30 TV and Movie Tropes We Can’t Get Out of Our Heads
The awkward high-fives have been playing on a loop for decades!
![30 TV and Movie Tropes We Can’t Get Out of Our Heads](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/7/4/5/1081745_320x180.jpg)
Close your eyes. Open your ears. We bet that you can see a group of actors standing in an elevator with some pleasant music playing. Which movie did you picture? Mr. & Mrs. Smith? We were thinking, Dawn of the Dead, WALL-E and Spider-Man, but if you had another one in mind, let us know. In fact, not to put you to work or anything, but if you find other examples of any of these tropes, throw ‘em at us!
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![TIRED COMEDY BITS PARENTS TRYING TO BE COOL Middle-aged parents who have no idea what a Tikitty Tokitty is get a massive eye-roll from their teen daughter, who either helps them understand, or just storms off in a huff. CRACKED](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/3/3/1074533.jpg)
![TIRED COMEDY BITS AWKWARD HANDSHAKES It's usually the punchline in most commercials, but countless movies and TV shows feature a spin on it. The missed high-five, or being left hanging, or the are we gonna hug, or fist bump, or shake, or high-five, or 'oh my god, this is so awkward! CRACKED](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/3/2/1074532.jpg)
![MAIN VILLAIN DELIBERATELY CAPTURED GLASS BOX CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/9/1074529.jpg)
![CRACKED COM Surprise twist villains are always underdeveloped. Zootopia Incredibles 2 Frozen Having to hide their true character robs them of valuable screen time.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/8/1074528.jpg)
![GRACKED.COM (KNOCKED UP) The trope of the lead characters breaking up in the second act, just to get back together in the third act is one of the most overused cliches ever. You know they'll reunite. It's just a lazy way to create drama.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/3/0/1074530.jpg)
![Not every children's character needs a depressing origin story. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/7/1074527.jpg)
![CRACKED COM Enough of the new hair = character development shortcut. It's time to be a little more creative.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/3/1/1074531.jpg)
![MR. & MRS SMITH Perfect Gift... الله Card TMNT SPIDER-MAN WALL-E DAWN OF THE DEAD X-MEN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE *Awkward Elevator CRACKED.COM Music*](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/6/1074526.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM Awful Sitcom Tropes The Jim Halpert John Krasinski looking at the camera was a perfect straight man gesture, creating complicity between the mockumentary format and the audience. After every show started following The Office's template, however, it grew tiresome, as they just had to have the smartass glancing at us to tell us how dumb everyone else was.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/5/1074525.jpg)
![Awful Sitcom Tropes Locked in a room Bottle episodes are in every TV genre, but they can be very predictable in sitcoms. Sitcoms with episodes in which their characters end up locked inside a room include Friends, Saved by the Bell, All in the Family, Night Court, and The Office. If it's an elevator and a pregnant woman is about to give birth, even better worse. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/3/1074523.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM Awful Sitcom Tropes The overblown misunderstanding We get it, you can't have a situation comedy without situations, but must every misunderstanding be blown out of proportion like it's the ending to Batman V Superman? This was pretty much the entire narrative force behind Three's Company, but Friends and Modern Family have also relied strongly on it.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/4/1074524.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM Awful Sitcom Tropes Killing off the mom Because of Reagan or neon spandex or something, '80s sitcoms just had to get rid of the mom. Full House, My Two Dads, Diff'rent Strokes, Punky Brewster, Empty Nest... Those were all about the fragmentation of the family by doing away with the one member keeping it together. (Either that or a sitcom mom serial killer.)](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/2/1074522.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM ONS RS! anny Awful Sitcom Tropes The pansexual perv In sitcom logic, straight is normal, and gay is sassy, outlandish, or just a token of corporate progressivism. Pansexuals, however, are just presented as immoral deviants. Instead of the simple concept that they might find the whole spectrum of gender attractive, they're apparently attracted to everything-so we have Dean Pelton's Dalmatian fetish in Community.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/1/1074521.jpg)
![Awful Sitcom Tropes The nagging wife A super-cool wife easily becomes a one-dimensional manic pixie dream girl. But can't wives just be two- dimensional? From Home Improvement to Modern Family, the shrill, killjoy wife is a sitcom staple. Thankfully, the half-sitcom, half-drama Kevin Can F**k Himself has done a lot to nag this trope away. DETROIT XXL 5 and Be - LIONS I CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/2/0/1074520.jpg)
