What's your pet peeve when it comes to tropes? What bothers you when you see it in a show or a movie?
What's your pet peeve when it comes to tropes? What bothers you when you see it in a show or a movie?
I'll go first. Mine is the instant knockout drug. Like Dexter's intramuscular injection that causes someone to immediately lose consciousness. Or in the movie Split where there's the aerosol spray in your face that makes you instantly unconscious. Or pretty much any time someone uses chloroform.
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My pet peeve is that screenwriters, directors, and producers know and recognize even more tropes than we do. Somewhere along the line, things were rushed and/or lazy. Someone just said “aw, fuck it.”
If the filmmakers don’t give a shit about the final product, why should I?
Tropes are not something one should avoid at all times. Tropes are there because they work. It's the lazy use of tropes as a crutch that is the problem.
It might not be fair to say they don't give a shit. More often, I've found that productions simply hit a wall of time or money.
Just about anyone can write or edit a great story with enough time. But movies and shows are produced against a running clock, and they have obligations and limitations that go beyond the screenwriter's imagination or the editor's time. There are so many varied interests involved in a single production. Sometimes the issue is TOO many people giving a shit, and not being able to find a workable compromise in time.