# What is extremely common in TV or movies but almost never happens in real life? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 6, 2021, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311 "2021-02-06T04:16:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 44
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2021, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/861 "2021-03-12T23:02:44Z")
> [@Spice\_Weasel](#): > > Most of my romances start with the lovers trying to attack or kill each other. It’s a lot of fun to bring them from one extreme to another. Please tell me you’re talking about fiction, and not your personal life. ---
**Author:** ![blabbermeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9a140/32.png) [@blabbermeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blabbermeister)\ **Post date:** [March 12, 2021, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/862 "2021-03-12T23:41:58Z")
In TV sitcoms, everyone is always notified when their childhood house (or some hangout near their old house) is about to be torn down. Amazingly, this even happened in the 80’s when people couldn’t check that location every day on the Internet. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/863 "2021-03-14T22:17:04Z")
A little off topic I know . My wife was a Nursery Nurse in a Special Care Baby unit for 30 years. There were many occasions when she came off shift grinding her teeth, sometimes in tears, because some arrogant doctor had dismissed her experience and knowledge out of hand. If you don’t know SCBUs are where the very sick or premature babies are nursed. Nursery nurses are the bottom rung in the hierarchy. The worst offenders were the recently qualified doctors, the more senior ones were often ready to ask for advice. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/864 "2021-03-14T23:07:01Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > The worst offenders were the recently qualified doctors, the more senior ones were often ready to ask for advice. My senior doctor gave specific advice to his ICU trainees: this is the charge nurse. When she was your age, she already had 5 years of ICU experience. She doesn’t intend to leave. That means that when you are a senior doctor, and head of your own department, she will still have more ICU experience than you do. And regarding mothers: one specific piece of advice I can remember is that there is _no test that a primary care physician can do_ that can detect hearing deficits better than _asking the mother of the child_. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/865 "2021-03-15T05:00:24Z")
And young women doctors are way, way worse than the men of any age in the arrogance department! At least, that was my own personal experience. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/866 "2021-03-15T12:29:38Z")
My wife concurs. Sadly, she adds that female doctors from the Indian Subcontinent were often the worst. It may be that female doctors, as in most professions, have a harder time than their male counterparts, but there does also seem to be a sense that the opinion of someone who has settled for a junior position, is not worth considering. In fact, non-specialist doctors have very little experience in dealing with tiny babies. The nursing staff have hundreds of years of experience between them. Clearly the same applies to other high dependency units like ICU. ---
**Author:** ![bob\_2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bob_2/32/3341_2.png) [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/867 "2021-03-15T12:45:36Z")
Kevin Costner’s portrayal of Robin Hood has rightly been lampooned for its cardboard characters and strange plotting, but the total lack of any idea about geography is awful. They appear to walk from Dover to Nottingham in a day or so (Google says 64 hours non stop today - it would have taken longer back then with no roads), and I am sure I recall them wandering up to Hadrian’s wall at some point. which is as far North again. ---
**Author:** ![Eclipse\_Chaser](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Eclipse\_Chaser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eclipse_Chaser)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 1:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/868 "2021-03-15T13:15:59Z")
Yes, Dover to Nottingham is around 190 miles assuming they were walking the most direct roads in those days which would be the old Roman roads (still in existence today of course). Nottingham to the Wall is around 150. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/869 "2021-03-15T13:36:23Z")
Here’s one thing that I’ve seen in multiple movies, which I always found completely ridiculous and unrealistic. (Generally at or near the end of the movie.) The hero and heroine are running for their lives to escape the Bad Guys or Monsters or whatever, and while they are running full speed, they hold hands. Most people don’t see many situations involving people running for their lives IRL, so it’s hard to come up with empirical evidence that it never happens, but it’s completely ridiculous that there’s no way it actually does. > [@RivkahChaya](#): > > or, “imagined” trauma 🙄-- Freud usually took the word of accused perpetrators that sexual molestation against women patients had not happened I believe this is [controversial](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Freudian_Coverup). ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/870 "2021-03-15T16:04:23Z")
> [@Fotheringay-Phipps](#): > > I believe this is [controversial](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Freudian_Coverup). In modern times, in the form of “recovered memories,” of course it is. When abuse is fully recalled from day 1, it is a different animal. ---
**Author:** ![Fotheringay-Phipps](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/d9b06d/32.png) [@Fotheringay-Phipps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fotheringay-Phipps)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/871 "2021-03-15T16:28:47Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > In modern times, in the form of “recovered memories,” of course it is. When abuse is fully recalled from day 1, it is a different animal. Recovered memories is a separate issue, which happened to involve that same researcher. If you look at the “Criticism” section of that Wiki article they raise other issues. In particular, other researchers claim that Freud was not dealing with women actually claiming to have been abused. Rather, Freud himself was the one who teased these abuse “memories” out of their subconscious minds. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/872 "2021-03-15T21:56:59Z")
There may have been some truth to that (women doctors having it harder) 40 or more years ago, but not nowadays. Please correct me if I am mistaken. I’ve heard of men pursuing education in female-dominated fields like nursing or elementary education hearing things like, “You are taking a job away from a woman who needs it.” It’s only a matter of time before male physicians and law students start hearing that as well, if it hasn’t already been done. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/873 "2021-03-15T22:05:48Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > It may be that female doctors, as in most professions, have a harder time than their male counterparts, but there does also seem to be a sense that the opinion of someone who has settled for a junior position, is not worth considering. Is that they’ve “settled” for a junior position or that they haven’t yet advanced beyond a junior position? ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/874 "2021-03-15T22:50:11Z")
