Tropes that annoy you

[LegendZilla]

As long as storytelling existed, there have been tropes. All storytellers use them as a shorthand. Many persist till this day, while others fade out of popularity. Over time, as different genres go on long enough, various tropes become predictable and expected. We all have ones we like and others, not so much. What tropes do you get tired of the most?

For me, It's become cliche nowadays to take either Superman or a Superman-type character and vilify him. Just to name a few, we have the Injustice-version of Superman himself, Omni-man from Invincible and Homelander from The Boys. Other tropes I get annoyed by are found most commonly in Japanese media, whether it be anime, manga or video games. One example is the tsundere trope found in anime and manga. I find that it treats romance as a joke at the expense of the protagonist(s). Examples include Chi Chi from Dragonball and pretty much every leading lady in the works of Rumiko Takahashi. Another trope that's rather popular in Japan is the oversized sword, as popularized by characters like Guts from Berserk for Cloud form FFVII.

Do you find any of the tropes mentioned above overdone? What common tropes are you getting tired of? Peace out.

[SpiderZilla]

Aliens who think that it only takes a handful of troops (and some kaiju) to conquer the entire world. (Invasion of Astro Monster, Destroy All Monsters, Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla, and Terror Of MechaGodzilla.) I mean, c’mon! Earth is a big place. Put in some effort!

[LSD Jellyfish]

I find the very concept of tropes to be obnoxious because it analyzes popular culture from a top-down level rather than originating from an organic individual sense, or being inspired directly from something. A lot of it also falls into the risk of confirmation bias, wherein even if things are actually different beyond a surface level analysis, it completely changes the instant you dig deeper.

It's a lazy way of organically examining any kind of media. To give an example:

"Superman but evil" can be un-inspired, but it ignores that Omni-man and Homelander function, behave, and have completely different from eachother in media and are very functionally different from the character they are inspired by.

Added in 32 minutes 39 seconds:

Aliens who think that it only takes a handful of troops (and some kaiju) to conquer the entire world. (Invasion of Astro Monster, Destroy All Monsters, Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla, and Terror Of MechaGodzilla.) I mean, c’mon! Earth is a big place. Put in some effort!

I've always gotten the impression that the monsters in these films were the "first wave". They're shock troopers meant to decimate cities, cripple infastructure, and exhaust armies, before sending in what remains of their fleets and/or civilization to clean up the rest. Usually even though they all use different monsters, the plans are actually completely different and the monsters seem like a half-ditched effort when things go awry. Add to that that it's clear many of these civilizations that show up on Earth are already on their last legs, very desperate, and vastly underestimate the people and monsters of Earth.

Mechagodzilla was Godzilla UNTIL the real Godzilla showed up and the disguise became hard to maintain. The reveal, and several small hints (Space Titanium, kidnappings, etc...) are what led to the realization that extraterrestrial forces are involved. Had it not happened, most likely Fake Godzilla would have crippled Japan (and the rest of the world) covertly, before the aliens revealed themselves. It's the same deal in TOMG: using Titanosaurus to destroy things before the reveal that once again aliens are involved by human investigation.

In IOTAM, the idea was to lull humanity into a false sense of security, and establish bases, before revealing their sinister intent. It's never explicit, but probably the excursion and set-up on Planet X was most likely a soft-test to see if they could control Godzilla and Rodan. The xilliens with the monsters, and their own UFOs, actually were probably capable of taking over the planet. The victory in the film wasn't just over the monsters, but finding out that the Xilliens have a crucial weakness to sound, and the UFOs that could very easily decimate cities like the monsters are weak to them as well.

The Kilaaks probably had the most concentrated plan, and didn't just use monsters. They explicitly use the monsters to draw attention away from building their major bases around the world, and in addition to monsters, use mind control on human beings. Had the crew of the SY-3 and other humans not stopped the mindcontrol scheme, the Kilaaks would have leveled the Earth, and any actual human threats would be quashed by mind-control and spies. We also see that the Fire Dragon (perhaps just one of the Kilaakian UFOs, has enormous destruction potential, and assuming the Kilaaks had more time to produce more, humanity would've been doomed.

