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31 Pop-Culture Tropes We’ve Had Just About Enough Of

February 06, 2024

Tropes. The gifts that keep on giving. Well, our stocking is stuffed to the brim with these ones, so please, no more! Maybe the entire entertainment industry should take a year off to drum up new ways to tell their stories. When they present us with a fresh batch, we’ll allow the cameras to roll again.

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White Dude Goes Native Saves The Day CRACKED.COM — Source

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Will they? Won't they? Cut the bullerap, We know they will, CRACKED.COM — Source

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Divorcees have a tough time getting along... Wacky illegal antics/large scale tragcdy ensues... Hurray! No more marriage problems! CRACKED.COM — Source

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Don't trust anybody. Later... I told you not to trust anybody! CRACKED.COM — Source

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CRACKED.COM this is my estranged father... he's a con-man CHUCK LOST psychNew Girl DEXTER 3OROCK — Source

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KILL THE BOSS THE 13TH WARRIOR AND SOMEHOW THE REST OF THE BAD GUYS WILL JUST KINDA CHILL OUT AND GO AWAY CRACKED.COM — Source

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CRACKED.COM Physical toughness + Strong Female Lead — Source

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MR. & MRS SMITH Perfect Gift... الله Card TMNT SPIDER-MAN WALL-E DAWN OF THE DEAD X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE *Awkward Elevator CRACKED.COM Music* — Source

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CRACKED COM Enough of the new hair = character development shortcut. It's time to be a little more creative. — Source

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WORST REALITY TV TROPES THE VILLAIN Long before a certain reality show host became a real-life supervillain, The Apprentice's Omarosa was perfecting the reality TV villain act. She was not there to make friends, and didn't care who knew it. Still, this trope is as tired as the genre itself. CRACKED.COM — Source

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CRACKED.COM WORST REALITY TV TROPES CRINGEY SILENCES In their desperate attempt to create appealing interpersonal dynamics, reality shows punctuate conversations with silences, knowing looks, and quirky music - something that was wonderfully parodied in the SNL sketch Pregnant in Heels. — Source

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CRACKED.COM WORST REALITY TV TROPES THE GIRL NEXT DOOR As dating shows glorify traditional gender roles, it's no surprise that they love the girl next door trope. Are you naïve, cute, and from a small town? You might just be the next Rachael Kirkconnell from The Bachelor (hopefully without the racism). — Source

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WORST REALITY TV TROPES IMMEDIATE DISTRUST Contestants distrusting people they got along well with is an easy way of manufacturing cheap drama. No explanations, no acknowledgment of context - just quick, unreflecting distrust. This is especially clear in trust-based reality shows, like Survivor. CRACKED.COM — Source

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Hellboy Batman Begins IT If it rains at a funeral, the guests will be prepared with matching black umbrellas. John Wick Across the Universe The Amazing Spider-Man CRACKED.COM — Source

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Batman & Robin In Time GUESSING SOMEONE'S PASSWORD IN FILMS IS SO EASY, YOU CAN DO IT IN MINUTES. JUST LOOK AROUND THE COMPUTER FOR HINTS, OR RECALL BIRTHDATES OF PEOPLE THEY CARE ABOUT AND YOU'RE IN! Lord of War War Games CRACKED.COM — Source

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STAR WARS REVENGE OF THE SITH WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU HAD A NIGHTMARE SO INTENSE THAT YOU CONSTANTINE JOLT UP 90 DEGREES FROM YOUR BED? HOW ABOUT... NEVER? THE RING CRACKED.COM — Source

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Crowds at sporting events need to see a lone person slow clap before they start applauding. Rudy Mystery, Alaska Cool Hoosiers Runnings CRACKED.COM — Source

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CRACKED.COM Lost Tropes The French are cowards Perhaps for having been invaded by the Nazis, the French were usually depicted as surrendering cowards needing to be saved. But really, have you seen French action and horror movies? Oh, and then there is the anti-fascist Résistance as well. — Source

