Underused tropes in fiction, TV & film

[cyberfairy]

The last place I lived in London was like that. Shame I had to move back to Leeds, cos I can never go back now.

That is a shame- it is often worse to have experienced the best than never to have experienced it at all. At least you have the memory. My flatshare in London looked like a squat- in fact people thought it was- so I am happy up north in a house with no flatmates that is not filthy!

 

[rubbershoes]

There should be tropes about people needing a shit.

No-one ever seems to need a shit in books, films, TV etc. You'll never hear a flushing sound on a Beatles record. Even worse in video games.

Is that normal pooing you're doing?

 

[mojo pixy]

Characters never poo because they never finish a meal, hardly ever even swallow a mouthful.

 

[T & P]

In horror films, when the main character finally defeats the evil demon/ spirit that has killed or maimed numerous of the protagonist‘s friends or family at their haunted home or weekend rental, when the police arrives in the aftermath they dismiss the supernatural explanation put forward by the main character, charge them with multiple murders, and lock them up in a mental institution.

 

[PTK]

There should be more science fiction in which aliens arrive but they don't speak perfect American English and nobody can ever figure out what the fuck they're saying

Like in Arrival, where a linguist is called in.

 

[T & P]

When someone (almost invariably a woman) is being gaslighted by their malicious spouse or an unknown party into believing they are going crazy, and nobody believes there has been an intruder lurking outside house, or making threatening anonymous phone calls, or seemingly unexplainable phenomena occurs around the house, it occurs to them to record with their mobile phone subsequent instances of said creep, anonymous phone calls, or spooky phenomena to show their sceptical partner and the police they’re not going mad.

 

[Sue]

When someone (almost invariably a woman) is being gaslighted by their malicious spouse or an unknown party into believing they are going crazy, and nobody believes there has been an intruder lurking outside house, or making threatening anonymous phone calls, or seemingly unexplainable phenomena occurs around the house, it occurs to them to record with their mobile phone subsequent instances of said creep, anonymous phone calls, or spooky phenomena to show their sceptical partner and the police they’re not going mad.

Or the woman explains what's been going on and people believe her.

I know, crazy.

 

[T & P]

When a cop/ special agent is captured and handcuffed to a chair by the baddies but has managed to conceal a paperclip or hairpin in their fist to open the handcuffs, they find out to their horror that the cunning bastards thought of buying a police grade set of handcuffs that is completely immune to a measly glorified needle being prodded in its opening, rather than the novelty set from Ann Summers store they were hoping for.

On a similar note, a civilan with no training who has been locked in a room and has a hairpin upon themselves quickly finds out that picking a lock with a hairpin is in fact not just 'as easy as seen in the movies', but all but impossible.

 

[Sue]

When the goodie goes to pull the baddie -- who's dangling off the side of a skyscraper -- up, they're pulled over themself and both plummet to their deaths,

(I mean seriously, immense strength'd be required to pull someone up from that position, even with adrenaline kicking in. Surely must be more likely they'd get pulled over.)

 

[Sue]

On a similar note, a civilan with no training who has been locked in a room and has a hairpin upon themselves quickly finds out that picking a lock with a hairpin is in fact not just 'as easy as seen in the movies', but all but impossible.

Does feel like an essential life skill that I should work on. Though the chance of me ever having a hairpin to hand is slim to non-existent.

 

[Serge Forward]

When on the phone, instead of just rudely hanging up, people say:
"Bye then."
"Bye bye.:

 

[Shippou-Sensei]

The team leader asks for a zoomed in pixilated image to be "enhanced" and the tech operator explains to him that that's not a thing.

Nah. Have them do it and have it come out looking like a cross between max headroom and a Picasso.

 

[A380]

When a cop/ special agent is captured and handcuffed to a chair by the baddies but has managed to conceal a paperclip or hairpin in their fist to open the handcuffs, they find out to their horror that the cunning bastards thought of buying a police grade set of handcuffs that is completely immune to a measly glorified needle being prodded in its opening, rather than the novelty set from Ann Summers store they were hoping for.

On a similar note, a civilan with no training who has been locked in a room and has a hairpin upon themselves quickly finds out that picking a lock with a hairpin is in fact not just 'as easy as seen in the movies', but all but impossible.

TBF police issue handcuffs don't have a key in any meaningful sense of the word. The 'keys' are just flat plates at right angles to a pin and any key opens any set - even across different manufactures. They are quite easy to open with any bent bit of wire; it's not like lock picking. This is different to prison escort handcuffs, but even they don't really have keys, just a screw driver type thing.

Apparently.

 

[T & P]

In detective/ Christie-style crime films, whenever someone wants to knock out with a blow to the head the protagonist or an innocent party who has unexpectedly shown up is and about to see them at a place they shouldn’t have been, they misjudge the force of the strike and cause permanent brain damage or death instead of the intended 30-minute period of lights out.

