Movie Stereotypes

Here are a few of my favorites: 🤣

Angelic Bicyclist
When you see movie characters just cruising along on a bike—eyes shut, arms wide like they’ve got angel wings—there's a huge chance they're about to slam into something huge and die...

Bullet Velocity Rule in action movies
In action flicks, bullets move slow enough for the hero to dodge them. Same with sci-fi lasers—they slow down just enough so the lead can leap away. The scientific formula is : Hollywood Bullet speed = real Bullet speed (multiplied by how much we care about the character)... basically, the bigger the star, the slower the bullet.

Catch-Up Movie trope
That kind of movie that just drives you crazy—because the characters spend forever catching up on stuff the audience already learned in the first 10 minutes...

Whoa! Richard Hernandez13, what an absolute masterpiece of a cast! I suppose I'll have plenty of material to quote for the next few days. 😬

Here are a few of my personal favorites:

Aging Blood syndrome trope
The tendency of movie blood to look more and more like gushes of slightly crimson motor oil every year (as in all 90s horror and action movies), as opposed to anything possibly resembling real blood (as in "The Wild Bunch").

Jump Scare trope
When a character touches another to check whether they're sleeping or dead, the immobile person inevitably wakes up and grabs them right on cue with a loud musical sting.

Breaking Bad News
Whenever someone is holding a vase or some other glassware, they’ll inevitably drop it the second they hear bad news. It usually shatters in slow motion, filmed from several different angles for good measure.

Richard Hernandez13 said:A few entries from Ebert's Little Movie Glossary:

👍

this one feels like the mother of all clichés (honestly, probably applies to most Hollywood stuff):

Idiot Plot trope
Any plot where everything could be fixed in a heartbeat if the characters weren't just being total idiots.

quietdriver3 said:Idiot Plot trope
Any plot where the central conflict could be wrapped up in two seconds if the characters just acted like sensible human beings instead of total morons.

It’s basically this:
"If you ever find yourself in a situation that’s easily explained, for heaven's sake, just keep your mouth shut." 🤣

quietdriver3 said:Idiot Plot trope
Any plot containing problems which would be solved instantly if all of the characters were not idiots.

That was supposedly said by James Blish, the late American sci-fi writer.

Also, a major issue regarding quality cinema:

Gandhi Movie trope
Any film which is undeniably good, perhaps great, but once youve seen it, there is absolutely no reason to ever want to see it again. Examples: "Gandhi," "The Last Emperor," "A Passage to India," long documentaries about the holocaust, most of the New Hollywood, all underground art films of the 1960s, the lesser works of Bergman and Antonioni, and Woody Allen's "serious" movies.

Disappearing pedestrian phenomenon
Two People are on opposite sides of the street. One spots the other. A large vehicle drives between them, and when it passes, the person on the other side has vanished into thin air.

Hollywood racism in action:

Ethnic Default trope
All Asian people know karate. All Latin people dance salsa. Any Russian character is related to some ex-KGB agent now working for the new Russian Mafia.

Latino Laughers trope
In all action movies set in Mexico, sooner or later a gang of tough guys will corner the hero and laugh at him in unison while using the word "gringo."

Actually, this rule doesn't just apply to Mexicans. In any action movie worth its salt, there has to be an opening scene where the hero meets a bunch of greasy, unshaven thugs whose arrogance is inversely proportional to their actual strength. Their sole purpose in the plot is to serve as a punching bag so the hero can demonstrate how cool and capable he is.

Ingenue Nudity Rule
In a movie with several young, pretty females, the prettiest among them, with the best body, will be the only one not seen nude.

A sad truth. The last time I saw this was in "House of the Dead," a low-budget horror piece of trash where the two hottest girls are never allowed to strip.

And finally, the ultimate cinematic rule for perverts like myself:

Hot Tub Rules
If a hot tub is seen in a movie, people will take their clothes off and get in it. If the women have large breasts, its a T&A movie. If the women have small breasts, its a drama or a foreign film. If the women keep their underwear on, its a coming-of-age movie. If its a slasher movie or a thriller, there will be an electrical appliance located nearby.

