# Is there a name for this shooting trope? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted, movies\ **Created:** [November 30, 2021, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-shooting-trope/955176 "2021-11-30T01:40:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-shooting-trope/955176/1 "2021-11-30T01:40:01Z")
I’ve been watching the John Wick movies and have noticed that he never misses with his gun regardless of distance, time to aim, etc. The only determinant seems to be if the bad guy is a main character. Is there a name for this trope? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-shooting-trope/955176/2 "2021-11-30T01:48:29Z")
> **[Improbable Aiming Skills - TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ImprobableAimingSkills)** > > A character picks up a gun, bow, crossbow, throwing-knife, shuriken, or other ranged weapon, and gains Improbable Aiming Skills. This enables such feats as Blasting It Out of Their Hands, creating a Pinball Projectile, knowing how to Lead the … ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-shooting-trope/955176/3 "2021-11-30T02:07:42Z")
I thought it was called “movies.” Or maybe “television.” ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-shooting-trope/955176/4 "2021-11-30T02:13:55Z")
Wouldn’t that be true of any trope? ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-shooting-trope/955176/5 "2021-11-30T03:04:25Z")
Since you were already given a good answer, I made a joke. Some of them work, some don’t. There’s probably a name for this, too. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-shooting-trope/955176/6 "2021-11-30T03:22:56Z")
> [@Nars\_Glinley](#): > > The only determinant seems to be if the bad guy is a main character. This part would be Plot Armor: > **[Plot Armor - TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PlotArmor)** > > Lucky Bob! He's The Protagonist of a story, The Hero whose predestined role is to oppose — maybe even defeat — the villain. He's essential to the plot, which means it is assumed he will progress through the story until at least the … I don’t think there’s a specific trope name for the intersection of those two tropes, although it’s a sort of meta-example of the Yin-Yang Clash: > **[Yin-Yang Clash - TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/YinYangClash)** > > Two forces exist within the same 'Verse. Both of them are unbreakable absolutes. And they are diametric opposites. Naturally, this raises one question in everyone's mind: What happens when they fight? Sometimes the story itself will depict the … As a Game Room sidenote, in both the _Hong Kong Action Theater_ and _Feng Shui_ tabletop RPGs, how difficult it is to hit an enemy is determined by how important they are to the plot, not petty concerns like distance, time to aim, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-shooting-trope/955176/7 "2021-11-30T03:24:29Z")
Ok. I get it now. I’m not sure that the linked quote trope quite fits. My scenario is definitely a variation of it but probably isn’t popular enough to have its own trope. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-shooting-trope/955176/8 "2021-11-30T03:33:23Z")
It’s one of the cliches I most hate. I think it started back in the olden days of westerns, when the cowboys shot dozens of Indians at far range, off the back of a charging horse, or hanging onto a stirrup, or behind their back. Today it’s a cheap thrill, overused and overblown, as directors compete to see who can be most ridiculous in its application. I get the fact that movies can’t portray realistic gunfire. Either the hero would be dead in the first five minutes or no bad guys ever would be eliminated. (I’m sure we’ve all seen accounts of police pumping hundreds of bullets at a target and hitting nothing or the reverse of someone getting shot multiple times and keeping going.) But I hope never to see someone shooting two guns held cross-handed while jumping and hitting both targets ever again. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-shooting-trope/955176/9 "2021-11-30T05:10:34Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > in the olden days of westerns, when the cowboys shot dozens of Indians at far range Without reloading. And of course there’s a trope for this as well: > **[Bottomless Magazines - TV Tropes](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BottomlessMagazines)** > > Possibly one of the oldest and most abused tropes when it comes to gunplay is the frequent ignorance of just how many shots the good guys/bad guys have fired from their guns without stopping for a reload. In Real Life, most revolvers hold between … By the way, does anyone happen to know what the record is for the most movie shots fired out of a 6-shooter without reloading? ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-shooting-trope/955176/10 "2021-11-30T06:06:44Z")
It’s certainly a subset of my biggest pet peeve. I call it **Plot-Based Events**. There are so many instances of something happening on screen just because the plot needs it to happen. Protagonist gets shot at… well, if the plot needs the baddie to escape, it’s a hit that knocks her down (but heals up in an hour or so). If the plot needs her to catch the baddie, then it’s a miss. No logical reason for something happening, no consideration for what would happen in real life, just whatever advances the plot. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-shooting-trope/955176/11 "2021-11-30T06:13:01Z")