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Mastication is a sin

Lost Tropes Sci-Fi food pills Like flying cars, jet packs, or a sustainable future, full meals in pills are a forgotten trope from older, more naive sci-fi. Just pop a couple and you're done! SUGAR ATOES CHICKEN PIE CRACKED.COM — Source

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Lost Tropes The third one is 3D Third parts in a franchise would have 3D as their gimmick, because third part, 3D, you get it. Who didn't get it, though? The makers of Saw 3D, which is the seventh movie in the franchise. Brilliant. CRACKED.COM — Source

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CRACKED.COM Lost Tropes Everybody laughs at the end This trope has recently been put back into the spotlight by the immediate classic Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers. As the movie rightly puts it, the worse the joke, the longer the laugh. — Source

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Lost Tropes Flashback stare Suddenly invaded by flashbacks of 'Nam or Cats, you just stare at nothing with dead eyes. Then it hits you: this trope is so outdated, it was mocked in Airplane! CRACKED.COM — Source

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Lost Tropes Funny suicide Suicide (by gun, train, etc.) was used as comedy in old cartoons. But suicide is serious business (unless you're Hitler in the bunker, in which case cue the Benny Hill music and fart sounds) CRACKED.COM — Source

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GRACKED COM Lost Tropes Extreme '90s anti-heroes. How badly has this aged? Just ask Rob Liefeld, who has become a joke for his radical characters with bloated muscles, childishly designed weapons, and, erm, suits full of pouches. Pouches are rad! — Source

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CRACKED.COM AWFUL BIOPIC TROPES SANITIZING HISTORY Some dirt makes for good storytelling, like drugs and (straight) sex. Anything too risky for normie audiences, however, needs to be cleaned up. The Dirt ignored the misogynistic violence, Bohemian Rhapsody's treatment of Freddie Mercury's sexuality was just insulting, and we all know what they will ignore in the inevitable Michael Jackson biopic. — Source

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CRACKED.COM Freddie Mercury died of AIDS-related pneumonia on the 24th November 1991. AWFUL BIOPIC TROPES FINAL TEXT Since lifes goes on after the movie ends, a final text will inform us of what happened later, usually with a ton of misleading cherry-picking. See this trope in Apollo 13, Schindler's List, Walk the Line, What's Love Got to Do with It, Chaplin, The Brittany Murphy Story, Bohemian Rhapsody, The Blind Side, The Social Network, and My Week with Marilyn. Tina has become one of the world's top recording artists. Her tours continue to break concert attendance records worldwide. — Source

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CRACKED.COM AWFUL BIOPIC TROPES TRAUMA AS MOTIVATION Genius is explained by trauma, right? Because that seems to be a narrative staple of biopics. Every traumatic incident in your life and every mistake you make pushes you towards your destiny of greatness. — Source

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CRACKED.COM AWFUL BIOPIC TROPES THE MOMENT OF TRUTH Just as our hero is about to lose their shot, they manage to prove their genius in one single moment of truth. Examples appear in Coal Miner's Daughter and Walk the Line, but people going from mocking Ray Charles to jumping up to dance during his audition scene borders on self-parody. .COM — Source

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AWFUL BIOPIC TROPES TRIVIALIZING THE VICTIMS The Wolf of Wall Street, Straight Outta Compton, and House of Gucci gloss over the victims, and Pam & Tommy forced their subjects to relive a gross invasion of privacy. Even worse? Elizabeth Kendall, Ted Bundy's ex-girlfriend, was only consulted after her lawyers got involved in That Zac Efron Movie About Ted Bundy That Apparently Exists. CRACKED.COM — Source

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amount - - - - NETSUITE NETSUITE - AtAletic AWFUL BIOPIC TROPES INNOCENT PEOPLE GET TURNED INTO VILLAINS Every movie needs a villain, which makes it tricky when real people face several enemies or even entire systems. In that case, you can condense every challenge into one character, even if its real-life inspiration wasn't really an enemy. Movies that have screwed over real people include Cinderella Man, Moneyball, Dog Day Afternoon, and Ed Wood. CRACKED.COM — Source

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