TV Tropes: Love 'em or Loathe 'em

[Moose135]

On 5/29/2021 at 10:08 AM, merylinkid said:

TOPIC:  If someone on tv goes on a game show, they will either freeze (like Cindy Brady) or the topics will be the person's own obscure interest that are unlike anything ever seen on the show before.

Cliff's dream board...

 

[Anduin]

In other tropes, someone slapping twice on a car as a message for it to leave. We've all seen it in movies, TV, video games, and even books. Anyone either seen it in real life or know the origin?

[Zella]

40 minutes ago, Anduin said:

In other tropes, someone slapping twice on a car as a message for it to leave. We've all seen it in movies, TV, video games, and even books. Anyone either seen it in real life or know the origin?

I've seen people in my family do that, especially if it is noisy surroundings or things are busy/chaotic. 

I always interpreted it as a universal hand signal for go after using stop, especially if they are backing up. 

Edited June 2, 2021 by Zella

[giovannif7]

1 hour ago, Anduin said:

In other tropes, someone slapping twice on a car as a message for it to leave. We've all seen it in movies, TV, video games, and even books. Anyone either seen it in real life or know the origin?

I always figured it was tied to the moment in Westerns where the person on the ground would slap the horse on the rump to get it moving as they finished saying goodbye to the person on the horse. Clearly, a car can't independently act on the message the same way a horse can, but I always interpret it as a "time to move 'em on out!" gesture.

[Zella]

15 minutes ago, giovannif7 said:

in Westerns where the person on the ground would slap the horse on the rump to get it moving as they finished saying goodbye to the person on the horse.

They certainly do that in Westerns, but in reality, I feel like that's actually a great way to inadvertently spook the horse and get yourself kicked real good, depending on the horse. 

Edited June 2, 2021 by Zella

[slasherboy]

Truck drivers couldn't see when the back of their truck was loaded, stuff was tied down, and that sort of thing if they were sitting in the front or cab of the truck.  Someone would smack the truck a couple of times to say everything was done and it was safe for the driver to pull away.  I see it with cars fairly often too and do it myself now and then.  My family will sometimes use it as a "good-bye" to a loved one as they leave.

 

[Haleth]

Watching The Vineyard last night (something I found on Prime) and was loving it until the writers used a well worn trope - two star crossed lovers (secondary characters) make plans to run away together.  You know one of them is doomed.  Disappointing.

[Trini]

Leaving a job, and walking out of the office with a box of stuff.

[Ohiopirate02]

48 minutes ago, Trini said:

Leaving a job, and walking out of the office with a box of stuff.

I have used a box from work to bring home my things before.  Now, I have always worked in places where boxes are convenient, not in some corporate office.  I packed my things in a box when I was promoted to branch manager.

  Now, my box has never had a plant in it or "my" coffee mug.  

[DearEvette]

My stuff couldn't fit into one of those boxes.  I have a mini-fridge, floor lamps, a whole ass 5 piece wicker furniture set, and actual pieces of pretty heavy art that physical plant had to come and hang on my walls.  Imma need a u-haul when I leave.

Edited June 8, 2021 by DearEvette

[Bastet]

Yeah, last time I cleaned out an office, I had to have my mom come take a couple of boxes because I couldn't fit everything in my car (if I'd re-packed using different boxes, I could have, but she was close enough it was easier just to draft her into duty).  So I chuckle at characters who've been in a job for eons walking out with one file box worth of stuff.

[Bort]

I knew way in advance that I was getting laid off so I took stuff home a few things every day. It would’ve all fit in a single box, though.

[Zella]

The three times I've cleaned out an office, I have needed at least a box if not 2. 99% of what I take is weird shit my coworkers gave me because they were connected to inside jokes. Like a picture of a random guy in a pantry. I'm cracking up just thinking of it, but I am pretty sure nobody else on earth would find it funny beyond me and the coworker who gave it to me. 

