Movies and television shows are supposed to be forms of entertainment that work by suspending us in a different world for a while. We, as the audience, are just supposed to kick back and enjoy.
But admit it, we've all been watching something and just decided "NOPE!"
One Reddit user asked:
What instantly ruins a movie/series for you?
Look, we're not saying Reddit is full of deliciously petty Betties, but some of the reasons people stop watching things have us legitimately cracking up over here.
Look at these responses
If you've spent any length of time in theater or production, you know it basically breaks down into 2 camps - talent and tech.
The comments section did pretty much the same thing.
The "talent" crowd had major complaints about acting, writing, plot, etc.
High Achieving High Schoolers
stockard channing grease GIFGiphy30 something high school students.
To hitch onto this, I'm not a fan of the constant hyper-sexualization of teenagers.
99% of teen dramas could be set in a university. But for some reason Hollywood (or whoever) insists that we watch 25 - 30 year olds pretend to be 16.
Yeah Riverdale is a good example. Literally every "teen" on that show is constantly casually drinking and constantly having sex.
And most of the characters run some sort of actual business or organization.
Ahh yes because I too own a bar or run a Biker Club in my teen years.
Oh of course, I myself am currently the manager of a speakeasy and also a whole ass YMCA. I also intern with the FBI in my somehow existing free time.
Very relatable. It reminds me of my teen years when I ran a rival criminal enterprise and rum company against my father.
Joey
When characters become caricatures of what made them great in the beginning. Prime example is Joey on Friends. Started out as goofy and slightly dumb, ended up functionally brain dead.
One example that really bugs me is how in an early season he explains to Ross what pets going "to the farm" means, but in a later season he believes Chandler when the duck and chicken went "to the farm."
Forcing The Fireworks
Forced romance.
Especially in western action movies, where there is a male lead, and a hot female side character, who shows no signs of being in to each other, but will always end up kissing in the end.
- ogger15
Any TV show that forces romance on the main characters.
You guys have been cool for a few years now all of a sudden you love each other? And you're cops, doctors, firemen, etc? That sh*t don't fly in the real world.
Just stick to shooting bad guys and killing about 30 without any police inquiry or administrative leave. Oh wait. That really does happen.
That Riddick movie where Vin Diesel is just sooooo sexy that even the lesbian goes straight for him, lmao.
Accentuate The Positive?
When the actors can't do the accent of the place they're supposed to be from accurately. Just hire a person from the area. It's so stupid, but once I pick up on it I can't stop focusing on it. It's so distracting.
Even worse is when actors/actresses start of a show/movie with one accent but slowly over the duration of the show revert to their native accents. And then never use the proper accent again.
Also! When there are families where every member grew up together (within the context of the show) but everyone has a different regional accent.
Bogus.
Petyr Baelish changing his accent every single season of Game of Thrones!
Just Kill Them Already!
"If you kill him, you'll become just like him!"
So all those countless goons that were slaughtered don't count, huh?
- Evus1999
What bugs me about this trope is that it ignores the innocent people who are almost definitely going to die if you don't kill the big baddie.
Killing for vengeance or justice might be subject to debate, but killing a certifiably-bad person to stop innocent people from getting killed is not.
- Forq2
My favorite episode of the Mighty Max cartoon was the one where Norman was fighting the guy that killed Norman's father. He has the bad guy backed up to the edge of a cliff and the bad guy says "if you kill me, you'll be just like me"
Norman says "I can live with that" and shoves him over the edge
The "tech" crowd had an awful lot to say, too.
Sound Shenanigans
On Air Dj GIF by The Mowgli'sGiphyWhen there's too much audio fluctuation. Like you can't hear a word they're saying in a dialogue, then cut to an action scene and volume is so high the neighbors think there's a shootout at your house.
Ugh! This!
Nothing yanks me out of a film more than having to play DJ.
This, definitely. Or when the score is too loud compared to the dialogue.
I wind up having to really concentrate to pick out the words while some bullshit string section saws away mindlessly, ugh. When I watch at home I turn the volume down to virtually nothing and watch with closed captioning on to avoid the auditory overload.
Product Placement
Blatant product placement. It works in certain situations, but when it's "in your face" or overdone, it's distracting. Count the logos in Man of Steel or that shiny new Hyundai Tucson in the Walking Dead that never gets guts on it or dust on it for a couple of seasons.
Michael Bay pretty does this a lot and is pretty unapologetic about it in the Armageddon commentary.
"Yeah it doesn't even fit Liv Tyler's character that she would have that car, but they gave me a lot of money, and that's money I can use for more special effects.."
- 3-Dman
The worst I ever saw was in Bones
"Wow Angela, a Prius? I didn't take you for the type".
"As an artist, I love the spacious cargo area and fold-down seating, perfect for bringing my next piece to the gallery. And the back up camera makes pulling into the loading dock a snap!"
Then she shows off the lane assist and they get arrested for drunk driving.
