Hollywood Stereotypes

Some Hollywood movie stereotypes

1.When a character is shot in the head, the bullet will impact the victim precisely between the eyes, and a trickle of blood will indicate that it is, indeed, a bullet wound.

2.To show he is grizzled or cynical, a character will walk toward the camera as an explosion happens in the background. He doesn't flinch while everyone in the background runs and screams.

3.In movies, whenever a person asks a pianist whether he or she knows a tune, the answer is always a nod, followed immediately by the opening notes.

4.This is any aspect of a film that foreshadows future films by the same actor or director. In "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," Ang Lee named the sword the "Green Destiny" and went on to direct "Hulk." In Christopher Nolan's "Following," there's a Batman sticker on a front door. Nolan, of course, went on to direct "Batman Begins." Willem Dafoe thinks he's Jesus Christ in "Platoon" and then played Jesus in "The Last Temptation of Christ."

5.When a female character has something of direct use to the plot in her purse (gun, real ID, pills), she will either put her purse down on the ground and leave it wide open so another character can look inside, or she'll drop it and the one thing she doesn't want anyone to see will spill out. It's a tactic seen in numerous noir films.

6.Whenever a movie character tries to (a) escape from prison or (b) access an impregnable fortress, once he reaches its perimeter, two guards, each one leading one menacing dog, will walk past him side by side without noticing him.

7.When a character has a photograph of a location he is searching for, the camera will cut to a close-up of the photo being held in his hand. The photo will then drop away, revealing the location the character is looking for, at exactly the same angle the photo was shot from. Corollary: If a person is in the photo but not in the scene, their absence is a plot point.

8.When two characters struggle for a gun, one shot will go off. Then nobody moves for a few seconds, and we can't tell which one got shot. Finally, one character dramatically drops dead.

9. Whenever there is a closeup of a digital clock, the shot always shows it at the exact moment when the minute is changing.

10.When unsuspecting victims are flattened by a speeding truck, the scene is always the same: Filmed from the side at a 90-degree angle to the street, so the truck runs directly across the screen from one side to the other; the person just stands there and gets wiped out. Why didn't the victim see or hear the truck coming, and why didn't the driver see the victim? This is related to the Helicopter on Mute Syndrome, in which a helicopter suddenly appears in the scene, totally unseen and unheard until it is right on top of the hero.

11.When it's two-to-a-room in a college dorm, it's highly likely that the protagonist's roommate will be a punk rocker/goth and almost certain that the roomie will have sex with someone in their bed while the protagonist tries to do homework.

12.Whenever an object or person is thrown through a glass window in a movie, it invariably shatters into vicious shards. Even in the future, safety glass is not used (see "Minority Report").

13.All Asian people know karate. All Latin people dance salsa. Any Russian character is related to some ex-KGB agent now working for the new Russian Mafia.