I hate that one trope where there's an alien or a guy from an isolated tribe that's never been to America, and they come to America and their new American friends show them shopping malls and fast food and the outsider is all "This is amazing! I love America!"

Just once I'd like this trope to be subverted with the alien or whatever spitting out the fast food and saying something like, "Oh god, what is this shit? It's giving me a heart attack!" or they go to a mall and are mortified by the advertising and that they have to slave away to afford any of it.

Are there any tropes you're tired of? They can be as dumb and petty as you want. It's fun to rip on pointless things sometimes.

  • came_apart_at_Kmart [he/him, comrade/them]
    ·
    3 years ago
    • serious movie: man cries single tear drop, silent and stone faced. what a hero.
    • comedy movie: man cries openly/bodily, for comedic effect. what a goofus.

    i accept that people express sorrow/grief differently and god knows that the emotional self-mutilation boys undergo to wear the mask they live in as men contorts the shit out of expressing grief, but jesus christ... let's not reinforce this so grotesquely. restrained grief can be done very well. Mr Inbetween's Ray Shoesmith crushes it, in my opinion. but it's used as commentary and it's not so simple as the trope. it's wet eyes, a long blink, eye contact avoidance, a nasal inhale followed by a resigned exhale and thoughtful gaze.

    1. also, supernatural magical minorities. it's not that this can't be done in a way that doesn't bother me or lampshaded elegantly/humorously, it's that it is so overdone and most of the time it's like inexplicable/unrelated to anything, no callback, no nothing.