[paulvdb]

I guess i'm the only person who doesn't have lots of personal items at work. The only things I have at the office are the clothes I'm wearing, my lunch and the stuff in my pockets like wallet, keys and phone. So if I ever had to leave I would not need to pack a box. I could just walk out.

[JustHereForFood]

3 hours ago, paulvdb said:

I guess i'm the only person who doesn't have lots of personal items at work. The only things I have at the office are the clothes I'm wearing, my lunch and the stuff in my pockets like wallet, keys and phone. So if I ever had to leave I would not need to pack a box. I could just walk out.

Then you could do the epic slow walk to a rap music, when everyone either quietly looks at you or highfives you.

[DrSpaceman73]

Better off ted had the security gestapo break into the office and throw out the employee when fired.  Not as realistic realistic but funny.  And more symbolic of what is actually happening. 

 

[MargeGunderson]

8 hours ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

Better off ted had the security gestapo break into the office and throw out the employee when fired.  Not as realistic realistic but funny.  And more symbolic of what is actually happening. 

Better Off Ted was an underrated workplace comedy for sure. Highly unrealistic but not by much. 

[Mabinogia]

20 hours ago, DearEvette said:

My stuff couldn't fit into one of those boxes. 

Just my work shoes alone would take up one box. I miss my shoes. I'm still working from home (not complaining. In no rush to go back). I miss my desk toys too. I can't even remember what my desk looks like, but I know if I had to pack it up, I am gonna need a few boxes at least. I think I have like 3-4 black cardigans there too. Light, mid-weight, heavy and one dressy one I think. I am enjoying having control of the room temperature working from him. lol

[andromeda331]

My favorite box up leave was Leverage. Hardison yells presumely to the boss for firing him that he gave his heart and soul to the damn company and this was how they treated him? And on his birthday! He had a box too that included a plant. Except Hardison didn't even work there. He showed up and pretended to be an employee to get information from the company because they were targetting the CEO. No one questions it. Not when he calls a meeting, talks business with two employees, talks with one in the breakroom, and tells everyone its his birthday which the presumely had a party because you see him wearing a Happy Birthday hat later. And no one fired him. He fired himself. 

[DoctorAtomic]

Better Off Ted was criminally underrated and arguably Portia de Rossi's best role. I mean, I can't not crack up at the water fountains. 

 

[Mabinogia]

26 minutes ago, andromeda331 said:

He showed up and pretended to be an employee to get information from the company because they were targetting the CEO. No one questions it. Not when he calls a meeting, talks business with two employees, talks with one in the breakroom, and tells everyone its his birthday which the presumely had a party because you see him wearing a Happy Birthday hat later.

I can fully believe, if the company is big enough, being able to fake being an employee so long as you can make a phoney keycard (if it's a company with such things) but I just cannot accept that they could throw him an impromptu birthday. In my company birthday parties are planned way in advance and have planning committees, decorating committees and a sign up list for who is going to bring what. If you told my team they had to plan a birthday party for that afternoon their heads would explode. lol But for Hardison they might just make it work *hubba hubba* Actually, we do have a guy who could pass as Aldis' shorter brother. We all drool over him like the dirty old ladies we are. haha

[Zella]

I've never worked for a large company, but all my jobs (save one, which was the largest place I've ever worked) involved pretty intensive planning for birthdays, usually driven by the person who has the best taste in party planning. (This is never me.) There's also usually a fair amount of furtive planning and sneaking around the birthday person. If you told them they had to cobble together a birthday in an afternoon, they could do it and probably make it look nice, but they would be so pissed.

I don't remember if it even involved boxes, but my favorite company exit was in the fifth season of The Good Wife when Alicia and her crew's plans to break off and form their own firm are leaked early, and all hell breaks loose. 

[Stats Queen]

On 6/7/2021 at 2:46 PM, Ohiopirate02 said:

I have used a box from work to bring home my things before.  Now, I have always worked in places where boxes are convenient, not in some corporate office.  I packed my things in a box when I was promoted to branch manager.

