Mass Media Tropes (2 Viewers)

[raymondchouku]

What tropes do you despise in books, movies, and tv series?

Personally, I can't stand weak female leads in any platform. By weak I refer to female protagonist who constantly need to be saved or lack skill; I usual see this in fantasy series. Also, the "evil" trope where a character mass-murders and does every conceivable act of evil because they are misunderstood and never experienced love is a constant eye roll for me.

@RandAlThor tagging you because books...

 

[Ahsoka]

Oh god where do I begin
Love triangles
Weak protagonists
Misunderstood evil character
Bad guy becomes good for no reason (okay if there's a legit reason though)
I am your father/brother/whatever family member

There's definitely more but it's been a while since I read fantasy novels or anything like that so I'm not remembering rn

 

[lunaria]

two words: love triangles. i usually stop reading

 

[raymondchouku]

I am your father/brother/whatever family member

The novel I've been writing has that long-lost sibling twist wrapped inside a spirit clone... lmao

two words: love triangles. i usually stop reading

I cannot stand love triangles. Especially when the love interest is the most boring person in the world!

 

[tai]

Love triangles and weak (damsel in distress) protagonist

 

[Jimimis]

Love triangles

love triangles.

love triangles

Love triangles

disgusting
LET ME HAVE MY LOVE TRIANGLES

 

[Jimimis]

i guess dont really have any tropes i despise i guess, i am very much a guilty pleasure type of consumer. like i love sarah j maas and absolutely could not stand wheel of time URGH

also love triangles will never die, better start learning to put up with them

 

[floorange]

The trope where two people mix up what the other person said. And then they don’t find out until like the end

 

[eclipsoul]

this is going to be like a whole essay but i hate this trope so much that i'm willing to spend some time writing out how much i hate it. there is this quite specific trope mainly in movies when a the story is centered on a young woman who happens to have a terminal illness and this becomes the only thing which defines her, until she meets a man who she falls in love with and then to whom she becomes an inspiration to live his life to the fullest because she doesn't really have a chance to. stories with this trope usually romanticize the main character's illness by showing it as something beautiful and meaningful rather than painful and exhausting or showing that the only reason behind sick people's existence is becoming a source of inspiration to those who are perfectly healthy and don't have to struggle with the same thing. it's noticeable in movies like the fault in our stars which is probably my least favourite movie of all time. this video perfectly explains what i mean and while i fully realise that no one here has time for a 24 minute long video, it's just to show that there are sadly many examples of this truly awful trope. i despise it with everything in me.

 

[raymondchouku]

this is going to be like a whole essay but i hate this trope so much that i'm willing to spend some time writing out how much i hate it.

Long posts are the best!

until she meets a man who she falls in love with and then to whom she becomes an inspiration to live his life to the fullest because she doesn't really have a chance to.

On a side note I find it unethical [and while the man is responsible for his choice I find that negligable] for someone to start up a romantic relationship when they know they are going to die within a specific period of time.

it's noticeable in movies like the fault in our stars which is probably my least favourite movie of all time.

Yeah, I remember a lot of people thinking this movie was the best thing since sliced bread. I much preferred [while not a romantic movie] the movie called My sister's keeper. Its about a girl with Terminal Cancer who had been since since a child and her sister came into the world as a means for the older sister to life via donating tissue and organs. I find it really sick, however, much more meaningful in terms of thought provoking and philosophical than the fault in our stars. On a side note, I know its not Shailene's fault, but every time I see her in a film I am reminded of her character from Secret Life of an American Teenager. lol

this video perfectly explains what i mean and while i fully realise that no one here has time for a 24 minute long video, it's just to show that there are sadly many examples of this truly awful trope. i despise it with everything in me.

Yeah. Sadly there are many k-dramas that are like this. And what sucks is its 16 hours instead of an hour and a half. lol

 

[eclipsoul]

Long posts are the best!


On a side note I find it unethical [and while the man is responsible for his choice I find that negligable] for someone to start up a romantic relationship when they know they are going to die within a specific period of time.


Yeah, I remember a lot of people thinking this movie was the best thing since sliced bread. I much preferred [while not a romantic movie] the movie called My sister's keeper. Its about a girl with Terminal Cancer who had been since since a child and her sister came into the world as a means for the older sister to life via donating tissue and organs. I find it really sick, however, much more meaningful in terms of thought provoking and philosophical than the fault in our stars. On a side note, I know its not Shailene's fault, but every time I see her in a film I am reminded of her character from Secret Life of an American Teenager. lol


Yeah. Sadly there are many k-dramas that are like this. And what sucks is its 16 hours instead of an hour and a half. lol

i have only watched the fault in our stars two years ago but i've heard a lot of positive things about it ever since it was released so i thought that it might be actually something different than this harmful and overused trope. i have never been so disappointed by a piece of media in my life, to this day i want my two hours back. as for k-dramas, if i want to see a story where romance is the main point (it doesn't often happen though, i prefer other genres) then i usually choose something rather lighthearted, the tragic stories who are supposed to be emotional are not my thing unless goblin counts but it's a whole different thing after all. i got into k-pop and k-dramas in 2016 at the time when uncontrollably fond was airing. i've heard people complimenting it everywhere and miss a was one of the first groups i discovered so i wanted to watch that for suzy but ended up not doing that and when i later read the recaps of every episode i was so glad i decided not to give it my time. the sick character in that drama is the male lead so maybe it's not what my first post was going for but still it doesn't make it any better.

 

[LoveYooShaSha]

I hvnt read the whole thread, sorry-

but-not a trope maybe, but ard 15-20 yrs ago i read of/then read a copy of Story by Rbt McKee cos it was like said to be important to screenwriters learning to write movies/tv n it had a thing in it where it said to deepen characters write abt incidents in the past that reveals the character or sth like tat. Over the years i noticed more n more where characters talked abt sth tat pertained to this. Instead of naturally talking abt banal matters every character now reveals their deepest childhood traumas thru dialog n i hate it. Its so formulaic to me now. Just too much revelation thru chracters reminiscing/thinking abt sth in dialog for me. I wish id nvr read this book/it wasnt taught/referred so much. Much like how lucas used campbells book on myths archtypes n formularised the heros quest in star wars. I long for shows where things happen n not revealed thru dialog where the character opens up/talks abt philosophical or childhood/past incidebts to reveal deepness. Idk but maybe Fargo season 4 isnt guilty of this, things happen without characters talking abt sth to show how deep/skilful/thoughtful the writers are. Just my rant. Show us dont tell us.

 

[Wingfrost]

pretty much all the ones already mentioned although there’s also the trope where the main character will somehow cheat on their significant other and have a romance with someone else and the book or movie just brushes it off. that’s not romantic at all, it makes me hate that relationship because you’re only a thing because someone cheated.