Movie Tropes You Hate

[Wiendish Fitch]

10 hours ago, Spartan Girl said:

I am officially sick of The Hero Showing Mercy to the Villain Trope.  I don't care if it's to show the hero's morality, it's just dumb.  Because 99.9 percent of the time they're never grateful and they just stab you in the back once your back is turned.  

Well, sometimes it's done for the right reasons (the Beast sparing Gaston's life comes to mind, since it was crucial to his character development), or in a satisfying way (Westley subduing Prince Humperdinck), but yeah, sometimes I just want to say to the hero, "Dude, you don't have to walk away, just, y'know, deliver a knockout punch and throw 'em in a jail cell, problem solved!" Remember in the film version of Phantom of the Opera when Raoul has the perfect opportunity to either kill or subdue the Phantom (who is a kidnapper/extortionist/stalker/fucking murderer)... and doesn't because Christine inexplicably begs him not to?!  Idiots.

One trope that is starting to bother me as I get older and more curmudgeonly is the person carrying a torch for their first love. 3 years is acceptable, but anything longer than that? Yeah, you really need to get back in the dating world, ASAP. For crying Pete, remember how Hank seemed to carry the torch for Mystique in the more recent X-Men films? Dude, you were barely 20, barely dated her, she dropped you in an unceremonious fashion (okay, Hank did kind of bring it on himself, but it doesn't negate my point), and it's been decades! You're a super genius who looks like Nicholas Hoult (when you're not in "Beast mode", LOL), you have options! Surely there's a nice fellow mutant you can date who won't form an allegiance with the villain! Yes, I know, Hoult dated Jennifer Lawrence in real life but, again, this hardly negates my point.

Edited January 17, 2019 by Wiendish Fitch

[Spartan Girl]

23 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Well, sometimes it's done for the right reasons (the Beast sparing Gaston's life comes to mind, since it was crucial to his character development), or in a satisfying way (Westley subduing Prince Humperdinck

Those are good examples of when it's done right.  But as the B&B filmmakers observed in the DVD commentary, never EVER turn your back on the bad guy.

23 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

One trope that is starting to bother me as I get older and more curmudgeonly is the person carrying a torch for their first love. 3 years is acceptable, but anything longer than that? Yeah, you really need to get back in the dating world, ASAP.

Word.  Especially if you're still hung up on some guy/girl who didn't even really like you all that much in the first place.  Why waste your time?

[Wiendish Fitch]

18 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

 

Word.  Especially if you're still hung up on some guy/girl who didn't even really like you all that much in the first place.  Why waste your time?

If it's a whirlwind romance, it sticks in my craw even more (everyone will hate me for this, but Titanic comes to mind). 

Of course, I can argue my own point that certain movies do the whole "carrying a torch" trope brilliantly. The criminally underrated rom-com Chances Are dared to explore how carrying a torch for a deceased loved one may seem romantic, but is actually limiting and unhealthy, while The Heiress and Vertigo showed how it can be outright destructive. Meanwhile, What We Do in the Shadows used the trope of pining for a lost love to surprising, hilarious, and even heartwarming effect.

Edited January 17, 2019 by Wiendish Fitch

[Dandesun]

25 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

Word.  Especially if you're still hung up on some guy/girl who didn't even really like you all that much in the first place.  Why waste your time?

My mother always said 'Why would you want to be with someone who doesn't want to be with you?' Now, granted, when my first love and I broke up this wasn't exactly the shit I wanted to hear BUT it is sound advice and it echoes in my head a lot whenever I watch... well, it's actually kind of a bummer how many movies go for the trope of 'if I pursue really hard, they'll see the light' nonsense.