  Now, my box has never had a plant in it or "my" coffee mug.  

My first “box” had two fake plants. My other many boxes had many, many profession related books and other resources that were mine, and I had also brought in my own office supplies (I worked for a non-Federal government agency where decent pay and office supplies were hard to find). 

One of the only good things about working there was the awesome ergonomic office chair that I had. Thr vultures came in quickly to claim the chair.

I learned a couple of lessons: 1. Don’t bring so much personal things into the office, 2. Don’t work where you are underpaid and undervalued and 3. I need to be my own boss.

[Zella]

34 minutes ago, Stats Queen said:

One of the only good things about working there was the awesome ergonomic office chair that I had. Thr vultures came in quickly to claim the chair.

One of the worst feuds I've ever had with a coworker was over a comfy chair.

The original crappy chair I had broke one day. I ended up covered in bruises from it collapsing on me. So, they bring me another chair. I had no clue where it came from, but it was comfortable. Actually the most comfortable one I've ever sat in.

Then one of my coworkers claimed it was his chair that was taken from him for me (it was a dysfunctional family-run business, and his aunt and uncle ran the company, so I could see this happening). I thought that was a pretty crappy thing to do to him, so I apologized and told him he could take his chair back. I'd just swap whatever chair they gave him as a replacement for his old one.

He claimed he didn't want it back, but he still wanted to bitch about his chair being taken. Every time he saw me. He was like the martyr of the chair. Jesus on the cross didn't suffer as much as he did having that chair taken from him, apparently. It wasn't like he was trying to be funny. He was legitimately that mad about the chair.

I finally got tired of it and told him one day that sitting my ass in that incredible chair and knowing that his ass didn't get to sit in it was the highlight of my day, every day. I thought he was going to burst into tears over it, then he gave me the silent treatment for a week, but he also shut up about the fucking chair. 

I assume after I left that he grabbed it, but if someone else stole it and prevented him from doing so, that would make me happy. 

I feel like if this were a TV show, we'd have had a tropey episode where we bonded with each other and became friends, but that never happened. 

Edited June 12, 2021 by Zella

[andromeda331]

Does anyone remember on Newsradio when Catherine quit. Everyone gave different stories why she quit the only thing that was the same was she packed up her things. Not only were they all wrong as to why she quit Catherine never packed up her things. They all stole her stuff. 

[JustHereForFood]

8 hours ago, Zella said:

One of the worst feuds I've ever had with a coworker was over a comfy chair.

The original crappy chair I had broke one day. I ended up covered in bruises from it collapsing on me. So, they bring me another chair. I had no clue where it came from, but it was comfortable. Actually the most comfortable one I've ever sat in.

Then one of my coworkers claimed it was his chair that was taken from him for me (it was a dysfunctional family-run business, and his aunt and uncle ran the company, so I could see this happening). I thought that was a pretty crappy thing to do to him, so I apologized and told him he could take his chair back. I'd just swap whatever chair they gave him as a replacement for his old one.

He claimed he didn't want it back, but he still wanted to bitch about his chair being taken. Every time he saw me. He was like the martyr of the chair. Jesus on the cross didn't suffer as much as he did having that chair taken from him, apparently. It wasn't like he was trying to be funny. He was legitimately that mad about the chair.

I finally got tired of it and told him one day that sitting my ass in that incredible chair and knowing that his ass didn't get to sit in it was the highlight of my day, every day. I thought he was going to burst into tears over it, then he gave me the silent treatment for a week, but he also shut up about the fucking chair. 

I assume after I left that he grabbed it, but if someone else stole it and prevented him from doing so, that would make me happy. 

I feel like if this were a TV show, we'd have had a tropey episode where we bonded with each other and became friends, but that never happened. 

This was honestly one of the best stories I read in a long time. Well done.

[DrSpaceman73]

7 hours ago, andromeda331 said:

Does anyone remember on Newsradio when Catherine quit. Everyone gave different stories why she quit the only thing that was the same was she packed up her things. Not only were they all wrong as to why she quit Catherine never packed up her things. They all stole her stuff. 