Useful tips regarding movie trailers:

Coming and Going Attraction
If you’ve watched the trailer, you’ve basically seen the whole movie.

On that note:

Less-Is-More Rule
The less a preview reveals, the more confidence the filmmakers actually have in
their project and their desire to let the audience experience actual surprises.
(If the trailer feels like it's narrating the entire plot, it probably
is; at that point, there isn't much point in seeing the film itself.)

Warning! Bad comedy ahead!

Letter Imperfect Law
If the opening credits are presented in a chaotic mess of mismatched fonts and sizes meant to scream "wacky," the movie is already in deep trouble.

Product Placement Warning
If a movie trailer wraps up by listing all the artists on the soundtrack, there is an 80-percent chance the film will be terrible.

It seems to me you’ve overlooked two of the most frequent offenders,

- Drivers never actually look at the road while they're behind the wheel (a classic symptom of older films)
- Girls in horror movies always choose to run in the most illogical direction possible

wiredwolf55 said:Drivers in older films never seem to actually look at the road while they're behind the wheel.

That explains why vintage cars are so incredibly slow. My late great-grandfather, Mirko, used to tell me stories about how his morning commute worked: he’d head out for work, shave, call his wife to have her wire him some betting money, play a quick hand of cards, write a few posts on an online forum, and only then finally turn the steering wheel left at the intersection.

Women in horror movies always seem to run in the most illogical direction possible.

Well, there you have it. This goes back to why the whole concept of "running away" in a horror flick is fundamentally flawed. It doesn't matter how fast a half-naked girl sprints or how much Michael Myers drags his feet behind her; by the next shot, he’ll somehow magically be waiting around the corner to turn her into minced meat.

The climactic showdown between the hero and the villain—who invariably keeps a beautiful woman hostage—almost always unfolds within the confines of a derelict factory, a sprawling warehouse, or perhaps a desolate shipping dock. In these settings, one can typically find a vast array of industrial machinery just waiting to be utilized for the dramatic and messy demise of the antagonist.

- You know when you're watching one of those intense thrillers, and suddenly the camera zooms in on an actor's back? That's basically code for "someone is sneaking up behind them."

And don't even get me started on those tired old tropes from our classic war movies. 😁

- Like, whenever the resistance fighters go up against the Germans, as soon as those guys start screaming "CHARGE!" and rushing the line, the Germans just lose their minds. They scramble and run for cover, even if they outnumber the fighters three to one and have way better gear. I guess "CHARGE!" was some kind of magic spell or something...

Found a few more clichés on this site:

Kitchens don't have light switches. If you walk in at night, you just gotta crack the fridge door and hope its light does the trick.

It doesn't matter if you're outnumbered ten to one in a fight involving martial arts—your enemies will just wait patiently to take turns attacking you one by one, dancing around in some menacing way, until you finally drop their buddies.

Moms prepare bacon and eggs and pastries for their husbands and kids every single morning, even though they never actually have time to eat them.

Once you put on lipstick, it’s permanent—even if you’re out scuba diving in full gear.

Cops always get assigned partners who are their total polar opposites.

Cars that crash almost always explode into massive flames.

Honest cops usually get shot about three days before they retire.

If you're pretending to be a German officer, you don't even need to know the language—just a German accent is enough.

The Police Chief in the US is almost always a Black man, except down in the Southern states.

The Police Chief will always either suspend his lead detective—or give him 48 hours to get the job done.

The more men and women hate each other, the higher the chance they'll fall in love.

The ventilation system in any building is the perfect hiding spot. Nobody ever thinks to look there, and you can basically travel anywhere in the building without a hitch.

When facing off against a dangerous international terrorist, who's also kind of a psychopath, sarcasm and wit are your best weapons.

When paying a taxi fare, you don't even need to check your wallet—just grab a bill at random and hand it over. It'll always be the exact amount of the ride.

When they're totally alone, all foreigners apparently love speaking English the most.

Tucking your shirt in or being shirtless might make a guy bulletproof.

