Cliches that you are tired of..

brekclub85 · **on:** November 23, 2009, 06:07:12 PM

In any type of plotline, whether it be a game, movie, book, or tv show, we've all probably seen things that we consider cliche. While I'm sure we each have cliches that don't bother us or we don't find annoying, but I'm sure we each have clches that annoy us time to time when we see them. What are yours?

Cliches I don't like: (Though there have been some stories with these that I don't mind.)

1. In cat vs. dog stories, the cat is always the bad guy.
2. Carnivores being portrayed as the bad guys.
3. Science being villainized.
4. In competition stories where it's between 2 good guys, not a good guy vs bad guy, the underdog always is the winner. (Face it, when it's a strong competitor vs an underdog, the underdog always wins.)
5. Even though I like slasher films, I find it cliche when the only survivors are the main girl and her boyfriend.

What about you guys?

WeirdRaptor · **Reply #1 on:** November 23, 2009, 07:29:03 PM

1. Big corporations being villainized and always having their business razed to the ground by the end. I always wonder if their disgruntle and recently unemployed employees didn't lynch and kill the plucky heroes after the film ends.

2. The underdog is always the hero. While I appreciate the plotline of a bunch of losers getting their acts together and getting serious about whatever sport they're playing, they shouldn't always win the championship game at the end. I'd love to see just one movie where they don't the championship, but the possibility that they could win next time is still there. Hell, that would make a sequel to that film actually worthwhile, because the team wasn't actually won yet.

3. The championship teams always being portrayed as cheaters and money mongers who only play to win and don't enjoy the game at all. Seriously, can't the other team just be another team of perfectly civil individuals who just happen to be competition to the underdogs for once?
I absolutely loved how Pixar's Cars suverted that by having the champ racer actually be a nice guy.

4. The Romeo and Juliet star-crossed lovers part. This has been done SO many times that its become a cliche. Is there another Shakespear play that is more ripped-off?

5. Horror that end badly for the protagonist. Do horror films ever have endings that don't result in the heroes' horrible deaths anymore? What's the point? I already the villain is going to win and eat the protagonist, and I don't feel any need to put myself throught hat kind of ride.

thebigdeal · **Reply #2 on:** December 05, 2009, 07:05:53 PM

When there are hero teams that have like 4 guys and only 1 girl or 2 guys and 1 girl,
they don't give females enough credit...

Ptyra · **Reply #3 on:** December 14, 2009, 06:47:34 PM

* Star-crossed lovers. Blllllehhhhhhhh! Let's see how many I can list:
Romeo and Juliet
Ranger and Charmer (This one ESPECIALLY makes me sick with the whole fur-color thing. Adder and Sinuous are differently colored and they don't even seem to notice it)
Tony and Maria (okay, technically Romeo and Juliet)
Edward and Bella *takes out a machine gun*
JACOB and Bella *takes out another machine gun*
Kovu and Kiara (Ick)

* Reptiles as villains. Especially snakes. How dare Disney bring Kaa to that state >.< . Thankfully, there's Juju from Princess and the Frog that's the pet of the witchlady that helps them. Heck, just his NAME sounds flat out adorable!

* Any dog as a hero. ESPECIALLY foxes and wolves

* Cats as villains. The movie Cats and Dogs heightened that.

* "I-AM-YOUR-FATHER". Only time that's good is in Star Wars

* "Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die" Again, only good in The Princess Bride

* Love at first sight. That's probably one of my most hated concepts. I don't believe in love at first sight. Love MUST develop. It has GOT to develop. It was Enchanted that sparked that. Before you decide you're in love with somebody, you've got to have known them for a period longer than a few weeks. Maybe a year.

* Princess under a spell. Especially a sixteen year old princess...that doesn't even look like she's sixteen.

