Overused Cliches Seen In Film and TV

The Hangout Archive
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What do you think about cliches?

What would you say is the worst cliche that always gets used?

How could the worst cliche be made better? (role reversal, adding something, taking away something etc)

Are there any good cliches?

Why do you think movies still use cliches?

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In Mexican telenovelas:

  • Poor, cheerful girl who loves animals meets handsome rich guy with a very long, “rich-sounding” last name. Something like ‘Carlos Alberto De la Corcuera Ferrer’. They honestly make it seem like rich people can’t have common last names. I’ve met rich families whose last names are SĂĄnchez or PĂ©rez, so it’s really not true.
  • The rich guy has a very mean mother or stepmother that hates the poor girl just because her family isn’t rich. Her husband is usually nice but weak and doesn’t stand up to her.
  • Also, the rich guy has a girlfriend that’s sophisticated, gorgeous, and cold-hearted. She either has money or pretends to be from an affluent family. Of course she is rude to the poor girl, usually because the poor girl spilled some food on her by accident.
  • The poor girl discovers that she has a long-lost rich relative, and after being constantly humiliated due to her social status, she becomes a high society lady in just six months (one episode with a major time-jump.) Cue music_tickingbeat_lp while it shows the time transition of her transforming into a high society lady.
  • The snobby ex-girlfriend grabs the LI and kisses him, and lo and behold! Our protagonist walks in and sees them split seconds before the guy pushes her away. MC runs away in tears, uttering a phrase like Juro que te voy a olvidar, Carlos Alberto. (I swear I will forget you.)
  • There’s a ‘fake’ pregnancy where the mean girl gets the LI drunk and makes him think they had sex so he can marry her.
  • The MC becomes pregnant for real but doesn’t want to tell the LI because the mean girl is also pregnant and she doesn’t want the kid to grow up without his father. (Like, what about your kid, woman?)
  • The villains die in a terrible accident after a huge confrontation with the MCs.
  • The MCs try to convince the villains to turn themselves in.

How to improve it.
The main character and the LI could belong to the same social status. Make them have real goals, build up their relationship with some slow burn. If the ex-girlfriend kisses the guy when the MC walks in, have the MC stay to see him reject her or ask him to explain what happened. Forget the fake pregnancy. There can be other conflicts of interest. Internal conflicts. If the guy’s mom doesn’t like the MC, it can be for a different reason other than ‘she’s not from our social standing’. Give both the heroes and the villains realistic flaws and strengths. Have the ‘mean girl’ move on and decide that it isn’t worth it to lose her dignity over some guy that isn’t interested in her.

Movies and TV shows probably still use cliches because of the success certain tropes have had in the past. Yes, they can be good as long as they are done well.

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Honestly, cliches can be good sometimes but in most movies and TV shows they’re done badly.
As much as I actually love some cliches there are cliches I can’t stand. Talking about someone behind their back, only to find out they were behind you the entire time annoys me so much
 Especially when someone is trying to tell that person is right behind you
 like, shut up and listen, please.
Another thing I see in every movie is bad aiming while shooting. Or when the good guy can shoot down every bad guy without missing
 Not realistic.
Most of the things I hate are in horror movies hahaha. Like tripping and falling, the car suddenly isn’t working and it won’t start, splitting up, adults won’t listen


But why do I think movies still use cliches? Probably because they’re easy and familiar?

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I suppose, since many have done it and you can’t go wrong with that. However, it kinda annoys me when someone use cliches, it just proves their lack of creativity.

One of the common cliches that I’ve seen is when the FL trips, out of nowhere, the ML appears and he will catch her, then they will stir in slow-mo.

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I like cliches, so I never really think they’re overused but maybe the @ ScreenSloths can help out with this discussion? :smiley_cat:

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Added a tag :smiley_cat:

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