What tropes/clichés are you fed up with in films?

[Toby Frost]

As for the ruff tuff women can do it all trend

I've come to think that there is absolutely no point discussing the "women can/can't do that" issues that come up every so often. Like so much in the last few wretched years, the issue has been politicised by villains acting in bad faith (outside this site), and at any rate can be argued so many ways that it's basically pointless to try to do so. It really does seem to come down to what you believe. We might as well argue about whether or not there's a god.

 

[CupofJoe]

I'd add multiverses to the list.
It seems to be that the canons of Star Trek, the MCU and Doctor Who [to name a few] have become so bloated and inconsistent, that the writers have to create "other" realities to try and get everything to mesh.
I just about accepted the multiverses in the last [Tom Holland] Spiderman film No Way Home, but that was mainly the nostalgia of wanting to see Andrew Garfield and Toby McGuire again.

 

[paranoid marvin]

Movies (or TV shows) where a main character is killed and then somebody travels back in time to put things right.

I consider such a scenario as an act of utter cowardice. If you’re going to kill a character then do it and stop being such a spineless writer. At least GRRM was merciless and lethal to many of his best people and I respect that.

Apart from the ones who came back from the dead!

 

[Swank]

Movies (or TV shows) where a main character is killed and then somebody travels back in time to put things right.

I consider such a scenario as an act of utter cowardice. If you’re going to kill a character then do it and stop being such a spineless writer. At least GRRM was merciless and lethal to many of his best people and I respect that.

So you think the important part of that kind of story is the character's death, and not the time travel?

 

[Danny McG]

Women on the big screen can't run away from the bad guys unless they're holding hands with the male lead.

Yet they still manage to fall over and....."it's my ankle!"

 

[Foxbat]

So you think the important part of that kind of story is the character's death, and not the time travel?

I think the important part of that kind of story is avoiding the easy way out and do something that's not been done a hundred times before.

 

[Astro Pen]

"The air is breathable, Captain."
The incredible number of planets out there with air at 14 psi and 21% oxygen.

And, probably the most annoying one in the world of cinema.
the geek frantically typing while characters huddle and watch a succession of ACCESS DENIED messages then suddenly "We're in!" scroll, scroll.

 

[BAYLOR]

Movies (or TV shows) where a main character is killed and then somebody travels back in time to put things right.

I consider such a scenario as an act of utter cowardice. If you’re going to kill a character then do it and stop being such a spineless writer. At least GRRM was merciless and lethal to many of his best people and I respect that.

Yes, but tjhe killing of beloved main characters seem to have become a predicable trope.

 

[THX1138]

I've come to think that there is absolutely no point discussing the "women can/can't do that" issues that come up every so often. Like so much in the last few wretched years, the issue has been politicised by villains acting in bad faith (outside this site), and at any rate can be argued so many ways that it's basically pointless to try to do so. It really does seem to come down to what you believe. We might as well argue about whether or not there's a god.

Very true, Toby. And I don't want to go down that path. Although I kind of put a foot into my mouth!
I don't care much for most of the newer ruff and tuff male that can do it all ones either, to be fair. But there are movies and books that work rather well going either way. This is very true, and there are some that meant to be this way.

So, I have no problem with any character that is like this, just when new movies come out it's one or the other all the time. But I do enjoy it when a male MC is replaced with a female or vice-versa in re-adaptations. It's good to see it played out both ways, like with the current Foundations (I'm enjoying this one.) or even in Star Wars. The Force does not care what sex you are at all, so is fun to see the stories played out from different MC views.

 

[Orcadian]

It's not a verbal cliche in my case but a certain character that puts me off. It is almost everywhere and while I can accept its presence in films made before say 1970, IMO it has no place today. So who is this character? She is the pretty, willowy, usually-under-45 female who is somehow coping alone with some stressful situation or frightening / herculean task. (Already I am triggered because of course women are able to cope alone with such things about as well as men do!)

The most admirable thing about this character is her pluckiness & determination - but in the course of the film is becomes clear that she will not be able to manage this thing alone. She needs a man to protect or physically assist her, to support her emotionally, or to just plain love her - because of course a woman cannot manage without being involved in a romantic relationship.

I can count on the fingers of one hand the films where the female lead is truly strong, independent, courageous & self-reliant - and possibly no longer young & sylph-like. I really think the world of drama movies is impoverished by the omission of such female characters.

 

[BAYLOR]

Oh my God ! The poor hero and heroine , they're being menaced by an underpaid stunt actor in a very bad monster costume ! Somebody please help them !

 

[Astro Pen]

The way that 'radiation accidents' create superheroes and biologically viable hostile creatures. rather than people with burned skin and terminal cancers.

 

[Toby Frost]

The Onion once ran a story that read "Peter Parker Dies From Radiation After Being Bitten By Radioactive Spider".

 

[Danny McG]

The way that 'radiation accidents' create superheroes and biologically viable hostile creatures. rather than people with burned skin and terminal cancers.

There was me and my peers all closely watching each other in the late 1970s, we were all born very near Sellafield around the time of the 1957 contamination incident, who was gonna be the first of us to manifest special powers?

That was a bit of a letdown.

 

[Dave]

So are saying that you didn't become the incredible hulk?

(it just took a little longer to get there)

 

[BAYLOR]

There was me and my peers all closely watching each other in the late 1970s, we were all born very near Sellafield around the time of the 1957 contamination incident, who was gonna be the first of us to manifest special powers?

That was a bit of a letdown.

It worked for Radioactive Man .

 

[Brian G Turner]

So are saying that you didn't become the incredible hulk?

(it just took a little longer to get there)

The come back is:

Dannymg: No, I just became incredible.

Ta-da-dum.

 

[BAYLOR]

Yes, but if cliches and tropes were banned, Hollywood would go out of business because they wouldn't be able to make anymore movies .

 

[BAYLOR]

The way that 'radiation accidents' create superheroes and biologically viable hostile creatures. rather than people with burned skin and terminal cancers.

It worked for Bongo Comics Radioactive Man. He also ha a lighting bolt stuck in his head and consequently had to wear a hat conceal his secret identity.

 

[Toby Frost]

But funny how in film/TV black leather is commonly used as a short-hand for "dangerous person"

Well, it is a classic villain choice. I gather Hugo Boss bears some responsibility for this. Also, bikers wear a lot of leather for practical purposes, and have a general reputation for wildness and/or crime, however deserved it may be.

That said, back in the 90s I formed the view that evil Willow in Buffy was just misunderstood, and that meeting the right adolescent English youth could have made an important difference. But I digress.

I think this has largely faded away, but I'd mention creatures that don't look even vaguely human lusting after human women. It makes no sense! Really, Jabba the Hutt ought to have had another slug-thing sitting in front of his throne (I suppose we can argue that Leia was something of a political trophy, but still).