(no subject)

[apocalypsos]

You know what I would love to put a moratorium on in my entertainment?

-- I see this in books mostly, but when a female character insists on using the word "poop". God, that drives me nuts. Do you know anyone who stills uses that word? 'Cause I sure as hell don't. And as a curse word? ARGH. I might buy it from a character who's an upper-crust snobby Northeasterner, but please don't expect me to buy it from a city chick with no money. Trust me, we curse. We really curse. If adult men in stories don't say it, why the hell should a thirty-year-old woman who's supposedly had a hard life say it?

-- Heavily pregnant ladies in elevators. Dude, NO. Stop that. Nobody finds it funny, because it's the same dumbass jokes every time, and nobody watches a pregnant lady get into an elevator during an action movie and go, "Oh, no! She's getting into the elevator! Whatever will happen!" It's annoying, so stop that.

-- Any "I'm supposed to be a callous jerk" male sitcom-or-comedic-film character who says to a fat lady, "And when is your baby due?" Because at that point, I don't think he's a jerk -- I think he's either mentally handicapped or clinically insane, neither of which is amusing.

Anybody else want to put a moratorium on a stupid cliche or character trait while we're at it?

Comments

[tamnonlinear.livejournal.com]

I'm adding to that the bad gun use cliche of person having the gun kicked out of their hands before they ever get to fire, particularly if the person is a police officer or FBI agent (thinking here of x-files, where I swear they never pulled a gun but they lost it. I watched that show for four seasons and I don't think I ever saw an agent successfully fire a firearm).

Can we please assume that people who have guns might actually know how to fire them?

[wiredwizard.livejournal.com]

I have to agree with you there. Especially on the X-Files. =rolling eyes= I think Mulder lost his gun at least once per every two episodes. Not just from getting in kicked out either, he dropped it a lot too.

In a martial arts movie I'd be more lenient on the whole gun kicking schtick, but not every person getting drawn on is going to be a Jackie Chan/Jet Li/Bruce Lee clone. If that were the case, no-one would ever pack a gun 'cause they wouldn't need the damned thing.

[edana-ni-emer.livejournal.com]

Yes, X-Files and the Sentinel were particularly bad about that, though Ellison (from Sentinel) at least got to shoot his gun a few times, and rarely missed because of his sooper sekrit majik vision. I read an X-Files fanfic once that had Scully musing about how she might go about permanently affixing a glove made of the loop side of Velcro to Mulder's hand, and the hook side to his gun. :-)