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Most of us skeptics by nature blame films, *cough cough* romance movies, for being far-fetched and nothing like real life. However, the scriptwriters are not to blame for why you don't get flowers sent to your office. Yet, they are to blame for the expectations they raise. Either way, it's widely accepted that certain things that work in movies simply don't work in real life. These are the so-called film tropes — a set of cliches overused in movies.
One of which is when a leading actor (ref Tom Hanks in The Terminal (2004)) hops in a random taxi they caught on the street and asks the driver to take them home. Just home, no address or anything. As if the cab driver knows where each of his passengers' homes is. Funnily, this movie trope was "exposed" in How To Be Single (2016) with a snarky comeback from a taxi driver. Yet, this is just one of the many movie tropes that have been used, recycled and used again in filmmaking.
Horror movie tropes arguably rank second (if not first) in frequency. A cabin in the woods is probably the most prevalent theme in teen screams. However, tropes in movies go beyond the romance and horror genres. When a user on AskReddit asked, "What happens in movies or TV that seems to be normal and you think to yourself 'that is not what people in real life do'?", thousands of trope-hunters revealed the most common movie tropes recurring on the silver screen.
Below, we've assembled this movie tropes list from the many answers people left in the thread, revealing the most frequently recurring cliches/tropes in films. Make sure to give the cliches you see way too often an upvote and write down any more movie tropes or 'things that don't happen in real life yet do in films' missing from the list in the comments!
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#1
"A Woman Rejects A Man And He Keeps Pestering Her With Gifts And Attention Until She Changes Her Mind. In Real Life, That’s Called Stalking And She Won’t Appreciate It"
Stardust she/her 2 years ago
80% of Bollywood in a nutshell. The worst thing about it is that boys look up to the “heroes” of the movies and do the same to their crushes. It’s happened to me before
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#2
"Women Can Be In The Jungle For Weeks, And They Don't Have Hair Growing Anywhere. Men Immediately Begin To Grow A Beard"
fair_weather_rose 2 years ago (edited)
Also, somehow womens makeup never gets smudged when traversing through rough terrain and getting coated in dirt, sweat, and mosquito bites, but the second they have an "emotional moment" their mascara runs down their cheeks in an entirely unrealistic way.
#3
"Getting Eaten By Dinosaur. Rarely Happens In Real Life"
#4
"Being A Young, Aspiring Artist Living Alone In A Nice, Spacious Apartment In A Prime Area Of A Big City Like New York Or LA"
#5
"Women Running Around In Heels With Perfect Hair And Makeup, And The Dirt And Sweat Making Their Hair And Makeup Look Even Better"
Amy Taylor 2 years ago
LOL I'm a film and TV makeup artist and any time I question the realism of how it should be applied, the response I always get from the director is "it's not a documentary!" lol
#6
"School Buses Honking And Waiting For Kids Who Are Still In The House. If I Wasn’t At The Bus Stop When The Bus Arrived, It Would Drive On By. It Didn’t Stop. It Didn’t Honk"
#7
"No One Using A Computer Ever Uses A Mouse. It’s Just Constant, Frantic Typing"
RamiRudolph 2 years ago
Just as annoying as seeing people using a laptop without a charging cable. And then not switching it off overnight.
#8
"Having Highly Confidential Conversations About 4 Foot Away From The People They Are Talking About, And Not Being Overheard"
#9
"Everyone Has One Paper Bag For Groceries, And It Has A Celery Stalk And Loaf Of French Bread Sticking Out The Top"
#10
"Running Upstairs In Horror Movies. If There Was Something Chasing You, Wouldn’t Head For The Door To Get Outside?"
#11
"Guessing The Passwords Of Other People Correctly"
#12
"If A Simple Miscommunication Happens, No One Stops And Clarifies With The Other Person. Like If One 10 Sec Conversation Can Derail An Entire Plot Thread I'm Not Interested"
#13
Girl Vomiting Means Pregnant, Hiccups Means Drunk, Coughing Means Seriously Ill
#14
"Ordering A Beer Without Specifying What Brand Of Beer They Want"
Rachel Cobb 2 years ago
True. Living in /somewhat/ of a beer state; you HAVE to specify, and then again. "I want "version", of 'brand'."
