I hate that one trope where there’s an alien or a guy from an isolated tribe that’s never been to America, and they come to America and their new American friends show them shopping malls and fast food and the outsider is all “This is amazing! I love America!”
Just once I’d like this trope to be subverted with the alien or whatever spitting out the fast food and saying something like, “Oh god, what is this shit? It’s giving me a heart attack!” or they go to a mall and are mortified by the advertising and that they have to slave away to afford any of it.
Are there any tropes you’re tired of? They can be as dumb and petty as you want. It’s fun to rip on pointless things sometimes.
That movie trope where the parent (usually the dad) is a cold asshole who spends all his time at work but then he learns the true value of family and puts his children first and stops working so much.
If you’re a corporate lawyer (everyone in movies seems to be PMC, btw) this could be true but for most parents working so much it takes a toll on family life is not something they do because they’re selfish. They do it because that’s what they have to do to make ends meet and support the family.
This trope is shaming working class parents for not being rich.
I think that probably comes from the sort of socio-economic background of the writers, who generally come from secure (upper) middle class backgrounds where the idea of “we’re already comfortable why do you work 80 hours a week and spend the rest of the time golfing with your boss? you should focus on what’s important: me,” sort of fits as a naïve complaint that doesn’t understand all the toxic, patriarchal brainworms that infest the PMC.
To add onto that point, there’s also the way the causes of overwork or workplace stress are also shifted from the realities of an endless grind and toxic environment into the sorts of things that cause writers the most stress: preparing discrete projects on a deadline.