10 Annoying Things: Storylines, Devices, Details, etc. Part 1
Ever found a story, be it a book, a movie or a TV-series, that was good in just about every way except that one element that just happened to be one of your berserk buttons? Or perhaps that element doesn't cause enough rage to stop you from watching but you still grit your teeth every time it's in the forefront. Perfect stories are so few and far and between, so if we stopped watching/reading everything that annoys us at least in some measure, we wouldn't have any food for thought at all.
This list is once again a big IMHO and was brought to you by the combined efforts of yours truly and the wonderful shirogiku.
1. Pointless love interest/pairing people off randomly
(c) broken-queen
There is nothing wrong with believing there's someone out there for everyone. In fact, if we didn't believe it, life would probably be a hell of a lot more depressing. The problem with pairing everyone and their mother off in a story is that it often looks like the enforcement of the idea that if you are not in a relationship, there must be something wrong with you. It especially concerns women (every girl needs a guy), but it can be done with men too. This trope isn't as jarring in romantic comedies that often have the main characters' less fortunate friends hooking up at the end of the film or during the credits, but when it finds its way into other genres, be careful not to wear your teeth down by gnashing them in exasperation every so often.
One of the classical examples, in my opinion, is the introduction of the Willow/Kennedy relationship in season 7 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I don't hate Kennedy personally, though I don't like her much either. But their romance comes out of nowhere, Kennedy pursues Willow a little too aggressively, and Willow gives in a little too quickly.
Both Willow/Oz and Willow/Tara took their time developing, but Willow/Kennedy basically gets one key episode, after which the ship is mostly in the background, yet they act like they've been in a relationship for quite some time already. It feels a lot like this ship is being shoved down our throats because it's probably the end of the world and everyone should have someone to cuddle with before the final battle.
Another example, on a slightly different scale, would be Once Upon a Time. The whole of it. Given that the show is largely based on fairy tales, it tries to reconcile the concept of fairy tale love with real-life issues, but it doesn't often do it successfully. The show is guilty of inventing love interests for supporting characters and then either forgetting about them (cue the Dreamy/Nova ship in the title image) or using them to move forward a storyline (the Rumpelstiltskin/Milah/Hook triangle, in which Milah basically appears to hurt Rumple's feelings, then die and give Hook his revenge obsession). Everyone in OUAT is fixated on love. Character growth, character degradation, most of character motivations are driven by love. Regina turns evil because she believes Snow White is guilty of having her lover killed (as opposed to the Wicked Queen's traditional motivation - envy); Cora tears our her heart because she is afraid her love for Rumpelstiltskin will prevent her from carrying out her plans; Belle puts up with heaps of emotional abuse because of love; Emma is constantly in denial of her feelings for Neal, but it's pretty clear where that story is going; the whole purpose of Cinderella's story in Storybrooke was to get her back together with her prince, and they weren't even seen again in season 2; etc. The show is so eager to pair everyone off that I am amazed there is still no love interest for Pongo (given that he was the dog equivalent of married in his original story).
2. Repeating the same thing over and over again
(c) arthurdarvill
I love running gags and parallel constructions, if they are done well, but I am severely allergic to repetitions of specific messages more than twice with the express purpose of hammering the idea into the reader/viewer's head. Being Human 5x05 gives us a great example of that with Rook's family/work motto. He repeats it, if I am not mistaken, four times in a one-hour-long episode, makes Natasha repeat it, and uses it in a Rookileaks email. It's no surprise that fanfiction picks it up as well. Yes, we know Rook values his job above all else. We know Rook is supposedly very efficient at it (word of advice, Toby: show, don't tell). Droning the same words over and over again (especially taking into account that he hadn't said them so much as once in the previous five episodes he'd made an appearance in!) won't add any extra dimension to his fixation on work or make me empathize with him more with regards to Natasha's situation.
Another, less "condensed" example comes once again from Once Upon a Time. Lovely show by the way, if you're looking for infuriating tropes. Meet the Charmings:
They will always find each other. Wanna know how I know? They told me. About 100 times throughout the two seasons, especially in the second one. It is slightly mitigated by the fact that even other characters are already tired of hearing this and make jokes in-verse (like: look, they found each other... again!). You'd think the viewers would have remembered that the Charmings are bound to do this after the first 50 times.
3. Love triangles
This goes all the way back to teen dramas and soap operas. Because clearly love can be threatened only by external influences. The main issue I have with triangles is that they've already been done, done again, and overdone. There are two types of triangles that irk me the most. One is when a guy comes between two girl friends (such as the iconic example of the Kelly and Brenda's falling out over Dylan in Beverly Hills 902010). For some reason, it happens more often when it's chicks fighting over a guy, not vice versa, which, to me, sends a totally discriminating message that female friendship is a nearly non-existent thing, as most guys already seem to believe.