- akefay
One of the Paranormal Activity movies was awful with it.
"Guys, I heard something. Let's turn on the XBOX KINECT and see what it shows us."
What's going on guys? -- "We just found a ghost using our XBOX KINECT!"
"I'm so startled! Let's turn on the XBOX KINECT to lessen our startledness."
It's been awhile since I've seen it, but those might be direct quotes.
Shakycam
Action sequences filmed in Shakycam.
I'm looking at you, Paul Greengrass, or at least I would be if the picture would stabilize for just a second.
When I went to see the hunger games and they already had shaky cam for when Katniss was just jogging I went, "Oh no...."
That's why I just can't stand the "found footage" style of movie.
Like so many rave over the first Blair Witch and scorn the second but to be honest I prefer the second simply because it doesn't give me a headache from the bouncing around of the camera.
Justin
When it has been adapted from a book and they change things. When doing what was in the book did would have been just as easy or easier to replicate on screen. I will still give all adaptations a chance before dismissing them. E.g. The Passage series by Justin Cronin. Loved the books, but the Fox series changed people's race, gender, and literal storylines. Why?
Boring
Work From Home Kids GIF by MOODMANGiphyWhen fun characters have kids and their whole role gets reduced to being parents.
Titans
I know I shouldn't be bothered by this, but the fans usually ruin the show for me.
I'm watching Attack on Titan Season 4 right now, and the fans are berating the animators for using CGI when they only had like 10 months to make the season while other seasons had much longer, and they're sending death threats to the creator for - I kid you not - the MUSIC choice in one of the episodes.
I love the show but boy do the fans make me feel like I'm supporting something that's not worth supporting, which I know is incorrect, but it just bugs me.
Kill the Killer
Not killing the serial killer.
You know, that scene where the serial killer is knocked out and the main characters start running instead of hitting his head with a f*cking hammer.
Edit: Or shooting him right in the head.
babies...
raising arizona babies GIFGiphyWhen the childfree character, suddenly decides to have kids. Like wtf this happens in every show. Big Bang Theory with Penny. Even a progressive show like Brooklyn Nine-Nine with Jake and Gina not wanting kids at first then having them.
Just Go
Series mainly for me. Shows that have longer episodes but when the episode is just talking about stuff that is irrelevant, something we already know, or dragging conversations out when they could of ended a while ago.
- Oscer560
I feel this with the border patrol series. If they covered each case beginning to end it would only be a quarter as long. Instead they have 3 stories in parallel, but when changing between each one they throw in a recap, for every scene.
The Good, the Bad
In films: Convoluted circumstances of getting together.
In series: Characters making the same mistakes and never learning from them - Nurse Jackie going back on drugs, The Flash where Barry goes back in time to mess with the time line Again.
Poor Writing: Sorry, how many times did the H50 writers crap all over Danny William's character to make Steve look good?
Brain Games
Brain Amnesia GIF by William GarrattGiphyEpisodes where some or all characters forget all their memories and lives and are put into a new alternate reality and slowly figure it out to escape back to their original lives.
Those sort of episodes are the kind I never get through.
Screenshots
Trailers.
No seriously, stop showing us three seconds of every scene in the film. Now I know what to expect as soon as we enter a location because I recognize it as "the cave with that fight scene" or "the office where they were making out" or "that cliff that she almost falls off". The second the scene opens I know where it's headed now if I watched the trailer. and that SUCKS!
Do it Right
'Representation'
When movies shoehorn in representation for no valid reason. "This character is gay" The character will never act on it, and it adds nothing to the conflict. "This character is gay" can do good things for a plot. For something like a murder mystery, it could change everything about the case.
But more often than not, it gets shoved in so they can tout it about on twitter and show off how 'progressive' and 'inclusive' their media is. It's so incredibly frustrating. I just want to see good tv, I want an interesting story. Instead, I've burned half an hour on virtue signaling television that has added nothing to the story, which is kind of the only thing I am there for.
I hate poor representation of characters in media, especially when it is done solely to draw in an audience, rather than tell a story. Just represent characters as is appropriate to the character, not the audience. Look at Critical Role, a wonderful web series. The characters portrayed feel alive, and at least one off the top of my head is blatantly gay, but it is in character for her. It works. This kind of thing can be done, but the media repeatedly does it incorrectly, all to pander to a group they don't understand.
So now that you've read what everyone else has to say, I'm going to confess that I'm a big "tech" person when it comes to this. I can forgive ridiculous plot points, insufferable Mary Sue characters, and loose ends like WHOA.
But let one boom mic drop into the shot or have something on set be out of place and I pick up on it right away. There is an episode of the original American Gladiators that I distinctly remember from childhood because one of the obstacles was starting to come apart and I was upset that I couldn't put my hand through the TV and fix it.
Want to "know" more? Never miss another big, odd, funny, or heartbreaking moment again. Sign up for the Knowable newsletter here.