[VCRTracking]

On 1/16/2019 at 10:12 AM, Wiendish Fitch said:

One trope that is starting to bother me as I get older and more curmudgeonly is the person carrying a torch for their first love. 3 years is acceptable, but anything longer than that? Yeah, you really need to get back in the dating world, ASAP. For crying Pete, remember how Hank seemed to carry the torch for Mystique in the more recent X-Men films? Dude, you were barely 20, barely dated her, she dropped you in an unceremonious fashion (okay, Hank did kind of bring it on himself, but it doesn't negate my point), and it's been decades! You're a super genius who looks like Nicholas Hoult (when you're not in "Beast mode", LOL), you have options! Surely there's a nice fellow mutant you can date who won't form an allegiance with the villain! Yes, I know, Hoult dated Jennifer Lawrence in real life but, again, this hardly negates my point.

 

Also in the comics Hank McCoy did become the blue and furry in the 70s, he actually became a sex symbol!

2 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

If it's a whirlwind romance, it sticks in my craw even more (everyone will hate me for this, but Titanic comes to mind).

 

I think it's more than they were in love, but Jack saved her life, first literally when he talked her  from jumping from the stern of the ship, to figuratively, to getting her to live a full life of adventure after his death.

2 hours ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Of course, I can argue my own point that certain movies do the whole "carrying a torch" trope brilliantly. The criminally underrated rom-com Chances Are dared to explore how carrying a torch for a deceased loved one may seem romantic, but is actually limiting and unhealthy, while The Heiress and Vertigo showed how it can be outright destructive. Meanwhile, What We Do in the Shadows used the trope of pining for a lost love to surprising, hilarious, and even heartwarming effect.

 

There's also the 2015 movie 45 Years starring Charlotte Rampling which got her an Oscar nomination. A summary from the Time magazine review:

Quote

In Andrew Haigh’s delicately shaded drama 45 Years, Charlotte Rampling and Tom Courtenay play one of those couples, Kate and Geoff Mercer. The two are nearing their 45th wedding anniversary, and they’re deep in the planning for a big party. As the event draws near, Geoff gets some news that shakes him: The body of a woman he used to love—a potent memory with a name attached, Katya—has been found in Switzerland; she’s been lost for close to 50 years. Geoff is shaken by this sudden reminder of lost love, now made crushingly final, yet the news affects Kate even more deeply. She knew so little about Katya. Why hadn’t her husband told her more? And why is he now so filled with grief that he’s drifted miles away?

Edited January 17, 2019 by VCRTracking

[Mabinogia]

4 hours ago, Dandesun said:

well, it's actually kind of a bummer how many movies go for the trope of 'if I pursue really hard, they'll see the light' nonsense.

This is the trope I hate. As the victim of someone who thought that he should get credit for the effort he put into pursuing me and therefore I had an obligation to like him, I HATE the concept of "changing someone's mind" about liking you by just going after them relentlessly. You cannot bully someone into loving you and you don't get points for trying that add up into someone loving you. The other person actually has the right to not like you even if you try really, really hard. 

[Ms Blue Jay]

Vomit!  Almost every movie has a vomit scene.   So far, I've gathered a list of more than 100 movies that feature one.  The movie "The Favourite" that came out this year had 5-6 vomit scenes alone.  The movie "Blockers" had a 7 person vomit scene.  I've seen 11 movies released this year ALONE that feature a vomit scene.

[Shannon L.]

1 hour ago, Ms Blue Jay said:

Vomit!  Almost every movie has a vomit scene.   So far, I've gathered a list of more than 100 movies that feature one.  The movie "The Favourite" that came out this year had 5-6 vomit scenes alone.  The movie "Blockers" had a 7 person vomit scene.  I've seen 11 movies released this year ALONE that feature a vomit scene.

Add to that people sitting on toilets or using urinals.  I don't necessarily get grossed out by it (like I do with the vomit), but it just seems like it would be awkward for the actors and it's unnecessary, imo.

