# The Language of Cinema Cliche: This is how you know that ...
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-language-of-cinema-cliche-this-is-how-you-know-that/295317
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [March 19, 2005, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-language-of-cinema-cliche-this-is-how-you-know-that/295317 "2005-03-19T15:10:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 6
### Author:  [@carlotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlotta)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2005, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-language-of-cinema-cliche-this-is-how-you-know-that/295317/101 "2005-03-25T04:57:58Z")
Those big, rusty metal drums?
Bad news.
Nobody ever opened one of those and found grain waiting to be shipped to save the hungry in the third world. Nope. Toxic waste or bodies, that’s all they’re good for.
If you see those drums, just back away.
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### Author:  [@WeRSauron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WeRSauron)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2005, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-language-of-cinema-cliche-this-is-how-you-know-that/295317/102 "2005-03-25T09:10:07Z")
> [@Scott\_plaid](#):
>
> I know this is getting of topic, but I have to agree with Brain on this issue. While I am sure christianity has done some good things, for the whole it has been a bad influence. However, that is really vearing off topic. For the love of god…
As the case would be with Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Shintoism, Sikhism, Jainism, Zoroastrianism, Confucianism, Taoism, Santeria, Vodun, and so on. Christianity does not have a monopoly on evil. (I would argue another religion being worse than Christianity, but I am not ready to be beheaded yet.)
WRS
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### Author:  [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2005, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-language-of-cinema-cliche-this-is-how-you-know-that/295317/103 "2005-03-25T13:32:06Z")
> [@Dooku](#):
>
> If a character happens to posses a unique skill, and time is taken early in the movie to display the character performing that skill, it is a 100% certainty that skill will become necessary at a crucial point late in the movie.
“[E]very gymnast in a movie sooner or later encounters a bar.” – Roger Ebert, quoting “an ancient movie principle”.
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### Author:  [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2005, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-language-of-cinema-cliche-this-is-how-you-know-that/295317/104 "2005-03-25T14:15:01Z")
If it is a movie made for the Lifetime channel, there will be a mother/daughter pair who don’t get along, and one of them wlil die of cancer/exotic disease by the end of the film.
If an naturally beautiful woman (i.e. [Sandra Bullock](http://www.nndb.com/people/601/000023532/sandra-bullock-sm.jpg) or [Anne Hathaway](http://www.cise.ufl.edu/~dcc/images/anne%20hathaway4.jpeg) ) has frizzy/messy hair and glasses, then she will be considered ‘UGLY’, and even a beautician/hairdresser will consider them a lost cause, beauty-wise…
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### Author:  [@RikWriter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RikWriter)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2005, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-language-of-cinema-cliche-this-is-how-you-know-that/295317/105 "2005-03-25T14:23:35Z")
> [@Scott\_plaid](#):
>
> I know this is getting of topic, but I have to agree with Brain on this issue. While I am sure christianity has done some good things, for the whole it has been a bad influence. However, that is really vearing off topic.
Yes, it is, and if you or he feel like discussing it further, take it to the Pit. I don’t really care if you two buy into movie cliches.
---
### Author:  [@Roberta\_Plant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roberta_Plant)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2005, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-language-of-cinema-cliche-this-is-how-you-know-that/295317/106 "2005-03-25T15:54:45Z")
When the opening from “All Along the Watchtower” or “Gimme Shelter” is played, it is “The Sixties” and/or drug use is occurring.
I am pretty sure I have heard “Gimme Some Lovin’” played for chase or car scenes in at least two different movies. Also that song that starts out “Hey Hey Hey” and launches into a horn rif signals a comedic chase.
(This is a fun thread!)
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2005, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-language-of-cinema-cliche-this-is-how-you-know-that/295317/107 "2005-03-25T17:45:56Z")
> [@Roberta Plant](#):
>
> “Hey Hey Hey” and launches into a horn rif signals a comedic chase.
I know the song, but for some reason I can’t recall the title or the artist (James Brown?). Anyway, I do remember that this horn break is at the _end_ of the song, not at the start.
