41 Movie and TV Tropes That Have Us Asking ‘How Is This Still A Thing?’

We haven’t laughed at an awkward handshake in years, Hollywood!
41 Movie and TV Tropes That Have Us Asking ‘How Is This Still A Thing?’

Dearest Hollywood,

You must have a few more storytelling tools in the tool belt, right? Uptight moms and white saviors have worked very well for you over the years, but maybe they can be left in the workshop for a while and replaced by some newer, sharper devices? The old theory of “go with what you know” has taken you far enough, so we propose that you halt movie and TV show creation while you brainstorm some new ones.

Sincerely, 

Movie and TV fans everywhere

The Overblown Misunderstanding

CRACKED.COM Awful Sitcom Tropes The overblown misunderstanding We get it, you can't have a situation comedy without situations, but must every misunderstanding be blown out of proportion like it's the ending to Batman V Superman? This was pretty much the entire narrative force behind Three's Company, but Friends and Modern Family have also relied strongly on it.

Origin Stories

Not every children's character needs a depressing origin story. CRACKED.COM

Glass Prison Cells

MAIN VILLAIN DELIBERATELY CAPTURED GLASS BOX CRACKED.COM

Awkward Handshakes

TIRED COMEDY BITS AWKWARD HANDSHAKES It's usually the punchline in most commercials, but countless movies and TV shows feature a spin on it. The missed high-five, or being left hanging, or the are we gonna hug, or fist bump, or shake, or high-five, or 'oh my god, this is so awkward! CRACKED

Lame Parents

TIRED COMEDY BITS PARENTS TRYING TO BE COOL Middle-aged parents who have no idea what a Tikitty Tokitty is get a massive eye-roll from their teen daughter, who either helps them understand, or just storms off in a huff. CRACKED

Alliterative Names

CRACKED.COM Lost Tropes Alliterative names Names like Peter Parker, Bruce Banner, or Lois Lane were all the rage back in the day, but today's heroes don't really seem to follow this pattern. Well, except for Donnie Darko.

Glasses on Librarians

It's a Wonderful Life Foul Play CRACKED.COM No matter how sexy the librarian, glasses are required The Mummy Personals NATURAL NOVELS Rufus Wainwright-Out Of The Game The Big Sleep

Goth Girls

CRACKED.COM GOTH GIRLS KNOW DARK MAGICI Bellatrix Lestrange Nancy Black Alice Random spell caster AND ARE ALL BAT-SHIT CRAZY.

Short Hothead

6'0 ..0.9 5'6 5'6 5'0 5'0 4'6 6 ة 4'0 3'6 '6 3 3'0 Todd Hockney - Usual Suspects The short ones are often portrayed as ... Yao - Mulan Aggressive, hot-headed, short- tempered, and ill-mannered. Wolverine X -nen GRACKED.COM

Virgins

This guy is a virgin so he lacks basic knowledge of human anatomy. Also since he's not getting laid he is a total loser. And naive. VIRGIN THE 40 YEAR-OLD AMERICAN PIE It's a wrap! When are we filming? Hopefully never. CRACKED.COM

Sexual Innuendo

41 Movie and TV Tropes That Have Us Asking ‘How Is This Still A Thing?’

Gay Jokes

Two straight guys were just mistaken for a gay couple? Oh, the hilarity. CRACKED.COM

Sensitive Meathead

The ripped guy who secretly has a gentle, sensitive side. Aprooklyn99 It relies on the viewer assuming that anyone who's muscular is a meathead. That's kind of a leap, isn't it? CRACKED.COM

Gifts

If a character gets a gift, STARTREK transporter have room - - SAN FRANC BONJOV you can count on that gift getting ruined by the of the episode. CRACKED.COM

Orphaned Heroes

CRACKED.COM ORPHANED? Congratulations! Someone is DEFINITELY trying to kill you.

Secret Mastermind

Someone acted sympathetically towards the protagonist during his struggle to unravel a conspiracy? they are secretly the mastermind behind it! GRACKED.COM X

Trauma as Motivation

CRACKED.COM AWFUL BIOPIC TROPES TRAUMA AS MOTIVATION Genius is explained by trauma, right? Because that seems to be a narrative staple of biopics. Every traumatic incident in your life and every mistake you make pushes you towards your destiny of greatness.

Wishes

CRACKED.COM A character makes a wish.. Regrets making it.

