# Pop Culture tropes that infuriate you. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 17, 2018, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269 "2018-06-17T17:13:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 6
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/101 "2018-06-19T13:38:37Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > Final showdowns between the good guy and the bad guy always have to happen on a high catwalk or precipice, in the rain. 99.999% of movie industrial sites look so much the same it’s ridiculous. I saw one recently which had work areas not set on a catwalk and where the color palette wasn’t “fluorescent green on black” and I wanted to hug the set designer. ---
**Author:** ![Icarus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/icarus/32/72_2.png) [@Icarus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Icarus)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/102 "2018-06-19T14:02:47Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > It still bugs me that, in the middle of a huge battle or hand-to-hand melee the leader of the Bad Guys and the leader of the Good Guys manage to find each other and duke it out man-to-man. Yep, I would love to see the trope subverted. Good Guy and Bad Guy are running to the catwalk precipice, and random henchman gets off a good shot and nails the Good Guy. The bad guys all stand there looking at each other and saying, “Uh, good shot Vlade. So, who’s up for tacos?” Then we see scenes of them stuck in traffic and going through the drive-through. The End. (That’s why they don’t let me make movies…) ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/103 "2018-06-19T14:05:06Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > People who confront the killer alone, without telling anyone where they are going. I’d call the cops. > > Two cops walk up the walk way together to confront the perp. Real cops walk up ina V-formation so if the guy comes out shooting a gun, he can only hit one before the other shoots him dead. This drives me bonkers (yes, I’m talking to you, Munch and Finn). I can’t count how many war movies I’ve seen where everyone in a squad is within about ten feet of each other. IRL, tactical movement is in a wedge formation with ten meters between each person so one grenade won’t take out more than one person. ---
**Author:** ![Steve\_MB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steve_mb/32/5339_2.png) [@Steve\_MB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steve_MB)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/104 "2018-06-19T14:06:23Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > People who confront the killer alone, without telling anyone where they are going. I’d call the cops. > > Two cops walk up the walk way together to confront the perp. Real cops walk up ina V-formation so if the guy comes out shooting a gun, he can only hit one before the other shoots him dead. This drives me bonkers (yes, I’m talking to you, Munch and Finn). Not to mention the related: _(describes important information that The Villain[tm] wants kept under wraps)_ “Have you told anyone else?” “Nope! Ahhhh, why are you pointing that gun at–” ---
**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:** [June 19, 2018, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/105 "2018-06-19T14:09:23Z")
And when the cop tells the person holding the weapon repeatedly to “drop it.” The only time I saw this happen in real life, the cops were holding their guns and one cop said “Drop it or I will shoot.” The guy knew he had about two seconds to drop it, and he did. ---
**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:** [June 19, 2018, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/106 "2018-06-19T14:26:25Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > And when the cop tells the person holding the weapon repeatedly to “drop it.” The only time I saw this happen in real life, the cops were holding their guns and one cop said “Drop it or I will shoot.” The guy knew he had about two seconds to drop it, and he did. What’s even worse is when the bad guy takes a hostage, tells the cops to drop THEIR guns,\* and the cops do it.\* ---
**Author:** ![Patch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Patch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patch)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/107 "2018-06-19T14:35:39Z")
> [@storyteller0910](#): > > My single favorite thing about the TV series _Monk_ was how it obliterated this trope. As the series started, everyone was skeptical of the title character because he was a weird dude with a mental illness and an off-putting personality. But once he had solved, like, three straight crimes, _everyone started believing him._ They didn’t always like him, didn’t always enjoy his presence, but they acknowledged that he was usually right and acted accordingly. Sometimes they didn’t _want_ him to be right - sometimes they fervently _hoped_ he wasn’t right. But they didn’t waste screen and story time ostentatiously doubting him, which was great. That’s very true. A great example of this was the episode with the mail bomber, and Monk was convinced the bomber was a guy who had been in a coma while the bombs were being mailed. Despite pressure from others, Captain Stottlemeyer stands by Monk. Great episode. ---