My biggest pet peeve about shooting in fiction is when you got 10 guys firing fully automatic at a single location and when it cuts to the target person he dodges and there’s like 3 or 4 squibs going off on the walls or ricochet sounds. I rarely ever see the sheer damage a concentrated gun fire barrage would actually do in a movie, unless it’s that one scene in Predator. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-shooting-trope/955176/12 "2021-11-30T06:18:31Z")
This is why the most sensible arrangement is that of Discworld, where narrativium is an actual thing. Instead of disingenuously pretending that stories operate in a real world but things “just happen” to occur because the plot requires it, in the Discworld universe it is openly acknowledged that this is in fact how that fictional universe works. So much more honest and forthright. ---
**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:** [November 30, 2021, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-shooting-trope/955176/13 "2021-11-30T06:40:27Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BottomlessMagazines](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BottomlessMagazines) > > By the way, does anyone happen to know what the record is for the most movie shots fired out of a 6-shooter without reloading? How about three shots from a one-shooter? On the series _The Great_, they have spent much time showing people tediously reloading their [flintlock pistols](https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/24927) after a shot, or carring multiple guns for multiple shots. But in one episode in the season two, someone is chasing someone around and shoots at them three times with the same flintlock without reloading. I guess the hoped people wouldn’t notice that one time? ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-shooting-trope/955176/14 "2021-11-30T06:54:41Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#): > > > [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > > > in the olden days of westerns, when the cowboys shot dozens of Indians at far range > > Without reloading. > > And of course there’s a trope for this as well: > > [https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BottomlessMagazines](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BottomlessMagazines) > > By the way, does anyone happen to know what the record is for the most movie shots fired out of a 6-shooter without reloading? A bad guy complained of at least 20 in **I’m Gonna Get You, Sucka**. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-shooting-trope/955176/15 "2021-11-30T12:23:16Z")
It’s called _ **HOLLYWOOD** _. It was parodied in _Blazing Saddles_, where Gene Wilder could instantly shoot guns out of 6 bad guys’ hands without moving his. Probably a record. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 12:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-shooting-trope/955176/16 "2021-11-30T12:34:42Z")
The John Wick movies are also an example of _[gun fu.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_fu)_ ---
**Author:** ![Horatius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/horatius/32/3572_2.png) [@Horatius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatius)\ **Post date:** [November 30, 2021, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-shooting-trope/955176/17 "2021-11-30T13:26:41Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > I rarely ever see the sheer damage a concentrated gun fire barrage would actually do in a movie, unless it’s that one scene in Predator. There’s the house scene in The Gauntlet, with Clint Eastwood. Maybe a bit over-the-top, but it sounds like you’d like it: [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8faVBuslik0&t=75) ---
**Author:** ![tavaritz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/71e660/32.png) [@tavaritz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tavaritz)\ **Post date:** [December 1, 2021, 12:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-there-a-name-for-this-shooting-trope/955176/18 "2021-12-01T12:31:07Z")
The TV-trope I hate most is impossible explosions. First is that most real explosions have no flames. Secondly cars going out of the road and tumbling don’t explode. Thirdlly gas-explosions in real life are hard to rig and are almost all not very effective even if you are close. Watch MythBusters trying to get cooking gas explosions to happen and you know what I’m talking about. I have seen the aftermath of cooking gas explosion in an apartment building in Helsinki. The one who tried suicide by inhaling the gas but instead got it to explode did got burn wounds. No-one else were injured. The top of her sinks sewerline broke down and the cast iron parts plunged down the sewer line into the turning in the cellar and that line was a bitch to get working ever since. Hope they fixed it when they had pipe renovation in the building in 2015 when I moved out there.