My first ever blog post was “top 10 tropes i LOVE” where I made a list of 10 of my favorite tropes in the media, and I’ve been meaning ever since to counter that post and write about tropes that I absolutely hate, and so here we are. It doesn’t matter whether it’s in books or television, if I hate the trope in one form of media, I included it on this list. Some may come as no shock to you and some may surprise you, so let’s just get right into it.
The Overly Tomboy:
I know this might have the ladies in a bit of a tussle, but here me out. I don’t care if this trope is simply JUST a girl who doesn’t happen to the traditional feminme women, but the problem arises with the fact that a lot of the time in this trope, the overly tomboy tries soooo hard to prove that they’re “not like other girls,” and are “one of the boys.” We get it, you grew up with 13,000 brothers who taught you how to fight and you were the only girl. Now shut up.
The overly tomboy almost always believes that being traditionally girly and “feminme” is trashy, which is annoying.
No one cares that you wear nothing but sweatpants and can’t walk in heels. No one cares if you don’t wear makeup and only have guy friends ‘cause you don’t “relate to other girls.”
Independent Women:
Again, here me out. This trope kidna ties in to the overly tomboy trope, but with the independent woman trope, one thing I noticed is that in books (or shows or movies), writers will spend 80% of the time building the character up as this independent woman who’s so fulfilled and happy with her life, and then next thing you know, they gotta ruin it.
They ruin it by bringing in a male love interest that suddenly turns the “strong and independent woman” into Bella from Twilight.
When did we lose the plot here??? All of these sudden we’re getting a 4 minute monologue from the woman on how her life was so incomplete and depressing before she met the man, and now she can’t imagine a life without him?
There’s nothing wrong with having an independent woman fall in love yada yada yada, but do we HAVE to make it seem as though a woman can’t be happy until she has a man? And don’t even get me started on when they make the women give up her career and her dreams for the men. I’ve seen too many bad depictions of this trope for me to love it.
Fake Relationship Turned Real Relationship:
There was a certain point in my life where I LIVED for this trope, but not any more. It’s so redundant and overdone, and it’s getting exhausting. This trope is usually done where you have a character (usually a guy) who’s getting pressure from his family to get married, and so he ends up getting in a fake relationship with the female main character, and slowly overtime, the two end up falling in love.
I hate it.
The writing just lacks so much creativity and is so lazy. If you’’ve read one “fake relationship turned real relationship” book, then you’ve read ‘em all. Same goes for shows and movies. I want the chase from the beginning, so the whole plot of two people getting in a relationship for a transactional reason, and then suddenly becoming lovers, doesn’t do it for me.
The only exception for this trope is Daphne and Simon in Bridgerton ’cause the show actually didn’t make it cringey. But besides them, I don’t wanna see this trope.
Black Trauma:
Can we stop using black people’s trauma as a pop culture trope? I am so sick and tired of reading a book or watching a show and there’s a black character who just can’t catch a break.
His name is Jaquavion
Jaquavinon lives in the hood
Jaquavion sells drugs
Jaquavion out here dodging bullets in the hood everyday
Jaquavion’s daddy in prison
Jaquavion’s mama a single mother
Jaquavion getting F’s and D’s in school
Jaquavion wanna be a rapper
Jaquavion uncle in prison
Jaquavion’s daddy got 6 outside kids
Jaquavion getting stopped by the police every 2 minutes
Jaquavion gotta a crush on racist Becky
The list is endless. They take every single damaging black stereotype and pour it into a character, and it’s AGGRAVATING! Can we have a character who just happens to be black, rather than having a black character? I'm not sure what’s worse: white writers doing this, or black writers doing this. Either way, it’s too much and enough is enough.
Dead Parents:
Whether it’s a dead mom and a dead dad, I don’t care and I don’t want either of them. I cannot put into words how EXHAUSTED I am with this trope. When did we as a society move away from nuclear families? Why the mommy or daddy always gotta be dead?
I’ll start reading a new book or watching a new show, and not even 10 minutes in it’s, “eVeR siNcE mY dAD paSsEd aWaY-” I DON’T CARE! I’m sorry for your loss, but I really don’t give a fuck.
The parent either died a year ago in a car accident, or they died when the main character was a baby either during childbirth, or also by a car accident. There’s NEVER an inbetween. The main character is still coping with the loss of the parent, she end up going on this huge emotional and mental antisocial downward spiral, her and her family move to a new town or city to “start a new chapter,” and she enters a new high school.
There, I just gave you the entire plot of ALL books, shows, and movies with this trope. You’re welcome!
Love Triangles:
I was contemplating even putting this trope on this list ‘cause to be honest, I don’t completely hate it. I have zero issues with love triangles when they’re done well, but I see wayyy too many times where this trope is done terribly.
Good love triangles are done first of all, when it’s two guys and one girl. I don’t wanna see a love triangle with one guy and two girls.