**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:** [June 19, 2018, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/108 "2018-06-19T14:56:02Z")
There almost always seems to be friction between law enforcement agencies. If the local cops are in the middle of a situation and the FBI steps in, then there’s a bitter back and forth about who is in charge and who can handle what’s going on. A dozen bad guys on the top of a high rise with automatic weapons? Here you go, Agent Johnson, let me know how I can coordinate my local police to help you. In addition to the above, the opposite agency of the hero is the one who’s going to be wrong, incompetent, or otherwise get in the way or hinder the hero. If the hero is the cop, then the FBI agent is going to be brusque and will give the hero crap for being a “small time cop.” If the hero is the agent then the cop will be an overbearing bumbler who can’t stand to lose his authority in his town. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/109 "2018-06-19T15:59:12Z")
> [@moojja](#): > > That’s believable to me. If Person 2 doesn’t love Person 1 back, then what can they do but ignore it. My issue is more with person 2, who never seems curious about what person 1 had wanted to say, or why they suddenly decided to drop it. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/110 "2018-06-19T16:23:14Z")
> [@Icarus](#): > > Final showdowns between the good guy and the bad guy always have to happen on a high catwalk or precipice, in the rain. And they invariably include either the Good Guy hanging by one hand from the catwalk while the Bad Guy stomps on his fingers, or the Bad Guy hanging by one hand. In the latter case the Good Guy will mercifully try to save him but he will slip through his fingers because of the rain and fall to his death (a variant of **BrianEkers** trope above). Just at the moment when the Good Guys have apparently triumphed, it will turn out one of them or one of their allies is either on the Bad Guy’s side or the disguised Bad Guy himself, and betrays them. After being made completely helpless they will somehow miraculously counterattack and prevail against insurmountable odds. ---
**Author:** ![Temporary\_Name](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Temporary\_Name](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Temporary_Name)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/111 "2018-06-19T16:48:13Z")
> [@River\_Hippie](#): > > Nothing new to contribute but a hearty seconding of the fat, dopey husband kept from disaster by his unrealistically hotter and smarter wife. Always bugged me. Realistically knowing there ARE guys (cough- right here) like this, I am encouraged by these shows and only want to know where to find my totally hot, totally devoted, very smart and supportive wife. I have seen it in real life on occasion, and upon investigation have found that the fat funny guy WAS an athlete and something of a catch when they were younger. That they were more evenly matched when they became a couple but then two things happened to create the current situation; first the wife/girlfriend puts off college where she could have met and married a successful hedge fund manager (perhaps because of an accidental pregnancy), and second the husband/boyfriend is given a job (by a friend or admirer of his championship arm) that is good for a teenager – but woefully inadequate for developing into an adult, which he still has after twenty years of beers with the fellas after work and no time at the gym. ---
**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:** [June 19, 2018, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/112 "2018-06-19T18:40:31Z")
I am sure that I have mentioned this more than once before but people talking on radios are all out of whack on the screen. Roger and Wilco as well as Over and Out are never used together in a real radio conversation. Roger means “I have received your last transmission satisfactorily” and Wilco means “Will comply” so saying “Roger Wilco” is redundant. Over means “This is the end of my transmission and a response is necessary; go ahead” while Out means “This is the end of my transmission and no response is required.” > **[Procedure word](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Procedure_word#OVER)** > > Procedure words (abbreviated to prowords) are words or phrases limited to radio telephone procedure used to facilitate communication by conveying information in a condensed standard verbal format. Prowords are voice versions of the much older procedural signs for Morse code which were first developed in the 1860s for Morse telegraphy, and their meaning is identical. > The NATO communications manual