[Ms Blue Jay]

I have a top 3-4 that I mention are always in TV shows, ESPECIALLY TV show pilots created in the 2010s:

1. Vomit
2. Masturbation scene
3. Car Crash scene
4. Toilet like you said

Big Little Lies had maybe all four, but definitely 1 and 3.  I watched Maniac and they did the vomit episode, the car crash episode, and then I think I said third episode would be masturbation and I was right.  I might be mixing up the order, but all 3 happened.  I like the show Being Mary Jane, but the pilot had 1, 2, and 4.  Also the show Friends from College which I ADMITTEDLY hate watch - I just watched Season 2 and I counted 4 VOMIT SCENES.  IN 8 EPISODES.  That's 1 vomit scene every other episode!  THAT'S INSANE!

But car crashes are huge in movies too - Adaptation, Office Space my favourite movie, Focus, and on and on and on.  

I rant and rant and rant about especially vomit scenes - it's my personal vendetta.  All of these are just ways writers/directors try to show they're "edgy" - but it's lazy, it's shorthand, it's cliche, it's disgusting, it punishes the viewer, it's gratuitous.  
 

Edited January 18, 2019 by Ms Blue Jay

[Browncoat]

I love "Monty Python's The Meaning of Life" EXCEPT for the vomit scene.  I abhor that scene.  Yet somehow, it doesn't really bother me when Mr. Creosote explodes. 

[tennisgurl]

On 1/16/2019 at 10:21 AM, Spartan Girl said:

I am officially sick of The Hero Showing Mercy to the Villain Trope.  I don't care if it's to show the hero's morality, it's just dumb.  Because 99.9 percent of the time they're never grateful and they just stab you in the back once your back is turned.  

Just once, when the hero has the bad guy at their mercy, and someone says something like "if you kill him, you'll be just like him" I want the hero to be like "No, this asshole committed genocide, killed millions, and stole my cat" and shoots him in the head. 

Yeah, thats super morally ambiguous and dark, but it would be so shocking and cliche destroying!

Edited January 18, 2019 by tennisgurl

[Ms Blue Jay]

2 hours ago, Browncoat said:

I love "Monty Python's The Meaning of Life" EXCEPT for the vomit scene.  I abhor that scene.  Yet somehow, it doesn't really bother me when Mr. Creosote explodes. 

I love "Bridesmaids" EXCEPT for the horrible diarrhea scene.  I thought "A Simple Favor" was pretty good, EXCEPT for the incest scene which made me come very very very close to throwing up myself.  I wish I could edit Blu Rays.

[Shannon L.]

2 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Just once, when the hero has the bad guy at their mercy, and someone says something like "if you kill him, you'll be just like him" I want the hero to be like "No, this asshole committed genocide, killed millions, and stole my cat" and shoots him in the head. 

Yeah, thats super morally ambiguous and dark, but it would be so shocking and cliche destroying!

Deadpool!  :)

@Ms Blue Jay, I don't like masturbation scenes, either.  

[VCRTracking]

3 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Just once, when the hero has the bad guy at their mercy, and someone says something like "if you kill him, you'll be just like him" I want the hero to be like "No, this asshole committed genocide, killed millions, and stole my cat" and shoots him in the head. 

Yeah, thats super morally ambiguous and dark, but it would be so shocking and cliche destroying!

 

Even better would be if the hero knows the villain will kill them if  they show them mercy so they deliberately turn their back and when the villain takes the bait, they're already ready and can kill them in front of witnesses and claim self-defense!

Edited January 18, 2019 by VCRTracking

[andromeda331]

3 hours ago, tennisgurl said:

Just once, when the hero has the bad guy at their mercy, and someone says something like "if you kill him, you'll be just like him" I want the hero to be like "No, this asshole committed genocide, killed millions, and stole my cat" and shoots him in the head. 

Yeah, thats super morally ambiguous and dark, but it would be so shocking and cliche destroying!

So do I.  I hate that line. Its so stupid. Ah no one ever becomes just like the villain for killing a villain. Shooting one person especially a bad guy isn't going to send the hero off to suddenly start slaughtering millions and committing genocide. If you killed Hitler you would not become Hitler unless you are already a mass murdering psychopath. Can't the hero ever once say bullshit and fire away. 