The destruction many of the monsters can cause is somewhat understated in general too. Ghidorah, based on what we see in the films, could very easily wipe out most of human civilization over an extended peroid of time. Ghidorah's full potential is never shown on screen, but the way that Ghidorah can just fly to one city and wipe it out, before moving onto the next one, would effectively end the world over the duration of a few months. Likewise, Gigan and Ghidorah destroying Tokyo in an evening in Godzilla vs. Gigan is pretty extreme. Being able to destroy a major city, an international finance capital, overnight is pretty extreme. These are movies, so we give allowances, but in reality it just wouldn't be feasible to build up these cities again, or keep making military weapons to sheepishly fight back. The Godzilla Monster Apocolypse and Project MG prequel novels showcase how a continual onslaught of monsters over an extended duration can very easily lead to the downfall of humanity. Many alien invaders in the films, are cut off and stopped BEFORE they have proper time to establish a proper foothold on Earth.

Long and short of it: the Showa films understate the monsters potential to wipe out humanity, because they're usually stopped before things get very bad.

[SpiderZilla]

Aliens who think that it only takes a handful of troops (and some kaiju) to conquer the entire world. (Invasion of Astro Monster, Destroy All Monsters, Godzilla vs MechaGodzilla, and Terror Of MechaGodzilla.) I mean, c’mon! Earth is a big place. Put in some effort!

I've always gotten the impression that the monsters in these films were the "first wave". They're shock troopers meant to decimate cities, cripple infastructure, and exhaust armies, before sending in what remains of their fleets and/or civilization to clean up the rest. Usually even though they all use different monsters, the plans are actually completely different and the monsters seem like a half-ditched effort when things go awry. Add to that that it's clear many of these civilizations that show up on Earth are already on their last legs, very desperate, and vastly underestimate the people and monsters of Earth.

[…]

Long and short of it: the Showa films understate the monsters potential to wipe out humanity, because they're usually stopped before things get very bad.

It’s the assumption that their plan can succeed with a small force that annoys me. Even if their forces are technologically superior and their kaiju are unstoppable, it’s going to take time to conquer all the governments of the world. And that’s time that the alien forces simply can’t allow humanity to plan, coordinate, and mount a counter-offensive.

Alien invasions that I don’t find annoying are War Of The Worlds and Independence Day – an overwhelming worldwide assault force that blitzes all governments simultaneously.

[Dyrakro]

It’s the assumption that their plan can succeed with a small force that annoys me. Even if their forces are technologically superior and their kaiju are unstoppable, it’s going to take time to conquer all the governments of the world. And that’s time that the alien forces simply can’t allow humanity to plan, coordinate, and mount a counter-offensive.

Alien invasions that I don’t find annoying are War Of The Worlds and Independence Day – an overwhelming worldwide assault force that blitzes all governments simultaneously.

Sounds like you are most probably very happy about the X aliens in G:FW as they not only sent out Gigans millions of years before their invasion, but also used mind-control to gain upper-hand by gaining control over all Earth kaijus AND the military elite units of the mutants while also sending out their Monster X as support after having destroyed most of Earth only having Godzilla and Gordon as their obstacles left.

[StardustGenius]

I find the very concept of tropes to be obnoxious because it analyzes popular culture from a top-down level rather than originating from an organic individual sense, or being inspired directly from something. A lot of it also falls into the risk of confirmation bias, wherein even if things are actually different beyond a surface level analysis, it completely changes the instant you dig deeper.











This is a key take away, and a huge takeaway that a lot of folks forget at TVTropes are that tropes are tools. Figuring them out in of itself doesn't make someone a media critic. "Force Awakens is New Hope!" Congrats.

[SpiderZilla]

Alien invasions that I don’t find annoying are War Of The Worlds and Independence Day – an overwhelming worldwide assault force that blitzes all governments simultaneously.