ACP-125 contains the most formal and perhaps earliest modern (post-World War II) glossary of prowo... Also, with shows and movies showing soldiers wearing berets, those berets are usually all jacked up. A properly worn beret in the US Army’s Airborne, Ranger, and Special Forces units have had the tie in the back clipped out and the liner removed, excess fuzz shaven away, then it gets soaked, shaped, pressed, shaved again, soaked some more, shaven some more, and shaped some more. Units like the 82nd Airborne Division pride themselves on the look of their berets and they usually tightly slope down the right side of the wearer and some even cover the right eye: [https://www.google.com/search?q=airborne+beret&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiY5ZCureDbAhXri1QKHVWfCTEQ\_AUICygC&biw=1721&bih=1012](https://www.google.com/search?q=airborne+beret&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiY5ZCureDbAhXri1QKHVWfCTEQ_AUICygC&biw=1721&bih=1012) Berets in shows and movies tend to not have so much shaping and usually look more floppy and not as “sharp.” Of course, I would argue that the typical Hollywood costumer wouldn’t have the time, knowledge, or resources available to make a bunch of really good looking berets for all the characters and extras. [https://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/nup\_171124\_0103.jpg?w=1000&h=563&crop=1](https://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/nup_171124_0103.jpg?w=1000&h=563&crop=1) > **[Hannibal Smith](https://kingsfan-awards-decorations.fandom.com/wiki/Hannibal_Smith)** > > Lieutenant Colonel John “Hannibal” Smith, US Army Special Forces, Medal of Honor Recipient (dishonorable discharge, 1972) (d. 1994) — Commanding Officer, the A-Team (1972–1972, dishonorable discharge) — George Peppard†: The A-Team Medal of... ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/113 "2018-06-19T19:16:03Z")
> [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](#): > > Also, with shows and movies showing soldiers wearing berets, those berets are usually all jacked up. A properly worn beret in the US Army’s Airborne, Ranger, and Special Forces units have had the tie in the back clipped out and the liner removed, excess fuzz shaven away, then it gets soaked, shaped, pressed, shaved again, soaked some more, shaven some more, and shaped some more. Units like the 82nd Airborne Division pride themselves on the look of their berets and they usually tightly slope down the right side of the wearer and some even cover the right eye: > > [airborne beret - Google Search](https://www.google.com/search?q=airborne+beret&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiY5ZCureDbAhXri1QKHVWfCTEQ_AUICygC&biw=1721&bih=1012) > > Berets in shows and movies tend to not have so much shaping and usually look more floppy and not as “sharp.” Of course, I would argue that the typical Hollywood costumer wouldn’t have the time, knowledge, or resources available to make a bunch of really good looking berets for all the characters and extras. > > [https://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/nup\_171124\_0103.jpg?w=1000&h=563&crop=1](https://pmcvariety.files.wordpress.com/2016/06/nup_171124_0103.jpg?w=1000&h=563&crop=1) > > [Hannibal Smith | Kingsfan Awards & Decorations Wiki | Fandom](http://kingsfan-awards-decorations.wikia.com/wiki/File:Smith,_hannibal.jpg) I’d argue that the Hollywood versions look sharper and have more shape to them. The ones in your first link look like they’re made out of soft felt. And letting it hang over the eye like that just looks sloppy. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/114 "2018-06-19T20:38:19Z")
> [@elbows](#): > > The first step in crime solving is asking a bartender or waitress, who remarkably recalls persons and timing! > > How convenient! Ask your friends that work in bars, this doesn’t happen like this. > > Even more egregious is the cop show format where the big break in the case involves throwing a guy up against a wall and threatening him. Awesome police work, it solves every case! I remember a particular egregious example of this. There was an episode of _Law & Order_ that aired in 1998; it was about the police discovering a body in a van that had been in The Hudson River since 1968. The police were questioning people about a specific day in 1968 and everyone they asked seem to recall where they were perfectly. I found it unbelievable. Maybe it’s just me though, I admit I have bad memory. I have no idea what a normal person’s memory. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/115 "2018-06-19T20:46:20Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Typing on the computer without using a mouse. I still see that, and by now all actors will have grown up with PCs so know very well how they work. You don’t type just by wiggling your fingers either, and it’s okay to look down at your hands once in a while. How do you feel about two people typing using the same keyboard? [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8qgehH3kEQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8qgehH3kEQ) ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/116 "2018-06-19T20:58:58Z")
