Cliche's in fiction that annoy you most

[Sarcastic_Applause]

The whole "its a good day to die" mentality in war films always annoys me, its one of the reasons that i now detest starship troopers. I admit i dislike the 'war is hell' bit too, but i hold up band of brothers amongst others in this genre as warfare as it should be portrayed

 

[MiracleOfSound]

The "standard" in "standard fantasy setting". I mean come on! It's a FUCKING FANTASY! THERE IS NO STANDARD IN FANTASY! THATS THE WHOLE POINT OF FANTASY! Arg caps rage off, I feel better now.

Medieval, green fields full of trees, orcs, elves, goblins, trolls, wizards....

That's the standard fantasy setting. I don't see a problem with labelling it 'standard' when almost every fantasy book, game or movie uses it. I bet even Tolkien wouldn't mind.

 

[tigermilk]

Its a Hollywood action movie, we must jump through hoops to establish and re-establish the heterosexuality of the protagonist/hero, this is doubly true if it is a "buddy cop" movie.

I think you're confusing your feminism with hatred of masculinity. It's cool because of social taboos.

@OP: Yeah, that cracked article pissed me right off.

I presume by "masculinity" you mean hegemonic or positivist masculinity (the dominant formation of masculinity within any given culture or learnt dominant masculinity respectively) and no not at all. I resent the assumption that as a viewer I caould only possibly relate to a protagonist if they are heterosexual.

As for "my feminism", I am undecided if that is possible. I am sympathetic to the agument that feminism is foregounded in essentialism and empiricism. As a man I an unable to appreciatte on a number of levels the oppression of women. On the other hand I believe in the ethos of "equal but different" and do think people should not be subjected to prejudice/discrimination due to their gender/sex.

Are you suggesting I am trying to be cool in light of social taboos, or that obligitary heterosexuality is a social taboo?

In buddy buddy cop shows. The "heterosexual reinforcement" you're speaking about is merely masculine behaviour. It is rare that they put down homosexuals, or outright boast of heterosexuality.

I am suggesting that you are misrepresenting positive-masculine behaviour as homophobic behaviour. And that you consider beating on masculinity appropriate in light of social taboos to do with feminism.

I'm not beating on (to use an appropriatelly "masculine" phase) a dominant heterosexual masculinity. My criticism is either of the assumption (by those involved in the decision making/creative process) or by audiences themselves that heterosexuality needs to be established for enjoyment to be derived from a film.

There is no need for an outright boast of heterosexuality, it tends to be established in the opening scenes. For example Die Hard John McClane is going to see his estranged wife, Lethal Weapon Danny Glover's character is looking forward to retiring with his wife and Mel Gibson's character's wife died and he is interested in the daughter of his partner. At no point did I suggest homophobia was explicit just that heterosexuality had to be established.

 

[Walter44]

I just thought of another thing:
Fantasy = LOTR-Ripoff (while LOTR basically is also just a ripoff of most of the western mythology)

I mean: Seriously? "Fantasy" means we're in a world, where things aren't like in our own. Where practically everything is possible, because it's friggin' FANTASY! And still writers (be it of books, films, TV-Series or games) think that if it is set in a "Fantasy-World" we need dragons and dwarfs and elves and trolls and goblins and orcs and what-do-I-know. It's like every Scifi-Universe would involve Klingons and Vulcans.

What bugs me most about this, is that the writers show how lazy they are, because all of these races already are archetypes the reader/viewer/player is familiar with. Orcs? Stupid, but very strong. Elves? Wise, often talented in magic, but not very endurable. Dwarfs? Hard-working, loud, small (duh), often with a beard. The problem here is, that the writers don't need to think of their own world with its own inhabitants and their own behaviors. And that's just lazy. I'm not saying that stories that do this are all bad (especially because almost every fantasy story would be bad in that case), but it gets boring...

You know what I want to see? A serious fantasy story (meaning not a parody like Discworld) that uses these established races, but not their stereotypes. Dwarfs as a sophisticated society of magic users, elves as cunning, opportunistic rogues...that would be interesting!

EDIT: Oh, someone already covered that while I was typing. It's still stupid.