[Joe]

I'm sick of Russians as the enemy. First it was the USSR, then it jumped straight to the Russian mafia. Okay, I'm no fan of Putin, but nowdays it's boring and cliché. Yeah, sometimes one gets to aid the hero, and often die in the process. Sometimes there's a movie about Russian heros, but only when they're played by British or American actors.

[Lonesome Rhodes]

On 1/17/2019 at 10:02 PM, tennisgurl said:

Just once, when the hero has the bad guy at their mercy, and someone says something like "if you kill him, you'll be just like him" I want the hero to be like "No, this asshole committed genocide, killed millions, and stole my cat" and shoots him in the head. 

Yeah, thats super morally ambiguous and dark, but it would be so shocking and cliche destroying!

 

He never asked for mercy, but Magnum executing Victor was RIGHTEOUS!

Apologies if this was not appropriate/germane.

Edited January 20, 2019 by Lonesome Rhodes

[andromeda331]

On ‎1‎/‎16‎/‎2019 at 11:12 AM, Wiendish Fitch said:

One trope that is starting to bother me as I get older and more curmudgeonly is the person carrying a torch for their first love. 3 years is acceptable, but anything longer than that? Yeah, you really need to get back in the dating world, ASAP. For crying Pete, remember how Hank seemed to carry the torch for Mystique in the more recent X-Men films? Dude, you were barely 20, barely dated her, she dropped you in an unceremonious fashion (okay, Hank did kind of bring it on himself, but it doesn't negate my point), and it's been decades! You're a super genius who looks like Nicholas Hoult (when you're not in "Beast mode", LOL), you have options! Surely there's a nice fellow mutant you can date who won't form an allegiance with the villain! Yes, I know, Hoult dated Jennifer Lawrence in real life but, again, this hardly negates my point.

 

Me too. I get still having some affect or what from someone you dated long ago. That make sense. But still in love decades later? No, that's crap. For one thing its creepy and another why? Why are you still in love with someone else that long that you don't even know? You don't know her now. You only know her then. Plus she dumped you. She rejected you. She picked someone else (yes sometimes that line Lorelai says to Rory in Gilmore Girls fits). Move on. Find someone else. Its also weird when its clear they haven't thought of the person in a long while like in Sweet Home Alabama but the ex. The ex built a business with the sole reason to get his wife back even thought she had moved to New York and was dating someone else. What about that says she wants you back? Marry someone else. 

On ‎1‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 3:54 PM, Mabinogia said:

This is the trope I hate. As the victim of someone who thought that he should get credit for the effort he put into pursuing me and therefore I had an obligation to like him, I HATE the concept of "changing someone's mind" about liking you by just going after them relentlessly. You cannot bully someone into loving you and you don't get points for trying that add up into someone loving you. The other person actually has the right to not like you even if you try really, really hard. 

So do I, What about that is romantic or sweet? Your chasing someone who keeps rejecting you and turning you down. That person has made it clear he or she is not interested. Move onto someone else. Find someone who actually wants you.  You keep being chased by someone even though you have said no and are not interested. 

On ‎1‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 10:49 AM, Dandesun said:

My mother always said 'Why would you want to be with someone who doesn't want to be with you?' Now, granted, when my first love and I broke up this wasn't exactly the shit I wanted to hear BUT it is sound advice and it echoes in my head a lot whenever I watch... well, it's actually kind of a bummer how many movies go for the trope of 'if I pursue really hard, they'll see the light' nonsense.

That's great advice. It would be nice to hear someone say that to someone who's chasing after someone. Why are you putting so much work into someone who doesn't want you? Why won't you take no for an answer? 

 

On ‎1‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 10:21 AM, Spartan Girl said:

Word.  Especially if you're still hung up on some guy/girl who didn't even really like you all that much in the first place.  Why waste your time?