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### Author:  [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2005, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-language-of-cinema-cliche-this-is-how-you-know-that/295317/108 "2005-03-25T19:46:14Z")
> [@acsenray](#):
>
> I know the song, but for some reason I can’t recall the title or the artist (James Brown?). Anyway, I do remember that this horn break is at the _end_ of the song, not at the start.
I’m thinking he means the song “Treat Her Right” - I can’t remember who made it an “oldies” classic, but at the end he says “Hey! Hey! Hey!” and then the horns fire up.
Found a [link](http://mfile.akamai.com/3178/wm2/muze.download.akamai.com/2890/us/uswm2/539/456539_1_09.asx?obj=v41214). (It’s Ray Head).
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### Author:  [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2005, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-language-of-cinema-cliche-this-is-how-you-know-that/295317/109 "2005-03-25T19:51:05Z")
That’s the one! It’s the song being played at the beginning of “The Commitments.” (But I think they recorded their own version.)
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### Author:  [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2005, 8:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-language-of-cinema-cliche-this-is-how-you-know-that/295317/110 "2005-03-25T20:07:21Z")
> [@carlotta](#):
>
> Those big, rusty metal drums?
>
> Bad news.
>
> Nobody ever opened one of those and found grain waiting to be shipped to save the hungry in the third world. Nope. Toxic waste or bodies, that’s all they’re good for.
>
> If you see those drums, just back away.
Well, sometimes they just explode at the slightest provocation. Shoot them? Boom! Drop them on the ground? Boom! Sneeze on them? Boom!
---
### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2005, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-language-of-cinema-cliche-this-is-how-you-know-that/295317/111 "2005-03-25T20:09:04Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#):
>
> “[E]very gymnast in a movie sooner or later encounters a bar.” – Roger Ebert, quoting “an ancient movie principle”.
Can we call that The Gymkata Principle?
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### Author:  [@Roberta\_Plant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roberta_Plant)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2005, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-language-of-cinema-cliche-this-is-how-you-know-that/295317/112 "2005-03-25T20:26:39Z")
That’s the one I meant! Thanks!
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### Author:  [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2005, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-language-of-cinema-cliche-this-is-how-you-know-that/295317/113 "2005-03-25T20:34:37Z")
> [@Roberta Plant](#):
>
> When the opening from “All Along the Watchtower” or “Gimme Shelter” is played, it is “The Sixties” and/or drug use is occurring.
A corollary: the closer a character gets to Vietnam, the more the probability of hearing Buffalo Springfield’s [For What It’s Worth](http://www.lyricsxp.com/lyrics/f/for_what_it_s_worth_buffalo_springfield.html) approaches 1.
If low-pitched mournful gospel music is heard, the protagonist is about to drive into a poor rural predominantly black area.
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### Author:  [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2005, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-language-of-cinema-cliche-this-is-how-you-know-that/295317/114 "2005-03-25T20:49:02Z")
> [@](#):
>
> When a notably pretty but bookish girl puts on too much make up, the other characters will realize that she - gasp - beautiful.
This one really bugs me. I think they look better and cuter with the mousy-geeky look on.
> [@](#):
>
> SCUBA masks are decorative only. It’s perfectly possible to see underwater without one.
Well, yes, you can. It’s probably not a good idea to do that in salt water for long periods of time but it won’t hurt you too much.
> [@](#):
>
> The less the filmakers know about computers, the more noise they will make while characters use them. (Ex: every keystroke beeps, “password denied” screen flashes and makes “wrong guess” noises)
And the more specific info will be diplayed on screen. A Law and Order ep the other day had some college information display whihc had two peices of info: somebody’s name… and the fact that they dropped out. Which was, oddly, the same screen that the secretary had previously and mysteriously gotten his grades from.
All ministers, regardless of what denomination they are, wear priestly collars.
[/quote]
Any character going into a Roman Catholic church always goes into a hugely complex Gothic Cathedral, sits in a darkened confessional with the a screen, and says, “Frgive me Father for I have sinned.”
