From specific genre films to landmark blockbusters, the movies we watch and enjoy typically have to fall back on established cinematic tropes at one point or another to allow audiences to engage with ideas which are familiar to them. These tropes can range from character archetypes and narrative structures to more mundane, innocuous things like how characters hang up the phone.
The question of which of these tropes were the worst and most grating was put to the r/AskReddit community. As expected, Reddit responded with insight, passion, and good humor as they ripped on everything from schoolyard settings to notions of good vs. evil.
10 The Sympathetic Side Character Getting Killed
Used as a means to build up the stakes, films will often have a likable supporting character who is killed to showcase the cut-throat nature of the story world. It might be a cop on the verge of a long awaited retirement or a solider anticipating the birth of a child, but once they start getting rushed character work done, audiences can usually predict that the end is near.
curiousity60 commented “how they introduce a side character and shoehorn in how sympathetic they are in their brief appearance in the story. “Oh dude, you’re gonna die.” It’s so obvious their appearance is for that one purpose. Make us like them, then feed them to the villain.”
9 The Slasher Villain That Never Dies
Be it mystical beings, the vengeful undead, or just serial killers who seem to have an elusive relationship with death, the notion of a villain that never stays dead has become a trend in horror. While the easy answer is it enables studios to capitalize on popular slasher flicks by making franchises, it seldom works as rewardingly on the screen.
Woodentit_B_Lovely mentioned the trope which led to vitriolic remarks about how not only slasher movies use it nowadays. Vedorias highlighted that it has expanded to other genres as well, saying “That’s every movie these days. No one has the decency to stay fucking dead anymore. “Somehow Palpatine returned” oh fuck off!”
8 The Hollywood Hang-Up
The Hollywood Hang-Up is a movie trope so renowned and infamous that it has become an everyday phrase. It was put forward by ClosestCentrist who said “a character hangs up the phone without saying goodbye or ending the conversation in a natural way, it pulls me out of the movie every time.”
Other Redditors expanded on the point, with Internal-Bee-3827 being irked by how quickly characters start talking into the phone after dialing a number while Jeynarl brought up how news broadcasts in movies always seem to be switched on at precisely the right moment to deliver essential exposition in a direct manner.
7 School Teachers With No Lesson Planning
A mainstay trope of any film set in a school environment, hananobira commented on how teachers in movies tend to have the absolute worst approach to conducting a lesson. The Redditor said “A teacher says, “Today we’ll be talking about the Civil War” and the bell rings. As the students file out of the classroom, “And write a 2-page essay about Abraham Lincoln.”
Many of the films which do this tend to focus on the students with the classroom being merely a setting, so it is reasonable that a movie’s depiction of school would rely on clichés. However, that doesn’t stop it from being an eye-catching and annoying trope when it is used so often.
6 The “We’re Not So Different, You and I” Villain Speech
Often in great storytelling the hero and the villain will have a lot in common. The idea of the antagonist being a dark reflection of the main character lends itself to fascinating thematic exploration while giving the narrative itself higher stakes. However, the revelation of the two characters’ similarities isn’t always handled smoothly.
Some films will even resort to having a rather direct conversation on the topic to get the point across, with the scene usually jarring and obvious. smorgasfjord highlighted the lengths to which some films will go to justify the argument too, saying “and they always use the most far-fetched arguments.”
5 The Driver Not Paying Attention to the Road
Driving in real life vs. driving in the movies are two completely different things. Frankly, if a character were to drive normally with a stern focus on the road without giving much of a physical response to what the passenger was saying, it would probably come off as odd. But would it be as distracting as a driver showing no regard for the road whatsoever?
That was the sentiment of CatsAreJerks who commented “when the driver keeps their eyes focused on the passenger for an entire conversation without looking at the road.” EaterOfFood also mentioned when the driver is constantly turning the wheel as an annoying trope as well.
4 Characters Cutting Their Own Hand With No Lingering Effects
A common sight in film’s containing rituals of a mystic or magical nature is for characters to take a knife and slice their own hand open to produce blood when necessary. Something that is far less common in these films is to see the character nursing a wounded hand after the matter, with the character in question typically wrapping their hand in a bandage which seemingly cures cuts instantly.
That was the sentiment of Emptyspace227 whose impassioned rant stated “that shit would HURT, and your hand would be pretty much unusable for weeks while it heals, hopefully not leaving a nasty scar which limits movement for the rest of your life.”
3 Retired Protagonists Being Brought Back
A trope which has become prevalent in modern action films, the idea of a protagonist who has put their past behind them being brought back is starting to wear thin in the eyes of Reddit. While it does present as an easy way to establish the protagonist and the stakes of the job they’re about to do, it does have some obvious pitfalls.
Reese_Redgrave put forward the frustrating trope, commenting “when the protagonist “doesn’t do that anymore” and the movie requires his expertise because “he’s the best” so he ends up “doing that thing he swore never to do again.”” The response garnered 2.1k upvotes from the community.
2 Premature Villainous Monologuing
A great villainous monologue can be the perfect thing to inject more purpose and intensity to a film, but if writers don’t tread carefully it can be the undoing of the movie. As was so perfectly lampooned in The Incredibles, it will almost always happen when the villain has the protagonist in a bind where, instead of executing their master plan, they will take a break from their cunning villainy to espouse the genius of their wrongdoing to the helpless hero.
This almost always results in the hero finding a way to wriggle free from the villain’s clutches before going and saving the day at the final moment. After criticizing the trope, artpayne appropriately quoted Tuco (Eli Wallach) from The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, ending their comment with “when you have to shoot, shoot. Don’t talk.”
1 One v Many Fight Scenes Where the Many Attack One-by-One
Watching an action sequence where the hero is greatly outnumbered and facing certain death only for the bad guys to give them a chance by facing them one at a time can remove an audience from the moment. In addition to being illogical and a waste of the antagonists’ best advantage, it also culminates in swarms of adversaries standing around doing nothing while the fight goes on.
Mrkay07’s response garnered plenty of upvotes from the community for mentioning the frustrating trope. However, GruffScottishGuy commented saying “This is known as Mook Chivalry. Despite its apparent silliness, it’s important for a properly choreographed fight scene. It’s up there with sounds in space battles for “unrealistic though necessary” cinema tropes.”