Good question. Why not find someone else who does like you, and love you? You can put all your effort into that relationship? Then longer it goes on the more creepier it gets. They don't need to end up with that person they need therapist to find out why they won't leave him or her alone. Why they won't accept the person has made it clear their not interested?

Edited January 20, 2019 by andromeda331

[Apathy]

I know I'm late for this but ditto on the guy (in most cases) who carries a torch for his ex for years. Lots of people's first loves aren't their last, and there's a reason why it didn't work out the first time around. Get a life.

I'm also not a fan of the Third Act Break-Up/Friendship Failure trope, especially if there's not much leading up to that point at all or if it's over something stupid [insert third act misunderstanding here]. "The liar revealed" could also be related to this, which drives me crazy when it plays out exactly like you'd expect. That kinda ruined Klaus for me.

[andromeda331]

7 hours ago, Apathy said:

I know I'm late for this but ditto on the guy (in most cases) who carries a torch for his ex for years. Lots of people's first loves aren't their last, and there's a reason why it didn't work out the first time around. Get a life.

I agree it's really weird. Half of the time they haven't even seen their first love in years or decades but still carry a torch.  The other half live in the same town but still carry the torch even the thought she has clearly moved on and hadn't been together in decades. But he still thinks they have a chance.  Again? Why? You broke up a long time ago, you both have changed and if you had a chance it would have happened before now. It hasn't move on.

I also don't like in those stories they usually have the woman's parent or parents pushing her towards her first love or won't stop singing his praises.  Why do they care so much about a boy their daughter dated decades ago. 

Quote

I'm also not a fan of the Third Act  Break-Up/Friendship Failure trope, especially if there's not much leading up to that point at all or if it's over something stupid [insert third act misunderstanding here]. "The liar revealed" could also be related to this, which drives me crazy when it plays out exactly like you'd expect. That kinda ruined Klaus for me.

I'm not either for those reasons. There's rarely any lead up and it's usually over something stupid. If your going to do a break-up or friendship failure. Give it an actual reason. One that makes sense instead of something stupid or could be solved in one conversation.

[Wiendish Fitch]

16 hours ago, Apathy said:

I'm also not a fan of the Third Act Break-Up/Friendship Failure trope, especially if there's not much leading up to that point at all or if it's over something stupid [insert third act misunderstanding here]. "The liar revealed" could also be related to this, which drives me crazy when it plays out exactly like you'd expect. That kinda ruined Klaus for me.

One of numerous reasons why I love 9 to 5 is because there is no End of Second Act/Beginning of Third Act tiff. The camaraderie between the ladies remains strong until the end. If there is enough conflict in the plot, there's no need to throw in more. 

[Spartan Girl]

The Break Their Heart To Save Them Trope.

Look, sometimes, being cruel to be kind is necessary. But breaking up with someone instead of, oh say, telling them that you’re terminally ill is just plain stupid. You are not sparing this person any pain, you are going to make it a million times worse. Because when the truth comes out—and it always does one way or another—they’re going to be even more shocked and horrified not only that they didn’t know, but also at they way they might have lashed out at you when they were hurt and confused that you dumped them for no reason or claimed that you never loved them or whatever lie you told to drive them away. And so the grief will be more awful and traumatizing because of that deception, and odds are no amount of therapy in the world will give them proper closure.

If you really love this person, they deserve the truth and the chance to have an actual choice in the matter. There’s nothing selfless about denying them that.

[Wiendish Fitch]

30 minutes ago, Spartan Girl said:

The Break Their Heart To Save Them Trope.

Look, sometimes, being cruel to be kind is necessary. But breaking up with someone instead of, oh say, telling them that you’re terminally ill is just plain stupid. You are not sparing this person any pain, you are going to make it a million times worse. Because when the truth comes out—and it always does one way or another—they’re going to be even more shocked and horrified not only that they didn’t know, but also at they way they might have lashed out at you when they were hurt and confused that you dumped them for no reason or claimed that you never loved them or whatever lie you told to drive them away. And so the grief will be more awful and traumatizing because of that deception, and odds are no amount of therapy in the world will give them proper closure.