I just rewatched newsradio......I didn't even notice the fact that she never packed her stuff.  

 

I think that's the one where they use the charlie Brown voices in one version. 

[JustHereForFood]

A trope I really dislike is a character dying suddenly and unexpectedly, shortly after having a huge fight with a close person (usually their child, sibling, or best friend), when they threw the worst at each other, including stuff they don't really mean. One of them afterwards tries to reach the other to talk it out, but they are avoiding them and once they are ready to apologize or forgive the other person, they find out they just died, thus the surviving person doesn't get any closure and will presumably feel bad for the rest of their life, because of that fight. Bonus negative points from me, if they actually said to the now dead person something like "I wish you were dead". Extra bonus negative points, if the fight was over something insignificant in the first place, or if one of them acted way out of character, so you just know it was just for the sake of drama.

[VCRTracking]

 

 

[Anduin]

I know I've mentioned this before, but it feels relevant again. Australia is not half as deadly as fiction makes it out to be. In fiction, you can die the moment you step out the door, should you even make it that far.

In practice, one of my grandmothers passed away at 94. She was Aussie born and bred. While she was pretty fragile in her later years, it's still a hell of an achievement.

As for where the trope comes from, here's my guess. Sure, there are many spiders, snakes, fish, other hostile flora and fauna. But the first English settlers were unprepared and in some cases actively stupid. Those will get you every time.

But you know what's worse? Turns out, many of the same mistakes had been made a few generations earlier, in America. Yet somehow, that doesn't have the same reputation. Though considering the handling of covid and some other sensitive issues, perhaps it will in future.

94, everyone. That's an age to respect.

[DoctorAtomic]

Crocodile Dundee said the frogs have teeth down under. And Men at Work said vegamite was poisonous. 

[Anduin]

12 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

Crocodile Dundee said the frogs have teeth down under. And Men at Work said vegamite was poisonous. 

People have been known to exaggerate for either comedic effect or to make themselves seem tougher. I don't know about frogs, but vegemite isn't poisonous. It just tastes poisonous.

[ABay]

Let's be honest. The reason not to go to Australia is not that there are poisonous creatures out to kill you. It's that it's full of Australians.

Love to New Zealanders, though, who are like Canadians who talk funny.

[DoctorAtomic]

Men At Work were always shady.

[Bort]

13 hours ago, Anduin said:

 

I know I've mentioned this before, but it feels relevant again. Australia is not half as deadly as fiction makes it out to be. In fiction, you can die the moment you step out the door, should you even make it that far.

 

I’ve always found that deadly Australia trope to be funny, considering in Texas, it’s pretty similar as we have rattle snakes, water moccasins, wild hogs, alligators, scorpions, black widows, brown recluses… but I’ve managed to survive living here just fine. I don’t think Australia would be any different… except for the vegemite, bleh.

[Annber03]

The talk of the spiders that they have in Australia does freak me out...but in my case, that's just 'cause spiders in general freak me out more than anything else :p. 

[DoctorAtomic]

And all the walkabouts. I like walking, but it seems a bit much. 

[Anduin]

7 hours ago, ABay said:

Let's be honest. The reason not to go to Australia is not that there are poisonous creatures out to kill you. It's that it's full of Australians.

Love to New Zealanders, though, who are like Canadians who talk funny.

What do you have against Australians? Many of us are really good people.

[DoctorAtomic]

I think they're just playing up the trope. 

[juno]

10 hours ago, ABay said:

who are like Canadians who talk funny.

The only time I talk funny is when I am drinking maple syrup with beer and watching hockey in my igloo with my pet moose (Mike is his name, he also speaks French).

[Anduin]

37 minutes ago, DoctorAtomic said:

I think they're just playing up the trope. 

