# Tired fictional tropes you hate **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 16, 2020, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tired-fictional-tropes-you-hate/853937 "2020-05-16T19:07:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 8
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2020, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tired-fictional-tropes-you-hate/853937/141 "2020-05-18T16:01:33Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > But it’s the only way Lenny stayed in half-decent shape on Law & Order. That’s exactly why they hired the young and fit Ed Green–Lt. Van Buren knew very well that Lenny couldn’t run more than ten feet without doubling over and wheezing in pain! I mean, I love me some Jerry Orbach, but at that age, sprinting was just not his thing! ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2020, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tired-fictional-tropes-you-hate/853937/142 "2020-05-18T16:14:46Z")
> [@FairyChatMom](#): > > Let’s not forget people running away from something, having to turn and look back multiple times while fleeing. > > Just run away, dammit! Why risk tripping or running into a tree or falling down a hill because you needed to check over your shoulder that the baddie was still chasing you? The converse is just as annoying: uber-badass flicks lit cigarette onto the gasoline he’s poured around the crime scene he’s created, igniting a huge explosion and conflagration. And as he trudges away menacingly, _he doesn’t even glance back_ to make sure a piece of falling debris isn’t about to brain him. Because, he’s so bad-ass, the debris is afraid of him. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2020, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tired-fictional-tropes-you-hate/853937/143 "2020-05-18T17:18:52Z")
> [@Biotop](#): > > The police team is entering a building where an armed suspect may be hiding. After getting in the door, the leader makes some complicated hand signal, points, and a team member nods and heads in that direction. There is never any confusion about who is to go where because these hand signals are perfect and there are always just enough officers to cover every direction. For your viewing pleasure.[Double-click for rude gestures.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRQTAKtanjc) ---
**Author:** ![echoreply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/echoreply/32/3641_2.png) [@echoreply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echoreply)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2020, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tired-fictional-tropes-you-hate/853937/144 "2020-05-18T17:27:07Z")
A story book my first grader was reading just now reminded me of this one, but the same trope exists in shows, movies, and books for adults. One of the heroes comes up with a plan to overcome the problem or defeat the bad guy. The audience is told that there is a plan, but not what the plan is. This plan is hidden from the audience through unheard whispers, unseen documents, or a quick cut away from the exposition. The final act then consists of the heroes carrying out the clever plan, often with a surprise twist that would have been spoiled if the audience had heard it up front. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2020, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tired-fictional-tropes-you-hate/853937/145 "2020-05-18T17:37:53Z")
> [@echoreply](#): > > A story book my first grader was reading just now reminded me of this one, but the same trope exists in shows, movies, and books for adults. > > One of the heroes comes up with a plan to overcome the problem or defeat the bad guy. The audience is told that there is a plan, but not what the plan is. This plan is hidden from the audience through unheard whispers, unseen documents, or a quick cut away from the exposition. The final act then consists of the heroes carrying out the clever plan, often with a surprise twist that would have been spoiled if the audience had heard it up front. Quoted from an old thread: > [@Why Scooby-Doo?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-scooby-doo/759731/31): > > It was from _Scooby-Doo_ that I learned an infallible law of narrative construction that has served me well ever since: > > Whenever Our Heroes think up an elaborate scheme, if we are presented with an explanation of the way the scheme is supposed to work, something will go wrong so that it does not work as planned. However if the scheme is not explained ahead of time, it will work according to plan. > > It’s pretty obvious why this is the case, but still, it has enabled me to predict with remarkable accuracy whether or not any scheme in any story is going to turn out to be successful. ---
**Author:** ![That\_Don\_Guy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/that_don_guy/32/538_2.png) [@That\_Don\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Don_Guy)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2020, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tired-fictional-tropes-you-hate/853937/146 "2020-05-18T17:41:54Z")
I may have missed this one from earlier in the thread… Newcomer/plucky underdogs lose to a more dominant, and almost always portrayed as the “bad guy,” opponent in something, only to win a rematch where more is at stake (usually a championship of some sort). The thing about this is, it isn’t always fictional; see _Miracle_ for an example of this, complete with fluke goal followed by boneheaded coaching decision that you would shake your head at as unbelieveable if it wasn’t a true story. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2020, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tired-fictional-tropes-you-hate/853937/147 "2020-05-18T18:48:36Z")
