# Retired tropes of yesteryear **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 23, 2022, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324 "2022-04-23T18:11:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**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:** [April 26, 2022, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/81 "2022-04-26T15:06:40Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > The idiot husband who keeps squeezing the metal charcoal starting fluid can, with the resultant mushroom cloud And the 'comedic explosion" in general, that seems like it would cause horrific burns and trauma, but just leaves the main character with a blackened face, torn and blackened clothing, and a chagrined look on their face. Sometimes accompanied by a sad “WAH-wah-wah” style sound effect. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/82 "2022-04-26T15:14:06Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > The idiot husband… Sadly, I am afraid this trope is still alive and well. ---
**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:** [April 26, 2022, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/83 "2022-04-26T15:26:33Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > It fell out of favor because, I suspect, not that many people actually got audited, and those that did didn’t find it as much fun as A Barrel of Monkeys. The one time I ever got “audited” was the first time I claimed to be in school for all 12 months, instead of just 8. I had just started grad school, so it was just a matter of sending them the official forms from the school showing I was really attending classes all year. ---
**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:** [April 26, 2022, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/84 "2022-04-26T15:35:51Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > Maybe it was far more common in the 1980s but Dominos and Pizza Hut Pizza Hut in Canada definitely had anchovies in the late 80s, when I worked there. We got very few orders, though. We’d open an industrial size can for one order, put the can into the fridge for the next use, then toss it out after a few days when no one else ordered any. That happened about every other month. I’m pretty sure we trashed about 90% of the anchovies that ever passed through the kitchen. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/85 "2022-04-26T15:42:04Z")
**The Man in the Street** interview is a dead device. If it was ever legitimate it was so back in the golden age of radio and movie newsreels, aided by how easily faked (most egregiously in the [anti-Upton Sinclair campaign for California governorship).](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TkIq9eIIAq4) Once TV arrived it was mostly fodder for parody by Steve Allen and Bob & Ray. Jay Leno finalized the subversion of “seeking the common wisdom” for “people are idiots.” ---
**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:** [April 26, 2022, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/86 "2022-04-26T15:51:17Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Once TV arrived it was mostly fodder for parody by Steve Allen and Bob & Ray. Jay Leno finalized the subversion of “seeking the common wisdom” for “people are idiots.” The modern version is TV presenters reading people’s emails and tweets that they send in, [which has already been mocked in comedy shows](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQnd5ilKx2Y). ---
**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:** [April 26, 2022, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/87 "2022-04-26T15:55:03Z")
> [@Horatius](#): > > Pizza Hut in Canada definitely had anchovies in the late 80s, when I worked there. We got very few orders, though. We’d open an industrial size can for one order, put the can into the fridge for the next use, then toss it out after a few days when no one else ordered any. That happened about every other month. I’m pretty sure we trashed about 90% of the anchovies that ever passed through the kitchen. My father-in-law, brother-in-law and I all like anchovies, and at family get-togethers where there’s take-out pizza there’s often anchovies. At least one, local Michigan-based chain (Jet’s Pizza) has anchovies available, and I’ve sometimes wondered how long an opened can of them sat around before it got to us. Not that it matters too much-- they’re so saturated in salt, and submerged in oil, they probably would last forever even at room temp. ---
**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:** [April 26, 2022, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/88 "2022-04-26T16:05:04Z")
Haven’t seen this for a while but I recall it used to be that sitcoms would have the cast putting on some kind of talent show. Only one that I can definitely remember was One Day at a Time but I’m sure that it was fairly common. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/89 "2022-04-26T16:13:09Z")
Yeah, pretty common. I remember it as late as the early 1990s, in _Major Dad_, but the cast putting on an amateur show of some sort was a big deal in the 1970s. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/90 "2022-04-26T16:23:24Z")
_ **The Dick Van Dyke Show** _ did this regularly when the cast had to help a friend out of a jam, fill in for a cancelled act, or entertain guests at a cocktail party. I’ve always thought it was very amateurish. How many times can you listen to “I Am a Fine Musician” before you start tuning it out? ---
**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:** [April 26, 2022, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/91 "2022-04-26T16:31:32Z")
Yeah, but when the cast sang a song tribute to Alan Brady it was a classic. ---
**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:** [April 26, 2022, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/92 "2022-04-26T16:37:07Z")
Feuding roommates tape a line down the middle of the room to define their respective territories. Bobby and Peter Brady did this, as well as Arnold and Willis on Diff’rent Strokes, and (I think) Herman and Grandpa Munster. Probably a bunch more. “Ha! The bathroom is on _my_ side!” ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/93 "2022-04-26T16:39:33Z")
