One childhood habit that I refuse to grow out of is watching A LOT of TV shows and films. I mean why should I? Both forms of media are entertaining AF.
With that being said, though I enjoy doing this, I DON’T enjoy the several tropes plus other annoying things I, unfortunately, see on screen.
So in today’s blog post, I’m going to be discussing three film/TV tropes and trends that frankly need to die.
Enemies To Lovers
I hate this trope because, frankly, it’s not executed correctly. Instead of the two characters’ initial issues with each other, be something that can be easily resolved. Writers decide to give us the complete opposite! The beef that the characters have stem from them saying/doing cruel things to each other. This leads to their love story being less believable because of how bad their initial relationship was. Not to mention it’s uncomfortable to watch as it’s too toxic.
Unfortunately, a good example of my point is Bridgerton Series 2. Lord Bridgerton said some awful things to Kate Sharma. In fact in episode 5 (skip to 43:36 mins to see/hear it) he even said that Kate was the bane of his existence! It’s really hard for me to believe you can fall in love with someone after they say such cruel words.
Unnecessary Violence
Because violent scenes can be triggering for people (including myself) plus hard to watch. I feel like such scenes should only exist in TV/films where it’s abosulutely necessary as it would add to the plot. And even with that being said these scenes don’t need to be that harsh.
This is definitely a problem when it comes to several horror films/TV shows. They rely too much on violent scenes to scare us, thus making it hard to watch. Moreover, I believe we miss out on getting a good solid plot as all we get is unnecessary violence.
This was the case for All Of Us Are Dead. There were soo many violent actions scenes and unnecessary deaths. Meaning the character development was lacking and there were plot holes. And as All of Us Are Dead is also coming-of-age TV series; this isn’t great as character development plus a strong storyline are key when it comes to this genre.
I’ve also seen a lot of unnecessary violence in regard to the portrayal of Black people in Hollywood. Considering the fact that us Black people don’t get a GOOD amount of fair and accurate representation in Hollywood. Only choosing to show us suffering is cruel and racist.
With that being said, films such as Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse and other MCU films have done a great job of giving us action scenes that weren’t too gory. I’ve never felt like I had to cover my eyes for the majority of each film because it was too much to handle. The same can be said for the K Drama Nobody Knows. That show was interesting but also chilling. And it still didn’t have many violent scenes.
Toxic Partnerships
Unfortunately, I’ve watched plenty of romance films where the lead characters have very UNHEALTHY relationships. And this irritates me because such toxic behaviours are romanticised instead of being criticised. Furthermore, it’s not fun to watch because of how negative it is. Moreover, romance films that feature a woman and a man couple generally show the woman putting up with their male partner’s trash behaviour.
The sad thing about this trend is that there are too many examples of this! Sex Education pulled this stunt with Eric and Adam’s relationship. I found them getting together to be disturbing considering the fact Adam bullied Eric. K dramas are infamous for this too! The TV show Nevertheless was sad to watch because Yoo Na-bi and Park Jae-eon’s relationship was a mess! They literally were in a situationship with no boundaries. And though I believe both parties are equally responsible for defining their relationship. In this case, I hold Park Jae-eon to a higher standard as Na-bi was emotionally vulnerable and heartbroken after a cruel experience with her ex.
Overall I’m tired of this type of representation, I want to see healthy relationships depicted on screen. Plus I hate developing second lead syndrome 🙃.
Final Thoughts
Overall, these tropes and trends need to D I E! They’re toxic and ruin an experience that is supposed to be entertaining and enjoyable.
Chizoba Itabor 