> [@bob\_2](#): > > It may be that female doctors, as in most professions, have a harder time than their male counterparts, but there does also seem to be a sense that the opinion of someone who has settled for a junior position, is not worth considering. I question whether lay people are really able to judge was is a junior position in medicine. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/875 "2021-03-16T01:44:54Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > There may have been some truth to that (women doctors having it harder) 40 or more years ago, but not nowadays. Please correct me if I am mistaken. It looks likely that you’re mistaken, judging from [this 2020 report on a large-scale study by Yale researchers:](https://news.yale.edu/2020/02/24/medical-school-mistreatment-tied-race-gender-and-sexual-orientation) > [@](#): > > Medical school students are being mistreated by fellow students, medical faculty, and supervising residents based on their race, gender, and sexual orientation, according to a new study led by Yale University researchers. > > The study, which examined 27,504 student surveys representing all 140 accredited medical schools in the United States., found that women, under-represented minority (URM), Asian, multiracial, and lesbian, gay, or bisexual (LGB) students reported more frequent incidents of mistreatment and discrimination than their male, white, and heterosexual medical school counterparts. […] > > In the 2017 AAMC survey that provided the raw data for the new study, graduating students were asked questions about how often they were publicly humiliated or physically harmed during medical school; how often they had been denied opportunities based on their gender, race, or sexual identity; or been subject to offensive remarks. > > Key findings included that 40.9% of female students, compared to 25.2% of male students, reported at least one episode of mistreatment. And 28.2% of female students reported gender-based discrimination, compared to 9.4% of male students. > [@nearwildheaven](#): > > I’ve heard of men pursuing education in female-dominated fields like nursing or elementary education hearing things like, “You are taking a job away from a woman who needs it.” It’s only a matter of time before male physicians and law students start hearing that as well, if it hasn’t already been done. ? ISTM that bias against men in professions like nursing or elementary education is based on the traditional notion that women belong in those professions and men don’t. The argument is that men shouldn’t “take away” jobs from women in these fields because men are traditionally not “supposed” to be nurses or elementary teachers. I don’t think we’re ever going to see a similarly widespread mindset that men just aren’t supposed to be doctors or lawyers. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/876 "2021-03-16T02:01:58Z")
I don’t doubt that female medical personnel experience issues that male ones may not, especially from the older generation. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/877 "2021-03-16T05:43:50Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > In 1916, it was believable that people would not have known where to stop for a phone, or what number to call if they could reach a phone. It was also believable that the governor wouldn’t know how to call someone to put an immediate stop to an execution– But they did have telegrams. The cop could easily have messaged the Governor, and the Governor messaged the prison. > [@solost](#): > > Also there’s the high school jock who, peaking in high school, marries the hottest girl in school. Then he continues to party like he did in his high school days and lets himself go, while his wife keeps herself tight. Wasn’t that Fred and Wilma Flintstone’s backstory? Spontaneously breaking out into a perfectly choreographed song and dance routine. I’m 71 years old, and that only ever happened to me once. ---
**Author:** ![JohnnyEcks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnnyecks/32/18197_2.png) [@JohnnyEcks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnnyEcks)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/878 "2021-03-16T14:32:57Z")
Complex plans. In fiction, extremely complex and intricate plots and plans are a staple. In real life, complexity is time consuming, expensive, and every new moving part is another chance for failure. The stupid wouldn’t bother, and the smart know that it’s not worth it. Prime example- Flightplan with Jodie Foster, where the bad guy’s plan is foiled if any passenger turns their head slightly to the left at the wrong time. Here’s another one- a plan that relies on having the only - pilot/hacker/surgeon/whatever- skilled enough to accomplish the mission. A plan with a margin of success that small is a very bad plan. ---
**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:** [March 16, 2021, 8:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/879 "2021-03-16T20:29:33Z")
Agreed. The most annoying case I’ve seen is when on “Monk” the villains needed to make Monk’s assistant seem like she had lost her mind - by creating bizarre scenes that disappeared as soon as Sharona (the assistant) had the chance to get back with a witness. But if Sharona had happened to do anything but run off (like scream for help while examining the apparently dead body to see if there was anything she could do for him - and she was a nurse(!)) the whole plan would have worse than failed (at this point, the villain hadn’t committed murder yet - but getting caught gaslighting Sharona would have provided enough evidence for a conspiracy to commit murder charge). ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311/880 "2021-03-16T21:12:09Z")
Little different for my Wife and I. In the winter, which is 6 months long, the odds of an ambulance making it with in a 1/4 mile of our house gets slim. They would never make it up our driveway. Two 4x4 pick up trucks tried to get up our drive today… Roofers. They decided to not even try and carry their tools, ladder. Electrician in 4x4 truck got stuck in driveway about a month ago. I pulled him out with my truck. And yes, I plow the drive for these guys. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311.md?page=43) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-extremely-common-in-tv-or-movies-but-almost-never-happens-in-real-life/932311.md?page=45)