Nobody says does that or says that, and while there are those giant Gothic cathedrals (and they look very cool) most Churches aren’t that elaborate.
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### Author:  [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2005, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-language-of-cinema-cliche-this-is-how-you-know-that/295317/115 "2005-03-25T23:15:25Z")
> [@Ignatz](#):
>
> You know that the person on the other end of the phone conversation has hung up on the on-screen talker when the on-screen talker LOOKS INTO THE RECEIVER-drives me batshit.
And if your phone call is suddenly cut off, you must try and reconnect it by repeatedly jiggling the receiver button and saying “Hello? _Hello_?” before looking into the receiver and announcing “We got cut off.” That way the audience, none of whom have ever used a phone before, will know you’ve been cut off.
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### Author:  [@MinniePurl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MinniePurl)
#### Post date: [March 25, 2005, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-language-of-cinema-cliche-this-is-how-you-know-that/295317/116 "2005-03-25T23:46:38Z")
Iconic City Structures, used at the beginning to establish the city the movie or show is set in, or if it is set in more than one city, to tell you where the action has moved.
Denver: Wells Fargo Center (A.k.a the [Cash Register Building](http://www.b-cvideo.com/images/denver.jpg))
San Francisco: The Golden Gate Bridge, then row houses on steep hills, then a cablecar.
New York City: depending on the period being depicted–
1930s-ish-1975: The Empire State Building.
1975-2001: WTC
2001-present: the space where the WTC used to be
Chicago: The Sears Tower
Los Angeles: Usually, a freeway. Occasionally, that building that is supposed to look like a stack of records, but really doesn’t.
London: Big Ben, then the palace guards.
Rome: the Colliseum
Paris: the Eiffel Tower, then the Arc de Triomphe
Sydney: the Opera House
I’m sure there are others I didn’t think of.
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### Author:  [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2005, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-language-of-cinema-cliche-this-is-how-you-know-that/295317/117 "2005-03-26T00:07:36Z")
> [@MinniePurl](#):
>
> New York City: depending on the period being depicted–
> 1930s-ish-1975: The Empire State Building.
> 1975-2001: WTC
> 2001-present: the space where the WTC used to be
Naw, 2001-present is Empire State Building again. No one would recognize that space. And let’s not forget the NYC Skyline. The Chrysler Building also belongs in the mix.
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### Author:  [@Morbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morbo)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2005, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-language-of-cinema-cliche-this-is-how-you-know-that/295317/118 "2005-03-26T00:41:47Z")
And of course, if those establishing skyline shots are at the very beginning of the movie, they really filmed it nowhere near that location. Probably LA or Toronto.
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### Author:  [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2005, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-language-of-cinema-cliche-this-is-how-you-know-that/295317/119 "2005-03-26T01:19:37Z")
> [@MinniePurl](#):
>
> Los Angeles: Usually, a freeway. Occasionally, that building that is supposed to look like a stack of records, but really doesn’t.
The Capitol Records building.
Also, [Los Angeles City Hall](http://www.acclaimimages.com/_gallery/_pages/0036-0409-1714-5241.html) gets used a lot.
And the [Hollywood Sign](http://home.earthlink.net/~kolsky/pix/photos/hollywood-sign-closeup2.jpg) and [Mann’s Chinese Theater](http://www.americaontheroad.it/immagini/manns_chinese_theater.jpg) are gimmies.
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### Author:  [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)
#### Post date: [March 26, 2005, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-language-of-cinema-cliche-this-is-how-you-know-that/295317/120 "2005-03-26T02:21:38Z")
> [@Dooku](#):
>
> And of course, if those establishing skyline shots are at the very beginning of the movie, they really filmed it nowhere near that location. Probably LA or Toronto.
😃 Remember _The Kentucky Fried Movie’s_ Bruce Lee parody, “A Fistful of Yen”? The camera pans New York Harbor, the Statue of Liberty in the foreground. Subtitle on screen: “HONG KONG”
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