Didn’t _Friends_ use that one once? It seems like I can picture Joey and Chandler doing that. That might be one of the last times that trope got used. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/94 "2022-04-26T16:48:49Z")
> [@solost](#): > > [Black Dude Dies First](https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BlackDudeDiesFirst): This trope is far more often parodied and lampshaded than it is played straight. A review of all the major horror movie franchises will show that if there’s a black guy at all, he’s usually either one of the last to die, or even one of the few survivors. I always thought this was specifically sci fi (and it was just that in a sci fi film, the black guy always dies, not that they die first) Off the top of my head: Terminator 2 Alien Aliens Predator They Live Escape from New York I can’t think of a major 1980/90s sci fi film with a black character who survives (with the exception of Lando in Empire Strikes Back) ---
**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:** [April 26, 2022, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/95 "2022-04-26T17:04:32Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > The original **The Matrix** was also pretty famous for subverting the “Magic Negro” trope, with not only Laurence Fishburne, but almost all the black characters surviving. The “Magical Negro” trope is different; it’s not about whether the Black character survives or not, it’s about a wise Black character who only exists in the plot to assist and advise a younger white person who is the ‘hero’ of the story, and they have no agency of their own beyond that. They may magically disappear when their work is done at the end of the movie, but don’t usually die. ‘the Legend of Bagger Vance’ being a prime example. Here’s a funny send-up the Black sketch group "The Astronomy Club’ did - Magical Negro Rehab: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/J89WcKaI-l8/maxresdefault.jpg "Magical Negro Rehab | Astronomy Club: The Sketch Show | Digital Exclusive | Netflix is a Joke") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J89WcKaI-l8) ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/96 "2022-04-26T17:08:48Z")
> [@griffin1977](#): > > I can’t think of a major 1980/90s sci fi film with a black character who survives (with the exception of Lando in Empire Strikes Back) You evidently didn’t see **Deep Blue Sea** (1999), which subverted a lot of tropes. Despite a rather famous loss of a black character at the beginning, the two survivors are both black guys. Besides that, the black guy is the only survivor of the Zombie attach in the original **Night of the Living Dead** (1968) until the very end, when he’s shot by the people who should be rescuing him. And there’s **Brother from Another Planet** The original **The Matrix** was also pretty famous for subverting the “Magic Negro” trope, with not only Laurence Fishburne, but almost all the black characters surviving. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/97 "2022-04-26T17:21:41Z")
There’s also Harry Belafonte surviving at the end of the post-apocalyptic film **The World, the Flesh, and the Devil** (1959) and Denzel Washington surviving the post-apocalyptic film **The Book of Eli** (2010). A Maori is among the survivors at the end of **The Quiet Earth** (1985) Chiwitel Ejiofor is one of the survivors at the end of **Z for Zachariah** (2015), yet another post-apocalyptic film. Actually, black actors have a pretty good track record in 1950-1960s post-apocalyptic films. as long as you don’t count Arch Oboler’s **Five** (1951), where Charles Lampkin’s character gets stabbed. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/98 "2022-04-26T17:22:57Z")
> [@solost](#): > > The “Magical Negro” trope is different; it’s not about whether the Black character survives or not, it’s about a wise Black character who only exists in the plot to assist and advise a younger white person who is the ‘hero’ of the story, and they have no agency of their own beyond that. They may magically disappear when their work is done at the end of the movie, but don’t usually die. ‘the Legend of Bagger Vance’ being a prime example. Yes, but one of the problems with the Magic Negro has been that, once he’s exhausted his usefulness, the filmmakers often kill him off, thus giving you a bit of drama over losing what appeared to be a main character. Morbius, though, didn’t die. ---
**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:** [April 26, 2022, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/99 "2022-04-26T17:23:30Z")
I’m not sure how naming movies from the 21st century, or the 1960s, really pushes back against the claim that movies from the '80s and '90s tended to kill of Black characters. That being said, _Blade._ ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2022, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324/100 "2022-04-26T17:24:03Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > You evidently didn’t see **Deep Blue Sea** (1999), which subverted a lot of tropes. Despite a rather famous loss of a black character at the beginning, the two survivors are both black guys. > > Besides that, the black guy is the only survivor of the Zombie attach in the original **Night of the Living Dead** (1968) until the very end, when he’s shot by the people who should be rescuing him. > > And there’s **Brother from Another Planet** > > The original **The Matrix** was also pretty famous for subverting the “Magic Negro” trope, with not only Laurence Fishburne, but almost all the black characters surviving. I was going to say prior to the late 90s where this became well known enough in mainstream culture to be commented on and actively avoided. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/retired-tropes-of-yesteryear/963324.md?page=6)