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Story/character tropes/cliches you dislike the most in any media

kiadony

kiadony

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Saw some people mention that in the pet peeves thread, thought it would be interesting to talk about on its own.

For me, one trope that really irritates me is obvious fakeout death or death equivalent. Imagine any story where some kids befriend an alien/robot/magical being/etc. You just know that the critter will have a dramatic near-death (or memory wipe or something for robots) at the end that will last long enough for everyone to start crying, but of course it will turn out to be perfectly fine. I know that it's usually meant for kids and it can always be someone's first time seeing it, but still - it's very formulaic and cheap. There are always ways to shake up the formula or to at least build up to the dramatic moment, but many movies of that sort that I saw are completely straightforward with it, sometimes shoving the near-death in with no logical reason just for the sake of having it there. Heck, sometimes characters start crying without any proof that the critter is supposedly irreversibly gone instead of trying to help or double-checking. And it's even worse when the writers don't bother to make the critter likable and you can't bring yourself to care about them at all.

So I guess the tldr is that I dislike cheap attempts at emotional manipulation that don't feel earned or built-up to.
 
I would say that I don't have any plot devices or tropes that I categorically can't stand. If it can be pulled off effectively and serve its intended purpose, I think any plot device can be worthy of respect, so long as the writing around it is strong enough to support it. Even if I've seen something a hundred times before, I can still respect it if it's done well.
 
Dorothy LaRouge said:
I would say that I don't have any plot devices or tropes that I categorically can't stand. If it can be pulled off effectively and serve its intended purpose, I think any plot device can be worthy of respect, so long as the writing around it is strong enough to support it. Even if I've seen something a hundred times before, I can still respect it if it's done well.
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I agree with this, but also, I feel like some cliches are more likely to be used well or subverted, while some often get used lazily. There is a difference between a story that's predictable but still engaging and one that just feels like a checklist.
 
kiadony said:
I agree with this, but also, I feel like some cliches are more likely to be used well or subverted, while some often get used lazily. There is a difference between a story that's predictable but still engaging and one that just feels like a checklist.
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Well yes, but I don't think the important thing there is the tropes themselves but the level of skill involved in applying them.
 
Dorothy LaRouge said:
Well yes, but I don't think the important thing there is the tropes themselves but the level of skill involved in applying them.
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I would guess it also depends on how much media you are (un)lucky to consume within a genre. I admit I wanted to vent about that specific cliche cause I saw way too many extremely bland and formulaic movies with that premise (in the background on TV at work).

Or just the lack of subversions of certain archetypes. For example if you have a character going "I work alone" usually it will be someone with a sad backstory of losing their comrades and they will invariably learn teamwork again. Makes me wish that we got more characters that are introverts and genuinely perform better alone. That sort of thing :bulbaLol: Edit: I should have titled this something like "story tropes you'd like to see subverted more often", I guess.
 
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One cliché I dislike the most are in TV series/movies where a kid is witnessing/experiencing a ton of things ranging from the awesome to absolute horror, and their parents suddenly gain the diploma of "most oblivious/unaware mom/dad of the year" by thinking their kid is just playing pretend.

An example of this was in an episode of Goosebumps where a kid was offered a puppet, but it turned out to be haunted, and it was talking independantly from the child, making it sound like the kid was saying mean things to everyone, making them disliked by everyone involved. Their friends walk away from them, their family responding with cold statements instead of reassuring the kid. Only at the end did the parents realize what was happening when the haunted puppet began attacking the family, only to be saved by a doll that was meant to be replaced by the former.

