People Are Sharing Modern Movie Tropes That Will Not Age Well, Here Are Their 51 Top Picks
Just recently, we featured a post sharing clichéd, common movie tropes that have been used and overused in the movies since pretty much the dawn of motion film. While certain classic movie tropes, such as the often-used narrative device known as deus ex machina, are likely here to stay, quite a few tropes in movies of the past two decades are predicted to age like milk.
When someone on Reddit asked, "What are the popular tropes today that are going to make films feel 'dated' 25 years from now?" thousands fled to the comments to share the many modern movie tropes that will get worse with time. Examples of film tropes utilized in modern movies include anti-heroes, sympathetic villains, references to social media, current pop culture, and many others. Will popular slang words be relevant in 20 years' time? Oh hell nah.
Below, we've compiled some of the best answers from the thread featuring movie tropes in modern cinema that will high-key feel dated a couple of decades from now. Do you agree with Redditors' picks? Then make sure to give these popular movie tropes you agree with an upvote! Also, have you noticed a common movie trope in modern cinema that hasn't been mentioned in the list? Let us know in the comments!
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"Straight Up Being Just Absolutely Too Dark To Watch"
DC movies in general? Maybe they have a filter like the sepia in Mexico filter.
"Not Being Able To Hear The Movie"
Constantly adjusting the volume on everything because you have to crank it to hear the dialogue, then blowing your eardrums out when the music starts makes it so hard to enjoy a movie. I wear earplugs to the theater half the time now.
"Yellow Tint For Mexico"
"There Are So Many Movies From The Mid 00s And Earlier Where The Central Conflict Could Be Easily Resolved With A Mobile Phone"
"Rapid, Chaotic Camera Movement And Jangly, Incoherent Editing That Tries To Make Action Scenes More 'Dynamic'"
"Over-Reliance On Current Pop Culture References For Jokes Or Surprises"
"Referencing Social Media And Using Internet Slang Incorrectly Or In A Cringey Way"
Bro this is lit fam, like no cap son...sus. Yeeet! (I'm a millennial and don't know what any of that means...sorry).
"Big CGI Monster Battle At The End Of Every Superhero Movie"
Honestly depends on the outcome, some are really predictable but I have some favorites.
"Big Hero Jumps Landing Into Three-Point Stance With Head Down. Then Head Slowly Lifts Up With Determined Look"
"Itâs These Film Trailers Which Open With A Single Sustained Piano Note"
"Then ten seconds later, the next note. Then ten seconds later, the next note."
"A Character Asking "Why Is Everybody Singing?" In Musicals"
It reminds me of that episode of Scrubs where the woman comes in with a brain aneurysm that's causing her to hear everyone singing instead of talking and she thinks she's going crazy
"Iâve Noticed A Lot Of Recent Documentaries Keep In The Part Where The Guest Enters The Scene And Sits Down, Has A Bit Of Chit-Chat, Has Their Makeup Adjusted, Etc"
I imagine it's an attempt on make them seem more human and relatable rather than the perfectly manicured and scripted beings they are.
"The Dark, Gritty Franchise Reboot"
"Snorricam. Mounting The Camera To The Actor In Order To Shoot Their Head And Face"
"Keeping them still while the background moves. It's mad overused."
"Anti-Heroes And Sympathetic Villains"
"Not every villain needs to have a tragic past or a completely sympathetic motive. Sometimes they can just like being evil."
I completely agree but I also don't mind a sympathetic motive, once it's executed well.
"Trailers Being The Cliffs Notes For All Movies"
"Computer-Generated Blue And Gold Light Constructs Used Everywhere To Represent Future Tech. It's Used Way Too Much"
I'd add how green lighting is used to indicate that something is otherworldly and malevolent, such as the Witch King's fortress in LOTR.
"Lens Flare Everywhere"
"Ultra-Dramatic And Slow Modern Covers Of Songs"
They're actually a few covers like this that I really enjoy, that I first heard in a movie
"A Growing Trend Of Watching Movies On Phones And Other Small Screens"
"Everyone In The Movie Being 'Normal'"
"What happened to movies where the hero has like a weird scar or an eye patch or something? Or at least a unique sense of style. Now everything is more attractive. And more plain."
Also the esthetic sweating. Like...I'm in a suit or with a mask...and sweat never gets in my eye? Nah...lol. In books when they always mention "his tousled hair stuck to his face" during a fight and I'm like...I can't even drive with kinda long hair without it being in my eyes.
"Overly 'Quippy' Protagonists"
Most of the time that's the only personality trait they write for the character.
"Super Close-Up Panning Of An Object Or Objects, Set To Orchestral Music, Ending On The Showâs Title And A Single Note"
"It’s the same thing for almost every show, especially dramas."
