# Cliches you'd like to see subverted **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 4, 2017, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliches-youd-like-to-see-subverted/776339 "2017-01-04T22:41:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliches-youd-like-to-see-subverted/776339/121 "2017-01-10T00:57:25Z")
> [@Marlonius](#): > > Characters fail to outrun explosion in slow motion and are not killed outright, but permanently disfigured. I actually subverted that cliché in one of my books. The hero is running away from a missile strike. He wakes up in the hospital four days later. Lucky for him, this is a SF series set a couple hundred years in the future and they were able to clone him some skin and fix the third degree burns over 80% of his body and repair the internal damage from the pressure wave. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliches-youd-like-to-see-subverted/776339/122 "2017-01-10T01:09:39Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > I’d love to see a scene where someone tries to bully their way past some security checkpoint and goes for the usual “don’t you know who I am? The general is going to be so upset if you waste his time!!!” kind of nonsense, and the sentry just adamantly refuses to break protocol. Real life related story. The guy in charge (whoever/whatever) of the US Naval Academy came in late one night, with a friend. He was out of uniform and apparently without a workable ID. The poor guard, probably some 19 year old dweeb with bad acne, refused admittance. Dick in charge raised a big fuss and threatened dire consequences. Dweeb held his ground. Dick was removed and “retired” after following shit storm. YAHHHH little guy! Or something like that as I recall it. ---
**Author:** ![Wolf333](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolf333/32/3460_2.png) [@Wolf333](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wolf333)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliches-youd-like-to-see-subverted/776339/123 "2017-01-10T01:24:48Z")
> [@Jennshark](#): > > Instead of detectives with awful personal issues, I’d like to have a police character who is happy and well adjusted. [_Midsomer Murders_.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118401/?ref_=nv_sr_1) DCI Tom Barnaby is happily married, has a good relationship with his daughter, has the occasional pint at the pub, and seems to be a decent boss. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Spayed\_PI](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Sam\_Spayed\_PI](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Spayed_PI)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliches-youd-like-to-see-subverted/776339/124 "2017-01-10T02:20:08Z")
The blond(e) one is intelligent and serious; the dark-haired one is scatterbrained, charming and fun-loving. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliches-youd-like-to-see-subverted/776339/125 "2017-01-10T02:34:25Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > . . . Villain is caught and taken to jail at the end. He doesn’t die in a hail of bullets, he doesn’t blow up on top of a building or fall to his death or crash into the ocean or have a semi truck fall on him. He just gets arrested and hauled away. . . . . And at no time does he confess to the crime. He’s going to stick to his guns and fight the charges the whole way. Without bragging that he’s going to get off. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliches-youd-like-to-see-subverted/776339/126 "2017-01-10T02:36:44Z")
> [@Sam\_Spayed\_PI](#): > > The blond(e) one is intelligent and serious; the dark-haired one is scatterbrained, charming and fun-loving. X-Files. I know Scully was a redhead, but it still works. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliches-youd-like-to-see-subverted/776339/127 "2017-01-10T03:29:24Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Homely girl lets her hair down takes off her glasses, and is still homely. Go to about 1:30 in [this clip from Arrested Development.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuSYA7-ea2Q) ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliches-youd-like-to-see-subverted/776339/128 "2017-01-10T03:47:47Z")
Actually, there are quite a few films in which the couple who you think are going to get together through most of the film don’t end up together. Both _La La Land_ and _Café Society_ in the past year were like this. So are _Casablanca_, _Play It Again, Sam_, _Annie Hall_, _My Best Friend’s Wedding_, _Shakespeare in Love_, _Brief Encounter_, and _(500) Days of Summer_. And that’s just to list the ones where (eventually) the couple mutually decide that they aren’t right for each other. There are also many where one of them dies. There are ones where one of them realizes the other is a jerk and gets as far as possible away from the jerk. There are ones where the jerk goes away because they didn’t love the other person and is now bored with them. There are those where one of them, who isn’t a jerk, decides that someone else would be better for them. I have been talking and writing for a while about at least some of these being examples of a genre I call the anti-romantic comedy, although that’s not a perfect name. I suspect that the love-doesn’t-triumph-over-all genre has been around just as long as the love-triumphs-over-all genre. The most famous example is _Romeo and Juliet_. Here’s a website with examples of movies where the couple don’t end up together: > **[Unhappily Ever After: Films Where the Lovers Don't End Up Together - Movie list](https://mubi.com/lists/unhappily-ever-after-films-where-the-lovers-dont-end-up-together)** > > These films consist of separation, death of one or both of the lovers, another relationship comes up etc… ---