That's the kind of thing that just stresses me out.
 
kiadony said:
For example if you have a character going "I work alone" usually it will be someone with a sad backstory of losing their comrades and they will invariably learn teamwork again. Makes me wish that we got more characters that are introverts and genuinely perform better alone. That sort of thing :bulbaLol:
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Ok so I made this comment half-jokingly but now I remember how some of my introverted friends said that being outgoing is considered the only "right" option and how they were often forced to socialize way more than they are comfortable with... I think some cliches like that can be harmful. Like how we are shown that shy characters need to "come out of their shell" and go to parties and such, when in truth, it could only make things worse for them. Maybe I am being overly dramatic with this idk. Just remembering what others told me.
 
kiadony said:
Story/character tropes/cliches you dislike the most in any media
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comic relief characters. specifically, characters who're 100% comic relief, so their "humor" is all they "contribute" to the show

humor is a subjective, fickle thing. even just a dip in mood can have me not want to deal with a joke I'd normally okay with. it's very hit or miss, so if it misses that's a character who's 100% not enjoyable to me. and since it is humor, they also tend to insufferably butt in where they don't belong to crack a "joke" (see Bolin's "put a sock in it" to Zaheer in season three of Legend of Korra)

so, Jar Jar Binks basically

kiadony said:
story tropes you'd like to see subverted more often
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already mentioned it elsewhere, but I'd really like it if, when a shocking!!! plot twist happens about a character "secretly" being someone else (usually a villain but not always), the "surprised" character(s) just go "Well, yes. Obviously." haha
 
I almost always hate pervert characters in anime, while there are a small handful of exceptions (i do like Date from AITSF even if i wanted to strangle him for some of the things that came out of his mouth) Most of them make me actively uncomfortable and are sometimes enough to make me drop a piece of media if their egregious enough.
 
Just hate evil for the sake of evil/not bad enough/overly tragic backstories but there is a level for comic relief villains that I call "the doofensmirtz backstory" where it is so bad it's funny.
 
i feel like you can almost always find an example of a trope you dislike being done well, but i there are a ton i have a lot of resistance against.

the biggest example of this is child characters that don't age/age very slowly, see; nowi from fire emblem awakening. but i have seen the same trope done in ways that i like, for example; seere from drakengard.
i'm also gonna agree with max and say that i don't typically like perverted characters, there is a fine line between charming and uncomfortable, and that line is subjective for everyone. i myself am a huge fan of, again, kaname date from somnium files, and like haurchefant greystone's (ffxiv) dialogue before it was changed in the localization process. basically if its the character's only trait, i don't really like it.
 
i hate when a character's redemption arc begins and ends with them sacrificing themself. the most interesting thing to me when it comes to a redemption arc is how their previously villainous character traits translate over to their less antagonistic role in the narrative, and with a sacrifice you don't get to see any of it. besides, 9 times out of 10 it feels like a cheap attempt at garnering sympathy for them.

speaking of garnering sympathy, i don't inherently hate villain backstories, in fact i tend to love them a lot, but it can be very clear when the writer actually thought about what makes sense for their character versus when it's clear they just want you to feel bad for them (a certain recent finale of a web series comes to mind).

i also am picky about twist villains, where my problem with them is the exact reverse of my issue with sacrifices. if the twist is right at the end of the story, right before they're either killed or taken to jail, you don't get to know them as a villain at all, it feels wasted potential.

speaking of wasted potential, i hate fridging. the idea that a female character has to die to further a male character's arc is not only sexist, it's boring. and what sucks is that this trope is so insanely common, it's difficult to find something that doesn't have this. in a similar vein, the bury your gays trope is also bullshit.
 
How boring stock tropical environments are. Fortunately game developers tend to recognize that, to where it's become a tradition for introductory levels.
 
Another one I thought of: when "you are stronger when you fight to protect someone" is treated like some big dramatic reveal when in truth it's very obvious (just look at any animal who will attack you to protect its nest). In fact I'd say I generally dislike it when a character is oblivious to or in denial of something very obvious and it gets dragged on for the entire series (yes, that means I'm not a fan of tsunderes).
 
kiadony said:
"story tropes you'd like to see subverted more often"
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A trope I'd like to see more often is one or more superheroes being helped by civilians they swore to protect. We often think of civilians as a "they must survive" kind of goal, with nothing more to them. There was an episode of Justice League named "Patriot Act" where upon being attacked in Metropolis, civilians were willing to assist this episode's main heroes in any way they can, and even helped stop the threat. This video review delves into the details of said episode.
 
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