If Germans are shooting at you, hide in a river—or even a bathtub; apparently German bullets can't penetrate water.

If they're staying in a haunted house, women are supposed to carefully and cautiously investigate every weird noise while wearing next to nothing.

If you're blonde and good-looking, it's totally possible to become a world-class nuclear physicist by age 22.

If an inevitable natural disaster, a deadly plague, aliens, or a killer monster threatens your city, the mayor's first concern will be tourism or his upcoming art gallery opening.

If you need to reload, you'll always have plenty of ammo—even if you didn't bring any to begin with.

If you see a large glass window, someone is definitely getting thrown through it soon.

If someone is chasing you through town, you can just hide in a St. Patrick's Day parade, which seems to happen in almost every American city regardless of the season.

If you decide to start dancing in the street, every random passerby you bump into will somehow know your choreography.

When driving, it's normal to not look at the road at all, but instead stare at the person in the passenger seat or the back seat.

You'll survive any battle in any war unless you mess up and show someone a photo of your sweetheart back home.

During every police investigation, it's absolutely necessary to visit a strip club at least once.

You can always find a parking spot right in front of whatever building you're visiting.

Most laptops are powerful enough to crash the communication systems of any alien invading civilization.

Man, as soon as I read one of these tropes, I immediately think of like ten different movies where it actually happened. 😁

I was digging through that same site and stumbled upon something else—basically the "Laws of Physics" specifically for cartoon logic:

Law I
Any object just floating in mid-air will stay exactly there until it realizes it’s actually floating.

Corleone: Think about Donald Duck walking right off a cliff, totally expecting the ground to still be there because the animation hasn't ended yet. He just walks on thin air until he finally looks down. That's when gravity decides to show up and kick in.

Law II
An object in motion stays in motion until it slams into something solid.

Whether they're being shot out of a cannon or just running away on foot, cartoon characters will keep moving at full tilt until a flagpole or a massive boulder completely stops them dead in their tracks.

Law III
If an object passes through a solid object, it leaves behind a hole shaped exactly like itself.

People call this the "silhouette pass." You see it all the time with characters getting caught in explosions, or those cowards who run so fast through a house wall that they leave a perfect cutout of their body. Usually happens when they're terrified of a bully or some marriage trouble.

Law IV
The time it takes for an object to fall twenty stories is usually longer than the time it takes for the guy who pushed it to run down the stairs and try to catch it before it hits the ground.

That object is always way too valuable, and let's be honest, the attempt to catch it is always a total fail.

Law V
Pure terror can override the laws of gravity.

Psychokinetic forces are basically strong enough to launch a body straight up from the pavement.
Some creepy noise or a specific sound will cause a character to hover, usually grabbing onto a chandelier, a tree branch, or some vertical pole. Their feet or car tires don't even have to touch the ground during the whole flight.

Law VI
If you go fast enough, you can technically be in multiple places at once.

You see this constantly during those dust cloud fights where a character's head pops out of the cloud in three different spots simultaneously. It also happens when things are spinning wildly. A wacky character can basically replicate themselves just by moving at insane speeds, bouncing off walls to build up momentum.

Law VII
Certain objects can pass through painted walls that look like tunnels, while others just smash into them.

It’s a weird paradox that’s confused people for generations, but the rule seems to be that if you paint a tunnel on a wall to trick an enemy, you won't be able to follow them into that imaginary space. The painter just ends up splattered against the wall trying to enter the drawing. It's more of an artistic issue than a scientific one, I guess.

Law VIII
The physical state of feline matter is never permanent.

Cartoon cats die way more often than the traditional nine lives should allow. They get shredded, sliced in half, flattened, turned into accordions, or totally disassembled, but they never actually die. After a few seconds of staring blankly in self-pity, they just pop back into shape, stretch out, or snap back together.

Corleone: A cat will always take the shape of whatever container it's shoved into.

Law IX
Everything falls faster than an anvil.

Law X
If a body falls from a huge height and hits a spring, a seesaw, or a U-shaped pipe, it’ll bounce back up at least 5 meters higher than where it started.

