avoid being in the crossfire that a) you can't wage any sort of effective attack, and b) you get completely drained of energy very quickly.

[harwell]

Want to be the first to know who your villain is in the latest blockbuster? Keep an ear peeled for classical music. If someone's listening to it, bad enough--but if you see somebody actually playing it, whoa baby! Super-villain time. The minute I heard Jeff Bridges tickling a little Chopin out of the ivories, I yelled "Look out, Iron Man!!!" The other patrons were ticked, but they had to admit I was right.

[Der Trihs]

Originally Posted by BlinkingDuck

Once...just ONCE I would like to see the atomic weapon work against the aliens!

Hmmmm. In Footfall, the humans manage to nuke the invader's Earth beachhead in Kansas, getting through their defenses with a coordinated strike by both the US and the USSR (and yes, the USSR's leaders were just a tad surprised to be asked to nuke Kansas).

At the end of the Stargate movie, the heroes teleport a nuke up to Ra's ship and destroy it.

[Boyo Jim]

A nuke even worked in the appallingly bad Independence Day, once they slipped it inside the shield.

[grude]

Vicious backstabbing families and friends, using low blow after low blow.

I HATE IT!

[Boyo Jim]

1. Hero and an army of cops surround villain and henchmen. Thousands of bullets are fired, half the neighborhood explodes, and somehow only the villain makes it out, along with the one thing that the good guys need to recover/defuse/rescue. This of course leads to the mano a mano final confrontation between the hero and the villain.

2. Surprised no one's mentioned it yet -- the shooters can all shoot a fly out of the air unless they're aiming at the hero or villain. Also, drywall protects hero and villain from all caliber weapons.

3. Final fight leaves the villain apparently dead, yet as the hero begins to relax, the villain grabs a weapons forcing the hero to shoot him six more times, making the villain apparently dead, ...

4. Final impalement of the villain. Something large, and not particularly sharp, has to be pushed entirely through the chest of the villain to insure death. This is often but not always the result of a fall from great height.

5. Hero can always take time out from engaging the villain to save the life, or reputation, or pet, of any family member.

6. Can't believe no one's mentioned the cop who's going to retire at the end of the day or week, and just isn't going to make it that far. THIS is one the the most reliable predictors of who's going to be the first person killed whose name we're supposed to know.

7. Cranky cop who hates working with partners because they always die, and no one seems to consider maybe the cranky cop is at least partly responsible for the deaths.

[Gyrate]

Originally Posted by Boyo Jim

Also, drywall protects hero and villain from all caliber weapons.

Also, all furniture is bulletproof.

IIRC this was lampshaded in The Sarah Connor Chronicles where it is revealed that they had the furniture reinforced in case of an indoor gunfight, and gloriously parodied in I'm Gonna Get You Sucka where the hero takes cover behind a chain-link fence at one point.

4. Final impalement of the villain. Something large, and not particularly sharp, has to be pushed entirely through the chest of the villain to insure death. This is often but not always the result of a fall from great height.

Parodied at the end of Hot Fuzz. "Owwwwwwww..."

[Mister Rik]

Originally Posted by Roadfood

I took karate years ago. We did some two-on-one drills. Even when the one is a black belt, it isn't hard for the two to work it so that one of them gets around behind the one, where any good attack can do serious harm. Even when the one manages to avoid that, it requires so much constant, fast almost-running to avoid being in the crossfire that a) you can't wage any sort of effective attack, and b) you get completely drained of energy very quickly.

I suspect this is why so many martial arts films play up, or at least imply some sort of mystical component to the kung fu. It explains why the hero can dodge attacks he couldn't possibly have seen coming, or accurately hit somebody without looking.

[JohnT]

Originally Posted by Boyo Jim

4. Final impalement of the villain. Something large, and not particularly sharp, has to be pushed entirely through the chest of the villain to insure death. This is often but not always the result of a fall from great height.

This is most commonly used when the protagonist is "not allowed" to kill someone - they're a pacifist, they've been through the hell of Vietnam, they had a childhood trauma, something is preventing them from putting a bullet into the guy who has tormented and killed the protagonists family/friends/dogs. The "Fall and Impale" sequence allows even Jesus H. Christ to tag-team with Buddha, killing with moral impunity.

Good list, by the way.

[you with the face]

Man-boy white loser guys getting into hijinks that usually involves explosions, lots of screaming in panic, or some kind of exotic animal showing up unexpectedly. Double points if they are positioned to be heros and, in spite of it all, end up saving the day.

Every time I go to the movies, I see at least one or two trailers for films of this genre.

[Anaamika]

Shoehorned romance pisses me off a great deal. I loved the bourne identity movies, but the girl was SO useless. And crazy to boot. She wouldn't have stuck by him, she would have ditched him. I liked Nikki so much better.

On the other hand, when you spend time building up a romance and charisma between a couple and then they don't make love, I feel cheated. Now I am thinking of Replacement Killers, which was an awesome movie, but there was such a deep and strong connection between the leads and they never did anything. Not even one kiss. (I know why this is, but that is a subject for another thread and not one I want to get into here.)

[Irishman]

"Science" and "scientists" are evil, heartless, "soulless" automata who are big corporate types, and the hero is the little guy with the intuition and plucky willpower. Twister, I'm talking to you.

Originally Posted by Lacunae Matata

Just once, I'd like to read a book wherein the male and female protagonists politely loathe one another in the first chapter and the last and in every chapter in between.

A. Lee Martinez wrote this book - Monster. It's a fantasy comedy with monsters and demons and such in a modern world. The two protagonists don't get along and don't fall in love and end up together. Of course, it's hard to enjoy the book because the guy is such a jerk.

Originally Posted by An Arky

+ a bajillion. Fuck vampires, fuck zombies and fuck everyone who creates demand for that idiotic shite

Ewww, I'm not fucking no zombies. Especially the rotting, half decayed ones.

Originally Posted by freckafree

Alternate timelines, especially where the impending death of everyone is averted at the last second by whatever deus ex machina returns the timeline to "normal," as though nothing had ever happened.

Aka, the magic Reset button. Sure, it allows you to have all sorts of harrowing and disastrous events, including real danger to the main characters (who presumably are under contract to return next episode), at the cost that the reset button erases the consequences completely, and thus negates the existence of the episode.

Originally Posted by MaxTheVool

So we start with a premise that there are vampires in the world which have remained hidden from the population as a whole. Now, this may be totally overdone by now, but there's a certain logic to it:

But then there turn out to be hundreds or thousands of these hidden mysterious creatures in a town with a population of an urban high school. What percentage of the population could be secret monsters and keep it a secret? 10%, 20%? Grimm is starting to feel like this. Recently, there was a meeting of all the beavers in the Portland area, they filled a room. Must have been a couple hundred people. That's just one subpopulation.

Originally Posted by Swords to Plowshares

Me: Wait, there's four seasons of Prison Break? Didn't they break out of prison in one season?

That was how I felt when watching the show.