Friendship Boomerang

THE FRIENDSHIP BOOMERANG A trusted companion leaves just before the final battle... But returns just in time to save the day! All is forgiven. GRAGKED.COM

Suicide Jokes

Lost Tropes Funny suicide Suicide (by gun, train, etc.) was used as comedy in old cartoons. But suicide is serious business (unless you're Hitler in the bunker, in which case cue the Benny Hill music and fart sounds) CRACKED.COM

The Flashback Stare

Lost Tropes Flashback stare Suddenly invaded by flashbacks of 'Nam or Cats, you just stare at nothing with dead eyes. Then it hits you: this trope is so outdated, it was mocked in Airplane! CRACKED.COM

Biopics

CRACKED.COM AWFUL BIOPIC TROPES THE MOMENT OF TRUTH Just as our hero is about to lose their shot, they manage to prove their genius in one single moment of truth. Examples appear in Coal Miner's Daughter and Walk the Line, but people going from mocking Ray Charles to jumping up to dance during his audition scene borders on self-parody. PS.COM

Trivializing Victims

AWFUL BIOPIC TROPES TRIVIALIZING THE VICTIMS The Wolf of Wall Street, Straight Outta Compton, and House of Gucci gloss over the victims, and Pam & Tommy forced their subjects to relive a gross invasion of privacy. Even worse? Elizabeth Kendall, Ted Bundy's ex-girlfriend, was only consulted after her lawyers got involved in That Zac Efron Movie About Ted Bundy That Apparently Exists. CRACKED.COM

White Savior

White Dude Goes Native Saves The Day CRACKED.COM

Elevator Music

MR. & MRS SMITH Perfect Gift... الله Card TMNT SPIDER-MAN WALL-E DAWN OF THE DEAD X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE *Awkward Elevator CRACKED.COM Music*

New Hair

CRACKED COM Enough of the new hair = character development shortcut. It's time to be a little more creative.

Reality Shows

WORST REALITY TV TROPES THE VILLAIN Long before a certain reality show host became a real-life supervillain, The Apprentice's Omarosa was perfecting the reality TV villain act. She was not there to make friends, and didn't care who knew it. Still, this trope is as tired as the genre itself. CRACKED.COM

He’s Right Behind Me

CRACKED.COM *poking fun at boss* *group falls silent* She' s/He' S right behind me, isn't she/he?

Fat Suits

PLEASE CUT IT OUT WITH THE THIN CHARACTERS WHO weRe FORMERLY FAT. F.R.I.E.N.D.S New Girl JUST FRIENDS 88 THE FAT SUITS ARE INSULTING, AS IS THE NOTION THAT BEING FAT mAKes someone A Joke. CRACKED.COM

Fatherhood

You're going to be a father! Wow, your life is ruined!! It's kind of dumb to base a joke on the assumption that all men hate fatherhood. CRACKED.COM

Guy in A Robe

CRACKED.COM CAN WE FINALLY NIX THE GUY IN GIRL ROBE JOKE? FULLER HOUSE

Innocent People Turned into Villains

- - - : NETSUITE NETSUITE - AtAletic AWFUL BIOPIC TROPES INNOCENT PEOPLE GET TURNED INTO VILLAINS Every movie needs a villain, which makes it tricky when real people face several enemies or even entire systems. In that case, you can condense every challenge into one character, even if its real-life inspiration wasn't really an enemy. Movies that have screwed over real people include Cinderella Man, Moneyball, Dog Day Afternoon, and Ed Wood. CRACKED.COM

Uptight Moms

CRACKED COM Is anyone laughing at all these moms being uptight joyless harpies?

Henchmen

... TELL US NOW. ENDLESS HENCHMEN Francisco M. says, The amount of henchmen willing to die for them. Some in matching uniforms and masks. CRACKED.COM

Traitors

CRACKED.COM THE CAPABLE WOMAN WHO ASSISTS THE HERO AND FORMS A DEEP CONNECTION WITH HIM IS ALWAYS THE TRAITOR *Pictured: Casino Royale, The Spy Who Loved Me, I Spy, Batman: Mask of The Phantasm, Die Another Day

Older Men with Younger Girls

CRACKED.COM Ghost American World Beauty An older man that escapes his dreary life by forming an unlikely relationship/ friendship with a younger girl. Lost in Paper Translation Man

Women in Movies

Three female roles? ISLA JOE FISHER Make them CABETH TOBEY EDGES BICKI MAGUIRE - Blonde I . I 1 III I . CHARLIES ANGELS DEFINITELY, MAYBE Dark Hair THREE THREE RELATIONSHIPS. DISASTERS. & Redhead Kirsten Isla Lizzy Dunst Fisher Caplan bachelorette CRACKED.COM James Eyto Robel to Monden bomheimer Wiscon K

Robots

GRACKED.COM WHEVE SUFTSHBERG SHORT CIRCUIT DEPP - - NAME edward SCISSORHANDS Disney CLASSICS PINOCCHIO A robot, android ROBIN WILLIAMS or puppet was B brought to life with Eyon and de now it wishes to become more BICENTENNIAL MAN - iROBOT human! A.L. ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

Metalheads

A male character who likes Rock or Heavy Metal music? Better make them either goofy or stupid. We can't suggest that people who listen to that stuff could be intellectually normal. WAYNES WORLD Unice CRACKED.COM

Apples

Draco Malfoy Jack Sparrow Cocky pricks love them apples! James т. Kirk Ryuk CRACKED.COM Sokka Indiana Jones

Trucks

Fear The Walking Dead ENT Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind Twilight 24G THE Gran Torino Suburban heroes drive pickup trucks. CRACKED COM

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