In addition to “it was all just a dream“, here’s another trope I’d love to get rid of: “He was never really there the whole time.“ This trope is so overused, so cliché, that at this point I can see it coming from miles. I just watched Goodnight Mommy and (spoilers) I knew within the first minute of the first interaction with the three main characters that Lukas wasn’t really there. We, the audience, were supposed to think he was, because the story is from Elias’s perspective. But it’s obvious from the get-go. Only someone missing a modicum of intelligence wouldn’t be able to tell. I realized it as soon…
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Writers – Don’t Ever Use This Trope
I didn’t have to use such a click-baity headline, but I have an AI plugin that tells me how “engaging” my post title is and it always falls below 50%. And even this one it doesn’t like–it gives me 48/100. I hate fake-out endings. Only now did I realize just how much I hated them. I watched Cell with John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson, a bad movie to be sure, but I’d read the book a long time ago so nothing was spoiled. Except the ending deviates quite a bit, even though it was written by the same guy (Stephen King). I can totally understand why an ending might…
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Where’s the Other Side of the Abortion Debate? (a.k.a. why media uses the ‘pull-out method’ when it comes to abortion)
It’s time to talk about abortion. And as a straight white male, I feel the most qualified. I’m pro-choice, so if you already know nothing’s gonna change your mind, better skip this article. It would be a waste of your time. My base line is that I have no right to make decisions about procedures I know nothing about and can never experience. Men may have a say, but women need to design the rules. Men don’t get more than that until something makes them obliged to share the consequences of a baby. I’m in favor of giving women choices, but for some reason people think “pro-choice” equates to “pro-death”.…