If you really love this person, they deserve the truth and the chance to have an actual choice in the matter. There’s nothing selfless about denying them that.

Ooooh, this one makes me spit nails. It's not always a terminal illness, sometimes our protagonist is injured, or think they know what's best for their loved one, or whatever. Way, way, way too many films from the Golden Age of Hollywood are guilty of this: Camille (which I otherwise like), An Affair to Remember, Tomorrow is Forever, Stella Dallas, Dark Victory, and that's just to name a few. 

I get it, we want that sweet, sweet drama and tension, I'm all for it, but must this particular drama be so... infuriating?!

Level with your loved ones! Give them a chance! Maybe they're stronger than you give them credit for! Maybe you don't know everything!

[Spartan Girl]

29 minutes ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Ooooh, this one makes me spit nails. It's not always a terminal illness, sometimes our protagonist is injured, or think they know what's best for their loved one, or whatever. Way, way, way too many films from the Golden Age of Hollywood are guilty of this: Camille (which I otherwise like), An Affair to Remember, Tomorrow is Forever, Stella Dallas, Dark Victory, and that's just to name a few. 

And since you brought up Camille, let’s add Moulin Rouge to the discussion seeing that Camille/La Traviata was one of the many film that inspired it. To be fair, Moulin Rouge was open about all its melodramatic tropes and shamelessly embraced it, which was what made it work, but that doesn’t make the third act “break his heart to save him” trope any less infuriating—although again to be fair, the movie did call out how this action did more harm than good, for everything I stated in my previous post. But what makes it more stupid: consumption/tuberculosis is contagious! So while Satine thought she was saving Christian from the Duke and the grief of her impending death, a long life was not guaranteed. 

And while people give Christian and his Camille/La Traviata counterparts a lot of crap for how they lash out without knowing the whole truth, can we just admit that that’s all a part of other crappy writing tropes that are equally stupid? Also that humans are flawed and don’t always do or say the right things when they’re angry and hurt and in the heat of the moment?!

Edited March 1 by Spartan Girl

[Wiendish Fitch]

Word to all of that. And why do we all but canonize the protagonist who "lied to save their love"? Take Stella Dallas: she pretends to reject her daughter Laurel, so that Laurel can marry her rich boyfriend, and live a better life. The movie frames Stella as this secular saint who put her daughter first and sacrificed her own happiness, blah blah blah.

Um, no?!

Laurel may have married her rich boyfriend, but she's going to spend the rest of her life thinking her mom doesn't love her anymore! Her kids will never know their grandmother! Maybe she'll get over this, but maybe not! And, honestly, just how necessary was all this?

I find self-martyrdom to be little more than a unique form of narcissism. You're just making yourself out to be the walking wounded so that you don't have to reckon with how your actions truly affect others.

[Spartan Girl]

1 hour ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

Word to all of that. And why do we all but canonize the protagonist who "lied to save their love"? Take Stella Dallas: she pretends to reject her daughter Laurel, so that Laurel can marry her rich boyfriend, and live a better life. The movie frames Stella as this secular saint who put her daughter first and sacrificed her own happiness, blah blah blah.

Um, no?!

Laurel may have married her rich boyfriend, but she's going to spend the rest of her life thinking her mom doesn't love her anymore! Her kids will never know their grandmother! Maybe she'll get over this, but maybe not! And, honestly, just how necessary was all this?

Really, if anything, it feels like Stella, for all the self-martyrdom just sacrificed her daughter so that she wouldn't have to change (let alone feel guilty about) her partying lifestyle.

1 hour ago, Wiendish Fitch said:

I find self-martyrdom to be little more than a unique form of narcissism. You're just making yourself out to be the walking wounded so that you don't have to reckon with how your actions truly affect others.