Law XI
A fan mounted on a cart facing a sail attached to that same cart will somehow make the cart accelerate in the direction the fan is blowing.

Law XII
Your package arrives within 3 seconds of you hitting "order."

Law XIII
Every single animal has fake teeth.

Law XIV
How strong an animal is has nothing to do with its actual size or weight.

Law XV
Animals can pretty much read, write, and—in some cases—actually talk.

Bradley Gonzalez said:- Back when the resistance was fighting the Germans, once those fighters started screaming "CHARGE" and rushing the lines, the opposition would usually just lose their nerve and bolt—even if they had three times the numbers and better gear. It’s like "CHARGE" was some kind of magic spell...

😂 🤣 this one hits hard 😂

The Dude said:don't forget that Americans definitely have a somewhat different culture.
specifically when it comes to hugging, they really do embrace people much more frequently than Europeans do, and certainly more than we typically do here in the States. If you're close with someone, a hug to them can feel just as natural as a handshake. I'm not making this up either, as I've actually experienced this firsthand while traveling through several parts of the USA...

I couldn't agree more...
plus, let's be honest, not everyone is looking for a gritty, realistic depiction of life on screen...
we all know what reality actually looks like (and if anyone doesn't, they can always catch a documentary), which is exactly why we turn to movies in the first place, right?😉
as for clichés, I don't pay much attention to them myself... I don't exactly seek out certain types of films, but I can usually sense from a mile away if a movie isn't going to satisfy me... I occasionally end up disappointed, but that usually only happens when I let myself care too much about what other people think...

Here’s one of those tired old clichés we keep hearing:
In a shootout, your car is cover.

Let me tell you something: a car is NOT cover. Period. It’s not even close. There isn't a single theory in the book that supports this. The only thing on that vehicle that might actually stop a bullet is the engine block, and even then, that surface area is way too small to rely on. As for the rest of the bodywork? Bullets will rip through that sheet metal like it's made of wet cardboard.

I can’t stand those tired sports movie clichés. You know the ones—that ragtag group of underdogs makes it to the championship just in time, only to have to battle their own inner demons right before the big game...
Or when they rely on some ridiculous superpower to steamroll through the season, lose it all right before the finals, and then somehow still win because they "found the strength within themselves" all along.
🙄

It really grates on me when a villain finally corners the hero, but instead of just pulling the trigger, they decide to launch into some long-winded monologue about their motives or whatever. It’s almost always just a cheap way to give the hero enough time to escape.

Gerald Rivera60 said:What irritates me most is when the villain finally corners the hero, but instead of pulling the trigger right then and there, they start delivering some lengthy monologue about their motivations or philosophy. It’s almost always just a convenient way to give the hero enough time to escape...

And it doesn't stop at the monologues. They often go on to reveal incriminating details about themselves—information that inevitably ends up being used to dismantle their own master plan later on—and they proceed to summarize their schemes and their accomplices' roles in a concise little recap, seemingly because they assume the audience is far too dim-witted to follow the plot on their own.

It honestly irritates me how everything in American movies moves at an absurdly accelerated pace.

(Take the movie Nikita:
In Nikita, she undergoes intense psychological and physical training over the course of three years.
The American remake gives the protagonist a mere six months to achieve that same complete personality transformation; everything else about the film is a carbon copy, they just had to compress the timeline—and in doing so, they completely botched an already flimsy concept.))

Or this:
Some character has to hack into the mainframe of some ultra-secure, top-tier intelligence agency,
he’s got a gun pressed to his head, a woman is performing oral sex on him, and he has exactly sixty seconds to pull it off... of course he succeeds—because in these movies, the characters are always portrayed as the undisputed world experts, the absolute best and fastest in their field.

And then there are those arrival announcements: "Hey, the ambulance will reach the hospital in exactly 12.5 minutes."

They aren't just fast; they're impossibly precise.

When those two characters who've been fighting all movie finally make up and share a kiss in a diner—complete strangers sitting nearby will actually burst into applause