# TV and Movies talking in front seat **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 7, 2009, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movies-talking-in-front-seat/520272 "2009-12-07T02:25:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movies-talking-in-front-seat/520272/21 "2009-12-07T18:16:41Z")
Conversely, whenever two actors share an elevator car, they almost always stand shoulder to shoulder and stare straight ahead … even if they’re having a conversation. I’ve never stood shoulder to shoulder with anyone in an elevator … unless I was in it with 20 other people. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movies-talking-in-front-seat/520272/22 "2009-12-07T18:42:43Z")
I don’t like this, but I’m also bothered by how much movement there usually is on the steering wheel too. Look, he’s supposed to be driving straight, but you have him moving the wheel a little bit constantly. He ought to be driving erratically, and possibly running over pedestrians, but the scenery makes it appear as though he were driving safely. ---
**Author:** ![corkboard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e9bcb4/32.png) [@corkboard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/corkboard)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movies-talking-in-front-seat/520272/23 "2009-12-07T19:28:05Z")
> [@Angel\_of\_the\_Lord](#): > > I don’t think it takes most people out of the movie. It’s something that you notice when you think about it, but, in my opinion, it doesn’t really matter. We know what it’s supposed to be; if they acted like they were driving, though, that would make the point of the scene the driving, and not the dialogue. In most movies, the driving _isn’t_ the point, so it needs to be de-emphasized. > > If absolute realism were the point of films, actors and actresses would all be average-looking. Actually, in my opinion conspicuously \*not \*driving when the character is supposed to be driving makes the point of the scene the not-driving, especially when it’s really blatant. If they actually, obviously drove then I wouldn’t be thinking “this scene was poorly done- we’re supposed to believe he’s driving but he’s obviously not… now what were they talking about?” ---
**Author:** ![c\_goat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f4b2a3/32.png) [@c\_goat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/c_goat)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movies-talking-in-front-seat/520272/24 "2009-12-07T19:58:00Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > (didja notice there’s no rear-view mirror? Huh?) Yes, and I also notice the lack of headrests when there’s somebody in the back seat. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movies-talking-in-front-seat/520272/25 "2009-12-07T20:01:43Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Yeah, and they _laughed_ at Burns and Schreiber, too. Huh? ---
**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:** [December 7, 2009, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movies-talking-in-front-seat/520272/26 "2009-12-07T20:02:43Z")
> [@](#): > > Quote: > Originally Posted by CalMeacham View Post > (didja notice there’s no rear-view mirror? Huh?) > Yes, and I also notice the lack of headrests when there’s somebody in the back seat. I recently did see a movie or TV show which actually _did_ have a rear-view mirror\*. I was surprised by it – but only, I suspect, because I notice such things. Contrary to what is always asserted, I didn’t find it distracting. \*I can’t recall which one, at the moment. > [@](#): > > Quote: > Originally Posted by CalMeacham View Post > Yeah, and they laughed at Burns and Schreiber, too. > Huh? Serious _Whoosh_ ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movies-talking-in-front-seat/520272/27 "2009-12-07T20:50:10Z")
The purpose of any scene in the car is not to be a driver’s ed film on the correct way to drive. It’s to tell the story and advance the plot. It is part of something known as “fiction.” If you want accuracy, watch a driver’s ed film. If you can’t handle fiction, then don’t blame actors, writers, and directors who put the story first. ---
**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:** [December 7, 2009, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movies-talking-in-front-seat/520272/28 "2009-12-07T20:57:11Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > Conversely, whenever two actors share an elevator car, they almost always stand shoulder to shoulder and stare straight ahead … even if they’re having a conversation. > > I’ve never stood shoulder to shoulder with anyone in an elevator … unless I was in it with 20 other people. I always stand next to someone if I’m talking to them in the elevator. Are you saying you stand facing them? Then someone is backwards towards the door. