Hobbes Posted January 17 Share Posted January 17 What are common tropes that you actually enjoy (when done well)? 1. An ancient alien or technology that wakes up. I remember one of the first rumored titles for The Force Awakens was An Ancient Fear and I was geeking out so hard--I thought we were going to get the original Sith or some shit. 2. Any sci-fi/ fantasy/ historical tavern. 3. Morally ambiguous characters (not anti-heros)--I think this is why I loved GoT in the first few seasons... Tyrion, Peter Baelish, The Hound. Also Doc Holliday, Severus Snape... 4. First Contact with an alien species 5. When the character is told "unload all your weapons" and he puts like a hundred guns and knives on the table and then the other guy is all, "no, all your weapons" and he takes out like a dagger or whatever our of his boot. 6. the hero becomes the villian (again, not an anti-hero)--Narrator of Fight Club, Harvey Dent, and my GOAT--Saul Goodman. 7. A good twist that was in front of you the whole time (not subverting expectations/ it was all a dream or whatever). Arrival, Sixth Sense, Bladerunner 2049... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odine Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 High-falootin elves and grumpy dwarves, muscular boneheads wielding gigantic swords Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.CAllen Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 The reason the other thread was chockablock with people chiming in from jump with all the things they dislike about art and this thread is mostly silent is actually a pretty simple one. It’s easier to notice what we think is bad than what’s good. Even I — the world’s most important person, need I remind you, the man whose opinions REALLY MATTER! — find it to be a struggle. Here are my best guesses: * I really like art that takes language seriously. I think this accounts for my love of sci-fi, of fantasy, of period pieces, of genre generally, of the written word and of stuff that has the stink of the written word all over itself. And I think it explains my disdain for most non-competitive reality television. Those people are just making it up as they go along and, what’s worse, they’re all talking in normal people talk while they do it!!1! I mean, no thanks! And this love of words probably also has something to do with my limited appreciation for music. That’s not really a writer’s medium! People don’t like Star Trek because of all the treknobabble but I think the treknobabble is part and parcel of what makes Star Trek good. That stilted quality to even the non-technical dialogue! I love it! Even a contemporary drama without overt genre overtones like, say, The Arrangement (‘17-’18). It had Michael Vartan talking in cult talk! The people on it would sometimes speak entirely like themselves. That’s a quality I seek out. Its presence makes art feel good to me and its absence can make art feel like nothing to me. Sometimes I’ll watch a critically acclaimed indie movie or whatever, something shot with non-actors and with improvised dialogue, and I’ll come out of it completely unmoved. I’ll be full on Slavko Vorkapić with it. “What film?”. * when a pretty lady takes her clothes off and she has big beautiful honkers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
captainbleh Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 My like or dislike or a trope usually depends on if it is done well or not; if I dislike one it is usually because I'm expected to be impressed by the trope itself instead of the use of the trope as a means of creating compelling characters or drama I like origin stories, often because it's the most interesting thing about a lot of characters for me Facing death with dignity (as per TVtropes) is one I like. Commander Kril in The Last Starfighter is my reference for that one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zathras Posted January 18 Share Posted January 18 Agreed. You can have a tired trope that is spun in a unique or unusual and different way, and I can end up loving it. But, if done in a ham-fisted way, I will hate it, regardless of the trope. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darth Krawlie Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 I like flawed characters that know they’re flawed and even still cannot stop or change themselves. I don’t ADMIRE Rorschach, but I enjoy the character. “Never compromise, not even in the face of Armageddon.” Another example is Jesse Custer from the Preacher comic. Even when he knew Tulip didn’t need protecting he kept doing it, even knowing it might cause him to lose her, because that’s just who he was. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zathras Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 I like flawed characters too, especially a fatal flaw that in the long run, brings their downfall. Like Tony Soprano. