We Can't Wait For These Annoying Modern Movie Clichés to Finally Die in Future
These tropes, which felt fresh at first, have definitely become overused.
Over the many years that cinematography has existed, it has evolved and changed. Many techniques, tropes, and even genres have emerged, shaping the cinema we know and love today.
But with each generation, certain clichés become so overused that audiences can't wait for them to die out.
Here are some examples from modern cinema that many feel have overstayed their welcome.
Literal darkness
Extremely dark cinematography makes it really hard to see some of the actors on screen these days.
Trying to make out what is going on in a pitch-black environment is just annoying for many people, rather than adding to the atmosphere of the movie.
One of the most recent examples of this was Matt Reeves' The Batman ( 2022), which, despite being quite good overall, prevented some viewers from getting through the movie for this very reason.
We hope that one day creators will understand that thematic darkness and literal darkness do not always go hand in hand.
Dull colors
Most common in sci-fi and superhero movies, even scenes set on sunny days will look dull and washed out.
And if a scene is set in a dark environment, it leads directly to the problem above.
Fortunately, more and more movies are moving away from this trope, one of the most notable examples being James Cameron 's Avatar: The Way of the Water, which shone with bright colors and sunny environments.
Self-referential meta humor
Star Wars: Andor TV series and Top Gun: Maverick did a great job of overcoming this annoying trope.
No more characters making meta comments about how weird and/or silly certain things in their world are, winking at little references to the source material, all that.
They just delivered an honest story for the audience to get completely lost in.
Pop-cultural references
This one has been around for a long time and has been the bane of many movies.
Occasional references are perfectly fine, but when the creators cross the line with their amount, the movie immediately becomes dated and often causes a cringe when seen years later.