I see. Part of the reason I made the original post, it was my grandmother's funeral yesterday. It was a way of remembering and commemorating her. So I'm not really in a joking mood about that kind of thing.

[ABay]

2 hours ago, juno said:

The only time I talk funny is when I am drinking maple syrup with beer and watching hockey in my igloo with my pet moose (Mike is his name, he also speaks French

 I actually meant that New Zealanders talk funny. Although now that you mention it...

[Cherpumple]

8 hours ago, Anduin said:

I see. Part of the reason I made the original post, it was my grandmother's funeral yesterday. It was a way of remembering and commemorating her. So I'm not really in a joking mood about that kind of thing.

I'm so sorry to hear about your grandmother. It sounds like she was a strong lady, and I hope her long life was a happy one.

Regarding the "Australia is deadly" trope, I agree with you that it probably started with English settlers being totally unprepared by the unfamiliar flora and fauna. But when you come from a place that barely even has mosquitos, I guess it's easy to be overwhelmed by more dangerous critters. I also think I remember reading that many people back in England refused to believe that things like platypuses (platypi?) existed, because the idea of such a creature was so far outside their realm of experience.

I can't speak for other parts of the world, but the few pieces of Australian film/TV that make it to the US often play up the exotic/dangerous aspect, for either dramatic or comedic effect, which helps keep this trope alive and well (Walkabout, A Cry in the Dark, Crocodile Dundee, Crocodile Hunter with the late great Steve Irwin, etc.) And don't forget the Simpsons episode in Australia that featured the cane toad infestation. I know none of these are recent, but the images of killer dingoes and giant spiders really linger on the brain.

Aside from this, I would say that Australia is also known for its "quirky" humor (Muriel's Wedding is still one of my favorite movies), and just some really good shows, like Wentworth and Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries.

I wish more Aussie-made stuff got through to the US market, so if you have any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

[Anduin]

I admit that sometimes it's funny. But when one aspect is continually harped upon to the neglect of others, it gets tiring.

Okay, while I don't actually watch much Aussie stuff these days, I used to. TV show, Seachange, starring Sigrid Thornton and David Wenham. Movies, the Dish starring Sam Neill and Crackerjack starring Judith Lucy.

Turns out, there's not much SF/F created here. Real shame. We should be geekier.

[Cherpumple]

Thanks! I'll check these out.

[Llywela]

Conversely, here in the UK, we rarely encounter the 'Australia is deadly' trope anymore, and now that I come to think about it, most of the Aus programming that we get these days tends to be soap opera fare like Neighbours and Home & Away, which emphasise normal daily life rather than the dramatics of dangerous wildlife. So I guess people are influenced by what they see about other cultures on a regular basis.

[JustHereForFood]

13 hours ago, Anduin said:

I see. Part of the reason I made the original post, it was my grandmother's funeral yesterday. It was a way of remembering and commemorating her. So I'm not really in a joking mood about that kind of thing.

I am sorry for your loss.

Personally, I wasn't even aware of this trope. I know there are some dangerous snakes and spiders in Australia, but I think there are some dangerous animals everywhere in the wilderness and as someone who is not an outdoorsy type, I am much more likely to be vary of countries where one can be killed by humans, then by animals that are in their natural habitat.

[WinnieWinkle]

12 hours ago, ABay said:

I actually meant that New Zealanders talk funny. Although now that you mention it...

The most common way a TV show will demonstrate someone is Canadian is to have them say "eh" at the end of every sentence.  This used to irritate me until I noticed how often I actually was doing that myself!  Sigh.  I'm working on it.

[ABay]

Don't sell yourself short, my Canadian friend! Do you also say soh-ry for sorry and pronounce been like bean? I've heard a lot of jokes about aboot but that's just ignorant. It's really more like aboat.

[Nicmar]

16 hours ago, Anduin said:

I see. Part of the reason I made the original post, it was my grandmother's funeral yesterday. It was a way of remembering and commemorating her. So I'm not really in a joking mood about that kind of thing.

Sorry for your loss! ☹️