 

[TriGGeR_HaPPy]

4.this comes up more in TV but the absolute rediculous levels in which they get anything game/computer related wrong

seriously you dont even have to be a geek/nerd to notice, Ive been noticing this crap since I was a kid

like the worst example in I think NCIS, theres this gamer chick, it went somthign like this

*looking at computer monitor*"is that a 12 core?"
"yeah, I have to have faster response time...."
"wait?...you have the high scroe in all the MMORPG's?"
"all of them"

yes thats right the high score in every MMO ever[/B]

I could sit through an absolutely shitty, cliché filled movie, TV show, whatever, so long as they didn't do this right here. Seriously.

I dont think Im even exagerating (I saw it on TV) its also on this list

http://www.cracked.com/article_19160_8-scenes-that-prove-hollywood-doesnt-get-technology.html

enjoy.......

Good, God. That... I don't even...
Whatever I was going to say before, I replace that answer with "this". >_>

 

[LadyMint]

Then you're gonna love this!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8qgehH3kEQ

Yeah. That's right. They actually did that.

That made me laugh so hard. Thanks.

As for the OP: Personally, I love B-horror films. The more terrible, the better for me to laugh at. But it's very tiresome to me that every "teen slasher" flick has to involve "teens having wreckless sex," usually in some obscure and inappropriate area. You can almost always tell who's going to die by who ends up getting laid in the first fifteen minutes of a film. And the sex scenes themselves don't even add anything to the movie; they're just softcore porn filler. Yes, we get it. Their characters are young and horny, the actress involved had plastic surgery and the director wants to show off her tits, and the smell of their recent hip dance is like an attractive musk to the deranged killer hiding in the bushes nearby. Come up with something different, please.

 

[Palindromemordnilap_v1legacy]

The villain who, when he has the hero at his mercy, doesn't kill him immediately

 

[artanis_neravar]

Its a Hollywood action movie, we must jump through hoops to establish and re-establish the heterosexuality of the protagonist/hero, this is doubly true if it is a "buddy cop" movie.

I think you're confusing your feminism with hatred of masculinity. It's cool because of social taboos.

@OP: Yeah, that cracked article pissed me right off.

I presume by "masculinity" you mean hegemonic or positivist masculinity (the dominant formation of masculinity within any given culture or learnt dominant masculinity respectively) and no not at all. I resent the assumption that as a viewer I caould only possibly relate to a protagonist if they are heterosexual.

As for "my feminism", I am undecided if that is possible. I am sympathetic to the agument that feminism is foregounded in essentialism and empiricism. As a man I an unable to appreciatte on a number of levels the oppression of women. On the other hand I believe in the ethos of "equal but different" and do think people should not be subjected to prejudice/discrimination due to their gender/sex.

Are you suggesting I am trying to be cool in light of social taboos, or that obligitary heterosexuality is a social taboo?

In buddy buddy cop shows. The "heterosexual reinforcement" you're speaking about is merely masculine behaviour. It is rare that they put down homosexuals, or outright boast of heterosexuality.

I am suggesting that you are misrepresenting positive-masculine behaviour as homophobic behaviour. And that you consider beating on masculinity appropriate in light of social taboos to do with feminism.

I'm not beating on (to use an appropriatelly "masculine" phase) a dominant heterosexual masculinity. My criticism is either of the assumption (by those involved in the decision making/creative process) or by audiences themselves that heterosexuality needs to be established for enjoyment to be derived from a film.

There is no need for an outright boast of heterosexuality, it tends to be established in the opening scenes. For example Die Hard John McClane is going to see his estranged wife, Lethal Weapon Danny Glover's character is looking forward to retiring with his wife and Mel Gibson's character's wife died and he is interested in the daughter of his partner. At no point did I suggest homophobia was explicit just that heterosexuality had to be established.

These are defining the character, to show that they have family's, and to possibly set up future plots not as a way to show that they are hetero

 

[Kiardras]

Prophecies, Chosen Ones, Only one of his/her kind.

Annoys the hell out of me. I am so sick of protaganists that are "special" or "unique" that its driving me away from most fiction.