More and more I’m bothered by people getting knocked out. It ain’t easy to knock someone out. People don’t come with off switches. People get stunned pretty easily, but “conked on the head, wake up an hour later” doesn’t happen. Also, I’m convinced that the reason for the Fermi Paradox is that humans haven’t developed the grip strength for successful travel in space. That’s why the aliens haven’t contacted us, because travelling on spaceships routinely requires people to dangle from railings by one hand, not to mention routinely dangling by one hand and holding on to another guy with the other hand hand and pulling them to safety. In the future everyone will be genetically modified with chimpanzee-like grip strength, and we’ll be able to take our place in the galaxy. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/117 "2018-06-19T21:11:16Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > And they invariably include either the Good Guy hanging by one hand from the catwalk while the Bad Guy stomps on his fingers, or the Bad Guy hanging by one hand. In the latter case the Good Guy will mercifully try to save him but he will slip through his fingers because of the rain and fall to his death (a variant of **BrianEkers** trope above). Further on this theme, good guy has a semi-solid grip on dangling bad guy so rescue is uncertain but not impossible. Bad guy elects to let go and fall to his death, I gather because he prefers death to living through the extended legal proceedings that would result from his arrest and prosecution. Heck, if the case is complicated enough, it could easily be two or three years before he even gets formally charged, and if there are capital crimes involved, even a death sentence means over a decade of appeals. Frankly, there are murderers who have probably lived longer on death row than they would have if they’d remained at large. And there always technicalities or witnesses who are implausible or juries that can be fooled… heck, roll the dice. ---
**Author:** ![planetcory](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/planetcory/32/1032_2.png) [@planetcory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/planetcory)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/118 "2018-06-19T21:26:58Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > My issue is more with person 2, who never seems curious about what person 1 had wanted to say, or why they suddenly decided to drop it. The type of person who would railroad somebody else’s news to talk about their own is probably too self-absorbed to realize they’ve done so. ---
**Author:** ![RikWriter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/49beb7/32.png) [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/119 "2018-06-19T21:30:57Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > More and more I’m bothered by people getting knocked out. It ain’t easy to knock someone out. People don’t come with off switches. People get stunned pretty easily, but “conked on the head, wake up an hour later” doesn’t happen. It’s especially egregious since everyone has seen MMA and knows all about a rear naked choke that can put someone out for a couple minutes without brain damage. ---
**Author:** ![caligulathegod](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/caligulathegod/32/9685_2.png) [@caligulathegod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/caligulathegod)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2018, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269/120 "2018-06-19T21:48:17Z")
> [@Lemur866](#): > > More and more I’m bothered by people getting knocked out. It ain’t easy to knock someone out. People don’t come with off switches. People get stunned pretty easily, but “conked on the head, wake up an hour later” doesn’t happen. Magnum freakin’ PI lived by this. He was conked out so many times I can’t believe he didn’t have brain damage and a soft spot on the back of his skull. The one that drives me up a wall is where a character needs to show some expertise in something, so it is explained in a casual mention that his/her dad, brothers, or whatever, were into it, so it was absorbed by osmosis. “I can fix this car, my dad was a mechanic.” “I can hack this UNIX system, my brother was a computer geek.” “I can diffuse this bomb, my uncle was on the bomb squad.” Wonderfully subverted in Fast Times at Ridgemont High by Spicoli when they crash Forest Whitaker’s car. “I can fix this. My dad is a television repairman.” Is it possible that Transformers’ Megan Fox’s dad was a “greasemonkey” and taught her how to repair cars? Perhaps. It’s a useful skill. It just drives me nuts any time a skill or aptitude is called for in a script, it’s always because of some family influence on the character that needs explained. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pop-culture-tropes-that-infuriate-you/816269.md?page=7)