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movies-talking-in-front-seat/520272/29 "2009-12-07T21:04:40Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > I always stand next to someone if I’m talking to them in the elevator. Are you saying you stand facing them? Then someone is backwards towards the door. How about each with their backs to the side of an elevator? So your side is to the door. But mostly the way I stand in an empty elevator is lounge in the corner, leaning on the two walls. And it’s stupid and kinda mean to go “If you can’t handle fiction”…Come on. I read/write/watch fiction constantly and can suspend my disbelief pretty darn high. This is just one of the things that sticks in my craw constantly. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movies-talking-in-front-seat/520272/30 "2009-12-07T21:24:34Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > How about each with their backs to the side of an elevator? So your side is to the door. > > But mostly the way I stand in an empty elevator is lounge in the corner, leaning on the two walls. > > And it’s stupid and kinda mean to go “If you can’t handle fiction”…Come on. I read/write/watch fiction constantly and can suspend my disbelief pretty darn high. This is just one of the things that sticks in my craw constantly. But there are probably a million other similar conventions that you accept and don’t notice. That’s the way movies work. Some people do catch some devices but others don’t. If you took them all away you wouldn’t have anything left. You can always complain about them, but you really need to understand why they’re done the way they are. The OP blamed the screen writers! If you’re that clueless about the way movies work you’ve forfeited your right to complain. And the fact that the biggest, stupidest, most nonsense-filled films make the most money are also a problem for complainers. It’s possible that nobody in this thread who’s complaining ever goes to see those pictures, the ones that are destroying intelligent adult moviemaking, but it’s unlikely. The threads that pop up lavishing praise on every blockbuster tell me that people love stupidity and phoniness in their movies. We’ve had many threads about the silliness of movie conventions. Roger Ebert got a whole book out of them. The TV Tropes site got a whole website out of them. They’re legion. I’m not denying their existence. But giving me a clear shot of the actors in a car ranks about 1,698,993 on my list of problems. And at least I understand enough about moviemaking to know why it’s done and how ridiculous realism would be in this case. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movies-talking-in-front-seat/520272/31 "2009-12-07T21:33:45Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > How about each with their backs to the side of an elevator? So your side is to the door. > > But mostly the way I stand in an empty elevator is lounge in the corner, leaning on the two walls. You’re hip to my jive. ---
**Author:** ![Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9d8465/32.png) [@Swallowed\_My\_Cellphone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swallowed_My_Cellphone)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movies-talking-in-front-seat/520272/32 "2009-12-07T21:45:11Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I recently did see a movie or TV show which actually _did_ have a rear-view mirror\*. I was surprised by it – but only, I suspect, because I notice such things. Contrary to what is always asserted, I didn’t find it distracting. On one of the shows I worked on the car did have a rear view mirror, but it was glued higher up than in real life. The back seat was set up higher than in real life (if it had been a reel car, everyone would have looked like they were sitting on booster seats), and the head rests were replaced with much lower fake ones. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movies-talking-in-front-seat/520272/33 "2009-12-07T21:45:31Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > Yeah, and they _laughed_ at Burns and Schreiber, too. > [@cochrane](#): > > Huh? > [@CalMeacham](#): > > Serious _Whoosh_ No, **Cal,** I wasn’t whooshed. I was trying to pay homage to Burns and Schreiber’s taxicab routine, but I guess I was too vague. “They _laughed_ at Burns and Schreiber, too. Ya know what I mean?” “Yeah.” “Huh?” “Yeah.” “Huh?” “Yeah.” “Huh?” “Laughed.” ---
**Author:** ![choie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/choie/32/7829_2.png) [@choie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/choie)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2009, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movies-talking-in-front-seat/520272/34 "2009-12-07T23:50:22Z")
While I’m not hugely bothered by this, I do think it can be varying degrees of annoying. It really depends on the circumstances. If I find myself irritated by such things, it’s probably a sign that the rest of the movie / tv show isn’t captivating me enough