A Movie Trope Meme Shows Us the Problem With Movies
QUICK GET ME DEFIB ON THIS FLATLINED HEART STAT EVEN THOUGH DEFIB'S GOAL IS TO FLATLINE A HEART.
Movie tropes are just part of the game, but it’s getting to the point where we know exactly how a character is going to act based on their careers, and 90% of the time, it doesn’t line up with reality at all. A writer who never pitches anywhere and only has to write one piece to live by themselves in Manhattan? Where do I sign up for that job?
So it started with a simple tweet about a professor:
Hello, I’m a professor in a movie, I only reach the main point of my lecture right as class is ending. Then I yell at students about the reading / homework as they leave.
— Rory Turnbull (@_roryturnbull) January 1, 2019
From there, people began to share their grievances with characters in movies. For one, a writer in a movie is very different than a writer literally anywhere in the real world.
Hello, I’m a writer in a movie. I write one piece a week and live in a two bedroom New York apartment with a walk-in wardrobe. Also I never actually pitch anywhere, the jobs just come to me. https://t.co/YyuPjYgEyP
— Kayleigh Donaldson (@Ceilidhann) January 3, 2019
From writers to programmers, the meme poked fun at how movies tend to stereotype lines of work the same way:
Hello, I’m an programmer in a movie. I’m white, male, and conspicuously nerdy, and everything I code works on the first try. I’m the Best Coder because I’m a fast typist, and I type extra fast in programming emergencies. I never Google error messages. There are no error messages. https://t.co/uQiKv18zkc
— Ana Mardoll (@AnaMardoll) January 3, 2019
An ACTUAL Rabbi even had something to say about they are portrayed onscreen.
Hello, I’m a rabbi in a movie. I wear my tefillin wrong and don’t really know how to pronounce the Hebrew of liturgical phrases that get said 3 times a day, every day. I say things from the pulpit that would be grounds for firing most places and maybe one congregant responds. https://t.co/KMVf5lkm2N
— Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg (@TheRaDR) January 3, 2019
Some of the tweets are even informative, like this one about defibrillation that I truly never knew before.
Hello, I’m a doctor in a movie. I use defib on a flatlined patient instead of adrenaline, despite knowing that a flatline is the goal of defibrillation. I also do CPR compressions wrong. I use my position of authority to pressure an underling into a romantic relationship. https://t.co/5dPwFiZifJ
— Be More Kind (@ChrisMartinPr) January 3, 2019
Don’t worry though, the depiction of grad students is accurate.
Hello, I’m a graduate student in a movie. I obviously sleep with my dissertation adviser and then murder someone, probably that adviser. https://t.co/awkCRTbz7X
— Wes Burdine (@MnNiceFC) January 3, 2019
The full list of tweets goes on and on, meaning that we need to do better in our films. Stereotypes like these shouldn’t be quite so comically prevalent.
(image: MGM)
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