**Author:** ![Gretchion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8edcca/32.png) [@Gretchion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gretchion)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliches-youd-like-to-see-subverted/776339/129 "2017-01-10T05:39:48Z")
> [@AlsoNamedBort](#): > > This is another one that I can’t imagine being a trope. Any examples of this one? There was an Addams Family episode where Lurch’s mom was coming to visit, and the Addams pretended to be his servants. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliches-youd-like-to-see-subverted/776339/130 "2017-01-10T14:45:49Z")
There was Power Rangers SPD episode where the tech guy pretends to be a Ranger. Also pretty sure it showed up on I Love Lucy and The Jeffersons. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliches-youd-like-to-see-subverted/776339/131 "2017-01-10T14:47:02Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > Go to about 1:30 in [this clip from Arrested Development.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuSYA7-ea2Q) Goodness! I wasn’t aware that reverse trope had been done. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2017, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliches-youd-like-to-see-subverted/776339/132 "2017-01-10T14:52:32Z")
In soap operas, the good girl is always blonde and the bad girl is always brunette. ---
**Author:** ![DZedNConfused](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dzednconfused/32/15991_2.png) [@DZedNConfused](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DZedNConfused)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliches-youd-like-to-see-subverted/776339/133 "2017-01-11T03:51:18Z")
> [@Sangahyando](#): > > I’d add: Faye Kellerman’s Police Lieutenant Peter Decker. His personal history is wildly and crazily complicated – he’s Jewish, but he isn’t, but after all he is – “functionally”, though, he seems to have a mostly-happy marriage, and to be a loving husband / father / stepfather. I would spiritedly disagree. He is not a nice man.He’s emotionally abusive to Rina and particularly to her younger boy. The only family membershe’s ever nice to is Hannah, his daughter. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliches-youd-like-to-see-subverted/776339/134 "2017-01-11T04:04:11Z")
> [@RikWriter](#): > > I actually subverted that cliché in one of my books. The hero is running away from a missile strike. He wakes up in the hospital four days later. Lucky for him, this is a SF series set a couple hundred years in the future and they were able to clone him some skin and fix the third degree burns over 80% of his body and repair the internal damage from the pressure wave. [Related webcomic.](http://thepunchlineismachismo.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/2011-11-14.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliches-youd-like-to-see-subverted/776339/135 "2017-01-11T04:11:54Z")
Is it possible to make a compelling mystery that isn’t a murder mystery? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliches-youd-like-to-see-subverted/776339/136 "2017-01-11T14:31:02Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Is it possible to make a compelling mystery that isn’t a murder mystery? Oak Island perhaps? Or where I put my damn car keys this morning? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliches-youd-like-to-see-subverted/776339/137 "2017-01-11T15:02:11Z")
Maltese Falcon? ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliches-youd-like-to-see-subverted/776339/138 "2017-01-11T15:40:15Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > Maltese Falcon? There are three murders in _The Maltese Falcon_–Miles Archer, Floyd Thursby, and Captain Jacoby. There are any number of Sherlock Holmes stories that don’t involve murder: “A Scandal in Bohemia,” “The Red-Headed League,” and “The Man with the Twisted Lip,” to name three off the top of my head. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2017, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliches-youd-like-to-see-subverted/776339/139 "2017-01-11T15:53:41Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > There are three murders in _The Maltese Falcon_–Miles Archer, Floyd Thursby, and Captain Jacoby. There are, technically, no murders in DIAL M FOR MURDER. I mean, yeah, there’s an _attempted_ murder, and there’s _another_ attempted murder, and in between somebody gets killed in self-defense; but nobody actually gets murdered while various folks rush hither and yon trying to get evidence that’ll stand up in court. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [January 12, 2017, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliches-youd-like-to-see-subverted/776339/140 "2017-01-12T11:18:23Z")
> [@Patx2](#): > > I would like to see characters not go down the basement or up in the attic when they hear the strange noise during the storm when the power is out. And then have the zombies, aliens, ghosts or monsters sloooowly open the door and walk down the stairs in the dark. That could make for a _very_ tense scene. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliches-youd-like-to-see-subverted/776339.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cliches-youd-like-to-see-subverted/776339.md?page=8)