Malte279 · **Reply #4 on:** December 14, 2009, 07:23:34 PM

If there is an "old wise teacher / mentor" kind of a character in a fantasy story you can be almost certain that he will be killed in the story. There are cases where he (most of the time it is a he) does a "Gandalf" and returns but really most of the old mentors of a main character are killed of. With Gandalf I already mentioned one case of exception because he returns. Other examples can be found in Star Wars (Obi Wan Kenobi (and one could probably name some more examples)), Harry Potter (Dumbledore), Eragon (Grom or something like that), Highlander (whatever the name of Sean Connery's character was). I'm quite sure I have seen more examples of this. Old mentor's don't tend to get much older

Ptyra · **Reply #5 on:** December 14, 2009, 07:27:41 PM

The "old mentor that can't stay" ended up becoming an archetype in my English classes. Usually, he dies so the hero doesn't have anyone to cling to for help. I think Merlin just left Arthur, but it would be interesting for the mentor to say "Nuh-uh! You go do this on your own and figure it out. You're a big boy/girl now! *BOOT!*"

DarkHououmon · **Reply #6 on:** December 14, 2009, 07:42:13 PM

Quote

* Reptiles as villains. Especially snakes. How dare Disney bring Kaa to that state >.< . Thankfully, there's Juju from Princess and the Frog that's the pet of the witchlady that helps them. Heck, just his NAME sounds flat out adorable!

From what I heard, could be wrong, in the original Jungle Book stories the Disney movie was based on, not only was Kaa actually a good guy but he was also one of Mowgli's tutors.

Quote

Any dog as a hero. ESPECIALLY foxes and wolves

I have nothing against foxes or wolves, or any animal in general (I don't see a reason to hold a grudge against an entire species but that's just me). Not sure on foxes, but wolves I agree are too overly used, both as villains and as heroes. It'd be nice if they'd use other animals instead. Wolves are nice and all but they are not the only animals in the wild.

JitteryDragon · **Reply #7 on:** December 14, 2009, 07:47:13 PM

Some video game cliches that really grind my gears:

- The tough space marine character that's in nearly every sci-fi action game. Half life broke that trend, but so many sci-fi games just reuse the bad ass marine type character. Just once I would like to play a character with a little more realization to them.

- Karma meter. Every game nowadays seems to be trying to make you take "moral decisions" that effect how good/evil you are. The only problem is how black and white it always is... you're either a goody goody gum drops, or a blight on all living things. Modern RPG's are doing this like mad.

- You are the one. So many games cast you as the "chosen one" or the one who is destined to beat up the bad guys. Just once I would like to play someone in the background, be a player rather than a leader. Call of duty had excellent moments where you were just another soldier, rather than the bad ass hero.

aabicus (LettuceBacon&Tomato) · **Reply #8 on:** December 14, 2009, 07:58:33 PM

Horror movies. Any horror movie that involves a group of teenagers heading off on a road trip or something and getting killed off one by one. Has there ever been a more overused plot line?

JitteryDragon · **Reply #9 on:** December 14, 2009, 08:09:46 PM

Quote from: LettuceBacon&Tomato,Dec 14 2009 on 06:58 PM

Horror movies. Any horror movie that involves a group of teenagers heading off on a road trip or something and getting killed off one by one. Has there ever been a more overused plot line?

I've stopped watching horror movies thanks to how cliche and repetitive it has become... that, and the fact I'm no longer terrified of the horror genre.

Saw was the last good horror flick I ever watched, it had a simple premise, good twist and was pretty damn scary I thought. Another favorite of mine (though less horror and more suspense) was Open Water... same idea as Saw, simple premise... but bloody terrifying.

The worst horror cliche I've ever witnessed is the one where a character would get tapped on the back or have the camera walk up to them... they freak out, but it turns out it was only a friend or something not scary, like a cat.

A CAT! AHHH... I'M TERRIFIED AND PEEING MY PANTS!

Noname · **Reply #10 on:** December 15, 2009, 08:14:09 PM

The idea that the richer people are villains and that poorer people are automatically the good guys.

Also, the cliche of the guy wanting to get into the most attractive girl's pants is overdone... they make it seem like the girl rarely has any desires of her own... unless she somehow breaks the rules.

And my RP doesn't make it so black and white...

brekclub85 · **Reply #11 on:** December 15, 2009, 09:53:23 PM

More I'm tired of:

The killer turning out to be the main character in a trance or out-of-body experience.

