Most hated TV/movie trope

[rock_nog]

I figured since my last movie discussion was such a hit, I'd follow it up with another. This time, I'd like to ask which tropes/cliches of movies drive you absolutely bonkers and you wish would just go away.

For me, it's the child sidekick thrown in to so many children's movies/shows so that the audience has someone they can "relate to." For instance, we have Slimer and later the Junior Ghostbusters from Real Ghostbusters. Everyone wanted to see more Slimer... Until they turned him into a gluttonous doofus. Always getting in the way, the ear-grating "slimer speak," his sheer bumbling stupidity... Ugh... I'm not saying he had to be all scary and evil like in the movie, but geez... If you had to have him, that was just about the worst thing you could've done with him. Then there's that kid they added to the Power Rangers - a bit after my time, but my God, if I hadn't stopped watching before then, that would've killed it for me. You had Jubilee from the X-Men - woo, early 90s slang and fireworks. More recently, I watched the new Avengers cartoon, and they did that crap with Wasp. Sure, she wasn't a kid, exactly, but they gave her the same traits - totally incompetent, lame powers, unfamiliar with the superhero world, a "character kids are supposed to relate to." I don't even think I have to discuss Wesley Crusher. Now, once or twice, I've seen it done right, where it worked and the characters weren't annoying as all get-out. Mainly, I'm thinking of the Ninja Turtles movies. You had the son of the producer in the first one, and the pizza delivery kid in the second one - obviously meant to fill that role of having a younger character the audience can identify with, but in both cases, they never really got in the way, nor did they ever have a real "child prodigy saves the day" moment (they both did help out, but realistically), so you could put up with them. Overall though, it's entirely unnecessary - at best, when it's done well, you really don't care. Never does it feel like it's absolutely vital to have those characters, so if you're going to include one, you better damn well know what you're doing.

[Chris Miller]

A couple of things that make me audibly growl:

1) A character twists two wires together under the dash of a car. It starts, and he/she takes off.
That's not even close to possible, at least not for any vehicle made within the last forty years. For one thing, the steering wheel would be locked, and even if you could get the starter to turn by shorting a connection, the car still wouldn't start because the ignition isn't hot.

2) A "computer geek" instantly hacks into a totally foreign computer system, and is presented with a beautiful, super-easy-to-use interface that a child could figure out. They're able to completely wreak havoc on the enemy with a minimum of effort, take control of an airplane, or remotely drive any vehicle they want. Not to mention, every computer on TV seems to beep and make other miscellaneous irritating and counterproductive noises every time they enter a command.

[Aliem]

this. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8qgehH3kEQ)

[Chris Miller]

Yes! Precisely! Abby, as cute as she is, is one of the worst offenders. >.<

[GrantGreif]

When computers use an OS that clearly doesn't exist, and when government computers have an OS that looks like it was made in the 90's.

[King Aquamentus]

When computers make high-pitched dingly sound effects for everything that happens on them, from typing to minimizing/maximizing a window. Can't mention NCIS without JAG! Walker Texas Ranger is another offender, and yes it is almost always crime dramas that do it. Actually it might be kinda cool if a pc could do it irl, just download some sort of installation and go. But eh.

Another that has gotten on my nerves in recent years is when you have an energy weapon that shoots (usually) two to three-foot lines of what can only be described as light like they were bullets (see: Star Wars blasters), and calls them LASERS. Go into a dark room sometime and turn the light on. Tell me if there's this expanding circle of light around the bulb that eventually illuminates the whole room. That's how light works right? I'm not saying I hate weapons like this themselves, I just don't like it when they get called lasers.

Here is a real laser gun. Like for serious, guys, watch this. This is the closest IRL equivalent to a blaster known to the public. The plasma ball seen ejected from the gun is merely a byproduct of the pulse, and even then it looks more like Megaman's shots.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUXXGbNS8oY

[rock_nog]

I find it ironic that the only time I've ever seen weapons that actually act like laser weapons is Star Trek, and then they don't call them lasers, they call them phasers.

[King Aquamentus]

^at least they really are more than just a straight line of concentrated light. still though...

From what I understand, in the Star Trek universe they did once use lasers as weapons, but it was short-lived because they proved unwieldy and impractical. This is very far back in its mythos though, before Enterprise.

[Brasel]

Any situation where the attractive, inexperienced white male comes in and does a job better than the people who have been doing it for far longer. See Avatar, The Last Samurai, Dances with Wolves...etc.

[CJC]

See Avatar.

When I saw this, I thought you were talking about the television show about magical martial arts. Then I realized you were talking about the movie with the giant blue people.

My most-hated trope is the obligatory 'baby' character that talks in the third person. Bonus points if they also dress funny or have some sort of weird magic ability.
While it might sound like I'm talking about cartoons, these horrible things have reared their ugly heads in plenty of live-action television: for example the latter two apply to Penelope Garcia on Criminal Minds (She was arrested as a hacker and yet she has a job at the FBI, and she CONSTANTLY breaks into secured server information without repercussions? That's a magic power).

[Brasel]

When I saw this, I thought you were talking about the television show about magical martial arts. Then I realized you were talking about the movie with the giant blue people.

Yeah, the cartoon is way better. I love that show. I own all three books of the original series on DVD.

[CJC]

The Last Airbender cartoon is fantastic!


...But I'm risking derail, so I suppose I should post another hated trope. I don't think there's a name for this, but... when every lead character has to make a reaction to EVERY situation. Though not technically a TV show, the Disgaea games are particularly guilty of this. Oh no, the villain has said something! Now wait ten minutes while each of the two dozen main characters input their two cents.

[GrantGreif]

If we're also talking about games, I'd like say that dramatic irony (when the viewer knows something the protagonist doesn't) does not work well in them. A major example of this I can think of would be the Bubble Lake segment in Bowser's Inside Story. Basically, Mario and Bowser are both trying to find a sage before the other. Bowser thinks it's in a forest, however the player knows that it isn't, but you still have to try to get Bowser to the forest to advance the plot anyway.

[Liliith]

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[Aliem]

I just saw a trailer for this film coming out called Lucy. And it reminded me of the absolute most irritating trope of all time.

"We only use 10% of our brains!"

The only people who only use ten percent of their fucking brains are the morons that think that's a good premise for a story.

[GrantGreif]

I just saw a trailer for this film coming out called Lucy. And it reminded me of the absolute most irritating trope of all time.

"We only use 10% of our brains!"

The only people who only use ten percent of their fucking brains are the morons that think that's a good premise for a story.

I don't know if it's 10%, but there is a portion of our brain that cannot be used for one reason; it's the adhesive holding it together. Billions of years of evolution would not result in a brain that could not be used to its full potential

[rock_nog]

The closest reality comes to that "10% of your brain" crap is the fact that not all areas of your brain are firing all the time. But obviously they're not, or otherwise the brain wouldn't be able to generate meaningful signals. If every neuron were firing constantly, it'd be the equivalent of static. Like, if you were looking at a computer at the binary level, and could see all the 1's and 0's, would you say, "This computer is inefficient, it's only using about half of the available 1's. All these 0's could be 1's, too!"