Cliche that I never ever want to see again

0 Kudo

<< Previous Topic Next Topic >>

Author

Comment

Flying Omelette

Cliche that I never ever want to see again

Lead

[-]

Posts: 17530

(02/19/08 10:41 PM)

Frickin' Fred Durst on Stilts

Tags : None

"The last thing I said to him/her was...", followed by something negative like "I hate you".

The last two movies I saw in theaters (Cloverfield and The Spiderwick Chronicles) had this cliche. It annoyed me in Cloverfield, but I let it roll off. It really bugged me in TSC.

The thing that's mysterious about this particular cliche is that there's no real reason for it. If you left it out, it would have no effect on the plot whatsoever.

Even if a boyfriend and girlfriend have a fight earlier or even if a parent and a child have a fight, it's still believable that they'd want to save each other later if one discovers the other is in danger. You may get angry at someone, maybe even enough to say you hate them, but that doesn't mean you want them to get killed by a monster.

Think of what you're saying,
You can get it wrong
And still you think that it's all right.
Think of what I'm saying,
We can work it out
And get it straight or say good night.

There is a house in New Orleans
They call the Rising Sun
And it's been the ruin of many a poor boy
And God, I know I'm one

Last Edited By: Flying Omelette 02/19/08 10:59 PM. Edited 2 times.

Akhiloth

[-]

Posts: 63

(02/20/08 7:25 AM)

The last thing I'm going to say to you is... Couldn't agree more.

Crawl and 1OOO

[-]

Posts: 11114

(02/20/08 8:48 AM)

The Fuzzy Physicist
Administrator

The cliche I never want to see again is when someone *knows* that something is useful, but is like, "Pft, like that's gonna help us!"

That was also in Spiderwick Chronicles. They have this Field Guide that has all sorts of information on magical beings, and spells, and stuff. They know, in the story's universe, that it's all true. They know it's useful, because a troll wants it.

After the end of act 1, though, none of the characters who haven't yet read it have any interest in reading it. And when they need to contact the person who wrote the book and is now with fairies, and the only kid who has read any of it starts to flip through it to get an idea of what to do, his sister -- who has seen all the goblins and crap -- is like, "Why are you doing that? Like that's gonna be helpful!"

It makes no sense that she'd act like that.

Ebert used to complain when a fantasy story is just an excuse for a normal story. Like, Herbie the Volkswagon is alive, which is amazing, but he just uses that to help him win a race, which is not amazing.

If I was in that Spiderwick story, I'd forget about fighting the troll (at least for a while), and would instead try to learn everything from the field guide. If it was actually true, it would be the most amazing document in human history. It's weird that even the supposedly "nerdy" twin never shows any interest in reading it. No intellectual curiosity?

Crawl and 1OOO

[-]

Posts: 11114

(02/20/08 9:41 AM)

The Fuzzy Physicist
Administrator

Anyway, they're packaging Spiderwick Chronicle books in cereal boxes now (it's apparently one of five volumes, divided into three parts). When I first saw the artwork for that, I thought it looked familiar:

After a second, I realized: Of course! Tony DiTerlizzi. He did some of the artwork for the an AD&D2E Monstrous Manual.

Out of all the art in that book, his stood out as the best. It seemed like he could draw anything and make it look real. He seemed like a person who'd be going somewhere.

Some time after that, he also did the artwork for AD&D Planescape.

It was still good, but it was a lot rougher, sketchier, and cartoonish than the monstrous manual stuff. For all I know, though, maybe the cartoonish stuff is closer to his "true style".

I also knew that he moved on after D&D, because I saw, by chance, a kid's book, The Spider and the Fly, that he drew.

I kind of think that he hasn't pushed himself as much since the monstrous manual, though.

<< Previous Topic Next Topic >>

Yuku free message boards

Cliche that I never ever want to see again

Cliche that I never ever want to see again

Quick Reply