to let me fall into the fictional universe. It is sloppy directing and there’s really no reason not to be more accurate. Enough movies get it _right_ that this approximation of realism is obviously not some impossible high standard. I also find the holier/artsier-than-thou “It’s FICTION idiots!” replies to be, well, kind of over-defensive and protective. Just because a movie or TV show is fiction doesn’t mean we can’t expect some nods to believable human behavior. Obviously some find it less bothersome than others, but there’s no need to get huffy. **RealityChuck** found _Tron_ absurd and cheesy, but I don’t see anyone in that _Tron 2.0_ thread sniffing “IT WAS FICTION!” or bitching at you for not being able to excuse said cheesiness. As to the complaint? Frankly this is how my sister drives. She cannot have a conversation without looking at the person beside her, and it _drives me freakin’ nuts_. When I’m in the front seat with her, I consciously don’t look at her and stare at the road in front of us, hoping desperately she’ll get the point and stop trying to look at me (or maybe just hoping that I’ll see whatever danger she’s blithely ignoring in time to yell a warning / slam on the brakes for her). ---
**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:** [December 8, 2009, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movies-talking-in-front-seat/520272/35 "2009-12-08T13:11:17Z")
> [@](#): > > No, Cal, I wasn’t whooshed. I was trying to pay homage to Burns and Schreiber’s taxicab routine, but I guess I was too vague. Ah, I see. Second order _Whoosh_. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movies-talking-in-front-seat/520272/36 "2009-12-08T14:14:21Z")
I think that would be a meta-whoosh. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2009, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movies-talking-in-front-seat/520272/37 "2009-12-08T17:34:37Z")
> [@pedescribe](#): > > I just wish we would see the Airplane! gag once or twice. Wouldn’t it be funny if the guy is focused on the other guy, and the back-projection shows a road, then a ditch, then a muddy field, then the inside of a barn, then a construction site, all without comment? But alas, it is not done. ☹ In **Police Squad** when Drebbin was driving in Little Italy of his town they showed the Leaning Tower of Pisa (I think) in the background. Same guys, of course. In this case I don’t mind if the characters talk and not look. ---
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movies-talking-in-front-seat/520272/38 "2009-12-09T09:37:33Z")
This bugs me too. My only consolation is that 25% of the time this leads to a dramatic accident. I also hate the considerable lack of seatbelt wearing. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2009, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movies-talking-in-front-seat/520272/39 "2009-12-09T12:24:35Z")
This bothers me as well. And it’s not a matter of the scene not being “realistic” enough (oh _please_ with the “don’t be such purists” commentary), it’s that my brain starts saying “hey you, turn your head back…HEY YOU!..YOU AT THE WHEEL, LOOK AT THE FREAKING ROAD YOU IDIOT!” More of an automatic reaction than anything analytical. ---
**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:** [December 9, 2009, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movies-talking-in-front-seat/520272/40 "2009-12-09T13:42:29Z")
> [@](#): > > This bothers me as well. And it’s not a matter of the scene not being “realistic” enough (oh please with the “don’t be such purists” commentary), it’s that my brain starts saying “hey you, turn your head back…HEY YOU!..YOU AT THE WHEEL, LOOK AT THE FREAKING ROAD YOU IDIOT!” Certainly. Directors and actors are both aware of this, too – it’s their business to convey and elicit reactions, so they’re perfectly aware of the reaction this unwarranted lack of attention in a potentially dangerous situation elicits from _you_. Which makes all those complaints about us being too literal pretty much irrelevant. Someimes they just want to be able to hold a look for a period, but it’s also pretty evident to me that the director is unable to resist the dramatic tension he or she can get from the simple act of not having the actor paying proper attention to the road\*. If it’s warranted, I have no problem with it, but too often it’s just a cheap way to grab and hold on to the audience’s attention and concern.\ - It’s not just while driving. You also get the same effect if one character holds off _just_ too long in getting onto a departing plane, train, or boat. Or if they hold off leaving when the Bad Guys are coming _en masse_ in order to have a last word or a last kiss with the heroine, when he’s in grave danger of being caught. I see these _all_ the time, and they inevitably annoy the hell out of me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tv-and-movies-talking-in-front-seat/520272.md?page=1)