The cliches I loath:
A woman is shown a child and told its her’s. She first denies it, then accepts the child and bonds to it. (Seems to show up in science fiction: Battle Star Galatica, Eureka, The X-Files.)
There is only one person who can do <insert universe/world/life saving act here>
What cliches do you find repugnant?
There’s a straightlaced by-the-books kind of guy. There’s also a rebel plays-by-his-own-rules kind of guy. There’s some tough situation in which some other guy (Bob) is in danger. The straightlaced guy says “there’s no way to save Bob’s life”. The rebel says “here’s a crazy plan… it’s very risky, it might kill us all, but it might just save Bob’s life”. The straightlaced guy says “it’s too risky”. But the rebel convinces him to try it, and sure enough, they save Bob’s life.
Wouldn’t it be more interesting to see them actually make the tough choice and NOT save Bob’s life because, risk/reward-wise, that’s the correct choice? Or see them try the super risky plan, and it actually goes up in flames (which does happen from time to time)?
“I’ve got something to tell you.”
“Oh me too!”
“Ok, you go first.”
“<Some piece of information that changes things>. Now what were you going to tell me?”
“Never mind, it’s not important.”
Saying something twice for dramatic affect then the person’s name, Mouse_Maven. Saying something twice for dramatic affect.
:smack:
There are times when I’m to stupid to be on the Dope.
Young people with minimum wage jobs living in $3,000/month apartments. Particularly in NYC.
In love person fighting the tide (I’m no good for you) for a full 2 hours - then at the last minute realizes that he really does love her - but she’s flying off to _____, so he has to race to the airpport and is just in time to see her plane take off (how he knows that’s her plane is a mystery) and he hangs his head in despair, but the out of focus (oooh now it’s coming into focus) shows us that she got off the plane, 'cause she loves him too, but he doesn’t notice and starts to walk away slowly. He finally looks up to see her. Oh love!
Teenaged boy/girl is shown a mech/finds out she has magic powers and and is told s/he has to us it to save the world. Boy/girl is able to use the mech/magical powers immediately with no learning curve. Said boy/girl will probably resist it for about four episodes, then decide they can’t ignore things blowing up around them.
I hate it when the characters in a movie seem to know who’s a lead and who’s just cannon fodder, and treat them in unrealistic/inconsistent ways.
Action movies are the worst offenders. Say a group of cops are in a gunfight with criminals. One of the cops is the main character, the rest are no-name extras. An extra gets shot and falls over-- the other cops barely notice and keep right on fighting. The main character gets shot-- the action stops and everyone else runs over to see if they’re still alive, call for an ambulance, etc.
You know that new (gadget/psychic ability/scientific discovery) we casually introduced in the first ten minutes of the show? Turns out that’s the only thing that will (repair the ship/kill the bad guy/close the rift in space-time) at the end of the show. Lucky, huh?
Also, the gorgeous actress who is frumped up at the beginning of a movie so that her “inner” beauty can be gradually revealed, thus justifying the love that the lead actor has begun to feel for her despite her apparent unattractiveness.
Where “frumped” = wearing glasses. Stylish and modern glasses, but glasses just the same. Or alternately, she’s (gasp!) a brunette.
When a mystery movie is going along just fine until … oh crap … the aliens did it.
I would argue that that is a story convention and not a cliche. Its that or they pull a solution out of their asses at the last minute and people bitch about as well.
Solutions have to be set up at some point don’t they?
Cliches are repugnant by nature. How can I choose?
Oh, alright. I vote for “person who has lost faith/the ability to love/some other thing learns to [whatever] all over again because the other characters continually meddle with his/her life.”
There are ways of setting things up so they don’t seem appallingly obvious, though. The problem occurs when , for instance, in an episode of a show you see them making a big deal over some piece of machinery, when they’ve never really cared about machinery before, or paid attention to it. You know exactly what’s coming. And there’s no point in watching any more.
When a man dresses up as a woman and then another man tries to have sex with him. See, it’s funny because it’s a man trying to have sex with a man! If I never see this cliche in a movie again I’ll be really happy.
“The Crying Game” is the only movie in existance where this cliche actually works, and that’s because we aren’t invited to either laugh at or pity either the cross-dresser or the man, Mouse_Maven. The only movie in existance.
On TV tonight: Three’s Company
Somebody overhears somebody say something, misinterprets it, and hilarity ensues.
So you never watch the same program more than once? Never seen a movie more than once? What’s the point? You’ve already seen it.
It is still a story convention whether it is handled well or not is different.
Not if it’s as badly and blatantly done as that. I don’t like getting hit on the head with a sledgehammer, even if I know it’s coming.
Two, both involving criminals and roadblocks.
A criminal can approach a roadblock, and if he is at least 3 cars back, he can turn around and drive back the way he came, and the cops won’t think twice about it.
Also, if a criminal couple pretends to be in the midst of a huge fight while at the roadblock, the cops will wave them through, not wanting to interrupt the argument I guess.