Secondly, great love triangles are done when the two guys that the girl is interested in are both EQUALLY a great match for her.
Love triangles will really have the most unequal love interest. We have one who’s 6’4, he’s Italian, he has this sexy Italian accent, he can cook, he can dance, he has a 6 pack, he’s got pecs and biceps for days, he’s rich, he's got the prettiest eyes, perfect hair, perfect tan, he writes poetry, he drives the fanciest car, he always tips the homeless when he sees them on the streets, he loves reading and reads to blind kids, and of course, he can sing.
And then we got the other love interest who’s a McDonald's worker, got a beer belly, receding hairline, and is balding.
When it’s SO obvious that the author is biased towards one of the love interests, it ruins the entire love triangle for me. There’s ZERO competition between the two love interests, so now the writer’s left me with no choice.
Office Romance:
My only reason for hating this trope is the fact that it’s boring. 99.999% of the time this trope is not done well. They suck in shows and movies, and they’re even worse in books. The only exception where I genuinely LIKE this trope is on the show Sex Life between Cooper and Francesca. And it’s not even the fact that the two work together that makes me love it. I just think the two genuinely make a cute pair.
But apart from them, I don’t wanna see ANY office romance. This trope almost always ends with one of them quitting their job after they both realize that it won’t work out with them being co-workers (or with one being the boss of the other), so in the end, the entire trope just crumbles.
It would be so much more interesting to me if this trope was done backwards. Instead of having the two characters fall in love at work, I wanna see this trope done where the two characters had already had a little thing for each other (nothing too serious), one of them had gotten a new job, and then when she goes on their first day, they see each other and now they gotta navigate how to make their relationship work when one of them is the boss at where the other works.
This to me just sounds so much more interesting to me because the regular plot of the characters meeting at work for the first time and liking each other has been done one too many times.
Overly Available Adults:
You can literally pick up any romance book, and you’ll see this trope. I understand that having a love interest who’s willing to move mountains for the female main character is cute and all. And I understand that it’s cute to have a love interest that’s willing to drive 17,000 miles in a snowstorm to get to the main character just because she was having a bad day, but can we be realistic?
Can we just be realistic and honest with ourselves and say that ain’t nobody THIS available. To be constantly ready at the female character’s beck and call is so weird to me ‘cause does the love interest not have a life? He ain’t got no job or what?
Imma regret mentioning this, but I gotta do it. Fifty Shades of Grey comes to my mind. Chritain is this successful billionaire CEO, and yet how many times do we actually see this man at work? Literally like ONCE when he meets Ana for the first time.
Did Joe Goldberg teach us nothing? The only time it’s ever okay and justified to have an overly available love interest, is if they’re secretly an obsessive stalker. Other than that, let’s stop with this trope ‘cause I'm tired of it.
Workaholic Women:
Now here’s the thing, I have zero problems with a woman who’s very proud of her career and takes it very seriously, but what annoys me about this trope is the fact that almost always, the author has to go out of their way to almost proof to us as the audience that the main character is a workaholic and is work-oriented.
It’s as if we the audience are not supposed to just willingly believe that the woman is a workaholic after the author tells us once. No, the author has to talk non-stop about what the main character does for a living. How early she wakes up, how early she gets to work, how late she leaves for work, how many hours a day she works, etc.
And the thing is, it’s never the case for male characters who are also workaholics. Unlike the female characters, the audience is expected to just believe that the man is a workaholic just ‘cause the author says so. They never try as hard to prove that the man is workaholic as they do for the woman.
The only exception to the woman’s career being so heavily mentioned in the book (or on T.V.) is if her job IS the plot. Take for example, the plot of the book, show, or movie, is about a murder that takes place, and the main charcter is a detective. Then it would make sense. But if that’s not the case, then why are we CONSTANTLY being told how much she works? What are you as the author tryna prove?
Sports:
I gave up on this trope a long time ago, and I have zero regrets. Maybe it’s my own bias talking ‘cause truth be told, I couldn't care less about sports. I’m tired of reading books or watching shows where sports is the core focus.
The main character is trying to get a scholarship to play a sport at a D-1 University
The main character’s a high school student who’s trying to make the varsity team
The main character and the antagonists both play for the same team and they’ll competing to see who’s the best and who gets into the D-1 school
Or the main character and the antagonist pay for revival teams and are competing on who’s the best player
The main character’s parent doesn’t believe in his or her talent for sports, and so the entire plot is the main character proving their parent wrong
The main character’s dad was an athlete and sports coach, and ever since his dad died he’s been trying to follow in his father’s footsteps to make him proud
Every single one of these plots puts me to sleep. I don’t mind if sports is just a minor addition to the plot, but when it’s the ENTIRE plot, no. Just……NO!