![Awful Sitcom Tropes LOL sex work Sitcoms cannot help but treat sex workers as amoral grifters. What's the alternative, empathy? Don't be silly. Just look at the Friends episode where Monica accidentally books a sex worker for Chandler. There are good jokes (it is Friends, after all), but the way she's treated is shockingly hostile. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/1/9/1074519.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM Awful Sitcom Tropes Monkeys They're like humans, but hairier, dumber, and zoo keepers will stop us if we try to throw poop at them, which is just a double-standard. Sitcoms that have featured monkey business for easy jokes include Full House, Friends, 30 Rock, Family Matters, The Big Bang Theory, How I Met Your Mother, Community, Malcolm in the Middle, and Community.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/1/8/1074518.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM Awful Sitcom Tropes Celebrity cameos Remember the Matt Lauer cameo in the Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt pilot? Yeah. Add to that Michelle Obama in iCarly, Donald Trump in The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Quentin Tarantino in All American Girl, Bob Dylan in Dharma and Gregg, or Elon Musk in The Simpsons and Rick and Morty, and you'll agree that celebrity cameos in sitcoms can be highly obnoxious.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/1/7/1074517.jpg)
![Awful Sitcom Tropes Loud audience Canned laughter, burn in hell. Studio audiences are always overly enthusiastic, way too loud, and cackle after the blandest of jokes. We'd mention an example, but come on, you know it's The Big Bang Theory. Now for a good example of actual audience participation, listen to the person loudly going oh my god in an old episode of Titus. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/1/5/1074515.jpg)
![GRACKED COM Lost Tropes Extreme '90s anti-heroes. How badly has this aged? Just ask Rob Liefeld, who has become a joke for his radical characters with bloated muscles, childishly designed weapons, and, erm, suits full of pouches. Pouches are rad!](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/1/4/1074514.jpg)
![Lost Tropes Funny suicide Suicide (by gun, train, etc.) was used as comedy in old cartoons. But suicide is serious business (unless you're Hitler in the bunker, in which case cue the Benny Hill music and fart sounds) CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/1/6/1074516.jpg)
![Lost Tropes Flashback stare Suddenly invaded by flashbacks of 'Nam or Cats, you just stare at nothing with dead eyes. Then it hits you: this trope is so outdated, it was mocked in Airplane! CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/1/0/1074510.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM Lost Tropes Everybody laughs at the end This trope has recently been put back into the spotlight by the immediate classic Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers. As the movie rightly puts it, the worse the joke, the longer the laugh.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/1/1/1074511.jpg)
![Lost Tropes The third one is 3D Third parts in a franchise would have 3D as their gimmick, because third part, 3D, you get it. Who didn't get it, though? The makers of Saw 3D, which is the seventh movie in the franchise. Brilliant. CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/0/8/1074508.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM CO RU Lost Tropes Easter European women are ugly. Yikes, this is an obscure one - and also, yikes, look at this outdated, mysoginistic Cold War trope. It's probably sprinkled with fat suits for comedic value.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/0/6/1074506.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM Lost Tropes Going postal After a series of incidents during the '80s, '90s comedy was full of mailmen just losing it and shooting up people. You know, before shootings got a bit too real for laughs.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/0/5/1074505.jpg)
![Lost Tropes Getting divorced in Reno In the early 20th century, only Nevada made it easy to get a divorce, so people would flock to Reno to part ways with their formerly beloved ones. neno CITY LITTLE IN THE WORLD BIGGEST THE Metro LOTT I CRACKED.COM](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/1/3/1074513.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM Lost Tropes Japanese products suck After World War II, a common trope was Japanese products being of inferior quality. The country seems to live in the future now, but hey, this made sense back then.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/0/4/1074504.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM Lost Tropes The French are cowards Perhaps for having been invaded by the Nazis, the French were usually depicted as surrendering cowards needing to be saved. But really, have you seen French action and horror movies? Oh, and then there is the anti-fascist Résistance as well.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/0/7/1074507.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM EMERGENCY EXIT ONLY ALARM WILL ND STAIR Lost Tropes New father's cigars Nothing says healthy environment like smoking around newborns! We haven't seen Knocked Up in ages, but if they didn't parody this trope but with joints, that's a total missed chance right there.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/1/2/1074512.jpg)
![CRACKED.COM Lost Tropes Alliterative names Names like Peter Parker, Bruce Banner, or Lois Lane were all the rage back in the day, but today's heroes don't really seem to follow this pattern. Well, except for Donnie Darko.](https://s3.crackedcdn.com/phpimages/imageset/5/0/9/1074509.jpg)