Sounds like you are most probably very happy about the X aliens in G:FW as they not only sent out Gigans millions of years before their invasion, but also used mind-control to gain upper-hand by gaining control over all Earth kaijus AND the military elite units of the mutants while also sending out their Monster X as support after having destroyed most of Earth only having Godzilla and Gordon as their obstacles left.

Indeed! That was a respectable invasion plan. Too bad they didn’t think outside the box like Gordon did.

[LSD Jellyfish]

While we are on the topic of Godzilla Final Wars, it's important to not forget that the initial Xillien plan wasn't carried to fruition. The first Xillien Commander, the bald older one, originally wanted to trick humanity into thinking that the Xilliens were friendly and could co-exist. They set the monsters loose, only to re-capture them, to showcase their technological prowress and that they are not the enemies of humanity.

Of course, that plan falls apart when the traitorous younger apprentince takes over. But it's unknown if peaceful co-existence was an impossibility. We never see if the older commander wasn't killed, if the Xilliens would have been content with living with humanity, infilitrating their society or whatnot. It's a minor detail, but remember that the Xillens and humans are confirmed to be able co-exist as both Ozaki and the Commander aren't pure humans/Xilliens.

The Xilliens face off arguably the most scientifically advanced and downright dangerous, form of humanity in GFW. It's easy to forget, but humanity has massive technologically advanced warships (Gotengo, Eclair, Karyu, Rumbling) and an army of supersoldiers, weapons, at their disposal. The Earth in GFW also appears to be the most opitimistic, where it seems at the very least most countries have put aside their differences and will work together.

Despite being able to control the monsters, it's clear they underestimated and did barely any research into Earth at the time. The evidence is the complete lack of knowledge on both Godzilla and Mothra. The hologram and the disguises were figured out (so much for the infiltation!). The same advantage that gave them a temporary advantage (being able to control the mutants) was also their exact downfall (Kazuma a mutant was able to resist, ultimately leading to the destruction of the Mothership).

This is all to say it appears the derailed plan in GFW was on par with most of the alien plans in pretty much on par with the rest of the series, comparatively. In other words, even if there's more visable Xillien ships flying around, and more ground soldiers, humanity in GFW is also expotentially more dangerous. It's ultimately just as a brazen attempt as any of the attempts in the showa series, relatively.

If the Xilliens didn't try to be sneaky at first, I don't think humanity would really have an actual issue repelling the threat.

[Janjira-York]

you know I never thought about it but yeah anime ass GFW earth weird sci fi mix would be way harder than any other movie to conquer lol

[Tyrant_Lizard_King]

Any twist that basically negates the entire rest of the film. The movie Identity comes to mind.

[Jetty_Jags]

Funny enough, I’m kinda getting tired of twist endings in general. There’s definitely a genre of movie thrillers (some even really good) that are adaptations of recent hot selling paper back novels with a #twist at the end. I’ve now seen a handful of movies like this and ended up thinking, huh that would have been significantly more impactful or meaningful without that stupid twist.

[EarthNeronga]

The Dad being a lazy fucker trope; It feels insulting to me as Characters Like peppa pig or Daddy big from the bearstein Bears are depicted as lazy,fat and overweight people who dont wanna work out. It feels insulting to me since it depicts dads as lazy while My Dad is actually pretty good in shape and actually has great muscle

[JAGzilla]

The Dad being a lazy fucker trope; It feels insulting to me as Characters Like peppa pig or Daddy big from the bearstein Bears are depicted as lazy,fat and overweight people who dont wanna work out. It feels insulting to me since it depicts dads as lazy while My Dad is actually pretty good in shape and actually has great muscle

There are a lot of fat, lazy dads in real life, though. It's realistic. No one is personally going after your dad.

In any case, that's definitely not the only archetypical dad in fiction. If anything, I would say it might be more common for the father to be perceived (accurately or not) as some great, successful figure that the child wants/needs/is expected to live up to. James Potter, Thomas Wayne, Jor-El, Odin, Howard Stark, Eddard Stark, Aerys II, Anakin Skywalker, etc. There are a lot of them out there.

