Now that most of us are watching a lot more movies and TV, and our options for new, quality entertainment are going to get thin pretty soon, I thought it might be good to vent on this.
One of mine is “friend / mentor / trusted confidante who turns out to be in league with the bad guys (or the main bad guy)”.
Probably more of a sub-trope, but I’ve seen it twice in the past couple of days and it annoyed me both times: somebody getting shot/stabbed through the palm of the hand with little to no long-term problems. It is idiotic–the palm is one of the most intricate, dense assembliges of functional elements in the human body and almost any penetrating injury there is likely to cause some degree of crippling for life.
Best/Worst example for this trope: Quentin Tarrantino in “From Dusk Till Dawn” being shot through the palm, fixing it with duct tape and going on like nothing had happened.
Westerns do this a lot- all you have to do is get the bullet out, and he will be OK.
Sometimes it is best to leave the bullet in, in fact.
Non-fiction: I knew a guy who got a cleaning rod and 7.62 round shot through the palm of his hand. He was in A VERY complicated cast contraption for a very long time.
The reluctant hero. Hero’s that have to be begged to take action. No, no, no, no… well OK.
People falling long distances, like several stories or down an elevator shaft, then saving themselves but grabbing a railing or window ledge.
Loved ones reuniting with each other (after having been separated) and immediately hugging, kissing, having long heart-to-heart talks, etc. - while gunfire is going on around them, while the zombies/creatures are still chasing them, while the terrorists/bad guys are still in hot pursuit. Get to a place of safety first, ***then ***you can talk and hug as much as you want!
Sword fights where the participants appear more interested in bringing their swords together in a clash and coming up with witty banter than in actually trying to, you know, kill the other guy. Where the only acceptable outcome is a thrust to the heart or a slash at the main body, as if the idea of a swipe at the leg or, god forbid, a knee to the groin would be out of the question.
Ditto with fist fights fought as boxing matches or according to some kind of strict martial arts rules.
A slight corollary to this is the hero who gets the drop on the bad guy after a fight or gun battle, seems about to kill him, but says “no, I’m not going to kill you- I’m not like you”. The hero is then momentarily distracted, most likely by the female love interest giving him a thank-you hug, giving the bad guy a chance to bring out a hidden weapon and try to kill the hero, giving the hero no choice but to kill him after all.
People conversing about secret stuff in the middle of a crowd (or in another public space). It gets so bad that when “Glee” had someone actually overhear something mentioned in the hallway and do something about it, it was genuinely surprising.
Only if, upon removal, the bullet goes “clink” in a metal pan.
Then the bad guy says “do it…DO IT!!!”:rolleyes:
Not the same thing but here is a 15 month old surviving an 11 story fall. :eek:
The hero’s journey.
This seems like a common one. Some random douche bag in a bar or restaurant picks a fight with the main character, who is usually just minding his own business. Usually to show us the character is a) the sort of loser people randomly beat up for no reason, b) was a loser bit is now a badass (due to years of martial arts training or superpowers) or c) to create tension between the character and his love interest (“OMG I can’t believe you did that”).
I’m not saying that such fights don’t occasionally happen. Particularly in younger bars where lots of meatheads might hang out. But the idea that some investment banker is going to pick a fight with some random dude at Capital Grille or wherever is absurd.
Right. Generally trying to dig out the bullet or pull the knife out yourself is about the worst thing you can do.
Guy meets girl.
Isn’t that less of a trope and more of a story structure?
I’m tired of the chosen one. But even then, if the story is good enough I can live with it.
You need to get used to RealityChuck’s delicate sense of humor. God knows the rest of us needed to.
(this is where I would use a little smiley emoji to indicate “jocular teasing” if I were the sort of person who used emojis)
You might be able to hear them, too. You won’t be able to hear much with gunfire all around you.
Same with people playing in a loud rock band on stage - you cannot have a quiet conversation on stage while playing electric guitars with the drumkit right behind you.
The other trope I don’t like is people knocking each other out, especially when played for laughs. I’ve been watching some old movies, and it really stands out to me, so possibly film-makers aren’t doing it as much now.
I watched Curly Sue recently, with my daughter, having very vague memories of it as a kid, and it was dire; the mean boyfriend got knocked out about ten times for fun, but not in a funny way. I’m not sure anything in that move was funny, but having this guy be repeatedly concussed did not work in what turned out to be a fairly serious film (and still dire for a serious film).