The other type of a love triangle is... Come on, you know this was coming. ;)))
Requirements: two guys, a girl (usually the main character because this triangle is always in the centre of the story), lots of going back and forth and resultant angst. Examples include: The Vampire Diaries, early Anita Blake novels, a bucketload of trashy supernatural YA stories, 99 % of all Mary Sue fanfics and arguably The Hunger Games. Basically anything that features a "special" girl and more than one guy lately ends up having this. Some manage to do it in a less annoying way than others, but the gist is that this trope is older than old and whatever originality it may have had has long since been drained out of it.
4. Monster angst
(c) orophering
Look into those pretty eyes. You can see the angst shining in them. But you won't see it there when he goes bad because such is the law of supernatural fiction: good guys angst because of their supernatural condition and long to be human; bad guys revel in it because seriously, what have they got to complain about? There are of course exceptions, such as the TV version of Damon Salvatore who is arguably a good guy in the later seasons but says explicitly that being human sucks and he doesn't want to be cured of vampirism. I've already written plenty of rants on vampire cure, so I want repeat myself, but wouldn't it be nice to have a monster (because I'm sure it's not limited to vampires) protagonist who is perfectly fine with his/her condition and has other things to worry about?
Related: can vampires please stop falling in love with human girls, however unique they are, and angsting about it? Because that kind of angst inevitably leads back to good ol' "oh noes I be a monster" angst.
While we're at it, why is it always the same set-up: vampire guy/human girl? Can't human boys be special and vampire girls fall in love?
5. Law enforcement angst
Obviously law enforcement is a stressful job and you have to go through a lot of shit before you are labeled the genius detective. If you're a superhero, then some past angst is a must. The problem is: it's been done so often lately that it basically seems to send out the message that to catch a criminal one has to be damaged in order to get into their head. What happened to just catching a bad guy? Of course some inner angst provides extra depth, but it's suspiciously close to monster angst these days: good guys wallow, bad guys revel. Notable examples: Luther, The Following, Hannibal, etc. Occasionally past angst serves as a motivation but doesn't become the chief trait of a chatacter (like Mulder's sister issues in The X-Files).
Usually our angsty cop is also a drunk and suffers from some disorders or at least hallucinations. Dead relatives/lovers, fatal conditions/serious wounds, and career-derailing mistakes are often part of the deal.
The only set-up, in which it works, is a parody (above, A Touch of Cloth, a hilarious British cop show parody). Drama is the one thing that is very easy to overdo, and once it's overdone, it's hard to take seriously.
TBC...
This list is once again a big IMHO and was brought to you by the combined efforts of yours truly and the wonderful shirogiku.
1. Pointless love interest/pairing people off randomly
(c) broken-queen
There is nothing wrong with believing there's someone out there for everyone. In fact, if we didn't believe it, life would probably be a hell of a lot more depressing. The problem with pairing everyone and their mother off in a story is that it often looks like the enforcement of the idea that if you are not in a relationship, there must be something wrong with you. It especially concerns women (every girl needs a guy), but it can be done with men too. This trope isn't as jarring in romantic comedies that often have the main characters' less fortunate friends hooking up at the end of the film or during the credits, but when it finds its way into other genres, be careful not to wear your teeth down by gnashing them in exasperation every so often.
One of the classical examples, in my opinion, is the introduction of the Willow/Kennedy relationship in season 7 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I don't hate Kennedy personally, though I don't like her much either. But their romance comes out of nowhere, Kennedy pursues Willow a little too aggressively, and Willow gives in a little too quickly.
Both Willow/Oz and Willow/Tara took their time developing, but Willow/Kennedy basically gets one key episode, after which the ship is mostly in the background, yet they act like they've been in a relationship for quite some time already. It feels a lot like this ship is being shoved down our throats because it's probably the end of the world and everyone should have someone to cuddle with before the final battle.
Another example, on a slightly different scale, would be Once Upon a Time. The whole of it. Given that the show is largely based on fairy tales, it tries to reconcile the concept of fairy tale love with real-life issues, but it doesn't often do it successfully. The show is guilty of inventing love interests for supporting characters and then either forgetting about them (cue the Dreamy/Nova ship in the title image) or using them to move forward a storyline (the Rumpelstiltskin/Milah/Hook triangle, in which Milah basically appears to hurt Rumple's feelings, then die and give Hook his revenge obsession). Everyone in OUAT is fixated on love. Character growth, character degradation, most of character motivations are driven by love. Regina turns evil because she believes Snow White is guilty of having her lover killed (as opposed to the Wicked Queen's traditional motivation - envy); Cora tears our her heart because she is afraid her love for Rumpelstiltskin will prevent her from carrying out her plans; Belle puts up with heaps of emotional abuse because of love; Emma is constantly in denial of her feelings for Neal, but it's pretty clear where that story is going; the whole purpose of Cinderella's story in Storybrooke was to get her back together with her prince, and they weren't even seen again in season 2; etc. The show is so eager to pair everyone off that I am amazed there is still no love interest for Pongo (given that he was the dog equivalent of married in his original story).
