# Dead or nearly dead tropes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 25, 2025, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797 "2025-02-25T23:14:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/161 "2025-02-26T22:55:48Z")
> [@F.U.Shakespeare](#): > > “That was from all that yelling!” I don’t know about his case, but you can get cancer from yelling or other damage to your larynx. But I’d bet he was a smoker. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2025, 11:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/162 "2025-02-26T23:57:00Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > Pedantic nitpick here. The term antihero does not mean a protagonist like Walter White who actively does bad things instead of good things. An antihero is a hero who is trying to do good, but rather than being the perfect handsome broad-shouldered upstanding citizen with a square jaw who helps old ladies across the street and always does the right thing, is flawed, human, and imperfect (e.g. Rick from Casablanca) I disagree - what you’re talking about is a flawed hero. They’re a hero because they’re still trying to do good despite their own weaknesses and shortcomings. An antihero, to me, is someone who does good, not because they care, but for selfish reasons like money or revenge. Travis Bickle, for example, kills a bunch of crooks because he’s crazy and obsessed and filled with hate. That makes him an antihero. In very general terms, it’s like this: Does good for good reasons: hero. Does good for bad reasons: antihero. Does bad for good reasons: tragic hero (or anti-villain, which may not be a word). Does bad for bad reasons: villain. (IMHO, of course) ---
**Author:** ![drewbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drewbert/32/15890_2.png) [@drewbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewbert)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/163 "2025-02-27T01:37:41Z")
What was it in the ‘70s with gorilla suits, gorillas in cartoons, and chimpanzees? I never understood why that was a thing. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/164 "2025-02-27T01:45:34Z")
Can we add “lighten up Francis?” The movie came out almost 50 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/165 "2025-02-27T02:10:30Z")
To add my 2¢ worth, I’d say that an anti-hero is someone who fights bad guys (or at least worse guys) without being limited by an ethical code. Torture, oathbreaking, summary execution, looting the bad guys’ ill-gotten gains, flat-out vengeance; anything goes. The sort of person who calls classic moral heroes “Boy Scouts”. Who when told that killing the big bad will make them just like them goes ahead and does it anyway. ---
**Author:** ![alphaboi867](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alphaboi867/32/3898_2.png) [@alphaboi867](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alphaboi867)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/166 "2025-02-27T02:28:42Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > Men ordering food for their dates without consulting them first. > > Good riddance to this one. Or women getting menus without prices. ---
**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:** [February 27, 2025, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/167 "2025-02-27T02:32:19Z")
Or not realizing they just swallowed the hidden engagement ring. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/168 "2025-02-27T02:38:22Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > > [@griffin1977](#): > > > > An antihero is a hero who is trying to do good, but rather than being the perfect handsome broad-shouldered upstanding citizen with a square jaw who helps old ladies across the street and always does the right thing, is flawed, human, and imperfect (e.g. Rick from Casablanca) > > I disagree - what you’re talking about is a flawed hero. There’s also the reluctant hero, which is similar to the flawed hero. Rick from Casablanca might actually be a better fit for reluctant hero. A reluctant hero is an everyman just trying to get by in life, who suddenly and unwillingly is thrust into the hero role. Luke Skywalker is a good example. Anyway, back to the dead or dying tropes: one that was ubiquitous for awhile on CSI-style police procedurals is a video playback of a crime scene where the lead CSI commands 'enhance!" and something like a grainy reflection on a car bumper is magically transformed via computer into a clear image of a perp’s face. That one has been ridiculed and satirized out of existence, I think. But then, I haven’t watched too many police procedurals lately. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/169 "2025-02-27T02:44:54Z")
Something like [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMBkWtDAPBY&ab_channel=Serenity)? ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/170 "2025-02-27T02:49:12Z")
Ha, I’m feeling a strong sense of deja vu, as if I brought up the enhance thing in another recent thread and you posted that link in reply. I know I’ve seen that video very recently thanks to a link in a SDMB thread, whether or not the prompt was me and / or the video link response was you. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/171 "2025-02-27T02:50:19Z")
> [@NDP](#): > > For reference, here are a couple of handy TV Tropes pages. And > **[Dead Unicorn Trope - TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DeadUnicornTrope)** > > A plot, character, or story element which is parodied or mocked as overused, even though it wasn't in broad use to begin with. The result is a strange metacontextual trick where viewers congratulate themselves on the death of something that never … ---
**Author:** ![zbuzz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e19b73/32.png) [@zbuzz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zbuzz)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/172 "2025-02-27T03:16:48Z")
I can’t think of too many Very Special Episodes™ recently. If the misheard-somemthing-while-eavesdropping trope isn’t dead, it should be because Three’s Company ran it into the ground. And maybe this wasn’t a widely repeated trope, but I kind of remember some old episodes on various shows where a young couple wants to get married RIGHT NOW, so they announce they’re going to drive to Maryland because you don’t need a blood test there to get married. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/173 "2025-02-27T03:19:12Z")