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Odine Posted January 19 Share Posted January 19 My wife loves watching Scandinavian murder mystery thriller dramas. They all seem to have the same tropes which tickles me and she laughs about: A divorced, hard drinking, living in semi-squalor, senior detective who's addicted to the job but also absolutely brilliant, solving a series of grisly murders of beautiful women in a remote frontier town in rural Scandinavia with huge forests, mountains, snow, and sleek modern Volvo's. A ridiculously good looking female boss with high cheekbones, an amazing house with a bangin' kitchen island. (It will be used for banging on at least once in the show). Every interior has impeccable modern interior design. There is always an affair or illicit sexual relationship. The murderer is almost never the creepy weird guy with the psychological issues in the town the show tries to set up as the red herring. The show is always shot low saturation with a blue/grey/green colour grade to emphasize COLD and alpine. Sometimes she watches french versions of these shows. In this case switch out modern interior design with cozy homes with lots of bottles of wine, food and eclectic tastes in furniture. The protagonist smokes. There are more cobbled side roads and old 1970s and 80s Renault cars and Citroen painter vans parked on the set. Slightly less alpine and mountainous but there's way more sex. Otherwise it's the same show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tank Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 I'll never not love a final girl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zathras Posted January 21 Share Posted January 21 What is a final girl? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gamevet Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 On 1/19/2024 at 1:03 AM, Odine said: My wife loves watching Scandinavian murder mystery thriller dramas. They all seem to have the same tropes which tickles me and she laughs about: A divorced, hard drinking, living in semi-squalor, senior detective who's addicted to the job but also absolutely brilliant, solving a series of grisly murders of beautiful women in a remote frontier town in rural Scandinavia with huge forests, mountains, snow, and sleek modern Volvo's. A ridiculously good looking female boss with high cheekbones, an amazing house with a bangin' kitchen island. (It will be used for banging on at least once in the show). Every interior has impeccable modern interior design. There is always an affair or illicit sexual relationship. The murderer is almost never the creepy weird guy with the psychological issues in the town the show tries to set up as the red herring. The show is always shot low saturation with a blue/grey/green colour grade to emphasize COLD and alpine. Sometimes she watches french versions of these shows. In this case switch out modern interior design with cozy homes with lots of bottles of wine, food and eclectic tastes in furniture. The protagonist smokes. There are more cobbled side roads and old 1970s and 80s Renault cars and Citroen painter vans parked on the set. Slightly less alpine and mountainous but there's way more sex. Otherwise it's the same show. That's funny. My wife likes to watch Lifetime movies. It's always the same 4 tropes: Psycho girlfriend/boyfriend, kidnapped person, serial killers and jealous ex-lover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gamevet Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 Who doesn't love the action film where the car/train/boat/plane is just about to crash, and the hero makes the escape in the final seconds? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cerina Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 I still fucking just love girl power scenes. Even when they're on the nose or in your face. I guess it means that I'm old enough to remember a childhood where females were still just sexy lamps in movies and TV. Even minor representation gets me. I cried at the inclusion of female background characters in TFA (I was also very, very pregnant but still). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hobbes Posted January 22 Author Share Posted January 22 14 hours ago, Gamevet said: Who doesn't love the action film where the car/train/boat/plane is just about to crash, and the hero makes the escape in the final seconds? I hate any sort of chase. You didn't say helicopters, but I hate anything with a helicopter in it. Mainly because in elementary school I thought people liking Airwolf over A-Team was absurd. The exception was when those people outran the cold in Day After Tomorrow. You never see that--talk about a fresh and original idea! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gamevet Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 James Bond was always about the car chase. He had to have at least some kind of crazy vehicle to get into a chase with. It wouldn't be James Bond without it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quetzalcoatl Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 How about the action hero who casually walks away while something's exploding behind him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R.CAllen Posted January 25 Share Posted January 25 I don’t much care for when other art is inexpertly larded into the substance of the art I’m experiencing. I’m thinking of ... the thing where a book will have two opening epigraphs, one from a highbrow source and one from something lowbrow. Or when a movie will try to class up the joint by quoting from some poetry e.g. Skyfall (2012), Oblivion (2013), Interstellar (2014). Or when characters will drop a reference in dialogue which just don’t feel right, just don’t feel like the sort of thing that character would say, even when the character has JUST said it!!!!1! BUT One thing I do like is when you get a little piece of another movie inside of your movie. Now that’s just good value for money! Examples, examples, let’s see. The Limey (1999) repurposing that old Ken Loach film. That little piece of Star Wars (1977) inside 500 Days of Summer (2009). The Great Escape (1963) reworked within Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood (2019). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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