Once you see these, you can’t unsee them. And, they’ll drive you crazy every time!
The following are my own personal pet peeves. You may have others. Also, I’ve left out some of the big, obvious ones (e.g., Mary Sue, deus ex machina, girl loses glasses and is automatically pretty, etc.). Those are tropes, in a sense. What I’m going to share are plot devices and/or scenes. You’ll see.
5. No-look driving
When you’re driving, you can only take your eyes off the road for a second or two before something terrible happens. Yet, on the screen, characters drive and look over at another character and converse for long periods without getting into a wreck. At the same time, if a wreck is needed, the character only has to take his eyes off the road for a brief moment before he gets into a disastrous accident.
In addition, people who drive on camera are always moving the steering wheel back and forth when they don’t need to. It’s silly when they do this while looking away from the road. What are they navigating?
4. Hanging up without a “Goodbye”
In day-to-day life, if you end your phone call without a parting salutation (e.g., “Bye,” “Talk to you later,” etc.), the other person will assume you hung up on them. However, on-screen, characters will end a phone call right after they say their last comment, and no feelings are hurt. Try not saying “Goodbye” at the end of your conversation and that person will call you right back and ask, “Why did you hang up on me?”
3. Blinds and curtains open at night
For whatever reason, people on-screen live in houses with big picture windows and they don’t cover them up at night. This allows creepers to look in on them. Then, when said creeper does something with the knowledge he gained from looking into the windows, the victim character is aghast.
If you leave your blinds or curtains open at night, you’re basically telling anyone outside of your house to watch your personal business. After all, the lights inside contrast starkly against the darkness outside – basically making every window a big, bright screen for outsiders.
2. A female getting undressed in front of an exposed window
This is like the above pet peeve. There’s absolutely no reason for a woman to get undressed in front of an exposed window, especially at night. Yet, over and over again, some hapless woman is taking off her shirt, completely unaware that people outside can see her in plain view.
It’s weird enough when you see a grown woman do this, but when they show high school girls doing it, it’s even more weird and creepy – to me, at least. I know the actors must be adults – wouldn’t it be illegal if they weren’t? – but it still seems like a strange device for plot development.
1. Falling down stairs
People ALWAYS fall down stairs in movies and TV shows. It’s fun to see, I get that, but the injuries are so selective that it comes across as lazy writing. If a good guy and a bad guy fall down the stairs together, the bad guy is more likely to die in the process and the good guy walks away without a scratch. Or, stranger still, both of them get up and continue their squabble as if nothing happened. In the latter case, why even have the fall in the first place?
These are my pet peeves. Do you have any?
Jason Salas 