Movie Clichés

I love movies, and the more I watch them, the more I start to understand and recognize the archetypes therein. But along with the archetypes are the clichés that plague the movies. Sometimes they’re funny, and sometimes you just see them and shake your head. Although there are many famous examples of movie clichés (groups of doe-eyed teenagers will always break apart to look for the killer in the house; all phone numbers start with 555, etc…) There are a few with seem to creep into every movie, but escape the attention of the movie critics. Namely,


-Microphone feedback. No matter how professional the production company, whenever the hero wants to make a speech or sing a song, the microphone invariably feeds back.

-The slow clap. The awkward silence after said song/speech is followed by a single person hesitantly clapping. Insert wild applause.

-Anyone eating Chinese food always eats it out of the box.

-Blood dripping out of the corner of a mouth. Whenever someone dies, the audience has confirmation of the death by a small stream of blood trickling out of the mouth.

-Whenever a character in a movie needs medical attention, people tend to rip the bandage they’re about to use, rather than just using the size of the bandage available. Also, people often call for boiled water. What’s that all about?

-Whenever there’s a gun battle in a car between two passengers, the driver always gets shot. This is as predictable as the Star Trek ensign who goes on the away mission, because we know that ensign is going to die.

-Bed sheets always miraculously come up to a woman’s armpits, but to a man’s waist

-The Eiffel tower can be seen outside any window in Paris

-Any person waking from a nightmare will sit upright and pant. The worst example I can think of is Star Wars Episode II when Anakin bolts up sweating, and panting. Tsk, tsk.

-At the death of a friend/lover, a character (usually a protagonist) will shake his fists in the air and yell, “noooooooo,” usually during a crane shot upwards. The single worst example (or best?) I know of in this category occurred in Star Wars Episode III, when Darth Vader shakes his hands in the air at the death of Padme. Tsk, tsk, tsk….