"'Well, That Just Happened' And Other Filler Punchlines To Complete The Avengers-Style Constant Comedy Quota"
"Characters Saying Texting Acronyms Like 'OMG' Or 'LOL'"
"Actors That Mumble"
I mean...that image is from Bruce Almighty where he was messing with Steve Carell so yes...but not in this case. Lol
"Way Too Much Self Acknowledgement/Calling Out Tropes Within The Movie"
"As an example the "Beauty and the Beast" remake did this the whole fu***ng movie."
Yep. Trying to call out all the wrongs of the movie while still trying to make the same movie....doesn't work. You can't cancel the source material while still trying to make the same movie.
"Slightly Desaturated, Contrasted Color, With An Overall Gloomy Feel Or Overly Warm/Hot Grading"
"As opposed to 90s more vivid colors, I think. I feel like I've seen a lot of this."
"Fourth Wall Breaking By Characters That Seem Really Proud Of Themselves For It"
I would go with "everyone suddenly does it because when one did it the fan response was good" instead...even though all can't pull it off.
"This Is Already Starting To Get A Little Dated, But Those 'Improv Scenes' In Comedy Movies"
"Where the camera just stays on a character or two while they riff out a few zingers."
"The Recovering Addict Horror Protagonist"
"Not Today But Like 10-15 Years Ago There Was This Trend Of Male Sensitive But Shy And (Usually) Virgin Protagonist Scoring With A Hot Chick"
"Usually they were sensitive almost to the point of having a zeitgeist? So also being a bit edgy, unique as in giving off "I'm not like other people" vibe."
Blame Michael Cera, I feel like that was the basis of half of his movies back in the day
"I Think It'll Be Hard To Watch Superhero Movies, Particularly From The Last 10 Years, For A Very Long Time"
There is just too many of them, and not enough variety between them"
"Trauma-Focused Horror Movies Will Definitely Be A Marker Of The 2010s/2020s"
I've seen this picture so many times... what's going on here. She looks absolutely terrified đ¨...
"CGI De-Aged Actors"
"Some Recent Documentaries, The Subjects Being Interviewed Are Often Sitting Farther Back Than Usual"
"I'm A Bit Sick Of Movies/Shows That Feel The Need To Make Fun Of How Silly And Unrealistic They Are"
"Inscrutable Floating Holographic GUI's. They're In Every "Near Future" Film/TV Show And They Are Physically Impossible"
"Drowning Everything In Irony And Building In A Quip Everytime"
"There is a heartfelt or emotional moment as it is the case with Marvel movies. I watched a Video essay a couple of months ago where they said that writers do that to pander the nihilistic viewers."
"Messenger Chat Bubbles Appearing On Screen"
I honestly don't mind it, do people actually have a problem with this? It lets you know what they are talking about and the situation.
"That And The Low-Fi Ominous Remix Of An Upbeat Pop Song"
"I'm pretty sure 'The Last of Us' trailer has a remix of 'Take On Me' by A-Ha as its spooky action music... which is just a little silly."
"Popular Culture References Like 'Fortnite' In 'Endgame' And 'Among Us' In 'Glass Onion'"
Not a trope. Films in the 2040s will have 2040s cultural references. Just because people re so ignorant that they don't understand the multiple cultural references of movies from the past, does not mean that, somehow, "cultural references in a film" is something new or recent.
"Post/Mid-Credits Anything. I'm Tired Of Them"
I like them because it results in more people seeing the names of all the people who did the hard work on the movie. Jennifer Lawrence gets the press for sitting through 4 hours of make-up but her stunt double had to do the same thing everyday she was on set plus many days with the B crew shooting scenes while Jennifer Lawrence isn't even on set. Ronae Moneymaker deserves to have you sit through the final 10 minutes of the movie to acknowledge her hard work.
"Honestly Think A Sarcastic Comment In The Middle Of A Serious Battle Scene Or Dramatic Moment Will Not Age Well"
"1980s Everywhere. Nostalgic '80s Music, Clothing, And Branding"
"In Trailers When They Match Gun Loading And Shooting With The Beat"
This is pretty cool sometimes though. Like the trailers for the last few Godzilla movies were so well executed.
"A Physical iPhone/Smartphone Ringing. Just Gonna Be Human Implants In The Future With No Audible Ring"
"The Movies In The 1980s Had A Lot More Female Nudity, As If The Censors Opened Up The Floodgates. This Has Dialed Back"
"floodgates" is a tall word for 90 minutes with perhaps 50 seconds of six shown nippIes all in all. I don't go to the cinema to watch p0rn, but this panicky covering up of 20 "strategic" square centimeters of skin (two female nippIes and one pube per person) when they're in bed together is ridiculous and hypocritical.