Whether it be the good guys or bad guys, action-filled stories that don't end with at least 1 person dieing for an emotional scene. (One thing I disliked about the Avatar finale, even though for the most part I found it awesome.)

brekclub85 · **Reply #12 on:** December 30, 2009, 10:52:29 PM

More I'm annoyed up:

1. Whenever the title of an episode provides spoilers for the plot, making watching it somewhat unneeded.

2.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4cWvBujcESQ This episode of the American Tail tv series was a good example of this: Whenever a carnivore actually successfully catches somebody, they never simply eat them on the spot, inevitably allowing the prey to escape by themselves or thanks to someone else later while they are busy cooking.

3. Stories about revenge (When the protagonist is the one wanting revenge, not the villain wanting revenge on the hero) always ending in the hero not being able to commit revenge (Not that I think revenge is justified, I'd just like to see a story where the main character goes through with their plans. The ending of Saw VI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sGx6-FjX9r4 was a great example of something like this not ending the cliche way, which I appreciated.)

brekclub85 · **Reply #13 on:** December 30, 2009, 11:15:53 PM

This is somewhat an extension of my tiredness of the carnivore cliche, but not quite as I'm seen some times where it's herbivorous on both sides:

Often in animated animal shows,

Being something small (like a mouse)=You're good, You're smart, you'll save the day in the end, you're incapable of being bad.

Being something big (Like a tiger, or an elephant etc)= You're a jerk, you're incapable of saving the day, you always get caught by the bad guy if you're not the bad guy, you have strength but it's no help, and you're typically dumb.

Also, an extension of my one about cats, I want to see one movie where cats are the good guys while the mice are the bad guys.

Animeboye · **Reply #14 on:** December 30, 2009, 11:31:52 PM

The protagonist who vows never to kill. This is one thing I strongly dislike about the manga Rurouni Kenshin. I still like the manga though. But anyway, I just hate heroes who would rather put themselves and their friends in potential danger should the big bad decide to take revenge on the hero and his friends than say, I dunno, FINISH THE BIG BAD OFF!!

DarkHououmon · **Reply #15 on:** December 31, 2009, 12:13:34 AM

You know, speaking of mice, from what I've seen, in stories with mice and rats, it's the rats who are usually the bad guys. I wonder why this is the case. In fact, rats are more commonly portrayed negatively in stories it seems.

landbeforetimelover · **Reply #16 on:** December 31, 2009, 12:39:02 AM

Okay, I read a lot of (clean)furry stories because frankly, a lot of them are MUCH better than the garbage that's actually been made into books (not to mention they're FREE). I'm sick and tired of reading stories where either the women in it are portrayed as weak and meager, or when they're portrayed as way overly-confident and overly-strong to hide the sexist attitude of the author. It just pisses me off. Even when a story is really good, if women are treated like this, I just don't like it very much anymore. It's not like they try or anything. It just comes out....and that's even worse. Without even realizing it, they put women down or beef them up unrealistically.

Amaranthine · **Reply #17 on:** December 31, 2009, 12:54:42 AM

You guys basically listed them all. ^^ lol

Here's one:

1. In movies with caucasians and the Native Americans, the Native Americans seem to always be "good" and the caucasians are always bad. I'm actually not really annoyed with it, but it's too bad that White people keep getting these stereotypes of being greedy, lazy, and selfish.

DarkHououmon · **Reply #18 on:** December 31, 2009, 01:49:39 AM

Quote from: landbeforetimelover,Dec 31 2009 on 12:39 AM

Okay, I read a lot of (clean)furry stories because frankly, a lot of them are MUCH better than the garbage that's actually been made into books (not to mention they're FREE). I'm sick and tired of reading stories where either the women in it are portrayed as weak and meager, or when they're portrayed as way overly-confident and overly-strong to hide the sexist attitude of the author. It just pisses me off. Even when a story is really good, if women are treated like this, I just don't like it very much anymore. It's not like they try or anything. It just comes out....and that's even worse. Without even realizing it, they put women down or beef them up unrealistically.

Personally I think one of the best female characters is Alyx from Half-Life 2. She is portrayed as a confident woman, able to take care of herself, but she isn't beefed up or anything and there's times when you (as Gordon) have to protect/save her, and she can be killed, although it's game over if she does die, since she's an important ally.

WeirdRaptor · **Reply #19 on:** December 31, 2009, 05:26:53 AM

Yeah, we do tend to ignore that the Native Americans were responsible for quite a few attrocities, themselves, don't we?