Conversely, when the antagonist wishes to kill the inconvenient witness or murder their victim with just a single blow to the head, leaving them laying on the floor seemingly dead and bleeding profusely from the head, they find out in the morning that the victim had just suffered a nasty concussion and cut to their scalp, had regained consciousness an hour or two later, and were resting in hospital and expected to make a full recovery.

 

[Agent Sparrow]

People actually shut the door when they get home/let someone in.

The protagonists win a climactic battle at great cost to their own side, and spend the rest of the film dealing with overwhelming grief and PTSD

When child protagonists, who start their story raised by neglectful/abusive guardians to show them as scrappy underdogs, get picked up by social services and can never get a CAMHS appointment for the therapy they evidently need.

 

[Steel Icarus]

Friends was a classic for that.

That's perfectly well explained in the show

 

[T & P]

When someone with less than a perfect moral compass witnesses the main antagonist commit a murder or otherwise comes across information that incriminates them in a major corruption or embezzlement crime, if the thought of trying to profit from it crosses their mind, they have enough functioning brain cells to immediately realise that blackmailing murderers or powerful CEOs is a terrible idea that will result in a 100% chance of their blackmail victim offing them instead of paying for their silence, and keep their mouth instead.

 

[Sue]

When someone with less than a perfect moral compass witnesses the main antagonist commit a murder or otherwise comes across information that incriminates them in a major corruption or embezzlement crime, and considers whether they can make something out of it, they have enough functioning brain cells to immediately realise that blackmailing murderers or powerful CEO is a terrible idea that will result in a 100% chance of their blackmail victim offing them instead of paying for their silence.

An average Joe comes across a huge stash of cash that belongs to the Mob/Cartel/serious criminals. He makes off with it and lives happily ever after.

 

[Jennaonthebeach]

When a car does a big jump over a river, just as the bridge is lifting, it lands on the other side, the whole front of the car crumples up, and they have to get out and run. I've never seen this happen in a film!

 

[T & P]

In films about demonic possession, when the priest warns the despairing parents it’s not just kid’s life but their eternal soul that is at stake, and he is losing the battle against the demon and the child might likely die imminently, God suddenly remembers he’s omnipotent and probably should not have let a poor innocent child be possessed by evil entities in the first place, let alone allow the kid to die and their soul taken to Hell and tortured for all eternity, and intervenes.

 

[Humberto]

That's not what hell is.

 

[T & P]

That's not what hell is.

Don’t get you…

 

[Humberto]

Don’t get you…

I'm not sure we disagree. It's nonsense non-scriptural. Not even Catholic. Hollywoodised. Just my angle and area a bit lately.

The bogeyman won't kidnap you, take you there unawares to be tortured for all eternity. Soz i'm deliberately awkward and I admit it.

 

[Humberto]

And nobody is 'tortured for all eternity', that's another bollix.

 

[T & P]

I'm not sure we disagree. It's nonsense non-scriptural. Not even Catholic. Hollywoodised. Just my angle and area a bit lately.

The bogeyman won't kidnap you, take you there unawares to be tortured for all eternity. Soz i'm deliberately awkward and I admit it.

I’m not discussing Christian dogma here per se, but the very premise put forward by most supernatural horror films involving demonic possession. A demon, or even the big boss, possesses a child or alternatively young woman through no fault of their own, and a Catholic priest enters an arduous battle for not just the life of the child but their soul, which is made clear by priest and devil alike will be taken to hell if the latter prevails. So AFAIC, a perfectly valid suggestion for this thread to suggest that for once Gid gets his finger out and intervenes.

 

[Saul Goodman]

And nobody is 'tortured for all eternity', that's another bollix.

Have you ever been stuck in a lift with somebody playing a dubstep track on loop?

 

[Humberto]

I’m not discussing Christian dogma here per se, but the very premise put forward by most supernatural horror films involving demonic possession. A demon, or even the big boss, possesses a child or alternatively young woman through no fault of their own, and a Catholic priest enters an arduous battle for not just the life of the child but their soul, which is made clear by priest and devil alike will be taken to hell if the latter prevails. So AFAIC, a perfectly valid suggestion for this thread to suggest that for once Gid gets his finger out and intervenes.

That's nonsense isn't it? The whole haunted house, demon who picks on kids, don't fuck around with anything occult lest they knock your teapot over business.

 

[Humberto]

What they don't seem to want and uncallily manage in the smartphone era is to be caught on film.

 

[krtek a houby]

The New York/Boston detective/lawyer goes to his local priest to seek advice/guidance on a particular case/person and after a conversation about the neighborhood/sports/childhood/ faith... stands up and says, "actually, do y'know what, Father? This is all just bullshit" then leaves the church forever, wondering why the fuck he ever bothered.

 

[Ted Bunting]

And nobody is 'tortured for all eternity', that's another bollix.

Tortured for another 30 years though, ay ay