Clich

[Blank]

I have seen this one way too many times: the deranged patriot. Most recently, he made an appearance in CSI: Miami, but he is no stranger to other series, such as The Unit and Walker: Texas Ranger.

 

His main characteristics include

• Sudden admissions of all his crimes in one sitting
  
• Logically fallacious motives told during said admission
  
• A proud attitude despite atrocious acts committed, such as gouging eyes and bombing schools
  
• and leaving easily identifiable tracks for law enforcement protagonists to find him
  

Go ahead and profile any others if you want. I find it funny that the same villains are used in almost every series.

Edited January 23, 2007 by Blank

[Jorian Drake]

Patriotic Martyr:

 

Characteristics

 

- dying for the 'good cause'

- heroic and stupid act of suicide

- killing a lot of 'infidels' while dying

- making macho comments while/before dying

 

 

mostly seen in: american movies about wars and aliens

 

 

 

 

Big Meanie:

 

Characteristics

 

- bullying anyone around him

- being atleast twice as stupid as strong

- dying without a reason, or just leaving a sidenote in history

 

 

mostly seen in: mafia movies and (super)hero like movies as henchman or noob villain

 

 

 

 

Black Widow:

 

Characteristics

 

- sexy young female

- killing men because she likes that /gets paid for

- flirts with half the casted characters

- at the end of the movie she will be 'unmasked' as a girl who had a very bad childhood

- hero becomes sad from her death for about 2 mins then life goes on

 

 

mostly seen in: detective/mafia/noir/comedy/action movies (they really like this one)

Edited January 23, 2007 by jorian

[Pop]

I'm not sure how many of these cliches are a symptom of writer's laziness and how many are symptoms of the TV format, that is, 20-40 minute episodes with frequent commercial breaks. The Unit, Walker, and CSI are all formula / procedural shows, that require a literary arc (beginning-middle-end) to every episode. They don't really have the luxury of making deep characters. Same thing with just about every sitcom ever made. The characters in Law & Order are barely even characters.

 

That's also the reason why a lot of serial shows, Lost or Heroes or The Shield or The Sopranos or The Wire or Battlestar Galactica, get so much love. They don't have to operate within that paradigm. You have character and plot development over seasons instead of episodes, and the result is (usually) a stronger, more engaging, almost cinematic show. For those who are willing to take the time to follow.

 

Thank DVDs, I guess. The Sopranos and its serialized progeny wouldn't exist if you couldn't buy season anthologies.

Edited January 23, 2007 by Pop

[metadigital]

Yeah, one man's clich

[astr0creep]

No one has mentioned a gay friend yet so there you go.

[Rosbjerg]

The friend/lover (or someone close to the protagonist) turns out to be the actual bad guy ... and everyone is suprised!!

 

and I'm generally tired of the whole Good vs Evil.. but I guess it's really hard to write a story without somewhat making it a battle of morals (term used loosely) as well..

[Wistrik]

The Token <ethnic group> Guy

- Typically the only representative of his ethnic group in the entire cast.

 

This cliche is a remnant of darker times in America when racism was more widely accepted and practiced. It happened with black male actors more often than not, and mostly in movies made prior to the 1990s. I'm glad to see more variety today.

[Laozi]

Maybe because patriotism is the virtue of the vicious

[astr0creep]

Maybe because patriotism is the virtue of the vicious

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

[Surreptishus]

Maybe because patriotism is the virtue of the vicious

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I see that once again Laozi and astr0creep are in agreement.

[astr0creep]

Maybe because patriotism is the virtue of the vicious

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I see that once again Laozi and astr0creep are in agreement.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

That ain't fair.

 

Maybe I found the comment laughable.

Which I didn't. :D

[DeathScepter]

The Nerd.

 

 

 

 

Eccentric One.

[Krookie]

The "cute little kid" who says stuff like "How rude!" and "Mom always said, don't play ball in the house!"

[tarna]

Yeah, one man's clich

[alanschu]

Well, I'm assuming you've never had your girl kidnapped by international drug dealers that were part of an elite special forces division in Vietnam, had them smash into your house, and so on. But yeah, it's weird. I never really noticed it before.

 

In any case, since he was mentioned, I must state that Jung is a crackpot!

[Calax]

Extreme serialization.

 

 

Companies are trying to make shows have metaarcs and usually end up with the metaarc causing the show to become a mess for sombody who just shows up and watches one episiode (Battlestar is a good example of this.)

[astr0creep]

Extreme serialization.

 

 

Companies are trying to make shows have metaarcs and usually end up with the metaarc causing the show to become a mess for sombody who just shows up and watches one episiode (Battlestar is a good example of this.)

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Battlestar?

What about 24 & Lost? Much better examples if you ask me.

 

Anyway serialization is not a clich

[Calax]

oh... Don't forget the basic scifi plots now adays...

 

 

Last survivors or Ultimate Explorers!

 

the prior being BSG the latter being Startrek/Stargate.

[Walsingham]

The nerdy but good Englishman (new)

 

The cavalier but evil Englishman (old)

 

Englishmen are allowed morals or style, but never the twain shall meet.

[Diamond]

How can anyone forget Crazy Military Man, who is really eager to unleash a nuclear/bio/chemical strike on whatever and wouldn't listen to The Scientists Who Know That Something Bad Is Going To Happen and who try to put some sense into him.

Edited January 25, 2007 by Diamond

[Surreptishus]

Hey I think we've missed a really obvious one:

 

Hero who escapes torture by biting into the necks of terrorists

 

You see that one everywhere nowadays

[metadigital]

In any case, since he was mentioned, I must state that Jung is a crackpot!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

You shouldn't speak ill of the dead.

 

In my experience genius is very close to insanity. I certainly don't have the evidence to contradict his (metaphysical) philosophies, and his psychology has always been very well respected, too.

[alanschu]

Hey I think we've missed a really obvious one:

 

Hero who escapes torture by biting into the necks of terrorists

 

You see that one everywhere nowadays

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

He does what he needs to do to win.

 

It's a very bad idea to cross that hero :D

[alanschu]

In my experience genius is very close to insanity. I certainly don't have the evidence to contradict his (metaphysical) philosophies, and his psychology has always been very well respected, too.

 

 

I liked Jung's influences on Cognitive Psychology. The main issue I have with Jung is his collective consciousness idea. The thing about it is that it doesn't seem to be provable, and more importantly, it doesn't seem to be falsifiable. IMO his contributions to psychology are similar to that of Freud's. Some interesting ideas, but too reliant on introspection and unfalsifiable theories. I think it's safe to say that Jung's ideas reflect his relationship with Freud. Though to be fair to Jung, his ideas are a bit less open to criticism than Freud's, which were often subject to circular logic.

 

I tend to Occam's Razor his explanations of collective conscious and archetypes however. Yes archetypes exist, but I don't see why this has to be a part of the collective consciousness straight from the collective experiences of our DNA, when socialization seems to be an alternative explanation for such things.

[metadigital]

The reason I picked up a book on Jung in the first place was as background research for a book I'm reading The Seven Basic Plots, which is subtitled Why We Tell Stories; I agree some of his stuff is pretty off-the-wall; then again, you can't apply logical positivism to metaphysics otherwise there wouldn't be a lot of religion around ...