I want to see normal people in a situation deal with it, not someone kicking arse because he is the only one of his kind and the prophesized chosen one. Its lazy.

 

[tigermilk]

Its a Hollywood action movie, we must jump through hoops to establish and re-establish the heterosexuality of the protagonist/hero, this is doubly true if it is a "buddy cop" movie.

I think you're confusing your feminism with hatred of masculinity. It's cool because of social taboos.

@OP: Yeah, that cracked article pissed me right off.

I presume by "masculinity" you mean hegemonic or positivist masculinity (the dominant formation of masculinity within any given culture or learnt dominant masculinity respectively) and no not at all. I resent the assumption that as a viewer I caould only possibly relate to a protagonist if they are heterosexual.

As for "my feminism", I am undecided if that is possible. I am sympathetic to the agument that feminism is foregounded in essentialism and empiricism. As a man I an unable to appreciatte on a number of levels the oppression of women. On the other hand I believe in the ethos of "equal but different" and do think people should not be subjected to prejudice/discrimination due to their gender/sex.

Are you suggesting I am trying to be cool in light of social taboos, or that obligitary heterosexuality is a social taboo?

In buddy buddy cop shows. The "heterosexual reinforcement" you're speaking about is merely masculine behaviour. It is rare that they put down homosexuals, or outright boast of heterosexuality.

I am suggesting that you are misrepresenting positive-masculine behaviour as homophobic behaviour. And that you consider beating on masculinity appropriate in light of social taboos to do with feminism.

I'm not beating on (to use an appropriatelly "masculine" phase) a dominant heterosexual masculinity. My criticism is either of the assumption (by those involved in the decision making/creative process) or by audiences themselves that heterosexuality needs to be established for enjoyment to be derived from a film.

There is no need for an outright boast of heterosexuality, it tends to be established in the opening scenes. For example Die Hard John McClane is going to see his estranged wife, Lethal Weapon Danny Glover's character is looking forward to retiring with his wife and Mel Gibson's character's wife died and he is interested in the daughter of his partner. At no point did I suggest homophobia was explicit just that heterosexuality had to be established.

These are defining the character, to show that they have family's, and to possibly set up future plots not as a way to show that they are hetero

I take your point, but personally I do feel the fact they are always heterosexual is to do with assumptions/the reality of audience identification and some peoples discomfort with homosexuality.

 

[tigermilk]

Its a Hollywood action movie, we must jump through hoops to establish and re-establish the heterosexuality of the protagonist/hero, this is doubly true if it is a "buddy cop" movie.

I think you're confusing your feminism with hatred of masculinity. It's cool because of social taboos.

@OP: Yeah, that cracked article pissed me right off.

I presume by "masculinity" you mean hegemonic or positivist masculinity (the dominant formation of masculinity within any given culture or learnt dominant masculinity respectively) and no not at all. I resent the assumption that as a viewer I caould only possibly relate to a protagonist if they are heterosexual.

As for "my feminism", I am undecided if that is possible. I am sympathetic to the agument that feminism is foregounded in essentialism and empiricism. As a man I an unable to appreciatte on a number of levels the oppression of women. On the other hand I believe in the ethos of "equal but different" and do think people should not be subjected to prejudice/discrimination due to their gender/sex.

Are you suggesting I am trying to be cool in light of social taboos, or that obligitary heterosexuality is a social taboo?

In buddy buddy cop shows. The "heterosexual reinforcement" you're speaking about is merely masculine behaviour. It is rare that they put down homosexuals, or outright boast of heterosexuality.

I am suggesting that you are misrepresenting positive-masculine behaviour as homophobic behaviour. And that you consider beating on masculinity appropriate in light of social taboos to do with feminism.

I'm not beating on (to use an appropriatelly "masculine" phase) a dominant heterosexual masculinity. My criticism is either of the assumption (by those involved in the decision making/creative process) or by audiences themselves that heterosexuality needs to be established for enjoyment to be derived from a film.

There is no need for an outright boast of heterosexuality, it tends to be established in the opening scenes. For example Die Hard John McClane is going to see his estranged wife, Lethal Weapon Danny Glover's character is looking forward to retiring with his wife and Mel Gibson's character's wife died and he is interested in the daughter of his partner. At no point did I suggest homophobia was explicit just that heterosexuality had to be established.