Pop Culture:
To put it simply, I find this trope cringey. Cringey to the absolute max. If I’m reading a book or watching a show, I don’t wanna hear Ed Sheeran or Demi Lovato being mentioned. I don’t wanna know that Instagram and Twitter exist in that world. I don’t wanna hear that the characters are going to a Doja Cat concert, and I don’t wanna hear that the main character’s favorite song is “Thank U, Next.” It physically makes me cringe.
Friends That Don’t Understand Boundaries:
It’s pretty self explanatory why friends who don’t understand and respect boundaries are a turn-off, but let’s get into it. Lemme give y’all one of the most used scenarios of this trope: It’s Friday or Saturday night, and the main character's best friend wants to go out and party. The main character says that they really don’t feel like going to a party and they’d much rather just stay in. And then here comes the best friend saying, “I’m nOt taKinG nO foR aNswEr, yOu’Re cOmiNg wiTH mE,” and she’s just non-stop pressuring the main character to go the party after she’s said no multiple times.
Then the main character ends up giving into the pressure, the two go out to the party or club or whatever, and what do ya know? Something bad happens. And now suddenly, the best friend hits us with the, “Oh mY gOd tHiS iS aLl mY faUlT, wE shOulD hAvE neVeR cOmE. i’M sO soRRy, yOu haVe eVerY riGhT tO bE mAd aT mE.”
Yes, it is your fault, and yes, I am mad at you.
Shy, Super Naïve, and Innocent Female Character:
Unless you read a lot of Wattpad, you probably haven’t seen this trope as frequently as I have. There’s an entire community of writers on Wattpad who LOVE infantilizing grown ass women. It’s one thing to have a character be a bit naive and inexperienced, but these writers be taking it way too far.
We have a female character who’s in her twenties, but got the mental development of an 8 year old girl? It’s not cute or adorable. It’s cringe. And it’s even worse when the story has an age gap relationship between the girl and her love interest. Then that crosses over to being borderline CREEPY!
You’re writing a book where you have a woman who blushes and giggles just ‘cause a dude looked at her? She stutters and fidgets with her Hello Kitty shirt every time she talks? I just can’t take it seriously.
Boy Crazy Best Friend:
Now there’s two reasons as to why I deeply despise this trope. First, it’s annoying. I can’t stand reading a book or watching a show and the best friend (it doesn't even have to be the best friend of the protagonist, it could literally just be any female character) is soooo obsessed with guys. Like to the point where I literally wanna push her over a bridge. Every damn second it’s, “OMG imagine how many cute guys are gonna be there?” “OMG we’re gonna meet so many cute guys.”Boys, boys, boys, boys!!!”
It’s never ending.
Now the second reason why I hate this trope stems from the fact that girls who are boy-crazy are legitimately dangerous. They’re the type of girls who will literally do ANYTHING for male attention. They’re the type of girls who would abandon their drunk friend at a party full of predatory men, just to go make-out with a dude. They’re the type of girls who will COMPETE with other girls for a guy, and they're the type of girls who will see you catch on fire, but instead of pouring the water on you, they’ll give it to their crush just ‘cause he was thirsty.
I hate this trope in the media, and I stay as far away as possible from these girls in real life.
It Was All A Dream:
I truly wonder why we as society have not completely gotten rid of this trope. The whole idea is so cliche and cheap. That’s the perfect word to describe it: CHEAP. We as readers and viewers have spent so much of our time being this engaged and invested in a book or a show, only for you to end it off with, “the alarm clock struck 7:30 a.m., she woke up to get ready for school, and realized that it was all a dream.”
How lame and cheap!
Whenever a book, show, or movie ends with the whole story being a dream, it just feels as though the writer wanted an easy way out. It feels as if they didn’t wanna have to write a great ending, so they just settled and gave us a below mediocre ending.
This trope is so childish and gives elementary school creative writing energy. Ending a book with “it was all a dream” is the exact same thing I would’ve done in elementary school, and as a writer, you should be above that.
The Chosen One:
This trope has been in the media since the dawn of time, and I’ll admit that there was a time when I didn’t mind it, but now I can’t stand it. The idea of there being only ONE character who’s the only person who can save humanity, is so dumb to me. Ain’t nobody THAT unique and special.
The idea of having multiple characters who come together to save the world is so much better in my opinion because one big criticism I have with this trope is that a lot of the time, writers spend far too much time developing the protagonist, that every other character just falls flat and short.
This trope gets even worse when the chosen one has the, “I know I’m the chosen one and I know I have the power to save humanity, but I just wanna be normal“ mentality. It’s always an unnecessary back and forth and in the end, we all know it’s always gonna end with the chosen one finally excepting that they’re different and saving the world. *YAWN*
I just wanna end things off by stating that despite the fact that I dislike all these tropes far more than I love them, I ultimately believe that all tropes can be done well.
With the right writer, you can make any of these tropes work. But with the wrong writer, well…. we know how terrible they turn out.
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