“Captain, you’d better come down here.” “What is it, Commander?” “Uh… it’s easier if you just come down and see, sir.” “No. If you can’t tell me, in just a sentence or two, what it is that you want to show me, however extraordinary or dramatic, then you are so inarticulate that you probably shouldn’t be an officer on this ship.” ---
**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:** [May 18, 2020, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tired-fictional-tropes-you-hate/853937/148 "2020-05-18T18:49:55Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > “Captain, you’d better come down here.” > “What is it, Commander?” > “Uh… it’s easier if you just come down and see, sir.” > “No. If you can’t tell me, in just a sentence or two, what it is that you want to show me, however extraordinary or dramatic, then you are so inarticulate that you probably shouldn’t be an officer on this ship.” Damn straight. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2020, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tired-fictional-tropes-you-hate/853937/149 "2020-05-18T19:01:13Z")
A Christmas Carol. You _don’t_ have a unique take on it. I’m certain you believe you do, but I assure you, you do not. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2020, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tired-fictional-tropes-you-hate/853937/150 "2020-05-18T19:26:00Z")
Making friends with the principal character in _Murder She Wrote_. You’ll either get murdered, framed for murder, or put on trial for murder. ---
**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:** [May 18, 2020, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tired-fictional-tropes-you-hate/853937/151 "2020-05-18T19:29:53Z")
> [@Mk\_VII](#): > > Making friends with the principal character in _Murder She Wrote_. You’ll either get murdered, framed for murder, or put on trial for murder. It’s rough on the mean streets of Cabot Cove. If you’re not friends with Jessica, when you’re framed, you go to prison, and if you’re murdered, the killer is never found. Being friends with her at least cuts your losses. If you can’t face that, move somewhere safer, like Derry, Maine. ---
**Author:** ![misling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3ab097/32.png) [@misling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/misling)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2020, 8:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tired-fictional-tropes-you-hate/853937/152 "2020-05-18T20:30:09Z")
This one is probably more common in fantasy/scifi/comics, but: Everybody of any importance to the whole plot line, no matter how galaxy-spanning, turns out to be closely related. Childhood buddies, first cousins, parent/child, brother/sister, mentor/student, whatever. Small Small Universe, ain’t it? ---
**Author:** ![Quondam\_Mechanic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quondam_mechanic/32/3404_2.png) [@Quondam\_Mechanic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quondam_Mechanic)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2020, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tired-fictional-tropes-you-hate/853937/153 "2020-05-18T20:31:11Z")
I know, it’s an adaptation from East Asian chopsocky movies, but am I really supposed to think that doing backflips is a highly threatening martial arts move? ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2020, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tired-fictional-tropes-you-hate/853937/154 "2020-05-18T21:24:21Z")
> [@Sangahyando](#): > > I’d make an exception for Professor Theophilus Branestawm, the hero of the British series of childrens’ books by Norman Hunter. Said gentleman is an archetypal hugely brilliant but utterly absent-minded and unworldly professor: among very many other accomplishments, he’s fluent in something like 254 languages – with 27 of them, he is the only person in the world who knows them. I love these books – would consider that they rate a pass re the theme of this thread, because the Professor’s immense linguistic knowledge is never of the slightest practical use in any way. > [@running\_coach](#): > > If he’s the only one who knows the language, how did he learn them and how can anyone else tell if he’s actually fluent? > > 😃 I know your response is in fun; but, what did Humpty Dumpty actually use to pay every Saturday night – in cash or in kind – the words that he’d used during the week? This stuff isn’t supposed to make sense… ---