[mikelcho]

The trope I don't like was summed up in a Reader's Digest article about it that I read once:

"If you believe what you see on TV, all men are morons". In short, every sitcom on American TV involving families from day one, where the wife is the smart (and often sarcastic) one who puts her husband down and treats him with chilly indifference and the husband is so stupid he seemingly can't do anything right without her help...and I mean ANYTHING!

Here's a few quotes from some Hallmark funny cards picturing women on them to show this:

*"All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten. (inside) Boys are stupid."
*"The Christmas story could never have happened in this day and age. (inside) I mean, where on Earth would you find three wise men?"
*"Men are scum. (inside) Excuse me. For a second, I was feeling generous."

(By the way, I know that most of the women jokes about men on these cards are actually written by guys, but still...)

The article then said that, if similar jokes were made about women, minorities, disabled people, etc., everyone would object like crazy. But men...who cares?

it also stated that men are now the only category of people anyone can put down, make fun of, insult, abuse, mock, etc. without getting into trouble...and the worst part is men don't even know it. In fact, it's almost as if they let it happen, completely unbeknownst to them.

[ShinGojira14]

The trope I don't like was summed up in a Reader's Digest article about it that I read once:

"If you believe what you see on TV, all men are morons". In short, every sitcom on American TV involving families from day one, where the wife is the smart (and often sarcastic) one who puts her husband down and treats him with chilly indifference and the husband is so stupid he seemingly can't do anything right without her help...and I mean ANYTHING!

Here's a few quotes from some Hallmark funny cards picturing women on them to show this:

*"All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten. (inside) Boys are stupid."
*"The Christmas story could never have happened in this day and age. (inside) I mean, where on Earth would you find three wise men?"
*"Men are scum. (inside) Excuse me. For a second, I was feeling generous."

(By the way, I know that most of the women jokes about men on these cards are actually written by guys, but still...)

The article then said that, if similar jokes were made about women, minorities, disabled people, etc., everyone would object like crazy. But men...who cares?

it also stated that men are now the only category of people anyone can put down, make fun of, insult, abuse, mock, etc. without getting into trouble...and the worst part is men don't even know it. In fact, it's almost as if they let it happen, completely unbeknownst to them.

So…are you annoyed because that article was written by a fragile manbaby incel? Or are you losing your shit because… … …?

[mikelcho]

The trope I don't like was summed up in a Reader's Digest article about it that I read once:

"If you believe what you see on TV, all men are morons". In short, every sitcom on American TV involving families from day one, where the wife is the smart (and often sarcastic) one who puts her husband down and treats him with chilly indifference and the husband is so stupid he seemingly can't do anything right without her help...and I mean ANYTHING!

Here's a few quotes from some Hallmark funny cards picturing women on them to show this:

*"All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten. (inside) Boys are stupid."
*"The Christmas story could never have happened in this day and age. (inside) I mean, where on Earth would you find three wise men?"
*"Men are scum. (inside) Excuse me. For a second, I was feeling generous."

(By the way, I know that most of the women jokes about men on these cards are actually written by guys, but still...)

The article then said that, if similar jokes were made about women, minorities, disabled people, etc., everyone would object like crazy. But men...who cares?

it also stated that men are now the only category of people anyone can put down, make fun of, insult, abuse, mock, etc. without getting into trouble...and the worst part is men don't even know it. In fact, it's almost as if they let it happen, completely unbeknownst to them.

So…are you annoyed because that article was written by a fragile manbaby incel? Or are you losing your shit because… … …?

No, I'm just paraphrasing what the article said. But I do know that it's right: all men are not morons. I ought to know, I'm a man.

In fact, I don't even know who wrote the article. It could've been a woman, for all I know.

You want a textbook example of what the article's trying to say? I give you Exhibit A: the TV series Everybody Loves Raymond.