> [@zbuzz](#): > > so they announce they’re going to drive to Maryland because you don’t need a blood test there to get married. The “blood test” idea is exactly the type of thing I was thinking about when starting this thread. Definitely something once extremely common that you never hear about any more. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/174 "2025-02-27T03:19:30Z")
> [@solost](#): > > the lead CSI commands 'enhance!" and something like a grainy reflection on a car bumper is magically transformed via computer into a clear image of a perp’s face. That one has been ridiculed and satirized out of existence, I think. But then, I haven’t watched too many police procedurals lately. The two current Law & Orders seem to be able to get remarkably detailed closeups from cheap security cameras. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/175 "2025-02-27T03:27:27Z")
Also have we gotten to 174 replies without mentioning the classic example of a dead trope: Showing a couple smoking in bed to indicate they had just had sex The irony being showing smoking is nowadays as much of a taboo as showing sex ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/176 "2025-02-27T03:28:46Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > A man (usually Tony Curtis) dating two women. Oh no! They’re both stewardesses, nurses, etc. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/k1cjQDTD_ww/maxresdefault.jpg "New girl - Nick Miller on having one wife") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1cjQDTD_ww) ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/177 "2025-02-27T03:31:58Z")
> [@ZipperJJ](#): > > The flaming-gay-but-nobody-mentions-it comic relief character, a la Uncle Arthur on _Bewitched_. I never picked up on that! But then, I never realized Liberace or Paul Linde or Charles Nelson Reilly were, either. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/178 "2025-02-27T03:46:01Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > > [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > > > > [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > > > > > Thought of another one: drunk person having odd hallucinations or seeing something real that is odd and thinking that it is an alcohol-induced hallucination. > > > > There was an oddly specific trope for this > > Although acute alcoholic psychosis is known in the medical literature, it’s far more common for hallucinations to be a result of alcoholic **withdrawal** , _delirium tremens_. I wonder if the trope of hallucinating while drunk dates from a time in which poisonously bad “hooch” was a thing, a holdover from Prohibition. TV taught me that as a kid. There was an episode of MASH with an alcoholic nurse. Of course they spent years being booze hounds but to show someone with a serious alcohol problem they needed to use a one off character. She starts hallucinating and Potter says it’s the DTs. Klinger (I think) says she didn’t seem drunk. Potter explains you don’t get DTs when you are drunk you get them when you stop drinking. I had never heard of any of it. > [@Andy\_L](#): > > > [@Asuka](#): > > > > I feel I’ve still seen “Man joins the military because it was either that or prison” in movies to this day despite that not really being a thing at all since the 1970s > > I heard a news story with that happening in the 2000s: > > [https://www.thisamericanlife.org/206/transcript](https://www.thisamericanlife.org/206/transcript) > > > We had some time to kill, and I saw a group of talkative young sailors who looked like they might be talkative interviewees. I asked Lieutenant Gorell if it will be OK to talk with them, but worried about their big mouths, he steered me instead to a serious-looking sailor named Kevin [? Wrenn. ?] This turned out to be a mistake for poor Lieutenant Gorell. > > > > #### Kevin > > > > I’m just ready to go home. I don’t know what it’s about. > > > > #### Ira Glass > > > > How come you chose the service? > > > > #### Kevin > > > > A court order. > > > > #### Ira Glass > > > > Really, court-ordered? > > > > #### Kevin > > > > Yeah, that’s how they do it in Texas. Instead of you going to jail, they send you to the armed service. So that’s how– > > > > #### Ira Glass > > > > They gave you the choice of jail or the Navy? > > > > #### Kevin > > > > Yeah, or the armed service, any armed service. That’s been illegal for quite awhile. I would call bullshit on that. Even if local authorities tried it he would fail the background check. I used to be able to tell you exactly where to find that in the regulations but I haven’t had to find it in a long time. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/179 "2025-02-27T03:52:02Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > That’s been illegal for quite awhile. I would call bullshit on that. Even if local authorities tried it he would fail the background check. I used to be able to tell you exactly where to find that in the regulations but I haven’t had to find it in a long time. Here’s at least one case as recently as three years ago: > **[Judge tells ex-prison guard convicted of sexually assaulting an incarcerated...](https://www.businessinsider.com/ky-man-sexual-assault-sentencing-join-military-or-go-to-jail-2022-1)** > > "You are under the gun, young man," a judge told a man who admitted to sexually assaulting a shackled woman. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2025, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797/180 "2025-02-27T03:54:32Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > > [@Loach](#): > > > > That’s been illegal for quite awhile. I would call bullshit on that. Even if local authorities tried it he would fail the background check. I used to be able to tell you exactly where to find that in the regulations but I haven’t had to find it in a long time. > > Here’s at least one case as recently as three years ago: > > [Judge: Man Convicted of Sex Assault Can Join Military or Go to Jail - Business Insider](https://www.businessinsider.com/ky-man-sexual-assault-sentencing-join-military-or-go-to-jail-2022-1) That article pretty clearly shows why it doesn’t work. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dead-or-nearly-dead-tropes/1014797.md?page=10)