Surely you're not suggesting that heterosexuality is a cliche?

I think you've chosen buddy-buddy cop-shows out of all the shows who do this for a reason.

No I am not suggesting heterosexuality is a cliche, just that the obligatory heterosexuality of the protagnists in action movies and buddy movies is a cliche.

 

[Squilookle]

Deus ex machina?...I think....not always a bad thing if done well

Spoiler: tory story 3/

things happen

Everyone keeps pointing this scene out as Deus Ex Machina, when it doesn't fit the description at all. Deus Ex Machina resolves a problem through a previously unseen or contrived way. Neither are the case here- let me try to say this spoiler free- we saw the rescuers moving off towards.... what would eventually do the saving, we knew by their nature that they'd do... things with it that could save things... and they even announced that they were heading for the saving object. It's not Deus Ex Machina at all, it just leaves us to connect one, just one dot in a series of foreshadowed and logical events.

Also I don't know if this has been said, but the whole 'sharpening' of surveillance footage playbacks. It happens all the frikken time. If the camera recorded at that quality, why the hell wouldn't it play it back at the same quality!?

 

[zelda2fanboy]

They don't do this a lot anymore, but I can't stand when the bumbling sidekick / damsel in distress finds the bad guy, gets his/her gun on him, but either A. can't pull the trigger or B. doesn't know how a gun works. Really, it would be more believable if they took the shot and missed, rather than being so incredibly stupid. Also, zombies. Anyone else tired of the freaking zombies?

I also don't like "mystery" movies/stories that are impossible to solve until new details are brought to light at the end that the audience didn't know about. Every previous detail giving us clues and ideas about the reality of the story were just a bunch of time wasting bullshit.

 

[The Iconnorclast]

Any movie where the main character or characters are sex-obsessed "quirky" teens who do incredibly stupid things just to get in some most likely underage girls pants. Ex: Superbad.

So basically the piss poor portrayal of what teens are actually like.

 

[arrow_storm]

deus ex machina should be reasonable, acceptable (in setting) and used so sparingly that you can count the uses with one finger. Anything else is poor writing.

Amnesia. Enough with freaking amnesia. Amnesia is you being too freaking lazy to create a backstory and reeks of "made it up along the way".

~60 - 80% of films are the same stereotypical/archetypal characters with the same plot and the same twists, with a change of appearance for the characters and a (slightly) different setting. I rented a movie recently, and during an early scene with all the main characters standing in a line (army style) paused the movie, walked up to the screen and predicted what each character was going to do throughout the film and how it would end. One and a half hours later, I stood up, decleared "I'm psychic" and felt depressed about the world.

Also, "Choosen one" storylines. Although I loved how A Bard's Tale (console) parodied it ("A choosen one of many isn't new").

EDIT: I suppose that if it meets the criteria it technically isn't deus ex machina, but come on, as if that's ever going to happen!

 

[hermes]

The xanatos gambit. For those who don't know it, its when the bad guy has an elaborate plan to his ultimate goal, that needs the hero to turn right instead of left, have an hamburger instead of a hotdog, call his mom instead of his dad and almost everything that happends on the movie is either designed by the villain. It is so cliche that it has a cliche phrase associated with it: "I knew you would do it... I have planned this all along" (really? Didn't you had a plan that doesn't include the hero killing hundreds of your minions?)

Extra rage points if it has several levels of recursivity and the hero was planning ahead that the villain was planning ahead, and the villain was planning ahead that the hero was planning ahead that the villain was planning ahead... (and so on)

 

[SkyrimOrBust]

Yeah I'd tell you what the worst cliche is but hackers hacked my guitar, be right back.

(You know what I'm getting to.)

Also, in comedy trailers, music cuts out and an unfunny joke is said 8 times per trailer.

 

[artanis_neravar]

When the main character runs away because he doesn't think he can do it anymore but then something restores his faith in himself and he comes back just in time to save everyone. Just once I would like to see him come back to find everyone dead and the bad guy completely victorious