#15
"People Splashing Cold Water In Their Faces And Looking In The Mirror To Indicate A Character Is Upset"
#16
"Young Singles Living In Million Dollar Condos That Overlook The City"
timothythefrog (he/they) 2 years ago
ok but the example here is iron man,, like, his whole thing is that he's a billionare . this trope is better shown in movies where their only job is a waiter and they have a huge apartment?
#17
"On The Phone Making Plans: 'Ok, Meet Me At 5?' 'Sure.' And That’s The Whole Plan. Where Are You Meeting?"
#18
"Wearing Shoes On Their Beds. Like Who Actually Does That?"
Donkey boi 2 years ago
Wearing shoes in the house!!! I made the police take their shoes off before they came in my house!
#19
"Crying Without Face Getting Puffy And Red And Ugly"
Kathryn Baylis 2 years ago
Or being pregnant but only having the belly. Sorry, but pregnancy isn’t just the bump. Your body changes pretty much all over the place, and you don’t give birth and hop out of the stirrups with your skinny pre-pregnancy body back, especially if you’re not a teenager or someone blessed with a hyper fast metabolism.
#20
"Absolutely Everything Related To Pregnancy And Especially Childbirth. You Don't Just Instantly Rush To The Hospital"
Amy Taylor 2 years ago
LOL I worked on the series "Private Practice" and every single birth scene they had us makeup artists spray them with tons of water until they were soaking wet and the actress would scream bloody murder. We used to joke that epidurals were banned at that hospital, lol
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What do you think ?
RamiRudolph 2 years ago
So I guess movies and TV shows are actually not realistic. Who would've thought...
Jay 2 years ago
True, but their unrealistic stuff actually fools people in real life, and not just stupid people. Like CPR and defibrillators: They never do CPR right (always bending their elbows and other techniques that are just wrong) Defibrillators can't restart a stopped heart, that's not what they're for. They fix an irregular rhythm (too fast or two slow AND uneven) they're a reset, not a jumpstart. That screws with people in life threatening situations.
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Bob La Capra 2 years ago
Driving a car with the column shift lever all the way up meaning the car is in park. Moving the steering wheel left and right as if driving a slalom course. 50 year old military people wearing stripes normally earned after a year or two. Fist fights. A two-way radio conversation carried on normally with no one saying "over." British actors playing an American, speaking in a perfect American accent but then referring to their cell phone as their mobile.
Mila Preradović 2 years ago
If a column shift lever is up it could be in the 3rd or 5th gear as well
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PaxScientia 2 years ago
I'll add, you want to destroy whatever is in a computer, so you smash the monitor, as if that does anything at all.
RamiRudolph 2 years ago
So I guess movies and TV shows are actually not realistic. Who would've thought...
Jay 2 years ago
True, but their unrealistic stuff actually fools people in real life, and not just stupid people. Like CPR and defibrillators: They never do CPR right (always bending their elbows and other techniques that are just wrong) Defibrillators can't restart a stopped heart, that's not what they're for. They fix an irregular rhythm (too fast or two slow AND uneven) they're a reset, not a jumpstart. That screws with people in life threatening situations.
Load More Replies... Bob La Capra 2 years ago
Driving a car with the column shift lever all the way up meaning the car is in park. Moving the steering wheel left and right as if driving a slalom course. 50 year old military people wearing stripes normally earned after a year or two. Fist fights. A two-way radio conversation carried on normally with no one saying "over." British actors playing an American, speaking in a perfect American accent but then referring to their cell phone as their mobile.
Mila Preradović 2 years ago
If a column shift lever is up it could be in the 3rd or 5th gear as well
Load More Replies... PaxScientia 2 years ago
I'll add, you want to destroy whatever is in a computer, so you smash the monitor, as if that does anything at all.
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