2. Repeating the same thing over and over again
(c) arthurdarvill
I love running gags and parallel constructions, if they are done well, but I am severely allergic to repetitions of specific messages more than twice with the express purpose of hammering the idea into the reader/viewer's head. Being Human 5x05 gives us a great example of that with Rook's family/work motto. He repeats it, if I am not mistaken, four times in a one-hour-long episode, makes Natasha repeat it, and uses it in a Rookileaks email. It's no surprise that fanfiction picks it up as well. Yes, we know Rook values his job above all else. We know Rook is supposedly very efficient at it (word of advice, Toby: show, don't tell). Droning the same words over and over again (especially taking into account that he hadn't said them so much as once in the previous five episodes he'd made an appearance in!) won't add any extra dimension to his fixation on work or make me empathize with him more with regards to Natasha's situation.
Another, less "condensed" example comes once again from Once Upon a Time. Lovely show by the way, if you're looking for infuriating tropes. Meet the Charmings:
They will always find each other. Wanna know how I know? They told me. About 100 times throughout the two seasons, especially in the second one. It is slightly mitigated by the fact that even other characters are already tired of hearing this and make jokes in-verse (like: look, they found each other... again!). You'd think the viewers would have remembered that the Charmings are bound to do this after the first 50 times.
3. Love triangles
This goes all the way back to teen dramas and soap operas. Because clearly love can be threatened only by external influences. The main issue I have with triangles is that they've already been done, done again, and overdone. There are two types of triangles that irk me the most. One is when a guy comes between two girl friends (such as the iconic example of the Kelly and Brenda's falling out over Dylan in Beverly Hills 902010). For some reason, it happens more often when it's chicks fighting over a guy, not vice versa, which, to me, sends a totally discriminating message that female friendship is a nearly non-existent thing, as most guys already seem to believe.
The other type of a love triangle is... Come on, you know this was coming. ;)))
Requirements: two guys, a girl (usually the main character because this triangle is always in the centre of the story), lots of going back and forth and resultant angst. Examples include: The Vampire Diaries, early Anita Blake novels, a bucketload of trashy supernatural YA stories, 99 % of all Mary Sue fanfics and arguably The Hunger Games. Basically anything that features a "special" girl and more than one guy lately ends up having this. Some manage to do it in a less annoying way than others, but the gist is that this trope is older than old and whatever originality it may have had has long since been drained out of it.
4. Monster angst
(c) orophering
Look into those pretty eyes. You can see the angst shining in them. But you won't see it there when he goes bad because such is the law of supernatural fiction: good guys angst because of their supernatural condition and long to be human; bad guys revel in it because seriously, what have they got to complain about? There are of course exceptions, such as the TV version of Damon Salvatore who is arguably a good guy in the later seasons but says explicitly that being human sucks and he doesn't want to be cured of vampirism. I've already written plenty of rants on vampire cure, so I want repeat myself, but wouldn't it be nice to have a monster (because I'm sure it's not limited to vampires) protagonist who is perfectly fine with his/her condition and has other things to worry about?
Related: can vampires please stop falling in love with human girls, however unique they are, and angsting about it? Because that kind of angst inevitably leads back to good ol' "oh noes I be a monster" angst.
While we're at it, why is it always the same set-up: vampire guy/human girl? Can't human boys be special and vampire girls fall in love?
5. Law enforcement angst
Obviously law enforcement is a stressful job and you have to go through a lot of shit before you are labeled the genius detective. If you're a superhero, then some past angst is a must. The problem is: it's been done so often lately that it basically seems to send out the message that to catch a criminal one has to be damaged in order to get into their head. What happened to just catching a bad guy? Of course some inner angst provides extra depth, but it's suspiciously close to monster angst these days: good guys wallow, bad guys revel. Notable examples: Luther, The Following, Hannibal, etc. Occasionally past angst serves as a motivation but doesn't become the chief trait of a chatacter (like Mulder's sister issues in The X-Files).
Usually our angsty cop is also a drunk and suffers from some disorders or at least hallucinations. Dead relatives/lovers, fatal conditions/serious wounds, and career-derailing mistakes are often part of the deal.
The only set-up, in which it works, is a parody (above, A Touch of Cloth, a hilarious British cop show parody). Drama is the one thing that is very easy to overdo, and once it's overdone, it's hard to take seriously.
TBC...