If you’ve seen one horror movie, you’ve seen them all. The very young, very good looking cast always run up the stairs when they should be heading for the front door. Or, they walk into the house that’s in shambles instead of quickly driving by. Yet, every time a new scary flick hits theaters, the characters seem to be doing the exact same thing that every horror movie cast did before them. What gives?
There are unwritten rules in Hollywood that filmmakers and television writers seem to follow. There’s the idea that if it ain’t broke, why fix it? These formulas may keep the general audience entertained, but true pop culture lovers are itching for something different. Here are four Hollywood rules that the world could do without.
1. Husbands Are Always Idiots
The usual Hollywood family man is a Neanderthal and a doofus, not to mention obnoxious. Sitcoms, movies, and even cartoons tend to show the man of the family as happy-go-lucky, with the best intentions, yet still inept at, well, life. The wife in these scenarios is always stuck playing mom to even her husband. It’s difficult to figure out how these bumbling dads even survived before they met their spouse. A perfect example of this is Phil from “Modern Family.” The show may be modern in terms of family dynamics, but the relationship between Phil and his wife is normal by Hollywood standards. Phil makes bad jokes, awkward advances at other women, and a whole lot of mistakes, causing his wife to be an uptight nag.
2. African American Women Are Sassy
Sassy women are a mainstay of Hollywood casts, but sometimes it feels like the writers can’t find another personality trait to give their characters. Head tilts, eye rolls, and hand waves get old after a while. When Mindy Kaling was launching her TV show, she made a point to not include any stock characters, like the sassy African American woman or the blonde bimbo. Ironically, Kaling did eventually write a cookie-cutter character, but at least her intentions were good to start out with. There shouldn’t be limited options when portraying characters, regardless of their gender, race, age, etc. While some of the common roles are beloved, they should be phased out to introduce new types of characters.
3. Teenage Girls Are Annoying and They Ruin Everything
All too often, on-screen teenagers are both clueless and self-involved, which leaves them with one goal: to cause problems for every other character. Even when kids start out as promising characters, they tend to change into the annoying teens everyone expects. While there are plenty of teenagers in the world who are self-centered, not all of them fit the mold. These characters are often used to cause wrinkles in the plot, but there must be a better way to mix things up a bit. The writers may expect very little from teenagers, but in reality, they’re much more dynamic than they’re given credit for.
4. Sexual Preference is a Punchline
Anybody who saw Comedy Central’s James Franco roast knows how quickly LGBT jokes can get boring. Not only do jokes about sexual preference seem more hurtful and old fashioned than funny, but it’s also hard to figure out why the topic is up for grabs in the first place. By now, scriptwriters should know how normal it is to be homosexual, which is why the humor tends to fall flat instead of making a splash.
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