[LSD Jellyfish]

The trope I don't like was summed up in a Reader's Digest article about it that I read once:

"If you believe what you see on TV, all men are morons". In short, every sitcom on American TV involving families from day one, where the wife is the smart (and often sarcastic) one who puts her husband down and treats him with chilly indifference and the husband is so stupid he seemingly can't do anything right without her help...and I mean ANYTHING!

Here's a few quotes from some Hallmark funny cards picturing women on them to show this:

*"All I really need to know I learned in kindergarten. (inside) Boys are stupid."
*"The Christmas story could never have happened in this day and age. (inside) I mean, where on Earth would you find three wise men?"
*"Men are scum. (inside) Excuse me. For a second, I was feeling generous."

(By the way, I know that most of the women jokes about men on these cards are actually written by guys, but still...)

The article then said that, if similar jokes were made about women, minorities, disabled people, etc., everyone would object like crazy. But men...who cares?

it also stated that men are now the only category of people anyone can put down, make fun of, insult, abuse, mock, etc. without getting into trouble...and the worst part is men don't even know it. In fact, it's almost as if they let it happen, completely unbeknownst to them.

So…are you annoyed because that article was written by a fragile manbaby incel? Or are you losing your shit because… … …?

No, I'm just paraphrasing what the article said. But I do know that it's right: all men are not morons. I ought to know, I'm a man.

In fact, I don't even know who wrote the article. It could've been a woman, for all I know.

You want a textbook example of what the article's trying to say? I give you Exhibit A: the TV series Everybody Loves Raymond.

In regards to everything above:
Tired, lame, and lazy sexist jokes, aimed at either gender are wrong, uncalled for, and just outdated. The way that gender stereotypes are marketed and portrayed is a real problem, and I sympathsize with the intent. However, based on what little you've posted, it seems like this was written by some MRAy type to show how men in media are oppressed and controlled by their wives or some BS. In many ways, the cards mentioned are also sexist against women, you stated that the cards featured women complaining about this, so in a roundabout way it's making women come off as naggy and full of complaints. I don't know who wrote them, and I don't care, but it's stupid. Shitty "jokes" like this are stupid, but I feel they're largely falling out of favor.

And this is why I don't like using "tropes" to analyze popular culture. While it's certainly true that many SITCOMS follow this format, the instant you look outside that genre there are dozens of examples of FINE media that portray men as intelligent, smart, and pretty much in control. The issue with tropes, is that as I mentioned earlier, is that they do little to deconstruct culture. You can call dads in sitcoms lazy and fat, just by looking at Simpsons, Family Guy, and Everyone Loves Raymond, but you'd be completely ignoring that Peter and Homer actually have completely different personalities, and do completely different things. Peter Griffin is actually surprisingly witty and in touch with popular culture. Homer is lazy, quick to anger, something that Homer isn't. The instant you look beyond the leading men, you'll see that everyone in each respective family couldn't be more different from another. Meg and Lisa are nothing alike. Same goes for Bart and Chris. Stewie and Brian have no analogs in The Simpsons.

It's important to explain in detail why all these things exist to begin with; it's called inspiration. Family Guy was most likely inspired by the Simpsons. Things don't exist in a vaccum and of course there will be similarties (sperficial or otherwise).

I wouldn't take stuff that's purposefully intended to outrage you so personally. Obviously men aren't morons.

[shadowgigan]

Funny enough, I’m kinda getting tired of twist endings in general. There’s definitely a genre of movie thrillers (some even really good) that are adaptations of recent hot selling paper back novels with a #twist at the end. I’ve now seen a handful of movies like this and ended up thinking, huh that would have been significantly more impactful or meaningful without that stupid twist.

I love a good plot twist, when its done well.

Added in 3 minutes 29 seconds:

So…are you annoyed because that article was written by a fragile manbaby incel? Or are you losing your shit because… … …?

Was this response really necessary? Was he really "losing his shit?" I don't understand the tendency to be so rude to others on this board.