**Author:** ![Jay\_Z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Jay\_Z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jay_Z)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2020, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tired-fictional-tropes-you-hate/853937/155 "2020-05-19T00:45:34Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Quoted from an old thread: In the original Ocean’s 11 they pretty much pull off the caper exactly as planned. Except one of the 11 died of a heart attack, but that had already been foreshadowed. Which comes in handy, it would seem, as it gives the rest a perfect way to get away with the money… ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2020, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tired-fictional-tropes-you-hate/853937/156 "2020-05-19T01:39:49Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > “I’m a mild mannered milquetoast, but I’ll do anything to protect my FAMILY! To protect my KIDS!” > … > > “You can’t do that! This is horrible, psychotic behavior! You’ll be a murderer, or worse!” > > “I’m doing this for my FAMILY! Dammit, all I do, is for my KIDS!” > > “Oh. Right-o, well, carry on, then.” > … > > [protagonist discovers heinous plot] > > Dying Antagonist: [whispers hoarsely] It was … all … for my … FAMILY … for … MAH KIDSSSSsssss … > > [heroic music swells, indicating moral redemption] > … > > From Cersei Lannister (“Game of Thrones”) to Walter White (“Breaking Bad”) to Marty Byrde (“Ozark”) this one is goddamn every-fucking-where. > > As someone with no children (intentionally) and no husband (not so much) I kinda wanna know where my get-outta-shit card might be. Apparently, if you’re married with children, you’re allowed to do whatevs … as long as you frame it as being in the best interest of those children. Eh, I don’t really see any of those examples as being “allowed” to do bad shit because they claim it’s for their family. All three of those characters are either anti-heroes or villains, they do bad things and eventually bad things happen to them. There is no “get-outta-shit card.” None of them were absolved of their actions or viewed as moral characters. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2020, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tired-fictional-tropes-you-hate/853937/157 "2020-05-19T01:43:34Z")
> [@desertdog](#): > > for your viewing pleasure.[spoiler][url nm, what’s wrong with the smilies? that didn’t work Worth watching, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2020, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tired-fictional-tropes-you-hate/853937/158 "2020-05-19T02:17:53Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > Eh, I don’t really see any of those examples as being “allowed” to do bad shit because they claim it’s for their family. All three of those characters are either anti-heroes or villains, they do bad things and eventually bad things happen to them. There is no “get-outta-shit card.” None of them were absolved of their actions or viewed as moral characters. Ehhhhh… maybe not absolved, but far too readily seen as having their actions at least mitigated by their expressed loved of family. Because Cersei absolutely was a monster, even if Tyrion (as written for the series) was too dumb to see it. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2020, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tired-fictional-tropes-you-hate/853937/159 "2020-05-19T02:28:05Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > “Captain, you’d better come down here.” > “What is it, Commander?” > “Uh… it’s easier if you just come down and see, sir.” > “No. If you can’t tell me, in just a sentence or two, what it is that you want to show me, however extraordinary or dramatic, then you are so inarticulate that you probably shouldn’t be an officer on this ship.” > [@Andy\_L](#): > > Damn straight. “So, Commander, what is it? What’s happened? Have you beamed aboard some alien we’ve never seen before? Has the warp drive been transformed into a giant bowl of egg salad? Has Jesus Christ Himself appeared and said it’s Judgment Day?” Long pause. “We beamed aboard a very unusual alien, sir. It’s a really bright green and has five arms and some kind of weird corona all around it.” “There, that wasn’t so hard, was it? OK. Welcome it, scan it, and make sure it doesn’t hurt anyone. I’ll be down… in a little while.” ---
**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:** [May 19, 2020, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tired-fictional-tropes-you-hate/853937/160 "2020-05-19T02:31:12Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > “So, Commander, what is it? What’s happened? Have you beamed aboard some alien we’ve never seen before? Has the warp drive been transformed into a giant bowl of egg salad? Has Jesus Christ Himself appeared and said it’s Judgment Day?” > Long pause. “We beamed aboard a very unusual alien, sir. It’s a really bright green and has five arms and some kind of weird corona all around it.” > “There, that wasn’t so hard, was it? OK. Welcome it, scan it, and make sure it doesn’t hurt anyone. I’ll be down… in a little while.” In one episode of TNG Worf describes creatures he encounters as “animal things” - they looked like this [Animal things | Star Trek Expanded Universe | Fandom](https://stexpanded.fandom.com/wiki/Animal_things?file=Animal_things.jpg) - “Animal things” is a really bad description of “humanoids with primitive guns and odd uniforms” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tired-fictional-tropes-you-hate/853937.md?page=7) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tired-fictional-tropes-you-hate/853937.md?page=9)